Bullying Facts Statistics – Feb 2012

DEFINITION – What is Bullying

  1. Deliberate and repeated harassment (the form changes with age)
  2. Bullying occurs where there is little adult supervision
  3. Two types of bullying:
    • Direct bullying – face to face, open attacks
    • Indirect bullying – gossip, social isolation, exclusion from group, spreading rumors
  4. Done by one person (or many people) onto another (victim) over a period of time.
  5. Bullying involves a negative action in order to purposely inflict or attempts to inflict injury, humiliate or put down.  We generally see the following five subcategories
    • Physical: Pushing, kicking, hitting, pinching and any other forms of violence.
    • Verbal/nonverbal or social alienation: Name calling, sarcasm, spreading false rumors, persistent teasing, gossip, etc.
    • Emotional: Exclusion, tormenting (hiding books, threatening gestures, intimidation), ridicule, humiliation, extortion, vandalizing property, etc.
    • Racist: Racial taunts, ethnic slurs, graffiti, gestures, etc.
    • Sexual: Unwanted physical contact or abusive comments, etc
  6. In all bullying situations there is a power imbalance (hostility & aggression).
  7. The targeted victim is generally upset while the bully feels cool and in control
  8. Victim has trouble defending themselves and feels helpless and distressed to some degree

BULLYING STATISTICS

Bullying affects who?

  1. It affects 2/3 of school age children at some point in their lives
  2. A 1997 study of 4,743 children surveyed in Canada (Pepler, 1997) :
    • 8.6% admitted bullying others more than 1 or 2 times in the past 6 weeks
    • 15% reported having been victimized at the same rate
    • 2% reported being both bullies & victim
    • Similar to European studies in Scandinavia, Ireland & England

Frequency of bullying

  1. Once every 7 minutes on the playground (Craig & Pepler, 1997)
  2. Once every 25 minutes in class (Craig & Pepler, 1997)
  3. 10% of children are bullied on a weekly basis (European study)
  4. 10% of all children attending school are afraid throughout day

Absenteeism from school

  1. 10-15% of school absenteeism is due to bullying.
  2. 1 in 5 boys and one in four girls report having stayed away from school due to a bully.
  3. 30% report they had thought of staying home

What grade level?

  1. 20-30% of primary pupils have ongoing problem with bullying.
  2. 5-15% in secondary schools have ongoing problem with bullying.
  3. Experienced mainly by primary aged children (both sexes) .
  4. Experienced by those in 1st. year of secondary.

Who reports most?

  1. Boys report overall more frequently than Girls
  2. Secondary one students report being victimized more often

Does abuse increase or decrease with age ?

  1. Number of individuals abused decreases with age.
  2. Intensity and nastiness of the abuse increases with age.
  3. Verbal forms of harassment rarely change with age

Where does bullying occur most?

  1. Bullying takes place more often inside the school rather than on the way to or from school.
  2. Most common areas where bullying occurs are: (1) playground, (2) hallways, (3) classroom; (4) lunch room and (4) washrooms

Bullies who carry on bullying as adults?

  1. Once identified as bullies in grade 2, there is an increase chance that by age 24 they will have a criminal record.
  2. Children who bully at a young age are generally aggressive when they are older.
  3. They generally have problems maintaining relationships. Bullies maintain their popularity till the ages of 14 or 15 but that popularity has tendency to drop as they get older.
  4. The Girls who bully are more likely as moms to use aggressive means of punishing their children, who, in turn, are more likely to bully and abuse others.

What age bullies most?

  1. Bullies tend to be boys (either in groups or individuals).
  2. Boys generally bully boys.
  3. Bullies are generally of the same age as their victims or victimize younger child
  4. Bullies are generally of the same grade level and same class as victim. They can also be of a different class and older than their targeted victim
  5. Girls were more likely to be bullied by either a boy or a girl
  6. Bullying by females should not be discounted & is growing
  7. Bullies victimize children they spend much time with and know well
  8. Grade 6 and secondary 1 students report bullying others more than grade 3-5 and secondary II