3/25/2021 Bullying Facts, Statistics, Prevention & Effects

Bullying
Medical Author: Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD Medical Editor: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD
Medically Reviewed on 7/15/2019

Privacy & Trust Info

Bullying Facts | Bullying De nition | Bullying Types |
Hazing Types | Hazing & Bullying Stats |
Why Kids & Adults Bully | Bullying Causes |
Warning Signs | E ects of Bullying | Stop Bullying |
Treatment for Bullies | Bullying in Schools |
What You Can Do | Bullying Prevention |
Reduce the Risk | More Information | Center |
Comments | More

Bullying facts

The de nition of bullying is physical or verbal aggression that is repeated over a

period and, in contrast to meanness, involves an imbalance of power.

While hazing also involves aggression over a period, bullying excludes the victim
from a group while hazing is part of initiation of the victim into a group.

Twenty-eight percent of young people from grades six through 12 have been the
victim of bullying.

Teachers often underestimate how much bullying is occurring at their schools.

Parents are aware their child is being bullied only about half the time.

Contrary to popular belief, bullies who have never been bullied themselves often
have been found to have rather high self-esteem and to be social climbers.

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Bystanders of bullying tend to succumb to what they believe is peer pressure to

support bullying behavior and fear of becoming the victim.

Bullying can have signi cantly negative outcomes, for both the bully and the
victim.

There are a number of approaches that victims and bystanders of bullying, as well
as parents, school, and work personnel can use to discourage bullying at school
or in the workplace.

What is bullying? How can someone distinguish bullying from

hazing or meanness?
While state laws have little consistency in their de nition of bullying, the accepted
de nition by the U.S. Department of Education and by many mental health professionals
is unwanted physical or verbal aggression directed at a speci c person, repeated over a
period, involves an imbalance of power, and acts to exclude the victim from a group. It is
further characterized by the bully repeatedly using higher social status over the victim to
exert power and to hurt the victim. When the harassment, name calling, gossiping,
outing, rumor spreading, threats, or other forms of intimidation expand from being done
in person or by phone to the use of emails, chat rooms, blogs, or other social media over
the Internet, it is referred to as cyber bullying or online bullying. In contrast, hazing is part
of initiation of the victim into a group, and meanness does not involve an imbalance of
power. Further, meanness involves hurtful behaviors between people who are equals, in
social standing and otherwise.

People usually think of bullying as taking place between children at school. However, it
can also occur at work and include aggressive behaviors like verbal abuse, sabotaging
the victim's job or work relationship, or misusing authority. Adult bullies who engage in
these behaviors are males 60% of the time. While men who bully tend to victimize both
genders equally, women bullies target other women about 80% of the time.

SLIDESHOW
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Teen Drama: Handling

Mean Girls, Cyber
Bullying, and Sexting
See Slideshow

What are the di erent types of bullying?

There are at least ve types of bullying.

Physical bullying can involve hitting, kicking, pinching, pushing, or otherwise

attacking others.

Verbal bullying refers to the use of words to harm others with name-calling,
insults, making sexual or bigoted comments, harsh teasing, taunting, mimicking,
or verbal threats.

Relational bullying focuses on excluding someone from a peer group, usually

through verbal threats, spreading rumors, and other forms of intimidation.

Reactive bullying involves the bully responding to being a former victim by

picking on others.

Bullying can also involve assault on a person's property, when the victim has his
or her personal property taken or damaged.

What are the di erent types of hazing?

Cursing or yelling at victims

Compelling victims to eat disgusting things

Beating, whipping, branding, tying up, or gagging victims

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Requiring victims to perform sexual acts

Forced binge drinking

How common is bullying? How common is hazing?

Some statistics on bullying suggest that 28% of students from grades six through 12 have
a history of being the victim of bullying, while 30% of high school students acknowledge
having bullied other students. About 10%-14% of children have been the victim of bullying
for more than six months. Most victims of cyberbullying have also been victims of school
bullying.

Boys tend to engage in bullying more often than girls, especially at high school age and
beyond, and are more likely to engage in physical or verbal bullying, physically or
verbally, while girls more often engage in relational bullying.

Studies show that teachers often underestimate how much bullying is occurring at their
school since they only see about 4% of bullying incidents that occur. Further, victims of
bullying only report it to school adults one-third of the time, usually when the bullying
occurs repeatedly or has causes injury. Parents tend to be aware their child is being
bullied only about half the time.

More than 40% of workers in the United States experienced bullying in the workplace.
More than 90% of working women are estimated to believe they have been undermined
by another woman at some time in their careers. However, due to the stereotype that
women should be more nurturing, a woman may perceive normal supervision from
another woman as undermining.

Nearly half of high school students and more than half of college students who have
been part of a club, team, fraternity, sorority, or other organization have been hazed at
some time.

What makes a bully? Why do kids bully? Why do adults bully?

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Bullying is the result of the bully's need to get and keep control over someone else. The
aggression that is involved in bullying interferes with the empathy needed to refrain from
bullying others. There are two di erent types of aggression: proactive aggression and
reactive aggression. Proactive aggression is described as being organized, emotionally
detached, and driven by the desire for a reward. Reactive aggression is de ned as
impulsive, in response to a perceived threat or precipitant, and usually associated with
intense emotion, especially anxiety or anger. Contrary to the stereotype of the bully who
is socially inept trying to make him or herself feel better, bullies who have never been the
victim of bullying have rather high self-esteem and tend to be social climbers. Child and
adult bullies have a tendency to have low tolerance for frustration, trouble empathizing
with others, and a tendency to view innocuous behaviors by their victims as being
provocative. They are more likely to su er from a mental health problem compared to
non-bullies. Many non-victimized bullies are thought of as bi-strategic controllers, using
both prosocial actions (for example, likeability and popularity) and negative actions (for
example, intimidating or coercing others) to engage in these hurtful behaviors toward
others.

Bullies who have been the victim of bullying themselves (bully/victims) tend to be more
aggressive than bullies who have never been a victim of bullying. They tend to be less
popular, more often bullied by their siblings, to be otherwise abused or neglected, and to
come from families of low socioeconomic status.

Bystanders of bullying, those who witness it but are neither the primary bully nor the
victim, tend to succumb to what they believe is peer pressure to support bullying
behavior and fear of becoming the victim of the bully if they don't support the behavior.
Further, bystanders are at risk for engaging in bullying themselves if they encourage the
bullying by paying attention to the behavior or laughing about it.

What are causes and risk factors of bullying?

Risk factors for being the victim of bullying include having low understanding of
emotional or social interactions, a tendency to become upset easily, or already su ering
from anxiety or depression. Actual or perceived obesity of the victim is also a risk factor.
Being underweight is slightly associated with being bullied. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, or

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transgender youth are more often victims of bullying compared to their heterosexual
counterparts. Children who have disabilities or are immigrants or highly achieving
minorities are more vulnerable to being bullied, as well.

What are symptoms and warning signs of children and adults who
are bullied?
Signs that may indicate that a child may be being bullied include missing belongings,
unexplained injuries, and a limited number of friends. Symptoms experienced by victims
of bullying may be physical, emotional, and behavioral. Examples of physical symptoms
include those often associated with stress, like headaches, stomachaches, changes in
appetite, bedwetting, dizziness, and general aches and pains. Psychological symptoms
often include irritability, anxiety, sadness, trouble sleeping, frequent nightmares,
tiredness in the mornings, loneliness, helplessness, and feeling isolated. Victims of
bullying may exhibit behavioral symptoms as well, like avoiding social situations, getting
to school or work late, taking o more days, skipping school without telling parents, or
even trying to retaliate against their tormentors. Their grades may decline and they may
become self-destructive (for example, run away from home, hurting themselves or
contemplating suicide).

What are the e ects of bullying? What are the e ects of hazing?
Bullying can be associated with signi cantly serious problems. Teens who bully are at
greater risk for engaging in delinquent behaviors, including vandalism, as well as
violence inside and outside of school. They are also at risk of substance abuse and
dropping out of school. Victims of these behaviors also tend to develop or increase their
severity of anxiety. Bullies and victims tend to experience depression more than their
peers who have not been involved in bullying, which can lead to academic problems,
frequent absences from school, loneliness, and social isolation. Research shows that
bullies and their victims are also at risk for having attention de cit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD). People who were bullied as children are at risk for having less of a supportive
social network during adulthood, and those who were bullies/victims during childhood
may have poorer physical and nancial health, more antisocial behavior, and be more
likely to become a young parent compared to bullies who have never been the victim of
bullying. Victims of workplace bullying may su er from reduced job performance, more

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absences, and less work satisfaction. Ultimately, bullying may be the cause of higher sta
turnover. People who are both victims and perpetrators of bullying seem to be more
vulnerable to experiencing both internalizing (for example, loneliness, depression, and
anxiety) and externalizing (for example, antisocial) symptoms.

Victims of hazing are at risk for physical or emotional problems, sleep problems, a
decline in academic success, impaired relationships, a loss of respect for the group that
hazed them, and a loss of trust in other group members. These individuals are also at risk
for needing medical or psychiatric hospitalization.

Either being a bully or the victim of bullying increases the risk of engaging in self-harm,
as well as suicidal thoughts and actions in both boys and girls. However, research
indicates that the risk of both thoughts and attempts at suicide seem to be higher for girl
victims and girl bullies no matter how infrequently the bullying occurs. However, the risk
of suicidal thoughts seems to increase in boy bullies and victims when the bullying
occurs repeatedly. Interestingly, the frequency of suicide gestures/attempts in boy
bullies and victims seems to increase even when bullying occurs infrequently.

What should victims of bullying and their parents do to stop

bullying? What are the treatment options for victims of bullying?
Child development professionals tend to suggest that if parents think their child is being
bullied, they should take it seriously and encourage their child to talk about it. Remaining
calm and supportive, and reassuring the youth that he or she is not to blame for the
victimization can go a long way to creating a climate that helps the victim of bullying feel
comfortable enough to talk about it. Parents should try to gain details about their child's
bullying and who is involved, and teach the child how to respond to being bullied
assertively without getting upset. The child may also nd it helpful to stay with other
students and a teacher so the bully has less opportunity to engage in the behavior. Other
ways to stop bullying in schools include parents contacting school personnel and
remaining in touch with them to seek their help in alleviating the bullying. At the same
time, parents should understand that school personnel are often unaware that bullying is
occurring, and their kid may fear reprisals for having school authorities alerted. Since
2015, the District of Columbia and all 50 U.S. states have laws against bullying, and as of

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2018, 48 speci cally include cyberbullying in the description. Contrary to the inclination of
many parents, mental health professionals advise against contacting the parents of the
bully.

Aside from addressing the bullying directly, victims of bullying may bene t from
engaging in activities that can improve their con dence, self-esteem, and overall
emotional strength, whether it be sports, music, or other extracurricular activities.
Engaging in such activities can also help the youth create and strengthen friendships and
improve their social skills. Professional help in the form of psychotherapy and/or
treatment with psychiatric medication may be necessary if the victim of bullying has
signi cant emotional symptoms that interfere with his or her ability to function that rises
to a diagnosable mental health condition. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a
particularly e ective approach to helping victims of bullying cope with the emotional
turmoil that results from their victimization and to ultimately decrease their victimization.
CBT helps bullying su erers understand and manage their thoughts and feelings around
being bullied, as well as understand how those thoughts and feelings a ect their actions.
This approach to therapy can further help the victims of bullying build con dence and
learn ways to discourage their victimization.

What should parents do if they think their child is bullying others?

What are treatment options for people who bully others?
Advice for parents who think their child is bullying others includes talking to their child to
share the details of the actions of which he or she has been accused and listening to his
or her side of what happened, holding the child fully and fairly accountable for his or her
actions, spending more time with him or her, monitoring his or her activities, and
supervising him or her appropriately. Other tips for parents whose children are bullying
others include staying in close touch with the school to monitor for any further incidents
and encouraging the child to engage in positive social activities with positive role models.
All bullies may bene t from being given socially appropriate ways to express their
aggression (for example, through martial arts, writing, or other supervised group
activities). Those who were formerly victims of bullying may experience a decrease in
bullying behavior when their life is improved through protection from adverse
experiences, including domestic violence, abuse, or neglect. Bullies who exhibit
su cient symptoms to qualify for a mental health diagnosis should receive treatment
accordingly.
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What can parents do if the school downplays a report of bullying?

Since bullying tends to ourish in secrecy, parents are commonly advised to continue
communicating with school personnel and other pertinent community members until the
bullying has been addressed and resolved. For example, if the behavior is reported to the
child's teacher and the teacher fails to intervene, parents should consider advancing
through the school chain of command to the school counselor, assistant principal, and
principal. Parents of other victims of bullying may be sources of support, as can be the
child's pediatrician.

What can people do if they see someone being bullied?

Bystanders to bullying can help discourage bullying behavior by asking other people
who are witnessing the bullying how they feel about what they have seen and whether
they feel the behavior is right or wrong. The group of bystanders can decide individually
or as a group to positively in uence the situation by expressing their disapproval toward
the bully and/or notifying people in authority, like teachers, counselors, or administrators
at school, or supervisors or the human resources department in the workplace.
Bystanders to bullying can also discourage the behavior by encouraging the victim to ask
for help from peers and authority gures.

What measures can be implemented to prevent bullying at school

and in the workplace?
Schools and individual classrooms that tend to be supportive of all children tend to
prevent bullying. E ective bullying prevention programs at school tend to be school-
wide and involve education of students, teachers, administrators, and parents on what
bullying is and the extent to which it is harmful for all involved, understanding how others
may view victims, and how to get help. Yearly surveys of kids can help maintain
awareness of how severe the bullying problem is in a school. Just informing the parents
of bullying victims tends to improve the victim child's quality of life. Successful anti-
bullying programs increase playground supervision, provide clear consequences for
bullying, and teach students who are bystanders to bullying how to stand up for victims
so that bullying behavior gains a stigma rather than being socially bene cial.

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Workplace interventions that tend to be e ective are similar to those in school, in that the
interventions are implemented throughout the workplace. Coworkers and supervisors are
encouraged to address each other by name and with respect, fully participate in required
tasks, and avoid gossiping about each other or excluding anyone from conversation.

Interventions that have not consistently been found to be helpful in preventing or

decreasing bullying include having the bully and victim try to work out their di erences in
front of a teacher or counselor at school, a supervisor, or human resources sta at work.
Rigid rather than rm no tolerance for bullying policies tend to result in overreactions to
behaviors that do not constitute bullying. Telling students above the elementary school
level to report bullying may lead to increased bullying. Teachers or work supervisors who
either directly or indirectly intimidate other kids themselves or tolerate such behaviors
are an obstacle to implementing an e ective anti-bullying school program.

How can people reduce their risk for being bullied?

Since low self-esteem tends to be a risk factor for becoming the victim of bullying,
interventions that promote con dence and self-esteem are important ways to reduce the
risk of being bullied. Con dence builders can range from engaging in activities at which
the person excels (for example, theatrical performances, sports teams, and special work
projects) to engaging in psychotherapy. As isolation is both a risk factor and result of
bullying, helping the person feel less alone by lending a listening ear and/or engaging in
a support group can go a long way toward providing the community needed to prevent a
person from being bullied.

Where can people nd more information about bullying?

Anti Defamation League
http://www.adl.org

Bully Free Systems

262 Ironwood Drive
Murray, KY 42071
270-227-0431

Bully Free Program

http://www.bullyfree.com
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Bullying.org
http://www.bullying.org

Cyberbully Hotline
http://cyberbullyhotline.com

Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network

http://www.glsen.org

Kids Against Bullying

http://www.kidsagainstbullying.org

KnowBullying (free app)

http://apple.co/2xfFLI6

National Bullying and Sexual Harassment Prevention and Intervention Program

http://www.nea.org/home

Nemours Foundation
http://www.nemours.org
302-651-4993

StopBullying.gov
http://www.stopbullying.gov

Teens Against Bullying

http://www.teensagainstbullying.org

Medically Reviewed on 7/15/2019

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