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What is mental health?

Does mental health feel like a confusing concept? Although it's communicated about now more than ever, it's OK if you're still unsure what it means. Mental health is different for everyone, and sharing about it can bring up strong emotions. Kids Help Phone is always open, offering young people across Canada mental health support and a non-judgmental space to Feel Out Loud. To learn more about mental health - and view an interpretation of an article about it in American Sign Language (ASL) - you can tap on the button below.

Learn more about mental health

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More than a helpline. Call, text, chat and more to get support using Kids Help Phone's 24/7 e-mental health services. For all young people in Canada.

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Coping Strategies

Try these when you're feeling anxious or stressed:

Take a time-out. Practice yoga, listen to music, meditate, get a massage, or learn relaxation techniques. Stepping back from the problem helps clear your head.

Eat well-balanced meals. Do not skip any meals. Do keep healthful, energy-boosting snacks on hand.

Limit alcohol and caffeine, which can aggravate anxiety and trigger panic attacks.

Get enough sleep. When stressed, your body needs additional sleep and rest.

Exercise daily to help you feel good and maintain your health. Check out the fitness tips below.

Take deep breaths. Inhale and exhale slowly.

Count to 10 slowly. Repeat, and count to 20 if necessary.

Do your best. Instead of aiming for perfection, which isn't possible, be proud of however close you get.

Accept that you cannot control everything. Put your stress in perspective: Is it really as bad as you think?

Welcome humor. A good laugh goes a long way.

Maintain a positive attitude. Make an effort to replace negative thoughts with positive ones.

Get involved. Volunteer or find another way to be active in your community, which creates a support network and gives you a break from everyday stress.

Learn what triggers your anxiety. Is it work, family, school, or something else you can identify? Write in a journal when you're feeling stressed or anxious, and look for a pattern.

Talk to someone. Tell friends and family you're feeling overwhelmed, and let them know how they can help you. Talk to a physician or therapist for professional help.

Fitness Tips: Stay Healthy, Manage Stress

For the biggest benefits of exercise, try to include at least 2½ hours of moderate-intensity physical activity (e.g. brisk walking) each week, 1¼ hours of a vigorous-intensity activity (such as jogging or swimming laps), or a combination of the two.

5 X 30: Jog, walk, bike, or dance three to five times a week for 30 minutes.

Set small daily goals and aim for daily consistency rather than perfect workouts. It's better to walk every day for 15-20 minutes than to wait until the weekend for a three-hour fitness marathon. Lots of scientific data suggests that frequency is most important.

Find forms of exercise that are fun or enjoyable. Extroverted people often like classes and group activities. People who are more introverted often prefer solo pursuits.

Distract yourself with an iPod or other portable media player to download audiobooks, podcasts, or music. Many people find it's more fun to exercise while listening to something they enjoy.

Recruit an "exercise buddy." It's often easier to stick to your exercise routine when you have to stay committed to a friend, partner, or colleague.

Be patient when you start a new exercise program. Most sedentary people require about four to eight weeks to feel coordinated and sufficiently in shape so that exercise feels easier.

Resources

If you are the parent of a college-aged child with an anxiety disorder, here are some tips to help with managing his or her anxiety.

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Coping Strategies Try these when you're feeling anxious or stressed: Take a time-out. Practice yoga, listen to music, meditate, get a massage, or learn relaxation techniques. Stepping back from the problem helps clear your head. Eat well-balanced meals. Do not skip any meals. Do keep healthful, energy-boosting snacks on hand.

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Susan* is a well-dressed, attractive woman in her early 50s. She has two grown children. One is a daughter who does not speak to Susan, and the other is a son who lives at home and has never been able to keep a steady job.

Susan does not understand why her daughter refuses to talk to her, but she is convinced that it is not because of anything she did wrong. "I am a very, very good mother," she says.

She also feels that she cannot be held responsible for her son's difficulties. "We gave both of our children everything they could possibly need," she says. In her own way, Susan loves her children-and her husband. But she is a bully who constantly criticizes the people she loves. She is hurtful, controlling, and often verbally abusive. And she has no idea that her behavior has a destructive impact on the people she loves most.

Susan almost, but not totally fits the profile of a school-age bully offered by my PT colleague Frank L. Smoll:

" Bullying is repeated, aggressive behavior ... that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. Its purpose is to deliver physical or psychological harm to another person. There are three main types of bullying. In youth sports, the most common forms of verbal bullying are name calling, taunting, rudeness, and threats of violence and/or harm to another athlete. Social bullying includes excluding another athlete on purpose, gossiping, hurtful trash talk, and embarrassment of an athlete in front of others. Physical bullying includes hitting, slapping, tripping, head butting, towel snapping, spitting, stealing, and making rude hand gestures."

Another PT colleague, Peg Streep, tells us that bullying does not have to be loud or overt:

"Some of the worst kinds of verbal abuse are quiet; silence in answer to a question asked or a comment made too can pack a mightier wallop than a loud rant. Silence effectively ridicules and shames."

Susan was never a physical bully, but she uses her power to get her way, no matter who she harms. The odd thing that separates her from the kind of bully described above is that Susan thinks she is doing the things she does out of love. "How else does a child learn?" she asks.

Like many bullies, Susan also fits the DSM-5 diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Here's how the Mayo Clinic faculty describes it:

"A mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. But behind this mask of ultraconfidence lies a fragile self-esteem that's vulnerable to the slightest criticism."

The connection is probably obvious, but I'll just put it into words: Someone with an inflated sense of importance, a deep need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others, and who is also vulnerable to criticism, can, in the right circumstances, become a bully who attempts to get her or his own way through aggressive, threatening, and hurtful behavior toward those who have less power.

Bullies can be women as well as men, girls as easily as boys. They can be parents, siblings, classmates, teachers, teammates, coaches, colleagues, and bosses. We know that parents can bully their children, but children can also bully parents.

One of the difficulties with bullies is that they often start out with more power because they are bigger, stronger, or in a position of authority. They also suck in power from everyone around them, so their strength seems to grow as their victims' strength diminishes.

But they are not invincible by any means. Children are taught to go to other adults for help with a bully. Adults have historically turned to a superior, or a union representatives, when dealing with a bully at work. But who do you turn to when the bully is the adult with most of the power in your home, work setting, or elsewhere?

Bullies are only as powerful as we allow them to be. The story of David and Goliath is a classic example of the weak vanquishing the strong, but taking power from them is not always as simple as it might seem. In his book David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, Malcolm Gladwell offers examples of how this can happen. Not everyone loves this book, but the idea behind it-that the apparent strength of a bully can also be his or her undoing-is well worth considering.

The following suggestions come from leading authorities on the subject:
1. Be Confident.
PT blogger Amy Cooper Hakim tells us, "Bullies lose their power if you don't cower. Deep down, they doubt they deserve your respect. They admire you for speaking with self-assurance and confidence. So when they bombard, don't counterpunch. Rather, win them over with your strong, firm, courteous demeanor."
2. Stay Connected.
PT blogger Signe Whitson writes, "Bullies operate by making their victims feel alone and powerless. Children reclaim their power when they make and maintain connections with faithful friends and supportive adults."

3. Use Simple, Unemotional Language.

Whitson also writes that an assertive, but unemotional response lets a bully "know that the victim does not intend to be victimized. It does not seek forgiveness, but does not pose a challenge either." (Because a challenge gives a bully the attention and sense of power she or he is seeking.)

Chrissy Scivicque writes, "The trick is to remain polite and professional while still setting your limits firmly. Don't let the bully get under your skin-that's what he wants. Practice your response so you're prepared the next time something happens and you can respond swiftly without getting emotional. Keep it simple and straightforward, for example: 'I don't think your tone is appropriate.'"

5. Act quickly and consistently.

Whitson further tells us, "The longer a bully has power over a victim, the stronger the hold becomes. Oftentimes, bullying begins in a relatively mild form-name calling, teasing, or minor physical aggression. After the bully has tested the waters and confirmed that a victim is not going to tell an adult and stand up for his rights, the aggression worsens."

6. Strike while the iron is cold.

Sometimes all you have to do with a bully is wait a little while. Rather than exchanging hostilities, step back so that you are not responding in the heat of the moment and meeting them on their own level. Cool heads find solutions more easily than hot ones. Besides, if you step back, they may do the dirty work for you. Rikki Rogers writes that, in the case of a bully using social media for negative purposes, "Never interfere with an enemy while he's in the process of destroying himself. This is exactly what your bully is doing: marking herself with a big red flag. We may live in a world fully inundated with social media, but all truly professional organizations (and people) understand that this is not the mature way of acting in the workplace. So just ignore it. If your bully keeps it up, you won't be worrying about her for long."
So what can you do about the bully in your life?
Every one of these suggestions might not work for you, but don't give up hope if you try something and nothing happens right away. You have to keep at it, and stay consistent. You might also try combining several of the suggestions. That's what Susan's family did. Her daughter called her dad and her brother and asked if they could get together to talk. It took work, but they both eventually agreed. She asked if they could approach Susan with a very specific request. "It will only work if we all stand together, and if we stand firm," she said. "We also will have to stay completely calm about it, and we'll have to expect to fail the first few attempts. But maybe we could get together afterward to talk and take care of ourselves?"

Her dad was worried that they were ganging up on Susan, but his daughter said, "I don't want to spend the rest of my life not talking to Mom. But I can't reconnect to her on my own."

The single thing they decided to focus on? That Susan not call them mean names when she spoke to them. "It's hurtful and demeaning," said the daughter when they finally had the family gathering. "Yeah," said her brother. "I don't know if you really do think I'm a stupid idiot, but it sounds like you do. So that's how I act."

Susan was angry, resentful, and unkind during the first get-together. She hurled insults at all of them, and wrote them nasty emails when the meeting was over. But they persevered, and after several attempts, she finally agreed to the one request. "I don't want to hurt anyone," she said tearfully. "But I'll need you to remind me. Can you do it nicely?"

Susan did not stop being a bully after this one "intervention," but her family members' self-esteem flourished as a result. Her daughter began to have more contact with the family and to get some support from other extended family connections. With similar support, her son went into therapy and eventually back to work. And her husband found that he, too, was able to have a better relationship with Susan when he refused to accept her nastiness as inevitable and unchangeable.
* All identifying information, including names, have been changed to protect privacy.

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Susan* is a well-dressed, attractive woman in her early 50s. She has two grown children. One is a daughter who does not speak to Susan, and the other is a son who lives at home and has never been able to keep a steady job.

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When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. —Helen Keller

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When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down “happy”. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.  —John Lennon

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You have more power over depression than you may think. These tips can help you feel happier, healthier, and more hopeful.

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We all feel nervous or worried at times. This anxiety can be a helpful feeling when it motivates us or warns us of danger. An anxiety disorder, on the other hand, causes unexpected or unhelpful anxiety that seriously impacts our lives, including how we think, feel, and act.

What are anxiety disorders?

Anxiety disorders are mental illnesses. The different types of anxiety disorders include:

Phobias

A phobia is an intense fear around a specific thing like an object, animal, or situation. Most of us are scared of something, but these feelings don't disrupt our lives. With phobias, people change the way they live in order to avoid the feared object or situation.

Panic disorder

Panic disorder involves repeated and unexpected panic attacks. A panic attack is a feeling of sudden and intense fear that lasts for a short period of time. It causes a lot of physical feelings like a racing heart, shortness of breath, or nausea. Panic attacks can be a normal reaction to a stressful situation, or a part of other anxiety disorders. With panic disorder, panic attacks seem to happen for no reason. People who experience panic disorder fear more panic attacks and may worry that something bad will happen as a result of the panic attack. Some people change their routine to avoid triggering more panic attacks.

Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia is fear of being in a situation where a person can't escape or find help if they experience a panic attack or other feelings of anxiety. A person with agoraphobia may avoid public places or even avoid leaving their homes.

Social anxiety disorder

Social anxiety disorder involves intense fear of being embarrassed or evaluated negatively by others. As a result, people avoid social situations. This is more than shyness. It can have a big impact on work or school performance and relationships.

Generalized anxiety disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder is excessive worry around a number of everyday problems for more than six months. This anxiety is often far greater than expected-for example, intense anxiety over a minor concern. Many people experience physical symptoms too, including muscle tension and sleep problems.

Other mental illnesses

Some mental illnesses are no longer classified as anxiety disorders, though anxiety or fear is a major part of the illnesses.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is made up of unwanted thoughts, images, or urges that cause anxiety (obsessions) or repeated actions meant to reduce that anxiety (compulsions). Obsessions or compulsions usually take a lot of time and cause a lot of distress.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Post-traumatic stress disorder can occur after a very scary or traumatic event, such as abuse, an accident, or a natural disaster. Symptoms of PTSD include reliving the event through nightmares or flashbacks, avoiding reminders of the traumatic event, and feeling unsafe in the world, even when a person isn't in danger.

Who do they affect?

Anxiety disorders can affect anyone at any age, and they are the most common mental health problem. Sometimes, anxiety disorders are triggered by a specific event or stressful life experience. Anxiety disorders may be more likely to occur when we have certain ways of looking at things (like believing that everything must be perfect) or learn unhelpful coping strategies from others. But sometimes there just doesn't seem to be a reason.

What can I do about them?

Many people who experience an anxiety disorder think that they should just be able to 'get over it' on their own. Others may need time to recognize how deeply anxiety affects their life. However, anxiety disorders are real illnesses that affect a person's well-being. It's important to talk to a doctor about mental health concerns. Some physical health conditions cause symptoms of anxiety. A doctor will look at all possible causes of anxiety.

Normal, expected anxiety is part of being human. Treatment should look at reducing unhelpful coping strategies and building healthy behaviours that help you better manage anxiety.

Each anxiety disorder has its own specific treatments and goals, but most include some combination of the following strategies:

Counselling

An effective form of counselling for anxiety is cognitive-behavioural therapy (or 'CBT'). CBT teaches you how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours work together. A goal of CBT is to identify and change the unhelpful patterns of thinking that feed anxious thoughts. CBT can help you identify problem behaviours and replace them with helpful strategies. It's often the first treatment to try for mild or moderate problems with anxiety.

Medication

Some people also find antianxiety or antidepressant medication helpful. Medication can help with the physical feelings of anxiety. It may also make anxious thoughts less frequent or intense, so it can be easier to learn helpful coping strategies. Some people take medication until their anxiety is controlled enough to try therapies like CBT.

Support groups

Support groups-in person or online-may be a good place to share your experiences, learn from others, and connect with people who understand.

Self-help strategies

Many different skills can help people manage anxiety, such as stress management, problem-solving, and relaxation. Mindfulness-developing awareness of the present moment without judgement-may also help. Practices that support wellness, such as eating well, exercising, having fun, and connecting with others, are also important.

How can I help a loved one?

Supporting a loved one who is experiencing an anxiety disorder can be difficult. You may not understand why your loved one feels or acts a certain way. Some people who experience an anxiety disorder feel like they have to do things a certain way or avoid things or situations, and this can create frustration or conflict with others. You may feel pressured to take part in these behaviours or adjust your own behaviours to protect or avoid upsetting a loved one. Support can be a delicate balance, but you should expect recovery-in time.
Here are some general tips.

Remind yourself that the illness is the problem-anger, frustration, or behaviours related to anxiety are nobody's fault.

Be patient-learning and practicing new coping strategies takes time.

If your loved one is learning new skills, offer to help them practice.

Listen and offer support, but avoid pushing unwanted advice.

Set boundaries and seek support for yourself, if needed.

If other family members are affected by a loved one's anxiety disorder, consider seeking family counselling.

Do you need more help?

Contact a community organization like the Canadian Mental Health Association to learn more about support and resources in your area.

Founded in 1918, The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) is a national charity that helps maintain and improve mental health for all Canadians. As the nation-wide leader and champion for mental health, CMHA helps people access the community resources they need to build resilience and support recovery from mental illness.

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We all feel nervous or worried at times. This anxiety can be a helpful feeling when it motivates us or warns us of danger. An anxiety disorder, on the other hand, causes unexpected or unhelpful anxiety that seriously impacts our lives, including how we think, feel, and act. What are anxiety disorders?

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1. Mental Health

2. Building Emotionally Healthy Social Relationships

By Steven J. Stein

Having better interpersonal skills can provide you with many benefits. You can increase your circle of friends, become closer with the friends you have, meet new people more easily, and have more enjoyable relationships. Being in tune with others, both emotionally and interpersonally (through good social skills), can enhance your relationships and your life experiences. Read on to find out more about enhancing emotional intelligence in your social life.

Social skills and the importance of emotions

Emotional intelligence helps you become more satisfied not only in your intimate relationships, but with your social relationships, as well. Sometimes, you can more easily practice emotional intelligence skills with your friends than with your significant other. Friendships don't tend to be as intense as more intimate relationships.

People generally like to be around others who have good emotional intelligence. Think of the people that you consider friends. How many of them tend to be moody, unhappy, poor communicators, pessimistic, or uncaring? These kinds of people just don't seem to attract many others

Using your emotional skills in social relationships

The emotional skills that you develop can help you enhance many of your interpersonal relationships. For example, friends look for empathy in their relationships.

Your skill in developing and building better interpersonal relationships also helps define your friendships. Developing your interpersonal skills allows you to

Initiate relationships.

Know what topics to talk about.

Have interesting conversations.

Draw people into the conversation.

Share mutual interests.

Laugh together.

Give and get advice.

Share stories.

Enjoy sports and hobbies together.

Celebrate events.

Provide help and support in times of need (such as the loss of a loved one).

Find out interesting things.

Exercise together.

Be politically involved.

Participate in religious practices and ceremonies.

Finding the right balance of emotional and social skills

With some people, you want to have an emotional (intimate) relationship, but with others, you want to have a social (interpersonal) relationship. The closer you are with someone, the more emotional the attachment. With strangers, you're likely to have an interpersonal interaction.

Emotionally intelligent behavior involves knowing how to strike the right balance between social and emotional relationships. You can err in two ways:

You can be too aloof and not let people get close to you. This situation sometimes happens in couples in which the male is more traditional or macho. This aloofness or traditional behavior is often seen among men in certain professional groups, including engineers, math professors, surgeons, anesthetists, geologists, actuaries, and coal miners. It also occurs in certain cultures, especially where there are large disparities between the genders.

You can find extreme examples of this emotional detachment or poor social skills in people who have Asperger's syndrome. This disorder is partly defined by a person's aloofness to other people - rarely making eye contact, lacking humor, rarely expressing emotions, and having almost robot-like interactions.

You can get too emotional - letting it all hang out - with someone you've just met. You might disclose your entire life history to perfect strangers. Trying to get too close to someone you hardly know sends out mixed messages. For many people, it acts as a sort of danger sign - putting you on their people-to-avoid list.

Knowing how much to disclose to whom is a skill. For many people, it comes naturally. Others have to figure it out by watching how other people behave. You can identify some of these cues by watching the media. Movies and TV shows present the good and the bad of initiating and maintaining relationships. Generally, the more likeable characters are the ones who can share the right amount with the right person.

For many people, their life experiences help them figure out the rules of good relationships. For others, life seems to involve a pattern of initiating, then breaking off, relationships. Emotionally intelligent people can understand the rules of social relationships and apply those rules. Like most aspects of emotional intelligence, interpersonal skills have two parts:

Theoretical: Knowing the rules and how they work. Being able to correctly predict how examples of human relationships will turn out. People with good theoretic knowledge of social relationships can look at samples of behaviors between two people and get a good idea on how that relationship is doing and whether it is likely to be a good or bad relationship.

Practical: The ability to go out and successfully initiate, nurture, and maintain healthy relationships. The hands-on, day-to-day skill of communicating with and relating to people.

Some people may be good at the theoretical part of understanding relationships, but not so good at the practical side. Others may be good at both. Although you probably didn't get training in these skills in school, they can help you go a long way in the real world.

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Building Emotionally Healthy Social Relationships - dummies

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Having better interpersonal skills can provide you with many benefits. You can increase your circle of friends, become closer with the friends you have, meet new people more easily, and have more enjoyable relationships. Being in tune with others, both emotionally and interpersonally (through good social skills), can enhance your relationships and your life experiences.

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How to Deal With Loneliness. People feel lonely for a number of reasons, including simple social awkwardness and intentional isolation. Some people may even feel lonely when they are surrounded by people because they lack meaningful...

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A comprehensive overview of current bullying prevention research conducted by government and higher education agencies.

Rates of Incidence

One out of every five (20.2%) students report being bullied. (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019 )

A higher percentage of male than of female students report being physically bullied (6% vs. 4%), whereas a higher percentage of female than of male students reported being the subjects of rumors (18% vs. 9%) and being excluded from activities on purpose (7% vs. 4%). (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019)

41% of students who reported being bullied at school indicated that they think the bullying would happen again. (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019 )

Of those students who reported being bullied, 13% were made fun of, called names, or insulted; 13% were the subject of rumors; 5% were pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on; and 5% were excluded from activities on purpose. (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019)

A slightly higher portion of female than of male students report being bullied at school (24% vs. 17%). (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019)

Bullied students reported that bullying occurred in the following places: the hallway or stairwell at school (43%), inside the classroom (42%), in the cafeteria (27%), outside on school grounds (22%), online or by text (15%), in the bathroom or locker room (12%), and on the school bus (8%). (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019)

46% of bullied students report notifying an adult at school about the incident. (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019)

School-based bullying prevention programs decrease bullying by up to 25%. (McCallion & Feder, 2013)

The reasons for being bullied reported most often by students include physical appearance, race/ethnicity, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation. (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019)

The federal government began collecting data on school bullying in 2005, when the prevalence of bullying was around 28 percent. (U.S. Department of Education, 2015 )

Rates of bullying vary across studies (from 9% to 98%). A meta-analysis of 80 studies analyzing bullying involvement rates (for both bullying others and being bullied) for 12-18 year old students reported a mean prevalence rate of 35% for traditional bullying involvement and 15% for cyberbullying involvement. (Modecki, Minchin, Harbaugh, Guerra, & Runions, 2014 )

One in five (20.9%) tweens (9 to 12 years old) has been cyberbullied, cyberbullied others, or seen cyberbullying. (Patchin & Hinduja, 2020)

49.8% of tweens (9 to 12 years old) said they experienced bullying at school and 14.5% of tweens shared they experienced bullying online. (Patchin & Hinduja, 2020)

13% of tweens (9 to 12 years old) reported experiencing bullying at school and online, while only 1% reported being bullied solely online. (Patchin & Hinduja, 2020)

Effects of Bullying

Students who experience bullying are at increased risk for depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, lower academic achievement, and dropping out of school. (Centers for Disease Control, 2019)

Students who are both targets of bullying and engage in bullying behavior are at greater risk for both mental health and behavior problems than students who only bully or are only bullied. (Centers for Disease Control, 2019)

Bullied students indicate that bullying has a negative effect on how they feel about themselves (27%), their relationships with friends and family (19%), their school work (19%), and physical health (14%). (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019)

Students who experience bullying are twice as likely as non-bullied peers to experience negative health effects such as headaches and stomachaches. (Gini & Pozzoli, 2013 )

Youth who self-blame and conclude they deserved to be bullied are more likely to face negative outcomes, such as depression, prolonged victimization, and maladjustment. (Perren, Ettakal, & Ladd, 2013 )

Tweens who were cyberbullied shared that it negatively impacted their feelings about themselves (69.1%), their friendships (31.9%), their physical health (13.1%), and their schoolwork (6.5%). (Patchin & Hinduja, 2020).

Cyberbullying

Among students ages 12 - 18 who reported being bullied at school, 15% were bullied online or by text (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019)

Reports of cyberbullying are highest among middle school students, followed by high school students, and then primary school students (Centers for Disease Control, 2019)

The percentages of individuals who have experienced cyberbullying at some point in their lifetimes have more than doubled (18% to 37%) from 2007-2019 (Patchin & Hinduia, 2019 )

When students were asked about the specific types of cyberbullying they had experienced, mean and hurtful comments (25%) and rumors spread online (22%) were the most commonly-cited (Patchin et al., 2019 )

The type of cyberbullying tends to differ by gender. Girls were more likely to say someone spread rumors about them online while boys were more likely to say that someone threatened to hurt them online (Patchin et al., 2019 )

Those who are cyberbullied are also likely to be bullied offline (Hamm, Newton, & Chisholm, 2015 )

Cyberbullying Among Tweens (9-12 Years Old)

One in five tweens (20.9%) has been cyberbullied, cyberbullied others, or seen cyberbullying

49.8% of tweens said they experienced bullying at school and 14.5% of tweens shared they experienced bullying online

13% of tweens reported experiencing bullying at school and online, while only 1% reported being bullied solely online

Nine out of ten tweens use social media or gaming apps (Patchin & Hinduja, 2020)

Tweens shared they were engaging on the following sites, apps, or games: YouTube, Minecraft, Roblox, Google Classroom, Fortnite, TikTok, YouTube Kids, Snapchat, Facebook Messenger Kids, Instagram, Discord, Facebook, and Twitch

Tweens who were cyberbullied shared that it negatively impacted their feelings about themselves (69.1%), their friendships (31.9%), their physical health (13.1%), and their schoolwork (6.5%)

Tweens reported using a variety of strategies to stop the bullying including blocking the person bullying them (60.2%), telling a parent (50.8%), ignoring the person (42.8%), reporting it to the website or app (29.8%), and taking a break from the device (29.6%)

Two-thirds of tweens are willing to step in to defend, support, or assist those being bullied at school and online when they see it

Barriers to helping when tweens witness bullying at school or online included being afraid of making things worse, not knowing what to do or say, not knowing how to report it online, being afraid others kids will make fun of them, being afraid to get hurt, and not knowing who to tell

SOURCE: Patchin, J.W., & Hinduja, S. (2020). Tween Cyberbullying in 2020. Cyberbullying Research Center and Cartoon Network. Retrieved from: https://i.cartoonnetwork.com/stop-bullying/pdfs/CN_Stop_Bullying_Cyber_Bullying_Report_9.30.20.pdf.

Bullying of Students with Disabilities

Students with specific learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, emotional and behavior disorders, other health impairments, and speech or language impairments report greater rates of victimization than their peers without disabilities longitudinally and their victimization remains consistent over time (Rose & Gage, 2016 )

When assessing specific types of disabilities, prevalence rates differ: 35.3% of students with behavioral and emotional disorders, 33.9% of students with autism, 24.3% of students with intellectual disabilities, 20.8% of students with health impairments, and 19% of students with specific learning disabilities face high levels of bullying victimization (Rose & Espelage, 2012 )

Researchers discovered that students with disabilities were more worried about school safety and being injured or harassed by other peers compared to students without a disability (Saylor & Leach, 2009 )

When reporting bullying youth in special education were told not to tattle almost twice as often as youth not in special education (Davis & Nixon, 2010)

Successful strategies to prevent bullying among students with disabilities include (Rose & Monda-Amaya, 2012):

Teachers and peers engaging in meaningful and appropriate social interactions

Creating opportunities to increase social competence and positive interactions

Schools adopting appropriate intervention strategies that encourage social awareness and provide individualized interventions for targets with disabilities

Bullying of Students of Color

23% of African-American students, 23% of Caucasian students, 16% of Hispanic students, and 7% of Asian students report being bullied at school (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019)

More than one third of adolescents reporting bullying report bias-based school bullying (Russell, Sinclair, Poteat, & Koenig, 2012 )

Bias-based bullying is more strongly associated with compromised health than general bullying (Russell et al., 2012 )

Race-related bullying is significantly associated with negative emotional and physical health effects (Rosenthal et al, 2013 )

Bullying of Students Who Identify or Are Perceived as LGBTQ

70.1% of LGBTQ students were verbally bullied (e.g., called names, threatened) in the past year because of their sexual orientation and 59.1% because of their gender expression, and 53.2% based on gender (Kosciw, Greytak, Zongrone, Clark, & Truong, 2018)

28.9% of LGBTQ students were physically bullied (e.g., pushed, shoved) in the past year because of their sexual orientation and 24.4% because of their gender expression, and 22.8% based on gender (Kosciw et al., 2018)

48.7% of LGBTQ students experienced cyberbullying in the past year (Kosciw et al., 2018)

59.5% of LGBTQ students feel unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation, 44.6% because of their gender expression, and 35% because of their gender (Kosciw et al., 2018)

34.8% of LGBTQ students missed at least one entire day at school in the past month because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable, and 10.5% missed four or more days in the past month (Kosciw et al., 2018)

Of the LGBTQ students who reported they were considering dropping out of school, 42.2% indicated they were doing so because of the harassment they faced at school (Kosciw et al., 2018)

Compared to LGBTQ students with no supportive school staff, students with many (11 or more) supportive staff at school were less likely to miss school because they felt unsafe (20.1% to 48.8%) and felt greater belonging to their school community (Kosciw et al., 2018)

LGBTQ students experienced a safe, more positive school environment when their school had a bullying prevention / anti-harassment policy that specifically included protections on sexual orientation and gender identity / expression (Kosciw et al., 2018)

Peer victimization of all youth was less likely to occur in schools with bullying policies that are inclusive of LGBTQ students (Hatzenbuehler & Keyes, 2013 )

Bullying and Suicide

There is a strong association between bullying and suicide-related behaviors, but this relationship is often mediated by other factors, including depression, violent behavior, and substance abuse (Reed, Nugent, & Cooper, 2015)

Students who report frequently bullying others and students who report being frequently bullied are at increased risk for suicide-related behavior (Centers for Disease Control, 2014)

A meta-analysis found that students facing peer victimization are 2.2 times more likely to have suicide ideation and 2.6 times more likely to attempt suicide than students not facing victimization (Gini & Espelage, 2014 )

Students who are both bullied and engage in bullying behavior are the highest risk group for adverse outcomes (Espelage & Holt, 2013)

The false notion that suicide is a natural response to being bullied has the dangerous potential to normalize the response and thus create copycat behavior among youth (Centers for Disease Control, 2014).

Interventions

Bullied youth were most likely to report that actions that accessed support from others made a positive difference (Davis & Nixon, 2010)

Actions aimed at changing the behavior of the bullying youth (fighting, getting back at them, telling them to stop, etc.) were rated as more likely to make things worse (Davis & Nixon, 2010)

Students reported that the most helpful things teachers can do are: listen to the student, check in with them afterwards to see if the bullying stopped, and give the student advice (Davis & Nixon, 2010)

Students reported that the most harmful things teachers can do are: tell the student to solve the problem themselves, tell the student that the bullying wouldn't happen if they acted differently, ignored what was going on, or tell the student to stop tattling (Davis & Nixon, 2010)

As reported by students who have been bullied, the self-actions that had some of the most negative impacts (telling the person to stop/how I feel, walking away, pretending it doesn't bother me) are often used by youth and often recommended to youth (Davis & Nixon, 2010)

Tweens reported using a variety of strategies to stop the bullying including blocking the person bullying them (60.2%), telling a parent (50.8%), ignoring the person (42.8%), reporting it to the website or app (29.8%), and taking a break from the device (29.6%) (Patchin & Hinduja, 2020).

Bystanders

Students need not be the targets of bullying to experience negative outcomes. Observing bullying is associated with adverse mental health outcomes (Rivers, Poteat, Noret, & Ashurst, 2009 )

Bystanders' beliefs in their social self-efficacy were positively associated with defending behavior and negatively associated with passive behavior from bystanders - i.e. if students believe they can make a difference, they're more likely to act (Thornberg et al., 2012 )

Students who experience bullying report that allying and supportive actions from their peers (such as spending time with the student, talking to him/her, helping him/her get away, or giving advice) were the most helpful actions from bystanders (Davis & Nixon, 2010)

Students who experience bullying are more likely to find peer actions helpful than educator or self-actions (Davis & Nixon, 2010)

The Youth Voice Research Project (2010) found that victimized students reported the following bystander strategies that made things better: spent time with me (54%), talked to me (51%), helped me get away (49%), called me (47%), gave me advice (46%), helped me tell (44%), distracted me (43%), listened to me (41%), told an adult (35%), confronted them (29%), asked them to stop

Even students who have observed but not participated in bullying behavior report significantly more feelings of helplessness and less sense of connectedness and support from responsible adults than students who have not witnessed bullying behavior (Centers for Disease Control, 2014)

Two-thirds of tweens are willing to step in to defend, support, or assist those being bullied at school and online when they see it (Patchin & Hinduja, 2020).

Barriers to helping when tweens witness bullying at school or online included being afraid of making things worse, not knowing what to do or say, not knowing how to report it online, being afraid others kids will make fun of them, being afraid to get hurt, and not knowing who to tell (Patchin & Hinduja, 2020).

References:

Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (2019). Preventing bullying. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/yv/bullying-factsheet508.pdf.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (2014). The Relationship Between Bullying and Suicide: What we Know and What it Means for Schools. Retrieved from https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/34163.

Davis, S., & Nixon, C. (2010). The youth voice research project: Victimization and strategies. Retrieved from: http://njbullying.org/documents/YVPMarch2010.pdf.

Espelage, D. L., & Holt, M. K. (2013). Suicidal ideation and school bullying experiences after controlling for depression and delinquency. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53. Retrieved from http://www.ncdsv.org/images/JAH_Suicidal-ideation-and-school-bullying_7-2013.pdf.

Hatzenbuehler, M. L., & Keyes, K. M. (2013). Inclusive anti-bullying policies and reduced risk of suicide attempts in lesbian and gay youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53, 21-26. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3696185/?tool=pmcentrez .

Kosciw, J. G., Greytak, E. A., Zongrone, A. D., Clark, C. M., & Truong, N. L. (2018). The 2017 National School Climate Survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth in our nation's schools. New York: GLSEN. Retrieved from https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/2019-10/GLSEN-2017-National-School-Climate-Survey-NSCS-Full-Report.pdf.

McCallion, G., & Feder, J. (2013). Student bullying: Overview of research, federal initiatives, and legal issues. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43254.pdf.

Patchin, J.W., & Hinduja, S. (2020). Tween Cyberbullying in 2020. Cyberbullying Research Center and Cartoon Network. Retrieved from: https://i.cartoonnetwork.com/stop-bullying/pdfs/CN_Stop_Bullying_Cyber_Bullying_Report_9.30.20.pdf.

Rose, C. A., & Espelage, D. L. (2012). Risk and protective factors associated with the bullying involvement of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 37, 133-148. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ989490

Russell, S. T., Sinclair, K., Poteat, P., & Koenig, B. (2012). Adolescent health and harassment based on discriminatory bias. American Journal of Public Health, 102(3), 493-495. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22390513 .

Thornberg, T., Tenenbaum, L., Varjas, K., Meyers, J., Jungert, T., & Vanegas, G. (2012). Bystander motivation in bullying incidents: To intervene or not to intervene? Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, 8(3), 247-252. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3415829/ .

U.S. Department of Education, (2015). New data show a decline in school-based bullying. Retrieved from https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/new-data-show-decline-school-based-bullying .

Updated: November, 2020

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Almost one out of every four students (22%) report being bullied during the school year (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2015). Rates of bullying vary across studies (from 9% to 98%).