ABSTRACT
Extant investigations of bullying in the United States have provided valuable insight into the problem, but have relied heavily on student questionnaires or student behavior observations (e.g., Leff, Kupersmidt, Patterson, & Power, 1999; Stockdale, Hangaduambo, Duys, Larson, & Sarvela, 2002). Although assessing students offers a crucial lens through which to understand bullying dynamics, it is also important to delineate school staff members’ perspectives. School personnel have frequent interactions with students and are also often involved in bullying interventions (e.g., Newman, Horne, & Bartulomucci, 2000). Accordingly, it is critical that staff attitudes and behaviors are evaluated given their contribution to the pervasive school culture (Olweus, 1992), which, in turn serves to promote or to discourage bullying. Unfortunately, few studies have addressed attitudes maintained by adult members of the school community. As such, after reviewing background information on (1) the extent to which school staff recognize the occurrence of bullying within their schools, and (2) relevant school climate issues, we turn to a study of school personnel’s attitudes affecting bullying that resulted in a targeted intervention program based on its findings. We conclude with a broader discussion of prevention and intervention programs involving school staff.
