A blog about the global fight against bullying. Addresses the different facets of abuse that are happening all around the world. What is it? Why does it happen? And, How can it be stopped?
Back on Track for More Information A few weeks ago I made a post called The More You Know. This post focused on the statistics section of School Bullying on Wikipedia. I made revisions to the original page and now I'm back to see if the page on Wikipedia is still the same or has been changed.
Was my revision of the Wiki page changed? Sadly I must say that the Wiki page has been changed. Please see below.
Bullying is a common occurrence in most schools. According to the American Psychological Association, approximately "40% to 80% of school-age children experience bullying at some point during their school careers".[16] Regardless of the grade level, socioeconomic environment, gender, religion, or sexual orientation, bullying can happen to anyone. However, various studies point out that students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more bullied than students from higher socio-economic backgrounds.[17] Most children experience bullying at some point in their academic careers. The following is a list of statistics that illustrate the severity of bullying within classrooms:[16]
20–40% of bullying victims actually report being bullied
7–12% of bullies are habitual and pose a serious threat
23% of 9th graders have carried a weapon to school recently[18]
5–15% of students are constantly bullied
27% of students are bullied because of their refusal to engage in common sexual practices
25% of students encourage bullying if not given proper education and support in anti-bullying techniques[19]
This was a survey conducted by the NICHD where a results on what student did in a school. "The children were asked to complete a questionnaire during a class period that asked how often they either bullied other students, or were the target of bullying behavior. A total of 10.6 percent of the children replied that they had 'sometimes' bullied other children, a response category defined as 'moderate' bullying. An additional 8.8 percent said they had bullied others once a week or more, defined as 'frequent' bullying. Similarly, 8.5 percent said they had been targets of moderate bullying, and 8.4 percent said they were bullied frequently. Out of all the students, 13 percent said they had engaged in moderate or frequent bullying of others, while 10.6 percent said they had been bullied either moderately or frequently. Some students-6.3 percent-had both bullied others and been bullied themselves. In all, 29 percent of the students who responded to the survey had been involved in some aspect of bullying, either as a bully, as the target of bullying, or both." [20] According to Tara Kuther, associate professor of psychology at Western Connecticut State University, "...bullying gets so much more sophisticated and subtle in high school. It's more relational. It becomes more difficult for teens to know when to intervene, whereas with younger kids bullying is more physical and therefore more clear cut".[19] Because of the low numbers of students who actually report incidents of bullying, teachers need to have a certain level of awareness that will thwart any potential problems. This awareness starts with understanding bullying.
I am quite surprised that my revision was actually changed back to its original post. I am not completely sure why it was reverted back but I've rationalized that it's possible that the information that I posted may not have been cited correctly. This is just speculation, for I really don't understand why it was changed. My revision listed chronologically the yearly statistics taken on bullying in schools. This chronological order made it easier for the reader to follow. Also, I've explained that the statistics listed above were not taken on a fair playing ground amongst other schools in the same geographical area. The statistics only concentrate on one school, therefore providing information that may be viewed as inaccurate. For more information, please see my previous post The More You Know. Because I feel that the information above can be presented slightly more thoroughly, I am attempting to revise the Statistics section of the "School Bullying" page in Wikipedia once again. Please see below for the revised section:
Statistics
2000
In 2000 a survey by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshirefound that 6% of the young people had experienced some kind of harassment such as threats or horrible rumours and 2% suffered from distressing abuse.
2004
ABC News reported on a 2004 survey, in September 2006, of 1,500 students between the grades 4 through 8 which displayed :
42% of kids have been bullied online. One in four have had it happen more than once.
35% of kids have been threatened online. About one in five had it happen more than once.
21% of kids received harassing e-mails.
58% of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online. More than four out of ten say it has happened more than once.
58% have not told their parents or an adult about the harassment ocurring to them online.
2005
The Youth Internet Safety Survey-2, conducted by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire in 2005, found:
9% of the young people in the survey had experienced some form of harassment. The survey was a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,500 youths between the ages of 10 to 17 years old.
One third reported feeling distressed by the incident, with distress being more likely for younger respondents and those who were the victims of aggressive harassment.
Hinduja and Patchin completed a study in the summer of 2005 of approximately 1,500 internet-using adolescents and found:
over one-third of youths reported being victimized online.
over 16% of respondents admitted to cyber-bullying others.
While most of the instances of cyber-bullying involved relatively minor behavior it was found:
41% were disrespected.
19% were called names.
over 12% were physically threatened.
about 5% were scared for their safety.
Notably, fewer than 15% of victims told an adult about the incident.
According to a 2005 survey by the National Children's Home charity and Tesco Mobile of 770 youths between the ages of 11 and 19 found:
20% of respondents revealed that they had been bullied via electronic means.
Almost three-quarters (73%) stated that they knew the bully.
26% stated that the offender was a stranger.
10% of responders indicated that another person has taken a picture and/or video of them via acellular phone camera.
2007
In 2007, a Stanford University student,Debbie Heimowitz, created a film based on Stanford accredited research called Adina's Deck. She worked for ten weeks in three schools to learn about the problem of cyber-bullying in Northern California. The findings determined that over 60% of students had been cyber-bullied and were victims of cyber-bullying. The film is now being used in classrooms nationwide as it was designed around learning goals pertaining to problems that students had understanding the topic.
Additional research by Hinduja and Patchin in 2007 found that youths who report being victims of cyber-bullying also experience stress that is related to other problematic behaviors such as running away from home, drinking alcohol, or using drugs. The authors acknowledge that both of these studies provide only preliminary information about the nature and consequences of online bullying, due to the methodological challenges associated with an online survey.
2008
In 2008, researchers Sameer Hinduja (Florida Atlantic University) and Justin Patchin (University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire) published a book on cyber-bullying that summarized the current state of cyber-bullying research. (Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying). Their research documents that cyber-bullying instances have been increasing over the last several years. They also report findings from the most recent study of cyber-bullying among middle-school students. Using a random sample of approximately 2000 middle-school students from a large school district in the southern United States they found:
about 10% of respondents had been cyber-bullied in the previous 30 days.
while over 17% reported being cyber-bullied at least once in their lifetime.
While these rates are slightly lower than some of the findings from their previous research, Hinduja and Patchin point out that the earlier studies were predominantly conducted among older adolescents and internet samples. That is, older youths use the internet more frequently and are more likely to experience cyber-bullying than younger children.
2011
The National Crime Prevention Council reported in 2011 that cyber-bullying is a problem that affects almost half of all American teens.
All information provided above was found on the psychology wiki site. I believe that the revised statistics section provides detailed information of the bullying incidents listed chronologically starting from the year 2000 through 2011. This gives the reader a clear view of the trend in our society. These statistics shows a steady rise of the bullying incidents, whereas the previous wiki did not provide enough data to display this continuous growth throughout the years. Also, the statistics now displayed are not solely based on a single school, rather the statistics are based on a number of schools throughout many years.
Just a note:
We as a community need to come together and send a message to our children that it is not alright to bully and it is not going to be tolerated. Unfortunately not enough is being done to put a halt to this upward trend in our society. We are the adults and it is time that we do something about this.
In recent years, a series of bullying-related suicides in the US and across the globe have drawn attention to the connection between bullying and suicide. Though too many adults still see bullying as "just part of being a kid," it is a serious problem that leads to many negative effects for victims, including suicide.
Below is a video of a teenager named Amanda Todd who committed suicide on Wednesday 10/10/12 in Coquitlam, Canada due to bullying.
ABCcovered the story in an article titled Bullied Teen Leaves Behind Chilling YouTube Video. Reporter--Christina NG-- explained that Amanda Todd, a fifteen year old teenager had posted a story to YouTube the previous month about being cyber-bullied. She was sadly found dead Wednesday night 10/10/12 in Coquitlam, Canada. Authorities believed that she committed suicide.
The website shows Amanda's video which tells a heart-wrenching story of the bullying she was subjected to -- both online and off. In 7th grade, she would go with friends on webcam to meet and talk to new people. At one point, a stranger flattered her into flashing the camera. ABC reports that one year later, a man contacted Amanda on Facebook, threatening to send around the picture of her topless if she did not "put on a show." Terrifyingly, the stranger knew everything about her: her address, school, friends, relatives, and the names of her family members. Soon, her naked photo had been forwarded "to everyone." Amanda developed anxiety, depression, and panic disorders, she wrote, followed by a path into drugs and alcohol.
ABC also reports that she changed schools and found a new group of friends in an effort to leave behind the bullies. Then the man created a Facebook profile, using her uncensored photo as his profile picture. She "cried every night, lost all my friends and respect people had for me again."
Soon after, the bullying started again and she began to cut herself. Amanda also wrote about how she made "a huge mistake" and "hooked up" with an old guy friend, who she really believed liked her. Then a troop of girls, led by the boy's girlfriend, came and beat her up. "Kids filmed it," she writes. "I was all alone and left on the ground."
The video on ABC shows that Todd wrote that she "wanted to die so bad" when her dad found her in a ditch. When she got home she drank bleach in an attempt to kill herself, but was saved after a rushed trip to the hospital.
Amanda's bullying continued despite moving to a new city. Anti-depressants and counseling did little to combat the severe depression. The authorities were called on Oct. 10, 2012 to investigate the sudden death of the teenager.
Advice:
My message to any student being bullied is this. Do not be afraid to speak up. You do not have to face this alone. Just know that there have been many before you that have been bullied. High school is just a small fraction of your life. Allow yourself to move on from this, because there is so much more to your life to live. So many goals to be accomplished. So many dreams to be realized. Life can be painful at times. I’ve dealt with my own heartbreak, my own tragedies, my own mistakes, but always knew that it would get better and it did. Don’t ever give up. Suicide should never be one of your options. Suicide is a final solution to a temporary problem. There have been too many tears shed over coffins that are too small.
Please don’t ever think that you need to kill yourself to escape your pain. Eleanor Roosevelt says it best that "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Therefore, please don’t put your friends, family, and your parents through any pain of loss because their suffering will be everlasting when they lose you. Be strong. Life will get better. You just have to give it a chance.
Young people say that bullying is one of the biggest
problems they face. In fact, there have been many students that report seeing bullying at
least once a week. This negatively affects the victims and the bullies as well
as the kids who witness bullying and the school environment as a whole.
Information from Wikipedia on School Bullying is shown below:
Statistics
Bullying is a common occurrence in most schools. According to the American Psychological Association, approximately "40% to 80% of school-age children experience bullying at some point during their school careers".[16] Regardless of the grade level, socioeconomic environment, gender, religion, or sexual orientation, bullying can happen to anyone. However, various studies point out that students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more bullied than students from higher socio-economic backgrounds.[17] Most children experience bullying at some point in their academic careers. The following is a list of statistics that illustrate the severity of bullying within classrooms:[16]
20–40% of bullying victims actually report being bullied
7–12% of bullies are habitual and pose a serious threat
23% of 9th graders have carried a weapon to school recently[18]
5–15% of students are constantly bullied
27% of students are bullied because of their refusal to engage in common sexual practices
25% of students encourage bullying if not given proper education and support in anti-bullying techniques[19]
This was a survey conducted by the NICHD where a results on what student did in a school. "The children were asked to complete a questionnaire during a class period that asked how often they either bullied other students, or were the target of bullying behavior. A total of 10.6 percent of the children replied that they had 'sometimes' bullied other children, a response category defined as 'moderate' bullying. An additional 8.8 percent said they had bullied others once a week or more, defined as 'frequent' bullying. Similarly, 8.5 percent said they had been targets of moderate bullying, and 8.4 percent said they were bullied frequently. Out of all the students, 13 percent said they had engaged in moderate or frequent bullying of others, while 10.6 percent said they had been bullied either moderately or frequently. Some students-6.3 percent-had both bullied others and been bullied themselves. In all, 29 percent of the students who responded to the survey had been involved in some aspect of bullying, either as a bully, as the target of bullying, or both." [20] According to Tara Kuther, associate professor of psychology at Western Connecticut State University, "...bullying gets so much more sophisticated and subtle in high school. It's more relational. It becomes more difficult for teens to know when to intervene, whereas with younger kids bullying is more physical and therefore more clear cut".[19] Because of the low numbers of students who actually report incidents of bullying, teachers need to have a certain level of awareness that will thwart any potential problems. This awareness starts with understanding bullying.
Although this section of the topic "School Bullying" is informative, it does not give a substantial amount of facts for the statistics of bullying. The association that conducted the survey is listed but we don't know when it was orchestrated. I also felt that the statistics section could have been elaborated upon with more details of recent studies. Below is the revised section of the Wiki with the recommendations mentioned above: Statistics
2000
In 2000 a survey by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshirefound that 6% of the young people had experienced some kind of harassment such as threats or horrible rumours and 2% suffered from distressing abuse.
2004
ABC News reported on a 2004 survey, in September 2006, of 1,500 students between the grades 4 through 8 which displayed :
42% of kids have been bullied online. One in four have had it happen more than once.
35% of kids have been threatened online. About one in five had it happen more than once.
21% of kids received harrassing e-mails.
58% of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online. More than four out of ten say it has happened more than once.
58% have not told their parents or an adult about the harrassment ocurring to them online.
2005
The Youth Internet Safety Survey-2, conducted by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire in 2005, found:
9% of the young people in the survey had experienced some form of harassment.The survey was a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,500 youths between the ages of 10 to 17 years old.
One third reported feeling distressed by the incident, with distress being more likely for younger respondents and those who were the victims of aggressive harassment.
Hinduja and Patchin completed a study in the summer of 2005 of approximately 1,500 internet-using adolescents and found:
over one-third of youths reported being victimized online.
over 16% of respondents admitted to cyber-bullying others.
While most of the instances of cyber-bullying involved relatively minor behavior it was found:
41% were disrespected.
19% were called names.
over 12% were physically threatened.
about 5% were scared for their safety.
Notably, fewer than 15% of victims told an adult about the incident.
According to a 2005 survey by the National Children's Home charity and Tesco Mobile of 770 youths between the ages of 11 and 19 found:
20% of respondents revealed that they had been bullied via electronic means.
Almost three-quarters (73%) stated that they knew the bully.
26% stated that the offender was a stranger.
10% of responders indicated that another person has taken a picture and/or video of them via acellular phone camera.
2007
In 2007, a Stanford University student,Debbie Heimowitz, created a film based on Stanford accredited research called Adina's Deck. She worked for ten weeks in three schools to learn about the problem of cyber-bullying in Northern California. The findings determined that over 60% of students had been cyber-bullied and were victims of cyber-bullying. The film is now being used in classrooms nationwide as it was designed around learning goals pertaining to problems that students had understanding the topic.
Additional research by Hinduja and Patchin in 2007 found that youths who report being victims of cyber-bullying also experience stress that is related to other problematic behaviors such as running away from home, drinking alcohol, or using drugs. The authors acknowledge that both of these studies provide only preliminary information about the nature and consequences of online bullying, due to the methodological challenges associated with an online survey.
2008
In 2008, researchers Sameer Hinduja (Florida Atlantic University) and Justin Patchin (University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire) published a book on cyber-bullying that summarized the current state of cyber-bullying research. (Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying). Their research documents that cyber-bullying instances have been increasing over the last several years. They also report findings from the most recent study of cyber-bullying among middle-school students. Using a random sample of approximately 2000 middle-school students from a large school district in the southern United States they found:
about 10% of respondents had been cyber-bullied in the previous 30 days.
while over 17% reported being cyber-bullied at least once in their lifetime.
While these rates are slightly lower than some of the findings from their previous research, Hinduja and Patchin point out that the earlier studies were predominantly conducted among older adolescents and internet samples. That is, older youths use the internet more frequently and are more likely to experience cyber-bullying than younger children.
2011
The National Crime Prevention Council reported in 2011 that cyber-bullying is a problem that affects almost half of all American teens.
All of the information was found on thepsychologywiki site. I found that the previous statistic section of the topic on school bullying was presented rather poorly because the statistics presented were construed from one specific school in an unidentified socio-economic area. The survey here is inconclusive because it is basically flawed. For example, if this survey was more inclusive of other schools the results may have been different. Rather than just one school, there should be more schools in the same geographical area surveyed. In my opinion, with three independent surveys from a public school, parochial school, and charter school the results may be different.
My revised statistics section provides detailed information of the bullying incidents listed chronologically starting from the year 2000 through 2011. This gives the readers an unobstructed view of the trend in our society. These statistics shows clearly a steady rise of the bullying incidents, whereas the previous wiki did not provide enough data to display this continuous growth throughout the years. Also, the statistics now displayed are not solely based on a single school, rather the statistics are based on a number of schools throughout many years.
Based on the bullying statistics found, that cyber bullying is on the rise more so than any other type of bullying. Many students report seeing this type of bullying in chat rooms, social networking websites like Facebook. Also, other bullying studies revealed that bullies in school use one's gender, race, socioeconomic status as well as sexual preference as a motive to harass someone. Many of these students are forced to deal with bullying not only at school but also have it follow them home. For they have to also deal with being cyber bullied on the Internet. While this isn't always a school-related issue, many schools are trying to cease the act of cyber bullying from occurring at school by limiting computer time and prohibiting many of the social websites used to spread false information.
Because of the wide-spread amount of bullying, it is more important than ever for parents and teachers to check in with children about bullying. Many students might be afraid to tell an adult or parent, which is why parents and teachers need to be aware of the signs of bullying and to pay attention to what is going on with their child or student. Another way to help lower the bullying statistics is to have open communication. Students and children should be encouraged to tell a trusted adult, parent or teacher about any kind of bullying attack. It is the best way to help stop the situation from getting worse and to help prevent bullying from targeting any more victims.
