Bullying

Daniel Olweus, a Scandinavian researcher, is generally recognized as the foremost authority on bullying. He defines bullying as intentionally harmful, aggressive behavior of a more powerful person or group of people directed repeatedly toward a less powerful person, usually without provocation. Thus, hitting/kicking, teasing, name calling, taunting, threatening, stealing, excluding, or spreading rumors are typical bully behaviors. Added to this list is a new type of bullying over the Internet, called “cyberbullying.”

A 2002 report by the Families and Work Institute interviewed 2,000 students and found that small things, such as teasing, often trigger serious episodes of violence. On school campuses, studies have found that anywhere from 20% to 30% of students are frequently involved in bullying incidents either as the victim or the bully. The 2003 Indicators of School Crime and Safety reported that bullying was the only category that reported an increase from 5% of students reporting that they had been bullied at school in the last 6 months in 1999 to 8% reporting this in 2001.

High school students tend to bully students who don't fit in. Boys tend to select victims who are physically weak, who are short tempered, based on who their friends are, or by their clothing. Girls, on the other hand, choose victims based on looks, emotionalism, being overweight, or who receives good grades.

Being a victim of bullying causes students to feel less connected with the school, which often leads to poor physical health, lowered participation in extracurricular events, violence, substance use, and suicide. The ability to form natural relationships is often impaired, and this rejection by peers often leads to emotional disturbances in adulthood. Victims of bullying are more anxious than their peers, are likely to be targeted for atypical gender behaviors or racism, [Page 90]and have poorer relationships with classmates and more loneliness than bullies, especially boys.

While bullies demonstrate some of the same characteristics as their victims, they are more likely to be depressed rather than hold higher social status than victims, use alcohol and smoke, have poorer academic achievement and perceive a poorer school climate, and are more likely to manifest defiant behavior and have racist attitudes. In addition, bullies have a much higher chance of later committing delinquent acts, and even several years after graduation, they may have significantly more depression and poorer self-esteem than their peers.

The students who seem to be the most seriously affected by bullying are the victims themselves. The victims of bullies are more likely to smoke, drink, and have poorer academic achievement than bullies, have poorer relationships with classmates, and have increased loneliness compared with bullies. They need to retaliate following acts of aggression. Some suggest that young people who are seriously abused as children may seek to bully others, contributing to a cycle of abuse that extends into adulthood and to their own families.

Everyone at school suffers when bullying occurs, including bystanders who often feel anger and helplessness, report nightmares and increased worry and fear, and sometimes exaggerate reports of bullying to justify failing to help a victim. In addition, bystanders often intentionally do not become involved because they do not know how to respond, which results in experiencing a loss of their own self-respect.

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