ABCs Of Bullying

A top researcher of bullying in school-age children, Dan Olweus, defines bullying as:

“A student is being bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative action

There are behavior assumptions about children victimized by bullies. Mostly that victims act in a fashion that invites and/or intensifies attacks against them. Many victimized students do show behaviors that might signal that they perhaps might not be able to defend themselves against attacks, for instance, proneness for crying, visibly worried or withdrawn; lack humor, self-confidence, and self-esteem. Victims reward bullies by being compliant and by abandoning resources (Hodges, Boivin, Bukowski, 1999).

Victims of repeated bullying have a tendency to be shy and quiet children. They do not fight back or respond assertively to the initial incident, this gives the bully a green light to repeat the attack. Victims frequently have a shortage of friends and social support resources at school, and they are not certain of their physical strength and abilities (Sudermann, et al., 1996). Victims generally have a close relationship with their parents and parents might be depicted as overprotective (Banks, 1997).

Research suggests that friendship can be an effective shield against the negative outcomes of being victimized by bullies. Having a best friend decreased victimization over the period of a year and assisted in guarding off aggressive attacks. Children who spent an above average amount of time with their best friend increased their internalization of problems and coping skills. Clearly, a friend can assist in dealing with stressful incidents at school. Friendships serve various important developmental functions, such as a guide for gaining social skills, information banks for self-discovery and self-esteem, and provide emotional and cognitive support and coping, as well as practice for later relationships (Hodges, et al., 1999).

Eslea and Mukhtar of the University of Central Lancashire conducted a study in Britain about bullying among ethnic minority children. They surveyed Hindu, Indian Muslim, and Pakistani children asking them about bullying. The figures show that 57 per cent of boys and 43 per cent of girls had been bullied that school term and that all three ethnic groups suffered proportionately. Nonetheless, bullying was at least as possible to be committed by other Asian children of a different ethnic group as it was by Caucasian children. Bullying was often related to some religious or cultural difference for instance the animal forms of Hindu Gods, the clothing worn by Indian Muslims, or language that is spoken by Pakistanis. Bullying among individuals of the same ethnic group was somewhat rare, however some Hindu children reported slurs regarding the caste system. The researchers concluded that, it is important to remember that it would be hard to generalize from this small sample, but bullying within ethnic minority children is a problem that deserves more study (Eslea and Mukhtar, 2000).

Boys are more apt to engage in direct forms of bullying than girls. Both males and females are taunted and bullied more by boys. Boys started more than three times as many occurrences of bullying as girls (Froschl and Gropper, 1999). Males are valued for their athletic, physical and verbal fighting skills, intelligence, and eagerness to be daring. Males spend more time on instrumental duties and accomplishments. Boys often play by themselves or in bigger groups, which decrease talking. Boys’ insults are similar to female put downs, sissy, fag, baby, crybaby, mamma’s boy, nerd, retard, spaz, fat, and shrimp. Clearly male insults penalize boys for not being how their sex is expected to be, physically and instrumentally proficient, aggressive, indifferent, and independent (Cohen, 1997).

Some topics in this essay:
Interventions Bullying, Prevention Council, Department Education, , Bullying Bullying, Dan Olweus, Seeshing Healey, Froschl Gropper, School Principals, Health Survey, et al, passive bullies, ethnic minority, stephens et, stephens et al, et al 1995, al 1995, ethnic minority children, minority children, al 1996, aggressive bullies, racial bullying, et al 1996, cent reported, sudermann et al,