Restoring Healthy Female Adolescent Relationships among middle school girls

by

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER # 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background of the Study1

Problem Statement3

Aims and Objectives of the Study4

Research Question4

Research Hypothesis5

Structure of the Dissertation5

CHAPTER # 2: LITERATURE REVIEW6

Variability of Self-Esteem among Adolescent Females6

Factors Related to Low Self Esteem6

Factors Related to High Self-Esteem7

Self-Esteem in School9

Self-Esteem across Various School Contexts9

School Factors Influencing Risk12

CHAPTER # 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY14

Research Design14

Research Approach15

Data Collection Method15

Primary research16

Secondary research16

Research instrument17

Sampling Method17

Data Analysis18

Validity and Reliability18

Ethical Considerations19

REFERENCES21

CHAPTER # 1: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

In middle schools the youth bullying or the display of power between an aggressor and a victim is a significant problem. In 1998 the only large-scale study on bullying in the United States was conducted and 29% of the 15,686 sixth- through 10th-grade students surveyed reported involvement in bullying incidents, either as the aggressor or as both a victim and an aggressor. A 1993 survey also indicated that approximately 20% of students reported being bullied at some time. Additionally, the American Medical Association's Council on Scientific Affairs concluded that 7% to 15% of children engage in bullying behavior, an increase of 7% in the past generation (Bartholomew et al., 2006). Thus, bullying is becoming a more pressing issue in middle schools. The increasing amount of bullying occurring in middle schools has provoked a response by researchers and educators. Until very recently, teachers and administrators generally ignored bullying, passing it off as a normal part of growing up or dismissing it as another instance of how boys will be boys (Kirby and Rolleri 2007).

A number of studies on teacher attitudes toward bullying have found that teachers continue to ignore bullying or hold antiquated views on the problem, and that they are not aware of the more relational and bias-crime aspects of bullying that occur today (Maguen and Armistead 2006). Some teachers fear that, if they punish the bullies, bullying will be driven underground or made worse (Richardson 2006). For these reasons, bullies have been free to engage in their attacks on student victims in most U.S. schools. However, with the incidence of bullying now reaching almost one third of the student body, more teachers and administrators are aware that a serious problem exists (Buffardi et al., 2008).

For this reason, there has been a paradigm shift in the response of the educational community to bullying: Now, not only is bullying not tolerated, but research has explored the deeper societal forces that support and allow the persistence of bullying in schools, helping counselors go to the source of bullying and root out its causes (Kost and Carlin 2010). One of the most significant aspects of this paradigm change with regard to bullying is that bullying, which was once viewed as an encounter between two persons, the bully and the victim, is now more often seen as a group or social interaction issue inherent within macro systems (Phipps 2008). This shift of attention to group interactions has brought into focus the supportive role that the bully's assistants, passive student bystanders, and teachers play in enabling bullying in ...