The Impact of Group Counseling on the Self-Esteem Levels of Students Who Have Been Identified as the Targets of Bullying Aggressors

The purpose of this study was to determine if group counseling would be an effective intervention in raising the self-esteem levels of 7 th grade students identified as the targets of bullying aggressors. A literature review is presented, which discusses the definitions and various types of bullying, examines bullying as it relates to age and gender, bullying and self-esteem, and bullying in the school environment. It also looks at methods that have been utilized within the school environment to help reach out to and treat the targets of bullying aggressors—including group counseling. For this study, 12 students volunteered to participate in an 8-week counseling program—all of whom had reported experiencing bullying behaviors within the last year. Two counseling groups were developed—one comprised of six female students and the other of six male students. The participants completed a pre and post questionnaire for this study—The Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale—in order to measure any changes in their self-esteem levels as a result of the intervention. Results are discussed, as well as the implications that this study may have on future school counselors and future studies related to bullying and self-esteem. The Impact of Group Counseling 8 In early 2006, 13-year-old Megan Meier met a friend named “Josh Evans” on the popular social networking site, MySpace.com (Good Morning America, 2007). It was later revealed that Josh was a fictitious character—made up by the mother of a former friend of Megan—with the intention of humiliating Megan, in retribution for Megan allegedly spreading gossip about the mother’s daughter. “Josh” began sending Megan cruel messages and posting electronic bulletins, saying things like, "Megan Meier is a slut” and “Megan Meier is fat”. Shortly after Josh broke off communication with Megan, and just weeks before her 14 th birthday, Megan committed suicide by hanging herself in her bedroom closet. Megan’s mother believed that the cyber exchange devastated Megan, who was unable to understand how and why her friendship with “Josh” unraveled. The stress and frustration was too much for Megan, who had a history of depression and low self-esteem and was under psychiatric for a period of five years leading up to her death. Review of the Literature Bullying is a challenge, and it affects individual students, as well as the entire community. Research of childhood bullying has expanded considerably over the past few decades and is now recognized worldwide as a problem (Camodeca & Goossens, 2005). Bullying occurs along a continuum, with students assuming bully, victim, and bully-victim roles (Espelage & Horne, 2008) and is believed to create severe and long-term mental and physical consequences (Hawker & Boulton, 2000; Lunde, Frisen, & Hwang, 2007; Rigby, 2003; Smith, Ananiadou, & Cowie, 2003; Stassen Berger, 2007). Over the past few decades, we have learned that schools are not necessarily safe havens for learning and achievement, but rather institutions where a substantial number of students are worried about getting physically attacked or harassed by their peers (Juvonen, Wang, & Espinoza, 2011). The Impact of Group Counseling 9