| Bullying has been an ongoing epidemic for many years. As described by Bronfenbrenner, factors associated with bullying may be distinguished in each of the child's systems. Possible indications for not reporting include retaliation from the bully, a lack of trust for school administrators, social stigma, shame or embarrassment, and the bystander effect. The purpose of this study was to examine how anonymous reporting affected the likelihood of reporting bullying behaviors in middle school, and also examined factors that are significant in influencing anonymous reporting. It was hypothesized that if students were allowed to report bullying anonymously, there was a greater likelihood that bullying will be reported. The participants in the current study contained 52 male and female middle school students between the ages of 11 and 13 years of age. During the 2014 school year, the students had the opportunity to report bullying behaviors anonymously through an online reporting system. The number of reports of bullying behaviors for the 2014 school year was compared to the same time period the previous school year, when anonymous online reporting was not available. The research was undertaken with the goal of identifying whether there is a correlation with anonymous reporting and a decrease in bullying behavior. In addition, students were also given 2 surveys to assess for factors, which were hypothesized to be barriers to reporting bullying behaviors. The results revealed that there were a greater number of bullying reports made anonymously during the 2014 school year versus non-anonymously during the 2013 school year; however, there were no significant findings regarding factors that may predict anonymous reporting of bullying behaviors. |
