Title:
How an Involved Parent Can Help Prevent Bullying
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Education Report.
See text below
Text:
Today we have the last of three reports on bullying.
Last week we shared some of your comments on this
issue. Now, we talk to a researcher who presented a
study in May at the Pediatric Academic Societies
meeting in Vancouver, Canada. Rashmi Shetgiri is a
pediatrician at the University of Texas Southwestern
Medical Center and Children's Medical Center Dallas.
Doctor Shetgiri said about thirty percent of
American children are involved in bullying. She said
about thirteen percent of them are bullies, eleven
percent are victims and six percent are both bullies
and victims. The new study led by Doctor Shetgiri
shows that parents could help prevent bullying by
improving communication and involvement with their
children. The study identified factors that seem to
increase or decrease the risk that a child will be a
bully. She said children who have emotional or
developmental problems or who have mothers who have
poor mental health are more likely to be bullies.
Older children and children who live in homes where
their primary language is not English are less
likely to be bullies. Another difference: The study
found that African-American and Latino children were
more likely to be bullies compared to white
children. For the study, the researchers used the
two thousand seven National Survey of Children's
Health. Parents of children age ten to seventeen
were asked whether their child bullies or is cruel
or mean to others. Not surprisingly, how a parent
acts may also influence whether or not a child
becomes a bully. Parents who often get angry with
their children and feel that the children often do
things that bother them a lot are much more likely
to have a child who becomes a bully. However,
parents who share ideas with their children and talk
with them are much less likely to have children who
become bullies. University of Nebraska psychologist
Susan Swearer says communication between students
and teachers can also reduce bullying. She says
studies have shown improvement when students are
taught about bullying and respectful behavior. Some
programs also try to get people to intervene to stop
bullying.
Professor Swearer advises parents and teachers to
try to get children to talk to them about being
bullied. Otherwise a child could feel hopeless and
helpless to do anything about it. And that's the VOA
Special English Education Report.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
