Bullying Cases
Almost 30% of youth in the United States (or over 5. 7 million) are estimated to be involved in bullying as either a bully, a target of bullying, or both. In a recent national survey of students in grades 6-10, 13% reported bullying others, 11% reported being the target of bullies, and another 6% said that they bullied others and were bullied themselves. In colloquial speech, bullying is most often used to describe a form of harassment associated with being performed by a child who is older, stronger, or otherwise more powerful socially, upon weaker peers.
Bullying can occur in situations including in school or college/university, the workplace, by neighbors, and between countries. Whatever the situation the power structure is typically evident between the bully and victim. It seems to those outside the relationship that the bully’s power depends only upon the perception of the victim, with the victim being too intimidated to put up effective resistance. However the victim usually has just cause to be afraid of the bully due to the threat and actually carrying out of physical/sexual violence, or loss of livelihood. Bullying is behind most claims of discrimination in the workplace.
Safeyouth) Bullying can be termed as to treat abusively, to affect by means of force or coercion, and also to use browbeating language or behavior. (Merriam) There can be up to as many as four different types of bullies. Sadistic, narcissistic bully, Imitative bully, Impulsive bully, and Accidental bully. Sadistic bully lacks empathy for others. Has low degree of anxiety about consequences.
Narcissistic need to feel omnipotent and may appear to have a high self esteem but it is actually a brittle narcissism. Imitative bully may have low self esteem or be depressed, can be influenced by the surrounding social climate.
May use whining or tattling or be manipulative. Often responds well to a change in the culture of the classroom or social setting. If depressed may need other intervention.
Impulsive bully is less likely to be part of a gang. He or she’s bullying is more spontaneous and may appear more random. They have difficulty restraining themselves from the behavior even when authorities are likely to impose consequences, and may have AD/HD. They may respond to medications and behavioral treatment and social skills training. He or she is actually also likely to be bullied.
Accidental bully, being last, this individual may or may not be ncluded if bullying is a deliberate act. The behavior may be offensive because the individual does not realize that their actions are upsetting the victim. If someone patiently and compassionately explains the situation, the individual will change the behavior. Sometimes social skills need to be taught. (ncpamd) Most bullying can be seen in schools around the world and in all grades.
Bullying takes on different forms in male and female youth. While both male and female youth say that others bully them by making fun of the way they look or talk, males are more likely to report being hit, slapped, or pushed.
Female youth are more likely than males to report being the targets of rumors and sexual comments. While male youth target both boys and girls, female youth most often bully other girls, using more subtle and indirect forms of aggression than boys. For example, instead of physically harming others, they are more likely to spread gossip or encourage others to reject or exclude another girl. (Safeyouth) As children get older they get into more and more technology such as cell phone, computer, email, and instant messaging.
Cyberbullying occurs in that electronic space.
It “involves the use of information and communication technologies such through these different types of communications. Web sites, blogs, and defamatory online personal polling Web sites, to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others. ” -Bill Belsey Recently, a number of states have passed strong cyber bullying laws that are designed to protect children from being harassed, threatened and humiliated online. (cyberalert) These laws represent a crucial step towards National anti-cyber bullying laws which will protect children of all ages in every corner of the country.
However only 9 out of 50 states have this law, and only 36 out of 50 states have actual Anti Bullying Laws. (loveourchildrenusa) While many people believe that bullies act tough in order to hide feelings of insecurity and self-loathing, in fact, bullies tend to be confident, with high self-esteem. They are generally physically aggressive, with pro-violence attitudes, and are typically hot-tempered, easily angered, and impulsive, with a low tolerance for frustration. Bullies have a strong need to dominate others and usually have little empathy for their targets. Male bullies are often physically bigger and stronger than their peers.
Bullies tend to get in trouble more often, and to dislike and do more poorly in school, than teens who do not bully others. They are also more likely to fight, drink and smoke than their peers. Children and teens that come from homes where parents provide little emotional support for their children, fail to monitor their activities, or have little involvement in their lives, are at greater risk for engaging in bullying behavior. Parents’ discipline styles are also related to bullying behavior: an extremely permissive or excessively harsh approach to discipline can increase the risk of teenage bullying
Surprisingly, bullies appear to have little difficulty in making friends. Their friends typically share their pro-violence attitudes and problem behaviors (such as drinking and smoking) and may be involved in bullying as well. These friends are often followers that do not initiate bullying, but participate in it.
(Safeyouth) Children and youth who are bullied are typically anxious, insecure, and cautious and suffer from low self-esteem, rarely defending themselves or retaliating when confronted by students who bully them. They are often socially isolated and lack social skills.
One study found that the most frequent reason cited by youth for persons being bullied is that they “didn’t fit in. ” Males who are bullied tend to be physically weaker than their peers. Bullying can lead the children and youth that are the target of bullying to feel tense, anxious, and afraid. It can affect their concentration in school, and can lead them to avoid school in some cases.
If bullying continues for some time, it can begin to affect children and youth’s self-esteem and feelings of self-worth. It also can increase their social isolation, leading them to become withdrawn and depressed, anxious and insecure.
In extreme cases, bullying can be devastating for children and youth, with long-term consequences. Researchers have found that years later, long after the bullying has stopped, adults who were bullied as youth have higher levels of depression and poorer self-esteem than other adults. There appears to be a strong relationship between bullying other students and experiencing later legal and criminal problems as an adult. In one study, 60% of those characterized as bullies in grades 6-9 had at least one criminal conviction by age 24.
Chronic bullies seem to maintain their behaviors into adulthood, negatively influencing their ability to develop and maintain positive relationships. (Safeyouth) Such as relationships in the workplace, where bullying is surprisingly common. Things such as an eye roll, a glare, a dismissive snort — these are the tactics of the workplace bully. They don’t sound like much, but that’s why they are so insidious. IIn a survey released last fall, 37 percent of American workers said they had experienced bullying on the job, according to the research firm Zogby International.
Unlike the playground bully, who often resorts to physical threats, the work bully sets out on a course of constant but subtle harassment.
It may start with a belittling comment at a staff meeting and later on becomes gossip to co-workers and forgetting to invite someone to an important work event. If the bully is a supervisor, victims may be stripped of critical duties, then accused of not doing their job, says Gary Namie, founder of the Workplace Bullying Institute, an advocacy group based in Bellingham, Wash. The University of Manitoba has reported that the emotional toll of workplace bullying is more severe than that of sexual harassment.
And in today’s corporate culture, supervisors may condone bullying as part of a tough management style. Thanks in part to a best-selling book In Robert I.
Sutton, a management professor and co-director of the Center for Work, Technology and Organization at Stanford. A book by Robert I. Sutton, argues that workplace bullies are bad for business, because they lead to absenteeism and turnover. The New York State Legislature is considering an antibullying bill, and in several other states, including New Jersey and Connecticut, lawmakers have introduced such measures — without success so far.
