Over the past few years, we have heard more and more
about bullying. It has always been going
on, but with the internet and other electronic media, it has become even more prominent. In a few situations, it has resulted in the
victims committing suicide. It has been
reported that some mass-murderers were victims of bullying in their youth.
Thank heavens, these are rarities, but many adults suffer their entire lives
because they were bullied as children.
The following article provides some facts about school bullies. (Source: http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/school-bullying.html)
School Bullying
School bullying refers
to all types of bullying done on school property, whether it is peer-to-peer
bullying, bullying of younger children by older children, or bullying in which
a teacher is either a victim or a culprit. Keep reading for more information on
school bullying.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly a third of all students aged 12 - 18 reported having been bullied at school in 2007, some almost daily. This article gives a general background on school bullying.
Types of School
Bullying
There are different
categories of school bullying, and some of the categories overlap. Here
are some of the most important categories that are frequently discussed:
How Many Bullies
- Pack bullying is bullying undertaken by a group. The
2009 Wesley Report on bullying prepared by an Australia-based group, found
that pack bullying was more prominent in high schools and
characteristically lasted longer that bullying undertaken by individuals.
Pack bullying may be physical bullying or emotional bullying and
be perpetrated in person or in cyberspace. In person, it can take place in
schoolyards, school hallways, sports fields and gymnasiums, classrooms,
and on the school bus.
- Individual bullying is one-on-one bullying that may
take place either in person or online, as well as being physical
bullying or emotional bullying. The Wesley Report found it to
be more prevalent in elementary schools. It can take place everywhere that
pack bullying can, and also in smaller areas into which a pack can't fit,
such as bathrooms.
Mode of School Bullying
- Physical
bullying is bullying that takes the form of physical abuse, such
as pushing, shoving, hitting, fighting, spitting, and tripping. Threats of
physical harm and attempts to force people to act in ways they would
prefer not to are also included.
- Emotional bullying is bullying that involves factors
other than physical interaction, such as insults, derogatory remarks, name
calling, and teasing. Also included are attempts to ostracize the victim,
such as being left out or ignored, which is sometimes referred to as
social bullying, as distinguished from verbal bullying. Emotional bullying
could also take the form of purposely misplacing or hiding someone's
belongings. Emotional bullying can be done in person or through cyber-bullying.
Medium of School
Bullying
- Face-to-face bullying is bullying in which students
confront each other in person.
- Cyber bullying is bullying that takes place online,
through email, chat rooms, social networking services, text messages,
instant messages, website postings, blogs, or a combination of means.
Cyber-bullies may conceal their identity so that their victim experiences
an anonymous attack. The content of cyber-bullying can consist of all of
the types of content mentioned in emotional bullying above, including
posting insulting and derogatory comments about someone or sending such
comments to someone; sending mean or threatening messages; gossiping about
someone online including posting sensitive or private information;
impersonating someone in order to cast that person in a bad light; and
excluding someone from an online page or group. Unwanted contact, also
known as harassment, is another form of cyber-bullying.
Specific Targets of
School Bullying
- Homophobic bullying is sometimes distinguished because
it has a particular target population.
- Bullying of students with disabilities is another type
of bullying with a focused target population.
- Racist bullying is a third type of focused bullying
that targets people of a specific race or cultural.
- Religious bullying targets people who have specific
religious beliefs.
Facts about School
Bullying
The NCES report reveals
that:
- There is noticeably more bullying in middle school
(grades 6, 7, and 8) than in senior high school
- Emotional bullying is the most prevalent type of
bullying, with pushing/shoving/tripping/spitting on someone being second
- Cyber-bullying is - for the middle grade levels - the
least prominent type of bullying, but it is greater in the last three
years of high school than in grades 6 - 9
- Most school
bullying occurs inside the school, a lesser amount on school
property, and even less on the school bus. The least occurs in other areas
- Middle school students, and particularly 6th graders,
were most likely to be bullied on the bus
- Sixth graders were the most likely students to sustain
an injury from bullying, with middle schoolers more likely to be injured
than high school students and the percentage going down every grade from 6
to 12
- Victims of bullying display a range of responses, even
many years later, such as:
1.
Low
self-esteem
2.
Difficulty
in trusting others
3.
Lack
of assertiveness
4.
Aggression
5.
Difficulty
controlling anger
6.
Isolation
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