Nebraska Colloquium lecture on bullying is Nov. 30
Released on 11/21/2007, at 2:00 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
WHEN: Friday, Nov. 30, 2007
WHERE: Van Brunt Visitors Center, 313 N. 13th Street, Room 123
"Justifying Bullying: Moral Disengagement among School Children" is the title of the next Nebraska Colloquium at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Shelley Hymel, a professor in education at the University of British Columbia, will deliver the colloquium lecture at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 30 at UNL's Van Brunt Visitors Center, 313 N. 13th St., Room 123.
The lecture is part of the Bullying Research Network's lecture series, "Approaches to Solving the Problem of Bullying from a Global Perspective." Sponsors are the College of Education and Human Sciences in collaboration with the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools, both at UNL.
Children who witness bullying seldom intervene on behalf of victims and often behave in ways that support bullying behavior. Educators, parents and communities struggle to understand how it is that children and adolescents can behave in ways that condone and maintain bullying behavior, with a substantial number of students engaging directly in bullying behavior or failing to do anything to stop it. In this presentation, the social cognitive theory of moral agency will be addressed, in an effort to understand moral disengagement as a critical factor contributing to bullying behavior among children and youths, among individuals and groups.
Hymel received her Ph.D in educational psychology in 1982 from the University of Illinois. She has published extensively in the area of social development and peer relations and has served on the editorial board of several major research journals as well as review committees for the National Institute of Mental Health. Hymel is one of six core investigators studying youth violence in girls over the five-year period from 2002 to 2007. The study is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. She is part of the executive team of PREVNet, a new initiative from the Canadian National Centers of Excellence.
The lecture is free and open to the public. Because seating is limited, a registration is requested to Holly Sexton at hsexton1@unl.edu.
CONTACT: Holly Sexton, Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools, (402) 472-2448