Definition of Bullying:

The definition of bullying is when an individual or a group of people with more power,

repeatedly and intentionally cause hurt or harm to another person or group of people who feel

helpless to respond. Bullying involves a dynamic interaction between the perpetrator and the

sufferer. The bully increases in power by oppressing the power of the victim. Owusu, Hart,

Oliver and Kang, (2011) found that victim of bullying were significantly more likely to report

negative psychological health such as signs of depression, suicide ideation, being so worried that

affect sleep and loneliness.

At the age of eight, I also experienced the feelings of shame and a lower self-esteem whenever I

experienced teasing and any other form of bullying and whenever I got excluded from the peer

groups of my age.

Historical Background and Research base:

The word “bully” can be traced back as far as the 1530s (Harper, 2008). In its most basic sense

bullying involves two people, a bully or intimidator and a victim. The term bullying has

drastically changed over time. In 18th and 19th centuries bullying was mainly viewed as physical

or verbal harassment. Historically, the most significant turning point for bullying took place in

the mid 1970s. Dan Olweus, a research professor of psychology, was the first to conduct an

intensive study on bullying among students using his own systematic researching methods (Koo,

2007, p112). Canada’s bullying issue came into limelight after murder of Rina Virk in 1997 by

several teens and it became a catalyst for change, sparking anti-bullying and youth

violence prevention initiative.

Types of Bullying:

Physical bullying includes hitting, kicking, tripping, pinching and pushing or damaging

property.

Verbal bullying includes name calling, insults, teasing, intimidation, homophobic or racist

remarks, or verbal abuse.

Social bullying includes lying and spreading rumors, playing nasty jokes to embarrass and

humiliate and damaging someone's social reputation or social acceptance.

Cyber bullying Cyber bullying can be overt bullying behaviors using digital technologies,

including instant messaging, texts, websites and other online platforms.

What Bullying is Not?

 single episodes of social rejection or dislike

 single episode acts of nastiness or spite

 random acts of aggression or intimidation

 mutual arguments, disagreements or fights.

Question?

What is the main reason behind bullying?

The children who bully are in position of power relative to the children who are being

victimized. The power advantages of the children who bully can arise from many aspects of

relationship- differential in size, strength, age or social status or familiarity with the other child’s

vulnerability.

Peers and Bullying

Peers provide the relational context for bullying. Bullying often occurs within groups of peers

and peers can play multiple roles in promoting and preventing bullying act and the associated

effects of bullying.

Key Themes

 Peers contribute to the dynamics within bullying.

 The relationship between peers and bullying is complex and exists at multiple levels.

 Bystanders engaged in bullying and/or victimization, peers have the potential to either

promote or prevent the incidence and negative effects of bullying. They can be part of

the problem or part of the solution.

 Effective interventions must address the peer group as a whole.

Key Research Findings on critical issues are as follow:

i. Impact of Peers

 Bullying most often occurs within groups of peers.

 Isolation and peer dislike are strong predictors of bullying and victimization.

 Negative peer-related variables, such as having delinquent peers or gang affiliation, are

consistent risk factors for bullying behavior.

 ii. Interactive Effects of Peer Factors

 Peer dominance hierarchies increase as children get older. When the peer dominance

hierarchy is strong in primary school, it is more difficult for children who are victimized

to move out of the victim role.

 Children who bully in elementary school are more likely to be socially rejected, but this

trend shifts so that children who are victimized are more socially rejected in high school.

 Feelings of isolation during high school increase the negative effects of being victimized

as measured by stress during college.

iii. Significance of Peer Relationships

 Belonging within a peer group is a strong goal for children and adolescents.

 Wanting or having a friendship with the child who bullies can be a reason why

children who are victimized choose not to disclose that they are experiencing

bullying.

iv. The Bystander Role

 Bystanders are present in at least 85% of bullying episodes they observed among

elementary school students, with two or more peers present in more than half of

the incidents.

 Peers contribute to bullying by providing attention and reinforcement to the child

who is bullying, as well as by joining in bullying.

 The mere presence of bystanders in a verbal dispute between parties of the same

gender increases the likelihood that the dispute will turn violent.
  Bystanders who witness repeated victimization of peers experience negative

effects similar to children who were victimized.

v. Peers’ Roles in Intervention

 One study of children 9 to 13 years old found that younger children who

witnessed bullying were more likely to try to stop the incident or to tell someone

than to simply watch or join in.

 Peers intervene more frequently than teachers.

 Interventions that acknowledge the role of bystanders and the group as a whole,

show positive results in terms of promoting prosocial attitudes.

 Interventions that focused on social skills training for children with peer

relationship difficulties found that improving peer relationships lowers antisocial

affiliations, and has a positive effect on aggressive children, decreasing levels of

aggression and peer victimization.

Impacts of Bullying:

On bully:

 Abuse alcohol and other drugs in adolescence and as adults

 Get into fights, vandalize property, and drop out of school

 Engage in early sexual activity

 Have criminal convictions and traffic citations as adults 

 Be abusive toward their romantic partners, spouses, or children as adults

On victim:

 Depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep

and eating patterns, and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. These issues may

persist into adulthood.

 Health complaints

 Decreased academic achievement—GPA and standardized test scores—and school

participation. They are more likely to miss, skip, or drop out of school.

What should we do?

How to educate victims to get rid of bullying?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynTuA_tlZDE

Prevention and Intervention

 Prevention and intervention programs should be multi-modal and include a peer

component.

 Communities and schools should promote healthy peer relationships in order to prevent

bullying and decrease the negative effects of bullying for children who are victimized.

 Interventions to help children who bully should focus not only on skills training, but

also on shifting their negative power in bullying to positive power within the peer group.

 Having one friend is a protective factor in bullying, therefore, children who are

victimized benefit from supportive peer relationships.

  When addressing bullying incidents, bystanders should be included in the resulting

education and support along with the children who bullied or were victimized.

 Policies must include references to the role of peers in bullying and their contributions to

the power dynamics.

 Bullying is a systemic problem and it is everyone’s responsibility to respond to stop

bullying, including peers.

 Although peers can make an important contribution to preventing and intervening in

bullying, they cannot be successful without supportive and trusting adults who will

follow through with educative consequences.

Overall,  in our argument we believe bullying is immoral and totally unacceptable as a person’s

childhood years are very important because it is a time that can affect the formation of his/her

self-esteem. If the child is constantly being bullied at school whether it is physically or verbally,

then he/she will start to lose confidence in him/her self. So, Bullied students tend to grow up

more socially anxious, with less self-esteem and require more mental health services throughout

life. To curb this issue, communication plays a pivotal role in curbing the issue of bullying as

bullies can benefit from efforts to understand their own behavior and to learn and adopt healthier

ways of dealing with their peers. A productive approach needs to be adopted by finding ways to

channel aggression through productive means according to their interest such as sports or theatre.
 References

Harper, D. (2008, October 10). Online etymology dictionary. Retrieved from

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=bully&searchmod

=none

Koo, H. (2007). A time line of the evolution of school bullying in differing social contexts. Asia

Pacific Education Review, 8(1), 107-116.

Owusu, A., Hart, P., Oliver, B., & Kang, M. (2011). The association between bullying and

psychological health among senior high school students in Ghana, West

Africa. Journal of school health, 81(5), 231 238.

Patchin, J. W., & Hinduja, S. (2012). School-based efforts to prevent cyberbullying. The

Prevention Researcher, 19(3), 7-10.