Chapter 16: Adolescent Bullying

The introductory text reads, Bullying is defined as repeated attempts to hurt someone else, physically or socially. It can take many forms. For younger children, it was often physical—hitting, shoving, fighting. That is less common among adolescents, who can hurt each other with words or exclusion. Among teenagers, not being invited to a party can be hurtful and is common—as teenagers develop dominance hierarchies and need peer support. The best protection is to have one or more close friends, and adults who encourage whatever talents the child has.
A subheading reads, the nature of school bullying followed by a text that reads, When bullying takes place at school, about two-thirds of it occurs in hallways, schoolyards, bathrooms, cafeterias, or buses. A full one-third occurs in classrooms, while teachers are present. An estimated 30 percent of school bullying goes unreported.
Another subheading reads, features of school anti bullying programs followed by a list that reads, Increased supervision of students, A school climate that encourages friendship, Teachers who promote empathy, School-wide implementation of anti bullying policies, Cooperation among school staff, parents, and professionals across disciplines, Identification of risk factors for bullying.
An illustration depicts a circle with three parts. The first part depicts an arrow that leads to staggered lines in the second part and to a sign in the third part that reads Bully and which is struck across with a line. Success varies, with some programs having no effect. But overall, a good program can reduce bullying by 25percent or more.
An illustration shows a cartoon of a person’s head and values in percent corresponding to different types of bullying. The data are as follows,
Threatened by peers and classmates, 27 percent; Ridiculed or called names, 44 percent; Slandered by lies and rumors, 36 percent; Pushed and shoved, 32 percent; Left out or ignored, 29 percent; Threatened or injured by a weapon, 7 percent; Received sexual comments or gestures, 24 percent.
A bar chart follows with a text that reads, The number of people who say they were bullied as teens is increasing. The data in the chart is as follows, Over age 50, 39 percent say they were bullied; Under age 50, 54 percent say they were bullied.
An inset below the bar chart is titled Cyberbullying. An introductory text reads, Cyberbullying (discussed in Chapter 15) takes place via e-mail, text messages, Web sites and apps, instant messaging, chat rooms, or posted videos or photos. About 60 percent of boys and girls have been cyberbullied, but girls are more often the targets of online rumor spreading or nonconsensual explicit messages (Anderson, 2018).
Under the subheading, Why do teens cyberbully? is the following data,
To get back at the victim, 58 percent; For entertainment, 28 percent; to embarrass the victim, 21 percent; they want to be mean, 14 percent; to show off for friends, 11 percent.
Under the subheading, Social media and Cyberbullying, is the following data.
Victims who report incidents to their social network, 37 percent;
Victims who tell their parent or another adult, 40 percent;
Users who witness cyberbullying on their social media site, 90 percent;
Witnesses who usually ignore cyberbullying on their social media site, 35 percent.