How an Involved Parent Can Help Prevent Bullying

05 May 2010

A 2008 photo of an Illinois mother, Lisa Borre, who has had to talk with both her children, Franklin and Vivian, about the behavior of classmates

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

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 this week 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.

RASHMI SHETGIRI: "There's about thirty percent of U.S. children are involved in bullying, and the latest numbers we have is about thirteen percent of them are bullies, eleven percent as victims and then six percent as 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.

RASHMI SHETGIRI: "Children who have emotional or developmental problems or who have mothers who have poor mental health are more likely to be bullies. And older children and children who live in homes where their primary language is not English, and also children who complete all their homework, are less likely to be bullies."