University of North Alabama UNA Scholarly Repository Sociology and Family Studies Master's Theses Department of Sociology and Family Studies Spring 2016 The Effects of Bullying on Special Needs Individuals and Their Families: A Needs Assessment of a Southern Community to Promote Growth, Awareness, and Community Response Emma Y. Hazlewood University of North Alabama, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.una.edu/sfsmt Recommended Citation Hazlewood, E. Y. (2016). The Effects of Bullying on Special Needs Individuals and Their Families: A Needs Assessment of a Southern Community to Promote Growth, Awareness, and Community Response. Retrieved from https://ir.una.edu/sfsmt/5 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Sociology and Family Studies at UNA Scholarly Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sociology and Family Studies Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of UNA Scholarly Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Effects of Bullying on Special Needs Individuals and Their Families: A Needs Assessment of a Southern Community to Promote Growth, Awareness, and Community Response By Emma Y. Hazlewood, CFLE Provisional A.A., Gadsden State Community College, 2012 B.S., University of North Alabama, 2014 A THESIS Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF SCIENCE Department of Sociology and Family Studies College of Arts and Sciences UNIVERSITY OF NORTH ALABAMA Florence, Alabama 2016 Approved by: Abstract Research on bullying has increased in the last decade; however, this research rarely focuses on bullying of special needs children and the effect it has on families. This study adds to the existing literature by addressing how bullying affects the special needs population in a southern community. In considering the unique caregiving challenges that special needs families experience, this research examines whether bullying brings added stress to families and caregivers and whether they believe the community can bring awareness, growth, and a sense of belonging to their children and families. Parents or caregivers attending a local rehabilitation center completed a survey regarding their children’s experiences with bullying. Findings suggest that parents and caregivers of children of all ages are susceptible to bullying. Bullying affects families, the child, and the caregiver bringing added stress, which affects all age groups. Further, respondents indicated that they believed communities could offer more social interaction and awareness outside of the school settings. Table of Contents List of Tables……..………………………………………………………………………iv Acknowledgements.………………………………………………………………………v Dedication……………………………………………………………………………..…vi I. INTRODUCTION…………………………..…………………………………………1 II. LITERATURE REVIEW......……………..……………………………………………1 III. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK………………………………………………......…8 IV. RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES……...……………………………9 V. DATA AND METHODS……………………………………………………………..10 VI. RESULTS……………………………………………………………………………16 VII. DISCUSSION………………………………………………………………………24 VIII. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………….…………29 Appendix A. Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of the Parents and/or Caregivers…….........32 Appendix B. Example of Survey………………………………………….……………..34 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………..39 List of Tables Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of the Parents and/or Caregivers who completed the Survey (in Appendix A) ………………………………………………………..….……32 Table 2: Descriptive Statistics of the Special Needs Individuals……………………......12 Table 3: Descriptive Statistics of the Frequency of Bullied Special Needs Individuals by both peers and teachers/aides/adults reported by parents and caregivers………………..14 Table 4: Descriptive Statistics of the Type of Bullying Parents and Caregivers Report have Happened to their Special Needs Child(ren)……………………………………….14 Table 5: Average mean of added stress for caregivers, family and child by age……….15 Table 6: One Way ANOVA of Special Needs Individuals (Child 1) Bullied by a Peer..17 Table 7: One Way ANOVA of Special Needs Individuals (Child 1) Bullied by a teacher/aide/adult………………………………………………………………………...17 Table 8: One Way ANOVA of Stress on Parents/Caregivers from bullying of a special needs individual (Child 1)………………………………………………………………..18 Table 9: One Way ANOVA of Stress on the family from bullying of a special needs individual (Child 1)………………………………………………………………………19 Table 10: One Way ANOVA of Stress on the special needs individual from bullying (Child 1)………………………………………………………………………………….19 Table 11: ANOVA – Do you believe that your community encourages and acceptances of disabilities?........................................................................................................................20 Table 12: ANOVA – Do you believe that your community is offering the services your child needs for social interactions outside of school?........................................................21 Table 13: If you community offered the following resources, would you, your family, or special needs child participate?..........................................................................................23 iv Acknowledgements I would like to take a moment to thank several people for making this study possible. First of all, Dr. Amber Paulk for seeing me from the beginning stages of this idea as an undergraduate until completion. Dr. Andrea Hunt, my advisor and patient guide through the process of pushing through this process. Dr. Yaschica Williams, who rounded out my committee and for offering much needed input. All of these professors help to make up an impressive part of the University of North Alabama Sociology and Family Studies Program, and without them, I would not be where I am today in academics and profession. I would also like to thank the staff of the Family Success Center, the United Way, Success by Six, Children’s Rehabilitation Services, United Cerebral Palsy and the Children’s Policy Council all of Etowah County for my constant nagging and help with the research. Also a thank you must go out to those families of a League of Our Own Baseball in Oxford, Alabama for allowing me to pick your brains. To my family and friends who saw me through this whole thing from beginning to end and helped to be my cheerleaders or just knew that I could do it: Will, Jonathan, Bart, Adam, Robin, Robbie, Judy, G.W., Jessica and all of the others whom I am forgetting. I thank you all. Your love and support from my first talks of going back to school until the completion of this thesis has shown me that with the right people in your life, anything is possible. v Dedications This paper is dedicated to William and Jonathan Hazlewood. My two special needs teenagers who keep me on my toes. Without them, my life would be empty. They always have a smile, just for me. They are my true heroes in every sense of the word. Also to my mother, Hilda Goode, whom I lost in 2008 before she ever got to see me walk across a stage and accept a degree but knew I could make it far. To my father, Rick Goode, whom I lost in 2015. I hate that he was unable to see me finish the job but am so glad that I was there with him until the end. To my niece Hannah Beech, who taught me how much resiliency young people with disabilities have and inspired me every day with my own journey, even though she had no idea. My great niece and nephew, Charlee and Noah Beech, who also inspire me with their strength. Also my brother Tim, who faces great odds and does it with a quick joke and laughter. I am amazed at the strength of all of my family members who face a special need. To my partner in life, Bart Clapp, for standing by me and showing me that it was okay to push forward, even if I felt like a failure. To Robin Klemm and Adam Hyde for helping keep me sane and never letting me or the boys fall. Finally, I’d like to dedicate this whole thing to the special needs children and young adults and their families who helped with the study and all others who have gone through the terrible experience of bullying. Please know that you are not alone. This was a personal project for me for many reasons. Continue to stand tall, push forward and be the voice and advocate for your child, for your families and yourselves. Your story may be the one that changes the world. vi 1 I. INTRODUCTION According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (2013), 1 in 3 students have been bullied in their lifetime. This data focuses on students as a whole and does not indicate whether special needs children are included in this statistic. There is little research on bullying of special needs children, despite the fact that statistics show that these children are more likely than other children to be bullied (Marshall, Kendall, Banks, & Gover, 2009). Bullying not only affects the child, but can also bring added stress to families and caregivers (Jones, 2012). This is especially salient for families with special needs children who experience unique caregiving demands that combined with bullying can result in added pain, grief, and guilt (Contact a Family, 2012). The current research examines bullying of special needs children and the added stress to families within a southern community and connects this to larger national patterns in bullying. II. LITERATURE REVIEW While there is little research on bullying of special needs children conducted in the United States, scholars in the United Kingdom have been very active in disability studies due to national policies. For instance, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) set forth standards in the UK stating that children with special needs have the legal right to be safe and have resources to ensure a happy and independent life to the best of their ability. However, despite the information provided and set forth by the UNCRC, this is not always a reality. Mencap’s (2007) findings support this by showing that 7 out of 10 children and young people with a learning disability in his sample of 507 experienced verbal bullying. These children not only felt excluded, talked about, picked on, but also experienced physical bullying. In the United Kingdom, Musil et al.