In studies of middle and high school students, (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2006; Kowalski et al., 2005; Wolak, Mitchell, & Finkelhor, 2006) the most common way that children and youth reported being cyberbullied was through instant messaging. Somewhat less common ways involved the use of chat rooms, emails, and messages posted on Web sites. A study of younger children (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2006) showed that they were most often bullied through email, comments on a Web site, or in a chat room.
Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
In a recent study of students in grades 6-8 (Kowalski et al., 2005):
- Girls were about twice as likely as boys to be victims and perpetrators of cyber bullying.
- Of those students who had been cyberbullied relatively frequently (at least twice in the last couple of months):
- 62% said that they had been cyberbullied by another student at school, and 46% had been cyberbullied by a friend.
- 55% didn’t know who had cyberbullied them.
- Of those students who admitted cyberbullying others relatively frequently:
- 60% had cyberbullied another student at school, and 56% had cyberbullied a friend.
Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Although little research has been conducted on cyberbullying, recent studies have found that:
- 18% of students in grades 6-8 said they had been cyberbullied at least once in the last couple of months; and 6% said it had happened to them 2 or more times (Kowalski et al., 2005).
- 11% of students in grades 6-8 said they had cyberbullied another person at least once in the last couple of months, and 2% said they had done it two or more times (Kowalski et al., 2005).
- 19% of regular Internet users between the ages of 10 and 17 reported being involved in online aggression; 15% had been aggressors, and 7% had been targets (3% were both aggressors and targets) (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004).
- 17% of 6-11 year-olds and 36% of 12-17-year-olds reported that someone said threatening or embarrassing things about them through email, instant messages, web sites, chat rooms, or text messages (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2006).
- Cyberbullying has increased in recent years. In nationally representative surveys of 10-17 year-olds, twice as many children and youth indicated that they had been victims and perpetrators of online harassment in 2005 compared with 1999/2000 (Wolak, Mitchell, & Finkelhor, 2006).
Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Bullying is aggressive behavior that is intentional and involves an imbalance of power or strength. Usually, it is repeated over time. Traditionally, bullying has involved actions such as: hitting or punching (physical bullying), teasing or name-calling (verbal bullying), or intimidation through gestures or social exclusion. In recent years, technology has given children and youth a new means of bullying each other.
Cyberbullying, which is sometimes referred to as online social cruelty or electronic bullying, can involve:
- Sending mean, vulgar, or threatening messages or images
- Posting sensitive, private information about another person
- Pretending to be someone else in order to make that person look bad
- Intentionally excluding someone from an online group (Willard, 2005)
Children and youth can cyberbully each other through:
- Emails
- Instant messaging
- Text or digital imaging messages sent on cell phones
- Web pages
- Blogs
- Chat rooms or discussion groups
- Other information communication technologies
Source: Department of Health & Human Services
- A lack of warmth and involvement on the part of parents
- Overly permissive parenting (including a lack of limits for children’s behavior)
- A lack of supervision by parents
- Harsh, physical discipline
- Bullying incidences at home
Source: HRSA
Research shows that bullying can be a sign of other serious antisocial and/or violent behavior. Children who frequently bully their peers are more likely than others to:
- Get into frequent fights
- Be injured in a fight
- Vandalize or steal property
- Drink alcohol
- Smoke
- Be truant from school
- Drop out of school
- Carry a weapon
Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
- Impulsive, hot-headed, dominant
- Easily frustrated
- Lack empathy
- Have difficulty following rules
- View violence in a positive way
- Boys who bully tend to be physically stronger than other children.
There is no single cause of bullying among children. A host of different factors can place a child at risk for bullying his or her peers. However, it has been found that children who bully are more likely than their non-bullying peers to come from homes with certain characteristics.
Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
There are many school-based bullying prevention programs. Although they vary in size and scope, the most promising programs incorporate the following characteristics:
- focus on creating a school-wide environment, or climate that discourages bullying,
- Surveys of students to assess the nature and extent of bullying behavior and attitudes toward bullying,
- Training to prepare staff to recognize and respond to bullying,
- Development of consistent rules against bullying,
- Review and enhancement of the school’s disciplinary code related to bullying behavior,
- Classroom activities to discuss issues related to bullying,
- Integration of bullying prevention themes across the curriculum,
- Individual and group work with children who have been bullied,
- Individual work with children who have bullied their peers,
- Involvement of parents in bullying prevention and intervention activities, and
- Use of teacher or staff groups to increase staff knowledge and motivation related to bullying.
Source: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
If you suspect your child is being bullied, remember to support your child, inform others and take action.
- First, focus on your child. Be supportive and gather information about the bullying. Tell your child you are concerned about him or her and ask questions.
- Contact your child’s teacher and/or principal. He or she will probably be in the best position to understand the relationships between your child and other peers at school. Ask the teacher to talk to other adults who interact with your child at school to see if they have observed students bullying your child.
- If you know your child is being bullied, take quick action. There is nothing worse than doing nothing, and bullying can have serious effects.
If, after talking with your child and staff at his or her school, you don’t believe your child is being bullied, be alert to other possible problems your child may be having. Share your concerns with a counselor at your child’s school.
Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
There are many signs that a child is being bullied. Some signs to look for:
- The child comes home with torn, damaged, or missing pieces of clothing, books or other belongings.
- The child has unexplained bruises, cuts or scratches.
- The child seems afraid of going to school, walking to and from school, riding the school bus or taking part in organized activities with peers.
- The child appears sad, moody, teary or depressed when he or she comes home.
- The child frequently appears anxious and/or suffers from low self-esteem.
Source: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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