Bullying Quiz: How Informed Are You?

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• Most bullying (2-3 times as much) happens in school rather than on the way to/from school; generally bullying during school hours occurs where there is limited or no adult supervision, including lunchtime, between class periods, and recess.

• Boys tend to engage in more direct physical bullying; girls in more indirect: boys often use behaviors such as pushing, shoving and girls use words to spread rumors and name-call. However, there are conflicting findings.
• Physical bullying behaviors tend to peak in elementary grades; verbal bullying is constant across the grades.

• Bullies pick on younger students, rather than on older students or their same age peers.
• Boys and smaller children are at greatest risk for physical bullying.
• Weakness can also be defined as social status within the school culture. "Weaker" students may be the ones that do not have many friends or who do not belong to the popular cliques.

• Many youth feel disrespected by authority figures and may not disclose violent incidents because of feelings of distrust and a lack of confidence that adults can, or will, do their best to protect them from harm.

• The cyberbully does not usually see the response of the victim, changing the satisfactions or inhibitions normally generated by bullying behavior.

• However, when researchers include exclusion as a form of bullying, which is the type of bullying that girls do most, the gender "difference" almost disappears.
• Boys also tend to be victimized more than girls.

• The incidence of bullying looks like a bell curve - bullying peaks between grades 4-7.
• Bullying steadily declines as students get older, but it never totally disappears. Research suggests that students change tactics (i.e., reports of sexual harassment increase at about the time reports of bullying decrease).
• Studies in Canada and the UK of students in grades 1-8 show that as they get older, students are more likely to join in bullying and less likely to help victims.

• Bullies typically time their bullying so they are not caught!
• However, observational data have shown that often adults aren't aware or attending when bullying occurs.
• Most disturbing is that when adults do observe bullying or when students tell them, their responses are not helpful in terms of reducing aggressive behavior.
• School-wide policies may not be consistently adhered to or enforced.

• Sudents are often advised to work it out on their own but without support or cues on how to do that.
• Even with all that we know about the serious consequences of bullying (e.g., suicide, life-long trauma), many adults consider bullying a "normal" part of growing up that must be endured.
• Studies show that bullying is often tacitly accepted by adults and many even say that bullying helps "build character."

• Studies show that all three participant groups (bullies, victims, bystanders) are affected by bullying.
• The passive role of bystanders leads to a sense of powerlessness, fear of being victimized, and anxiety that they'll do the wrong thing in the social group. In addition, they can become desensitized to negative behavior and many repress feelings of empathy for bullying victims.

• Many bullies actually have high levels of social skills and social intelligence.
• Particularly during the middle school years, some bullies are actually quite popular among their classmates who perceive them as especially "cool." Many classmates admire their toughness and may even try to imitate them. 

• Bullying is characterized by a power differential. A fight between two kids of equal power is not bullying; bullying is an unfair fight where the child who bullies has some advantage or power over the child who is victimized.
• Bullying is about power - the abuse of power. These power differences distinguish bullying from other forms of aggression and create unique challenges.

• Bullying experiences increase the vulnerabilities of children. Possible side-effects of being a victim of bullying include:
  • anxiety
  • loneliness
  • low self-esteem
  • poor social self-competence
  • depression
  • psychosomatic symptoms
  • social withdrawal
  • school refusal, school absenteeism
  • poor academic performance
  • physical health complaints
  • running away from home
  • alcohol and drug use
  • suicide

• Adolescents who tend to spend more time online also report that they cyberbullied others more frequently, or that they were themselves cyberbullied more frequently.
• This new finding makes a lot of sense, as most online time is unsupervised by adults. Bullying is more likely to happen when authority figures are not present.

• All studies conducted in different countries have demonstrated that bullying occurs at approximately the same rate in kindergarten as in elementary school and that aggressive behavior can start as early as preschool.
• What may differ are the ways in which young children bully, but the general features (power differential) are similar.