Sara Stuckman
Research Mentor(s): Valerie Umscheid
Mentor Department: Psychology
Authors: Sara Stuckman, Valerie Umscheid
Session: Session 5 (2:00pm – 2:50pm)
Presentation Type: Poster 113
Abstract
Bullying continues to be a significant issue negatively impacting today’s youth. One in five students report experiencing bullying in school, leading to long-term consequences such as increased risk of depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, lower academic achievement, dropping out of school, poor self-image, and a strained relationship with others (Center for Disease Control, 2025; National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). This study explored the perspectives of 161 children, aged 7 to 13, on the effectiveness of various disciplinary interventions – losing screen time, having a conversation with an adult, and apologizing – to prevent bullying behavior, specifically pushing and shoving. The results from the study reveal that children regardless of age or gender perceived conversations with adults to be the most effective consequence to prevent future bullying behavior. However, the children were relatively cautious about claiming that these disciplinary interventions would prevent bullying, rather, preferring to respond that they had the possibility to prevent future bullying behaviors. Furthermore, while survey responses demonstrated that male children were generally more optimistic than female children, children regardless of gender typically became less optimistic about the effectiveness of consequences as they aged. Altogether, this research offers valuable insights into how children of differing ages and genders perceive disciplinary interventions and highlights the need for a deeper understanding of the most effective ways of preventing bullying. Ultimately, this research can help individuals – particularly those who work closely with children – gain a deeper understanding of children’s perspectives and contribute to fostering a future free from bullying and its harmful effects.
