Bullying in Schools

Bullying in Schools

Clearly, the percentage of students who are bullies and victims varies by research study, often depending on the definition used, the time frame examined (e.g., ever, frequently, once a week)† and other factors.‡ Despite these differences, bullying appears to be widespread in schools in every country studying the problem.§

A Threshold Problem: The Reluctance To Report
Most students do not report bullying to adults. Surveys from a variety of countries confirm that many victims and witnesses fail to tell teachers or even parents.10 As a result, teachers may underestimate the extent of bullying in their school and may be able to identify only a portion of the actual bullies. Studies also suggest that children do not believe that most teachers intervene when told about bullying.11
“If the victims are as miserable as the research suggests, why don’t they appeal for help? One reason may be that, historically, adults’ responses have been so disappointing.”12 In a survey of American middle and high school students, “66 percent of victims of bullying believed school professionals responded poorly to the bullying problems that they observed.”13 Some of the reasons victims gave for not telling include:

• Fearing retaliation
  
• Feeling shame at not being able to stand up for themselves
  
• Fearing they would not be believed
  
• Not wanting to worry their parents
  
• Having no confidence that anything would change as a result
  † Forthefirsttime,duringthe1997-98schoolyear,theUnitedStatesparticipatedinaninternationalstudyofyoungpeople's health, behavior and lifestyles, which included conducting surveys on school bullying . (European countries have participated in the study since 1982 .) Researchers gathered data on 120,000 students from 28 countries . Upwards of 20 percent of 15-year-old U .S . students reported they had been bullied at school during the current term . However, a 2000 U .S . Department of Education report on school crime (based on 1999 data), using a very narrow–and perhaps too limited–definition of bullying than the
  earlier report, showed that 5 percent of students ages 12 through 18 had reported being bullied at school in the last six months (Kaufman et al . 2000) .
  ‡ The“AnnualReportonSchoolSafety,”developedinresponsetoa1997schoolshootinginWestPaducah,Kentucky .,did
  not until 1999 contain any data on school bullying . The 1999 school bullying data are aggregate, useful only in international comparisons, since specific types of bullying are not categorized . The report tracks thefts, weapons, injuries, threats, and physical fights, and some measures of harassment and hate crimes . However, the proportion of incidents that have their roots in bullying is not specified .
  § Thewords“bully”and“bullying”areusedinthisguideasshorthandtoincludeallofthedifferentformsofbullyingbehavior . |8|
  

• Thinking their parents’ or teacher’s advice would make the problem worse
  
• Fearing their teacher would tell the bully who told on him or her
  
• Thinking it was worse to be thought of as a snitch†
  The same is true of student-witnesses. Although most students agree that bullying is wrong, witnesses rarely tell teachers and only infrequently intervene on behalf of the victim. Some students worry that intervening will raise a bully’s wrath and make him or her the next target. Also, there may be “diffusion of responsibility”; in other words, students may falsely believe that no one person has responsibility to stop the bullying, absent a teacher or a parent.
  Student-witnesses appear to have a central role in creating opportunities for bullying. In a study of bullying in junior and senior high schools in small Midwestern towns, 88 percent of students reported having observed bullying.14 While some researchers refer to witnesses as “bystanders,” others use a more refined description of the witness role. In each bullying act, there is a victim, the ringleader bully, assistant bullies (they join in), reinforcers (they provide an audience or laugh with or encourage the bully), outsiders (they stay away or take no sides), and defenders (they step in, stick up for, or comfort the victim).15 Studies suggest only between 10 and 20 percent of noninvolved students provide any real help when another student is victimized.16