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This website offers help in different scenarios of bullying as well as help for different ages of people who are being bullied. This specific article that is linked provides advice on what to do when being bullied or how to avoid bullying others.

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US Department of Health and Human Services

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Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA)

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Learn what teens can do when they encounter common types of bullying at school and online.

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This article provides a bar graph on the different types of cyber bullying and what percent of teens have been cyber bullied. This article provides the statistics on the number of people who have been cyber bullied.

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Nearly half of U.S. teens have been bullied or harassed online, with physical appearance being seen as a relatively common reason why.

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This article gives an explanation on where bullying occurs in school and how it occurs. It also explains how bullying in school can end and how people can help to make it end.

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Bullying in Schools

Although bullying is sometimes seen as "a part of growing up" or "kids being kids," imagine the kid who is picked on every day, whether physically, socially, or through cyber-bullying. Think about Rebecca Sedwick, the 12-year-old who committed suicide in Florida following a year of bullying at the hands of two young girls. To Rebecca, the bullying was so serious and distressing that she took her own life.

Students need school to be a positive climate where they feel safe.

Or consider the 8-year-old boy who writes to Santa Claus about his twin sister bullied over her weight: "Dear Santa ... I wanted a (remote control) car and helicopter, but I don't want that anymore. Kids at school are still picking on my sister and it's not fair ... I prayed that they will stop, and she needs your help."

Bullying is a prevalent form of youth violence, particularly in school settings. As illustrated in the examples above, it is defined by aggressive behavior (i.e., behavior that is intentional and mean) that occurs repeatedly over time and within the context of a power imbalance. Although both are harmful to youth, there is an important distinction between bullying and aggression - if there is an occasional conflict or fighting between two children of equal strength, size, and social status, this is aggression, but not bullying.

Most school-aged children are exposed to bullying in some form due to the unequal balance of power and influence that is so common in youth relationships and peer groups. Research shows that bullying and harassment in schools increases in late childhood and peaks in early adolescence, specifically during middle school and typically takes place in unstructured settings such as the cafeteria, hallways, and playground during recess.

Students need school to be a positive climate where they feel safe. This reduces their own stress and potential aggression, allowing them to focus on the learning necessary for them to be successful in their lives.

Fortunately, there are actions that students and school staff can take to prevent bullying and harassment in schools and to create a more positive school climate. The culture of school violence cannot be impacted by only working with bullies and victims alone. It takes consistent and united action by everyone - students, school staff, administrators, and parents.
Click here to learn more about the power of a positive school climate.
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Types of Bullying

To better understand how positive efforts can be made, it is important to understand the various types of bullying:

Physical: Related to dominance and is the most prevalent form of aggression and bullying among boys (as compared to relational). Behaviors can include hitting, kicking, and threatening violence.

Relational: Involves the manipulation of social standing or reputations and is the most prevalent form of aggression and bullying among girls (as compared to physical). Behaviors can include starting rumors and social exclusion. Click here to learn more about relational aggression.

Cyber: Involves using electronics to harm others. This type of bullying can be especially harmful because the perpetrators are more difficult to identify, it can more quickly and impulsively be spread to larger audiences, and the physical evidence of the bullying cannot be easily erased from cyberspace. Victims of cyber bullying are often also victims of traditional off-line bullying. Click here to learn more about cyberbullying.

Regardless of the type of bullying, there are several key roles that typically participate in the behavior.

The bully has a power advantage as compared to the victim, whether the bully is physically stronger, more popular, and/or more socially influential.

The bystanders, or other peers that witness the bullying event, play a particularly important and perhaps underrated role in bullying.

Certain sub-groups of adolescents may be at a higher risk for bullying. Click here to learn more.

Facts and Statistics About Bullying and Harassment in Schools

Between 21 and 49% of youth adolescents report being bullied in the past year

70.6% of youth are bystanders to bullying.

In a 2010 study, 20% of girls and 25% of boys said they were bullied, bullied others, or both in the last month.

In the same study, 90% of third to fifth grade students said they felt sorry for students who are bullied, but sympathy often does not translate into action.

A 2009 study estimated that at least 20.8% of youth in the US were physically bullied, 53.6% were verbally bullied, 51.4% were socially bullied, and 13.6% were cyber bullied at least once over a two-month period.

Victims of cyber bullying often do not report their victimization and are eight times more likely to carry a weapon to school.

A 2011 study showed that bullying at age 14 predicted violent convictions between ages 15 and 20, self-reported violence at age 15 to 18, low job status at age 18, and drug use at 27 to 32 years of age.

Related CVP Programs

Recommended Resources

Relevant Publications

Leff SS, Waasdorp TE, Paskewich, BS. The Broader Impact of Friend to Friend (F2F): Effects on Teacher-student Relationships, Prosocial Behaviors, and Relationally and Physically Aggressive Behaviors. Behavior Modification. 2016;40(4):589-610.

Leff SS, Paskewich BS, Waasdorp TE, Waanders C, Bevans KB, Jawad AF. Friend to Friend: A Randomized Trial for Urban African American Relationally Aggressive Girls. Psychology of Violence. 2015;5(4):433-443.

Leff, SS., Waasdorp, TE., & Mehari, KR. An Updated Review of Existing Relational Aggression Programs. In S. M. Coyne & J. M. Ostrov (Eds.), The Development of Relational Aggression 2018, pp. 283-317: Oxford University Press.

Leff SS, Waasdorp TE, Paskewich BS, Gullan RL, Jawad AF, MacEvoy JP, Feinberg BE, Power TJ. The Preventing Relational Aggression in Schools Everyday Program: A Preliminary Evaluation of Acceptability and Impact. School Psychology Review, 2010, Volume 39, No. 4, pp. 569-587.

Leff SS, Costigan T, Power TJ. Using Participatory Research to Develop a Playground-based Prevention Program. Journal of School Psychology. 42 (2004), 3-21.

Leff SS, Gullan RL, Paskewich BS, Abdul-Kabir S, Jawad AF, Grossman M, et al. An Initial Evaluation of a Culturally-adapted Social Problem Solving and Relational Aggression Prevention Program for Urban African American Relationally Aggressive Girls. Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community. 2009;37(4):260-274.

Waasdorp, TE., & Bradshaw, CP. Examining Variation in Adolescent Bystanders' Responses to Bullying. School Psychology Review, 2018 Volume 47, No. 1, pp.18-33.

Waasdorp, TE., Pas, ET., Zablotsky, B., & Bradshaw, CP. Ten-Year Trends in Bullying and Related Attitudes Among 4th- to 12th Graders. Pediatrics, 2017 Volume 139, No. 6, pp. 1-8.

Learn More

Watch this webinar for teachers and school staff about understanding the issue of bullying and how to prevent it:

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Learn more about the types of bullying and harassment in schools (physical, social, or cyber) and why bullying is a prevalent form of youth violence.

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This video gives a explanation on how people can be bullied through technology. It provides a clear definition of cyber bullying and the causes of why it occurs.

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This is a parents guide on how to stop bullying in school. It provides advice for parents on how to help their teens at school when being bullied.

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This graph provides an understanding on where bullying occurs at in the school area, and what teachers have seen. It also gives us a better knowledge on where bullies have an easier target to bully others at school.

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Editor's note: This article pairs with " The psychological effects of bullying."

More than one in five students were bullied in 2016 - an increase of more than five percent since the year 2000, according to reports released by both The National Center of Educational Statistics and Bullying Police USA Inc.

According to several local school teachers and administrators, regardless of the form bullying takes, the key to addressing it may be found in the New Testament's golden rule: Love your neighbor as yourself.

"There are three requirements for behavior to be classified as bullying," Cherstine Willis, vice principal at Saratoga Shores Elementary School in Saratoga Springs, said. "It needs to be repetitive, premeditated and targeted."

According to Child Trends, a nonprofit research organization focused on improving the lives of children and their families, bullying can take many forms, including physical, verbal and online.

Willis explained that physical and verbal bullying are most prevalent among children in middle school.

"Children are very vulnerable at that age," Willis said. "They are trying to figure things out because their bodies are beginning to change."

Willis, who regularly teaches on the elementary school level, said bullying does occur in elementary school but is not as frequent as it is in junior and senior high school.

"There are more teachers present and the children are a little better-protected," she said. "But students start to do stupid stuff in junior high. I think it's because they're left on their own more in junior high school than they were in elementary school."

Jeff Ward, a teacher at Timpview High School in Provo, agrees.

"The most overt bullying that I've seen has been at the middle-school level," Ward said. "I don't see it as much at the high school level."

Ward added that eighth grade is where he has seen the most physical and verbal bullying occur.

"It's partly an age thing," he explained. "Most of the time it happens with younger kids in the eighth, ninth and tenth grades."

Ward said children who lack size, strength and confidence are often preyed upon by bullies. But, he added, "Anything out of the norm can make you a target - anything that brings undue attention to yourself."

Unfortunately, Ward said, as children get older and progress into high school, bullying usually takes on another, more harmful form.

"In high school, cyberbullying becomes more prevalent and more brutal," he added.

According to Ward, cyberbullying can be much worse than other forms of bullying because the internet gives people the opportunity to follow victims and hide behind anonymity.

"It's everywhere," he said. "If you're online at all, it's there. There's really no safe place because it can go anywhere you can go."

Ward said when his own daughter was in tenth grade, she was cyberbullied.

"There was a website created by people at her high school that ranked every girl there, not just by their looks but also by rumors that were spread about them," he said. "She was on that list."

Because of the brutality and longevity of cyberbullying, Ward said it can often have a longer impact on children than other forms of bullying.

Ruel Haymond, a high school teacher at American Heritage School in American Fork and former director of American Leadership Academy in Spanish Fork, added cyberbullying is often worse because it doesn't take place in person.

"With cyberbullying, you don't have to face the person" being targeted, he said. "In situations like these, typically people go beyond what is considered normal decorum for bullying."

Haymond likened cyberbullying to the book "Lord of the Flies," by William Golding.

"That's what's scary about people in that story," Haymond said. "Once they started putting on the masks, they became animalistic and cruel."

According to the Journal of Bullying and Social Aggression, bullying doesn't stop at the high school level.

The Journal reported that 63.35 percent of students surveyed witnessed bullying in some capacity since starting college, while 27.15 percent reported being victims of bullying.

"Bullying never fully ceases," the report said. "Certain factors, including gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, obesity, disability and not fitting in with peers increase the risk of being a victim."

Haymond added religious belief to the list. He said although people will always be bullied because of their weight, gender, physical weaknesses, race and so forth, he believes it is becoming more common for people to be bullied because of their morality stemming from religious tenets.

"I think we are moving in a direction where anyone who believes in a moral law, absolute rights and wrongs, certain definitions of marriage and proper moral behavior will be the major targets of bullying online," he said.

In this audio clip, Haymond explains that the best place to learn how to deal with bullies is within the home:

https://universe.byu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Haymond-Interview.wav

So, what can be done?

Willis said people have to take a proactive approach and teach children at a young age, both in the home and at school, the differences between right and wrong, compassion and anger.

"We try to empower them," she said of her school. "We promote kindness."

Ward added that sometimes other people have to get involved, like teachers, administrators or even police officers.

"I want my students to know that I am there for them," he said. "I can be their advocate."

Haymond said the solution to bullying ultimately comes down to the two great commandments found in the Bible: loving God and loving your neighbor. And to counteract bullying, he added, people have to respond softly.

"The vast majority of bullies are just wounded," said Haymond. "People need to learn how to counter their pain by looking for ways to serve and by turning the other cheek. The concepts we learn from the New Testament - the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount - are really the best strategies."

Although bullying continues to be prevalent and seems to be increasing, it can be fought, according to Haymond. The answer, however, doesn't necessarily lie in external coercion or punishment.

"People can change," said Haymond. "But it has to come from within."

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Bullying changes over time, teachers say - The Daily Universe

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Editor's note: This article pairs with " The psychological effects of bullying." More than one in five students were bullied in 2016 - an increase of more than five percent since the year 2000, according to reports released by both The National Center of Educational Statistics and Bullying Police USA Inc.

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This article provides help on how to prevent cyber bullying, how to help others, and what people can do to being cyber bullied. It can help people of all ages, but teens will benefit the most from this since they are the age group that are the most on social media.

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Cyberbullying is common, but you can do your part to stop it and prevent it. By being informed and taking action, you have the power to keep yourself safe online, and help stop cyberbullying when it happens to others.

Think about what you post online

Treat everyone you meet online with respect.

Do not send, post or share anything that might hurt someone else.

Think before you post anything online. It is safe to assume everything you post may eventually become public.

Do not feel pressure to share naked images or videos of yourself. Be very careful who you trust, because once you send them, you cannot control who sees them or how they are used.

Do not share personal information like your address, date of birth, contact information, school, credit card number or schedule.

Search your own name in search engines frequently, including in an image search. If any personal information, images or videos come up that might be used by cyberbullies, visit NeedHelpNow.ca to get help having it removed.

Take care of your devices and accounts

Do not share passwords, except with an adult you trust.

Use your privacy settings. Find out how to keep your content as private as possible on the sites and apps you use. Check these privacy settings often, because they can change.

Log out of online accounts when not using them. Saving passwords and staying logged on when you walk away from your computer or device makes it possible for someone to pretend to be you online.

Talk about and call out cyberbullying

Talk to your friends about cyberbullying. Support those who have been targeted, and if you know anyone who cyberbullies, tell them to stop it.

If you see negative comments toward someone else online, refuse to participate and take a stand. Cyberbullying continues when others either play along or do nothing.

Say something. Sometimes this is all it takes for others to say something as well, and this is how we can stop cyberbullying together.

Need help?

Talk to someone at Kids Help Phone-a free, 24/7 confidential counselling, information and referrals, and support service for young people.
KidsHelpPhone.ca
Text: 686868
Call: 1-800-668-6868

For more places to get help, Resources for Youth.

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Cyberbullying is common, but you can do your part to stop it and prevent it. By being informed and taking action, you have the power to keep yourself safe online, and help stop cyberbullying when it happens to others. Treat everyone you meet online with respect.