* The Impact of Well-Being on Reducing Cyber-Bullying, Teen Suicide and School Shootings

“Cyber-bullying”, “Teen Suicide” and “Another School Shooting”. These are the topics that continue to make headline news. We hear of anti-bullying campaigns, suicide awareness and heated debates on how to keep students safe in school. Although the conversations are necessary and important, I wonder if we are missing a key element. That element is, well-being.

Well-being is a construct made up of a number of separate elements that are different and related. No one element, in and of itself, can define well-being. Rather, the combination of the elements helps us have a better grasp of what it is. Elements like positive emotion, positive relationships, meaning and purpose, achievement, health and resiliency are some elements that make up well-being. So the question is, what are we doing to teach students to have greater well-being? As you will see below, well-being plays a crucial role in tackling these headline issues.

Let’s start with cyber-bulling. Are we intentional about teaching students respect of others and pro-social behavior skills in schools? Some may say, “That is the job of parents.” I don’t disagree. And, students spend 30+ hours a week in school so I would argue, school provides the training lab for students to learn and practice these skills. I have been hearing about various schools that have designated lunch tables where all kids are welcome so no child has to eat lunch alone. I love this idea. I work with many students who find lunchtime to be quite stressful because knowing how to navigate relationships at lunch can be a land mine and many choose to sit alone or hide in the library. This is one example of being intentional in schools.

I was speaking with a colleague last week at a conference and she talked about how teaching students respect was a core value integrated into every element of their school. She shared with me a story of a 12-year-old male student who wrote a nasty remark about a female student on social media. When he was brought in to meet with the teacher and learned the impact it had on his victim, he was reminded of the core value of respect and asked what he thought he needed to do to make it right. The young man decided to make a video talking about his classmate’s strengths and apologizing to her for his previous post. He then took it upon himself to make a video on why it is wrong to post negative information on social media about others and the lessons he learned. He asked permission to share with the incoming class of students so they might learn from his mistakes. This young man did not need a lecture because respect of others was integrated into all aspects of his school. We have research that supports when we teach well-being in schools, pro-social behavior goes up.1 The above is just one example of the impact this can have.

The next big topic we hear in the news is regarding suicide. Suicide is the second leading cause of death of 15-34 year olds and the third leading cause of death of 10-14 year olds.2 To be honest, I don’t think we need more information on suicide awareness. I think most of us are aware it is a problem. We need suicide prevention. The problem with most conversations on suicide prevention is it starts with addressing kids who are already depressed. I think we need to back it up further and give all students the skills to be resilient so when life is hard, and it will be at times, they don’t become depressed to begin with. When well-being is taught in schools; resiliency being one component of well-being, anxiety, depression and hopelessness go down3,4. This is true prevention.

And then there are school shootings. This has lead to some heated debates over the past year or so. Should teachers carry guns or not? Do we need metal detectors on all campuses? Do our gun laws need to change? These are all important conversations to have. And, I would argue that teaching well-being is a huge opportunity to minimize this problem as well. In addition to it playing a role in increasing pro-social behavior and reducing depression, anxiety and hopelessness, we also know that students who are taught the various skills of well-being have greater levels of self-control5, fewer conduct problems5, and stronger social and emotional skills6. Think of the impact this all could have on the number of school shootings.

We have learned over the years that having a class in well-being is not enough to bring about the findings I mentioned above. Instead, the principles of well-being need to be integrated into every aspect of the school from the classroom to the cafeteria where all administrators, teachers and faculty have learned, practice, model and teach the principles to students.

When schools integrate well-being into the fabric of their institutions, it is called Positive Education. Positive Education is a school environment where well-being and character development are as important as academic achievement. In fact, schools of Positive Education not only demonstrate the findings mentioned above, but school engagement and participation also go up7, as well as higher GPA’s.8 The good news is, it does not require a complete overhaul of school curriculum. There are ways to integrate these strategies into existing curriculum. To learn more about this, check out the “Services” and “Resource” pages of my website.

Let’s be truly proactive in turning around the headlines and statistics regarding cyber-bullying, suicide and school violence through evidenced based practices that promote well-being among students.

References:

1. Bird, J., Markly, R. (2012). Subjective Well-being in School Environments: Promoting Positive Youth Development Through Evidence Based Assessment. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 82, 61-66.
2. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Facts at a Glance. (2015). www.cdc.gov/violencePrevention/pdf/suicide-datasheet-a.pdf
3. Seligman, M. (2011). Flourish. New York: Free Press. 81-82.
4. Gillham, J.E., Hamilton, D.R., Freres K., Patton, and Gallop, R. (2006). 
Preventing Depression Among Early Adolescents in the Primary Care Setting: 
A Randomized Controlled Study of the Penn Resiliency Program. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 203-219.
5. Brunwasser, S.M., Gillham, J.E., & Kim, E.S. (2009). A Meta-Analytic Review of the Penn Resiliency Program’s Effect on Depressive Symptoms. Journal of 
Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77(6), 1042-1054.
6. Noble, T., & McGrath, H. (2012). The Positive Educational Practices 
Framework: A Tool For Facilitating the Work of Educational Psychologists in Promoting Pupil Well-Being. Educational & Child Psychology, 25(2), 119- 134.
7. Seligman, M. (2011). Flourish. New York: Free Press. 85.
8. Durlak, J., Weissberg, P., Dymnicki,