Bullying and Victimization

Definition of Bullying

Discriminating bullying from other types of aggression and from rough play can be challenging. Experts in the field identify three distinguishing features of bullying (Olweus, 1993):

• 1.
  It has a power imbalance in which the child doing the bullying has more power because of factors such as age, size, support of a peer group, or higher status.
• 2.
  It is carried out with the intent of harming the targeted child.
• 3.
  It is usually an activity in which a particular child is singled out repeatedly.

Bullying behaviors can include verbal aggression, physical aggression, and relationship-damaging behaviors. An example of the latter would be using gossip to systematically exclude a child from a peer group. Bullying also may have sexual content, particularly in later elementary years and among older youth. Typically, a distinction is made between direct and indirect bullying to distinguish behaviors that are expressed overtly from those expressed covertly.

Direct bullying is characterized by open physical or verbal attacks on the targeted child. In cases of direct bullying, the child and, often, others within the school know the identity of the person(s) doing the bullying. Direct bullying is easier to recognize because the behaviors are readily observable and the impact is immediate. In contrast, indirect bullying includes covert, harmful behaviors directed toward another child (Olweus, 1993). Indirect bullying can be more difficult to recognize because the person being bullied may not be present when the bullying occurs. Examples of indirect bullying include spreading rumors, writing mean graffiti about a child, and encouraging others to leave a child out. There exists evidence suggesting girls are more likely to engage in indirect forms of bullying, whereas boys are more prone to direct bullying.

Prevalence

Most of the information regarding the prevalence of bullying is based on children's self-reports. In a large Norwegian sample, approximately 7% of students reported regularly bullying others, while 9% reported frequent victimization (Olweus, 1993). Selfreport data obtained by researchers in Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand have revealed rates of bullying comparable to or higher than the Norwegian sample (Smith & colleagues, 1999). A large-scale, nationally representative sample of 6th through 10th graders in the United States revealed that 13% of the sample regularly bullied others, 11% of the sample were regularly victimized, and 6% of the sample were involved in high levels of both bullying and victimization (Nansel & colleagues, 2001). U.S. studies of children in the middle-to-late elementary years show rates of frequent victimization ranging from 10% to 18% (Pellegrini & colleagues, 1999).

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