DATE: May 14, 2009

CONTACT: Dr. Gary Melton, 864-656-6271
gmelton@clemson.edu

WRITER: Sharon Crout, 864-656-6271
scrout@clemson.edu


Susan Limber named to Olweus professorship in bullying prevention

CLEMSON — Susan P. Limber has been named the first Dan Olweus Distinguished Professor in the Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life (IFNL) at Clemson University. The newly established professorship will focus on the prevention of bullying and other forms of aggression among children.

"Dr. Limber is an exemplary scholar and public servant," said Dr. Gary Melton, the institute's director. "Her appointment to the professorship marks 10 years of national leadership in bullying prevention by IFNL. Serving as the hub for dissemination of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in the U.S., the institute has led in the development of a network of research-based programs for bullying prevention."

The institute oversees all training, product development and research on the Olweus program for North and South America.

Olweus, of the University of Bergen in Norway, for whom the professorship is named, has been "widely acknowledged as the most influential scholar on bullying prevention since such research began," said Melton.

The professorship is supported by contributions of a team of authors of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program materials, including Clemson University faculty members and program directors for the Olweus program in the United States.

Limber's work on the prevention of bullying served as the scientific foundation for the design of a national public information campaign, said Melton.

The institute's faculty members continue to serve as the primary consultants for the campaign. Designed to reach 9- to 13-year-olds, the campaign to "Stop Bullying Now" is in its fifth year.

Working with national professional associations, the campaign has more than 80 active partners. They have achieved 14,000 broadcasts of public service announcements that have reached 150 million Americans. DVDs produced for the campaign have been viewed by children in 66,000 schools and the Web site is visited 20,000 times per week.

Limber and Robin Kowalski, a Clemson University psychology professor, have studied the phenomenon of cyber-bullying. They wrote a book about their research and developed a school curriculum.

Formerly a James Marshall Public Policy Fellow for the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Limber has focused her research and writing on legal and psychological issues related to youth violence, child protection and children's rights. Her work on bullying prevention earned her the American Psychological Association's prestigious Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest. Limber also received the Saleem Shah Award from the American Psychology-Law Society for early career excellence in law and policy.

Limber earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and her doctorate and two master's degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

For more information, visit www.clemson.edu/ifnl or www.olweus.org.

END

Facts about bullying  

  • A study of more than 6,385 South Carolina students in grades 4, 5, and 6 found that 20 percent bullied others at least "sometimes" and 24 percent were bullied at least "sometimes."
  • Children fear being bullied. A 2003 Harris poll of 2,279 girls ages 8-17 revealed their biggest fear was being teased or made fun of; a fear experienced 30 times as often as fears about school grades.
  • Short-term effects of bullying on victims include lower self-esteem, higher anxiety and depression, higher rates of illness and more suicidal thoughts.
  • A 2003 study found that health consequences of bullying for victims include physical symptoms such as headache, sleep problems and abdominal pain, as well as tension, anxiety and moderate to strong depression.
  • Bullied children are more likely to dislike school, to avoid going to school, to have higher absentee rates and to receive lower grades.
  • Children who bully are more likely to get into fights, steal, vandalize, drink alcohol, smoke, drop out of school and report poorer academic achievement.
  • Longer term, 60 percent of boys who were bullies in middle school had one or more convictions by age 24 and 40 percent had three or more convictions. Bullies were four times as likely as their peers to have multiple convictions.
  • The incidence of cyber-bullying, done through e-mail, text-messaging, social-networking sites, is increasing as more children have access to technology. Middle school seems to be the peak time during which problems with cyber-bullying emerge.