Currently There Is A Growing Awareness Of The Prevalence

Bullying, often labeled as just a part of growing up, is a major problem in America’s schools today. Although it is such a hot topic in our country right now, it is also a long ignored problem that only seems to worsen. The complication with bullying is that no one quite understands it, and it is not taken seriously. The definition of bullying is an overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people. In more simple terms, bullying is not a onetime incident; it is repetitive and happens among individuals when there is an imbalance of power. Statistically, every one in six children are bullied, and this cannot continue to take place. Every child has the right to feel safe and have the pursuit of being happy in which bullying completely takes those rights away.

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among people of all ages, but mostly school-age children. Society has been aware of bullying since around 1693, but it was not viewed as a real problem until the 1970s. “While overall incidents of school violence, such as assault and theft, have declined in the last decade, bullying is on the rise.” (qtd in Tyre) The percentage of middle and high school students that have been victimized by bullying went up from 14 percent in 2001 to 32 percent in 2009. (Tyre)

It is worth noting that whenever the term bullying is surfaces, many people visualize it as an aggressive behavior that leads to unwanted power imbalance among school-going children. However, professionals define bullying as the use of superior strength in order for one to achieve an individual’s desire or want from another individual (Gomes, 2007). A closer look at the bullying concept reveals that, bullies bully their victims for intimidation purposes, to exercise authority and superiority, and to boost their self-esteem feeling. Actions that accompany bullying include; making threats, physically or verbally attacking the victim, spreading rumors, and excluding the victim from a group on purpose. Bullies oppress others owing to engagement

Bullying is defined as “verbal, physical, or psychological abuse or teasing accompanied by real or perceived imbalance of power” and is usually targets what children perceive as different (Olweus, 1993). Bullying is prevalent across the nation. It has devastating effects on students each day. Bullying is a problem for all students, regardless of race, gender or class. The National Education Association reports that 160,000 children are absent intentionally from school each day because they fear being bullied whether it is an attack or just intimidation by other students. This accounts for 15% of all school absenteeism (Hunter, 2012). Dan Olweus (1993) from the National School Safety Center tells us that bullying includes three parts: (1)

She describes that confronting the bully, by fightback, sharing with friend and family for intervention, are different strategies used by victims. In some case the victim is unable to equalize this power over the bully. Which can prolong, ongoing humiliation dealing with issues, such as divorce in the family, drastic learning disabilities, as well as chronic illness potently can cause a breaking point. Having low self-esteem, depression, and suicidal and homicidal ideations. Some victims carry the hurt of bullying into adulthood. More or less victims tend to lose faith in other people for comfort and support. She contends “the adverse social and emotional consequences of bullying victimization do not support the idea that bullying builds character. Victimization may build character for a tiny proportion of the population.” (Kuykendall 2012). Bullying for the most part can be traumatic and painful should not be silently approved. Bullies hold social power than the victims. However attacks arise from frustration. Provocative victims are typically sincerely sorry and very apologetic after an attack, a reflection of genuine or low self-esteem. True bullies consume high self-esteem.

Bullying is defined as the prolonged malicious act of harming peers by abusing their own--or an existing imbalance of--power, and has become one of the most common sources of trauma among adolescents. One report shows that one of three children were victims of bullying during some point in their life, and that 10-14% of all adolescents were victims of chronic bullying for at least six months prior to conducting the survey. Children who were victims of bullying are also found to be at a higher risk of diagnoses for anxiety disorders and depression during young and middle adulthood. These victims are reported to be more likely to have lower levels of general/physical health and lower educational acquirements than young and middle aged adults who were not bullied (Wolke & Lereya, 2015). Because bullying is such a prominent problem, citizens, policymakers, and social scientists alike, should feel or have some social and moral obligation to address, and hopefully avert bullying.

A single version of a self-report questionnaire was constructed and used containing three sections of Likert scale questions dealing with bullying instances and experiences, the psychological stability of students, and student’s academic performance.

One of the main aspects we are investigating in our second study is to see if there are any significant differences in victim blaming when participants are either given information about the victim previously being a bully themselves, or when given neutral information

However, the authors stated that younger students reported an increase in victimization and bullying behaviors for the experimental group. While the authors use this information as confirmation of their hypothesis, due to the lack of construct validity apparent in this study the reader has no way of telling whether the younger group reported more victimization because they did not have the undefined “good cognition” Baldry and Farrington wrote of, or if the intervention simply gave the students the language to talk about their experiences more clearly. This group may have become more comfortable recognizing their own experiences of being bullied and bullying others after learning more about it, rather than actually perpetuating more bullying behaviors (Baldry & Farrington, 2004). As the authors acknowledge, the difference between older and younger group results could be because the older students were already more aware of bullying and victimization, and therefore their sensitivity to this behavior did not increase as the younger groups’ might have. As noted in the Construct Validity section, obtaining data from other sources may have helped the authors test this sensitivity and its effect on the results before starting the intervention (Baldry & Farrington,

Bullying in Australian primary schools has become an epidemic, having a negative effect on children’s learning and development (Lodge, 2014). Therefore, it is crucial that schools and teachers are aware, understand and educated on how bullying can impact children’s learning and development; to be able to effectively implement policies, respond, educate and eliminate bullying in the school environment.

It has been investigated that there are two main features found in bullying behavior, power-concerned to bullying and affiliation-concerned to bullying, are connected to being violent and hurting others. (Fekkes,Pijpers,& Verloove-Vanhorick;2004).

Hoover, J.H., Oliver, R.L., and Thomson, K.A (1993). Perceived victimzation by school bullies: New research and future direction

Bullying can be hard to define, because research has shown that it comes in many forms which makes it difficult to find one set of characteristics that will describe a bully. Conclusively, studies have defined bullying as a set of repeated aggressive behavior that is intended to harm someone, which usually involves an imbalance of power between the victim and the perpetrator (Morgan, 2012, p. 174). Studies have shown that there are two distinct types of bullying, which is a direct form of verbal and physical aggression, and indirect, which often results in name calling, rumors and exclusion (Aluedse, 2006, p. 38). This form of peer victimization can have devastating effects on a child 's academic work and their physical and psychological well being (Limber, 2003, p. 23). In terms of gender, boys are more likely to be involved in physical bullying (direct) as for girls are more likely to be involved in indirect bullying (Wang et al, 2009, p. 371). Previous research indicates, that parents and friends are two important factors of social interaction associated with bullying and victimization among adolescences. Bullying is quite common among middle school children, because it is during this time that children go through puberty and hormonal changes. During this time students are looking to be accepted and fit into a specific group; however, when there is a lack of acceptance and esteem due to victimization, this can cause children to isolate themselves from those around them

School bullying and bullying as a whole has become a growing concern. The need for more intervention is more recognized, as incidents of bullying and inappropriate acts towards others occur in places outside of the classroom. This literature takes a closer look at bullying in schools. Olwesus (2013) states “the field of bullying research is to some extent plagued by problems, disagreements, and unresolved issues” (p.752). Whether if anyone will agree on the root of bullying, the fact remains that bullying has to be examined at its very core to remedy the matter before it becomes a bigger concern. There is a dire need for intervention based programs to be set in place to address the fact the act of bullying has lasting effects on the bully and the victim. When intervention programs are put into place to address bullying, the act of bullying decreases due to the gained understanding of the effects.

It is only in the recent years that attention has turned toward the widespread problem of bullying, especially in schools, and that bullying is identified as a serious problem that merits intervention and research (Coy). Therefore, relatively little effort has been made to overcome or address the problem, which still remains a widespread social vice. This paper purports to illustrate how, despite efforts made to rectify the situation, bullying still remains rampant, and is getting worse.