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Bullying

Bullying is detrimental to students’ well-being and development.[1] Bullying is the use of force or coercion to abuse or intimidate others. The behavior can be habitual and involve an imbalance of social or physical power. It can include verbal harassment or threat, physical assault or coercion and may be directed repeatedly towards particular victims, perhaps on grounds of race, religion, gender, sexuality, or ability.[2][3] The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a "target".</ref>

Bullying can be defined in many different ways. The UK currently has no legal definition of bullying,[4] while some U.S. states have laws against it.[5] Bullying consists of three basic types of abuse – emotional, verbal, and physical. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation.

Bullying ranges from simple one-on-one bullying to more complex bullying in which the bully may have one or more "lieutenants" who may seem to be willing to assist the primary bully in his or her bullying activities. Bullying in school and the workplace is also referred to as peer abuse.[6] Robert W. Fuller has analyzed bullying in the context of rankism.

Bullying can occur in any context in which human beings interact with each other. This includes school, church, family, the workplace, home, and neighborhoods.

• Victims of bullying can also be prone to suicide, stress, depression, and other psychological dysfunctions. The effects of bullying on a child can be very drastic and could cause serious damage to reputations and could also cause the child to develop abnormal psychological effects. These effects can effect the child for the rest of their life but it can also be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy and some medications.

Norwegian researcher Dan Olweus[8] says bullying occurs when a person is:

'exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons'. He says negative actions occur 'when a person intentionally inflicts injury or discomfort upon another person, through physical contact, through words or in other ways.'[citation needed]

History

High-level forms of violence such as assault and murder usually receive most media attention, but lower-level forms of violence such as bullying have only in recent years started to be addressed by researchers, parents and guardians, and authority figures.[10] It is only in recent years that bullying has been recognised and recorded as a separate and distinct offence, but there have been well documented cases that have been recorded over the centuries. The Fifth Volume of the Newgate Calendar[11] contains at least one example where Eton Scholars George Alexander Wood and Alexander Wellesley Leith were charged, at Aylesbury Assizes, with killing and slaying the Hon. F. Ashley Cooper on February 28, 1825 in an incident which might today be described as "lethal hazing".[12] The Newgate calendar contains several other examples that, while not as distinct, could be considered indicative of situations of bullying. Virginia Woolf considered fascism to be a form of bullying, and wrote of Hitler and the Nazis in 1934 as "these brutal bullies".[13][14]

Anti-bullying movement

In the 2000s and 2010s, a cultural movement against bullying gained popularity in the English-speaking world. The first National Bullying Prevention Week was conceived of in Canada in 2000 by Canadian educator and anti-bullying activist Bill Belsey. The charity Act Against Bullying was formed in the UK in 2003. In 2006, National Bullying Prevention Month was declared in the United States. The Suicide of Phoebe Prince in 2010 brought attention to the issue in Massachusetts, and sparked reforms in state education. The It Gets Better Project was started in 2010 to combat gay teen suicides, and Lady Gaga announced the Born This Way Foundation in partnership with Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society in 2011.

A 2012 paper from the Berkman Center, “An Overview of State Anti-Bullying Legislation and Other Related Laws,” notes that, as of January 2012, 48 U.S. states had anti-bullying laws, though there is wide variation in their strength and focus. Sixteen states acknowledge that bullies often target their victims based on “creed or religion, disability, gender or sex, nationality or national origin, race, and sexual orientation.” Each of the 16 employs a wide array of additional parameters, the paper notes, ranging from age and weight to socioeconomic status. Of the 38 states that have laws encompassing electronic or “cyberbullying” activity, 32 put such offenses under the broader category of bullying and six states define this type of offense separately, the authors report.[15]

• According to S. Graham, different anti bullying movements have been going on to fix this problem. Monitoring facebook and other social networking sites have been a top priority for stopping bullying accross the country. Social networking sites have allowed people to post negative things about other people and start rumors. If these social networking sites were to update their security settings and eliminate negative things that were posted then it would be a safer environment. Negative postings on networking sites can lead to teens being bullied and harassed at an even greater risk.

Characteristics

Of bullying in general

Bullying consists of three basic types of abuse – emotional, verbal, and physical. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation. Bullying behavior may include name calling, verbal or written abuse, exclusion from activities, exclusion from social situations, physical abuse, or coercion.[10][16]

U.S. National Center for Education Statistics suggests that bullying can be classified into two categories:

1.direct bullying, and
2.indirect bullying (which is also known as social aggression).[1]

Ross states that direct bullying involves a great deal of physical aggression, such as shoving and poking, throwing things, slapping, choking, punching and kicking, beating, stabbing, pulling hair, scratching, biting, scraping, and pinching.[17]

He also suggests that social aggression or indirect bullying is characterized by attempting to socially isolate the victim. This isolation is achieved through a wide variety of techniques, including spreading gossip, refusing to socialize with the victim, bullying other people who wish to socialize with the victim, and criticizing the victim's manner of dress and other socially-significant markers (including the victim's race, religion, disability, sex, or sexual preference, etc.). Ross[17] outlines an array of nonviolent behavior which can be considered "indirect bullying", at least in some instances, such as name calling, the silent treatment, arguing others into submission, manipulation, gossip/false gossip, lies, rumors/false rumors, staring, giggling, laughing at the victim, saying certain words that trigger a reaction from a past event, and mocking. The UK based children's charity, Act Against Bullying, was set up in 2003 to help children who were victims of this type of bullying by researching and publishing coping skills.

It has been noted that there tend to be differences in how bullying manifests itself between the sexes. Males tend to be more likely to be physically aggressive whereas females tend to favour exclusion and mockery, though it has been noticed that females are becoming more physical in their bullying.[7] There can be a tendency in both sexes to opt for exclusion and mockery rather than physical aggression when the victim is perceived to be too strong to attack without risk, or the use of violence would otherwise cause problems for the bullies such as criminal liability, or the bullies see physical aggression as immature (particularly when bullying occurs among adults).[citation needed]

Clayton R. Cook and co-authors from the University of California at Riverside examined 153 studies from the last 30 years. They found that boys bully more than girls, and bullies and victims both have poor social problem-solving skills. More than anything else, poor academic performance predicts those who will bully.[18]

Of bullies and bully accomplices

Studies have shown that envy and resentment may be motives for bullying.[19] Research on the self-esteem of bullies has produced equivocal results.[20][21] While some bullies are arrogant and narcissistic,[22] bullies can also use bullying as a tool to conceal shame or anxiety or to boost self-esteem: by demeaning others, the abuser feels empowered.[23] Bullies may bully out of jealousy or because they themselves are bullied.[24] Some have argued that a bully reflects the environment of his home, repeating the model he learned from his parents.[25] *Acccording to NHID, bullying accomplices have grown throughout schools in the United States. Many accomplices join in because they feel pressured and feel the need to fit in with specific peers.

Researchers have identified other risk factors such as depression[26] and personality disorders,[27] as well as quickness to anger and use of force, addiction to aggressive behaviors, mistaking others' actions as hostile, concern with preserving self image, and engaging in obsessive or rigid actions.[28] A combination of these factors may also be causes of this behavior.[29] In one recent study of youth, a combination of antisocial traits and depression was found to be the best predictor of youth violence, whereas video game violence and television violence exposure were not predictive of these behaviors.[30]

According to some researchers, bullies may be inclined toward negativity and perform poorly academically. Dr. Cook says that "a typical bully has trouble resolving problems with others and also has trouble academically. He or she usually has negative attitudes and beliefs about others, feels negatively toward himself/herself, comes from a family environment characterized by conflict and poor parenting, perceives school as negative and is negatively influenced by peers".[18]

• Bully accomplices are often influenced by their peers. The pressure to fit in plays a huge role in being a bully accomplice. According to the NHID, bully accomplices are spread through out the United States through out schools. Bullies are more likely to have accomplices in prison and schools rather than the work place. Bullying is more common in schools and prisons. The NHID also explains that bully accomplices are present in 75% of bullying that occurs.

Contrarily, some researchers have suggested that some bullies are "psychologically strongest" and have "high social standing" among their peers, while their victims are "emotionally distressed" and "socially marginalized".[31] Other researchers also argued that a minority of the bullies, those who are not in turn bullied, "enjoy going to school, and are least likely to take days off sick".[32]

It is often suggested that bullying behavior has its origin in childhood. As a child who is inclined to act as a bully ages, his or her related behavior patterns may also become more sophisticated. Schoolyard pranks and "rough-housing" may develop into more subtle activities such as administrative end-runs, planned and orchestrated attempts at character assassination, or other less obvious, yet equally forceful forms of coercion.[citation needed]

Research indicates that adults who bully have authoritarian personalities, combined with a strong need to control or dominate.[33] It has also been suggested that a prejudicial view of subordinates can be a particularly strong risk factor.[34]

Of typical bystanders

Often bullying takes place in the presence of a large group of relatively uninvolved bystanders. In many cases, it is the bully's ability to create the illusion that he or she has the support of the majority present that instills the fear of "speaking out" in protestation of the bullying activities being observed by the group. Unless the "bully mentality" is effectively challenged in any given group in its early stages, it often becomes an accepted, or supported, norm within the group.[35] [36]

In such groups where the "bully mentality" has been allowed to become a dominant factor in the group environment, injustice and abuse often become regular and predictable parts of the group experience. Bystanders to bullying activities are often unable or unwilling to recognize the true costs that silence regarding the bullying can have, both to the victim or victims, and to the group. Bystanders often feel unwilling to empathize with the victim, regardless of their feelings towards the bully. The reversal of a culture of bullying within a group is usually an effort which requires much time, energy, careful planning, coordination with others, and usually requires some undertaking of "risk" by group members.[citation needed]

It is the general unwillingness of bystanders to expend these types of energies and to undertake this type of risk that bullies often rely upon in order to maintain their power. Unless action is taken, a "culture of bullying" is often perpetuated within a group for months, years, or longer.[37] [38]

Bystanders who have been able to establish their own "friendship group" or "support group" have been found to be far more likely to opt to speak out against bullying behavior than those who have not.[39] [40]

Of targets

Dr. Cook says that "A typical victim is likely to be aggressive, lack social skills, think negative thoughts, experience difficulties in solving social problems, come from a negative family, school and community environments and be noticeably rejected and isolated by peers".[18]

• Other targets can come be bullied for being gay, abnormal, or their appearence. They can also be bullied due to race or ethnicity and even be bullied for supporting certain movements or political parties. People with disablities are bullied because people often see them as weak individuals. They tend to mimic the cartoons that make fun of retarded or mentally disabled people.

Effects of bullying on those who are targeted

Mona O’Moore of the Anti-Bullying Centre at Trinity College in Dublin, has written, "There is a growing body of research which indicates that individuals, whether child or adult, who are persistently subjected to abusive behavior are at risk of stress related illness which can sometimes lead to suicide".[41] Those who have been the targets of bullying can suffer from long term emotional and behavioral problems. Bullying can cause loneliness, depression, anxiety, lead to low self-esteem and increased susceptibility to illness.[42] In the long term it can lead to posttraumatic stress disorder and an inability to form relationships.[citation needed]

Suicide

Main article: Bullycide

There is evidence that bullying increases the risk of suicide.[43] It is estimated that between 15 and 25 children commit suicide every year in the UK alone, because they are being bullied.[44]

Among the cases of media bullying suicides following: Ryan Halligen, Phoebe Prince, Dawn-Marie Wesley, Kelly Yeomans, Jessica Haffer,[45] Hamed Nastoh,[46] or April Himes.[47]

• According to a New York Times Newspaper article, bullies targeted a 22 year old male that was gay and filmed him having sexual intercourse with another male. They then proceeded to put it on the internet and the teen committed suicide a day later after being exposed by these bullies. This is an example that shows how bullies can have a certain affect on a perosn's life and how suicide comes into play after being bullied.

Violence

Bullied students carried out the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. Since then, bullying has been more closely linked to high school violence in general.[48]

Positive development

Some have argued that bullying can teach life lessons and instil strength. Helene Guldberg, a child development academic, sparked controversy when she argued that being a victim of bullying can teach a child "how to manage disputes and boost their ability to interact with others", and that teachers should not intervene, but leave children to respond to the bullying themselves:[49]

"[I]f boys or girls are able to stand up for themselves, being attacked by enemies can help their development. Studies have shown that children become more popular among, and respected by, teachers and fellow pupils if they repay hostility in kind. They remember such experiences more vividly than friendly episodes, helping them to develop healthy social and emotional skills".[50] 

Despite occasional assertions that bullying can be positive and even productive, the avowed normative consensus is that bullying is a form of abuse and is wholly negative. Most victims report bullying as something that scars them for a long time, and sometimes as a fundamental and negative factor in the development of their adult personality.[citation needed]

Chronic bullying cycle

While on the surface, chronic bullying may appear to be simply the actions of an "aggressor" (or aggressors) perpetrated upon an unwilling "targeted individual" (or individuals), on a certain deeper level, for it to succeed, the bullying-cycle must also be viewed as necessarily including a certain chronic inadequate response on the part of the target (or targets). That is, a response that is seen by both the bully and the target as insufficient to prevent the chronic bullying-cycle from repeating itself between the given individuals. A suitable response to any given attempt at bullying varies with the occasion, and can range from ignoring a bully to turning a prank around so that it makes a "pranksteree" out of the would be prankster,[53] to even summoning legal intervention. In any case, the targeted individual must necessarily somehow demonstrate to the would-be bully that one will not allow one's self to be daunted, intimidated, or otherwise "cowed" by the bully. Those individuals or groups who are capable of reacting to initial bullying attempts in ways that tend to sufficiently discourage potential bullies from repeated attempts are less likely to be drawn into this destructive cycle. Those individuals or groups who most readily react to stressful situations by perceiving themselves as "victims" tend to make the most suitable candidates for becoming the "targets" of chronic bullying.[54]

Under some circumstances, targets may be chosen in what may be a completely random or arbitrary process, especially in groups in which the "bully mentality" may have already succeeded in achieving domination within the group. In such groups, the defense mechanisms of the entire group may have already been "broken down", and therefore the targeting of individuals no longer requires the seeking out of "certain personality types" to become the "next target". The reversal of such chronic and well entrenched bullying behavior in such groups sometimes requires a much more carefully planned, coordinated, determined, and multi-individual response from a would-be target than in a group in which either the "bully mentality" may not (yet) prevail, or ideally in a group that may have already taken a pro-active preventative approach towards bullying.[55] [56]

Typically, the bullying-cycle must include both an act of aggression on the part of a potential bully, and a response by a potential target that is perceived by both as a certain sign of submission. The cycle is only set in motion when both of these two essential elements are present. Once both of these two elements manifest themselves, the bullying cycle often proceeds to feed on itself over time, and may last for months, years, or even decades. The cycle is most easily broken at its initial onset; however, it can also be broken at any later point in its progression by simply removing either one of its two essential ingredients. While group involvement may seem to complicate bullying activities, the act is most often an implied agreement in principle between a chief bully or instigator and the target that the one has "submitted" to the other. In the act of bullying, the bully attempts to make a public statement to the effect of: "See me and fear me, I am so powerful that I have the ability to inflict pain upon the intended target at the time and manner of my choice without having to pay any consequences". Should an intended target exhibit a "defeated attitude" in response to chronic bullying, then the bullying is likely to continue. In circumstances where a "bullying pattern" has not yet fully established itself, should the intended target respond with a clear attitude of self-confidence that somehow demonstrates that the bully's attempt to dominate is futile, then the bullying attempt will often quickly diminish or end all-together. Established patterns of bullying may require greater and more persistent effort to reverse. Institutions and organs of society often reinforce bullying, often by implying to or telling targets of bullies that they are responsible for defending themselves, and then punishing victims if they fight back. [57] [58]

Bullying in different contexts

Disability bullying

It has been noted that disabled people are disproportionately affected by bullying and abuse, and such activity has been cited as a hate crime.[60] The bullying is not limited to those who are visibly disabled such as wheelchair-users or physically deformed such as those with a cleft lip but also those with learning disabilities such as autism[61][62] and dyspraxia[63][64] In the latter case, this is linked to a poor ability in physical education, and this behaviour can be encouraged by the unthinking physical education teacher. Abuse of the disabled is not limited to schools. There are many known cases in which the disabled have been abused by staff of a "care institution", such as the case revealed in a BBC Panorama programme on a Castlebeck care home (Winterbourne View) near Bristol which led to its closure and the suspension and sacking of some of the staff.[65]

There is an additional problem that those with learning disabilities are often not as able to explain things to other people so are more likely to be disbelieved or ignored if they do complain.

Gay bullying

Main article: Gay bullying

Gay bullying and gay bashing are expressions used to designate verbal or physical actions that are direct or indirect in nature by a person or group against a person who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered (LGBT), or of questionable sexual orientation, or one who is perceived to be so, because of rumors or fitting gay stereotypes.

In eastern countries like India and China, to bully the person people spit in his way, yell silently and show a hand gesture to say "go away" diplomatically.[citation needed]

Prison bullying

Main article: Prisoner abuse

Another environment known for bullying is a country's prison service. This is almost inevitable when many of the people incarcerated are there for aggressive crimes and many were bullies at school. An additional complication is the staff and their relationships with the inmates. Thus the following possible bullying scenarios are possible:

Inmate bullies inmate (echoing school bullying);
Staff bullies inmate;
Staff bullies staff (a manifestation of workplace bullying);
Inmate bullies staff.

School bullying

Main article: School bullying

Bullying can occur in nearly any part in or around the school building, though it may occur more frequently in physical education classes and activities, recess, hallways, bathrooms, on school buses and while waiting for buses, and in classes that require group work and/or after school activities. Bullying in school sometimes consists of a group of students taking advantage of or isolating one student in particular and gaining the loyalty of bystanders who want to avoid becoming the next victim. These bullies may taunt and tease their target before physically bullying the target. Bystanders may participate or watch, sometimes out of fear of becoming the next victim.

Bullying can also be perpetrated by teachers and the school system itself: There is an inherent power differential in the system that can easily predispose to subtle or covert abuse (relational aggression or passive aggression), humiliation, or exclusion — even while maintaining overt commitments to anti-bullying policies.[68][69][70]

Sexual bullying

Main article: Sexual bullying

Sexual bullying is "any bullying behaviour, whether physical or non-physical, that is based on a person’s sexuality or gender. It is when sexuality or gender is used as a weapon by boys or girls towards other boys or girls - although it is more commonly directed at girls. It can be carried out to a person’s face, behind their back or through the use of technology."[71]

Workplace bullying

Main article: Workplace bullying

According to the Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute workplace bullying is "repeated, health-harming mistreatment, verbal abuse, or conduct which is threatening, humiliating, intimidating, or sabotage that interferes with work, or some combination of the three".[72] Statistics show that bullying is 3 times as prevalent as illegal discrimination and at least 1,600 times as prevalent as workplace violence. Statistics also show that while only one employee in every 10,000 becomes a victim of workplace violence, one in six experiences bullying at work. Bullying is a little more common than sexual harassment but not verbal abuse which occurs more than bullying.

Unlike the more physical form of school bullying, workplace bullying often takes place within the established rules and policies of the organization and society. Such actions are not necessarily illegal and may not even be against the firm's regulations; however, the damage to the targeted employee and to workplace morale is obvious.