In November 2006, I entered ‘bullying in schools’ into my google search engine and learned that there are approximately 2,760,000 sites on that topic. When I limited my search to publications in psychology (excluding other disciplines) I found 209 books, 728 peer reviewed articles and 94 dissertations. So much information ! But what do we know ? I suggest there is consensus on seven points.
1. Bullying has been reported as occurring in every school and kindergarten or day-care environment in which it has been investigated (1)
2. Bullying can be categorised as direct or indirect and also in as physical, verbal and gestural (2)
3. Although there is no consistent evidence that bullying overall is increasing, one area of growing concern among children is cyber bullying, especially among older students (3)
4. Gender differences have been found indicating that boys are bullied physically more often than girls. Girls are generally more often involved in indirect forms of aggression, such as excluding others, rumour spreading and unpleasant manipulating of situations to hurt those they do not like
5. There are differences in the nature and frequency of victimization reported by children according to age. Generally, bullying among younger children is proportionately more physical; with older children, indirect and more subtle forms of bullying tend to occur more often
6. Despite these differences in the kinds of bullying most experienced by different age groups, children typically report being bullied less often as they get older, although being victimized tends to increase when children enter secondary school (4)
7. Being bullied at school typically has negative effects on the physical and psychological well-being of those children who are frequently and severely targeted (see How harmful is bullying ?)
1. Prevalence. Of the hundreds of studies of the prevalence of bullying in schools in many countries none of them have reported zero. However, the estimates have varied very widely – between 10 and 90%. Of course these figures are meaningless unless we know how they have been arrived at. We need to know what definition has been used, what method has been employed (for example, self-report or peer nomination) and over what time period the bullying is said to have occurred. Comparisons of prevalence between countries are of questionable value as words with different meanings are often used in eliciting information about bullying. An example of estimates from an inquiry in Australia can be accessed via 'What children tell us'. Bear in mind that the important thing is not what figure one can put on it, but how estimates can be used, especially to (i) raise awareness in a school of what is actually happening and (ii) enable one to obtain an estimate by repeated testing on how effective interventions can be. Reliable surveys using questionnaires used for such purposes can be very useful indeed.
Direct Indirect
Verbal Insulting language Persuading another
person to insult or abuse
Name calling Spreading malicious rumours
Ridicule Anonymous phone calls,
Cruel teasing or taunting Cyber bullying, eg., offensive sms and emailsPhysical Striking, kicking Deliberately and Spitting unfairly excluding someone Throwing objects Removing and hiding
Using a weapon belongingsGestural Threatening motions Repeatedly turning away to
Menac Staring fixedly at show that someone is someone unwelcomeBullying is sometimes identified according to specified domains, as in
Racial bullying – when the bullying is directed at someone because of their racial identity
Sexual bullying – when bullying, either verbal or physical, directed at someone has negative sexual or gender implications. Sometimes this is called sexual harassment or sexual coercion.
3. So called cyber bullying is the most rapidly expanding kind of abusive behaviour among school children. A great deal of it is conducted outside the school, although it often involves children who attend the same school. There is no doubt that those children repeated targeted with offensive and threatening messages can become very distressed and need help. One of the best websites is http://www.stopcyberbullying.org
4. Age trends in bullying. It is widely recognized that reported bullying declines with age. But it commonly does rise when children move from primary to secondary school as the results obtained in Australia clearly show. In States of Australia where the temporary transfer to secondary school is made in Year 7 (eg., Victoria) the rise in bullying occurs a year earlier than it does in States where the transfer is made in Year 8 (eg., Queensland)