School Bullying: Types, Causes, and Prevention Strategies

Introduction: Bullying and the Columbine Tragedy

The incidents of April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado put bullying into a new perspective. Two students, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who were, for all intents and purposes, intelligent and apparently well-adjusted, went on a killing spree. They killed and injured several members of the school community, including a teacher (Rosenberg, 2000), and then turned the guns on themselves. Their plans were grandiose — after the massacre, they had intended to flee the country. Once the furor had died down, new information revealed that the two students were generally reticent, withdrawn, and subjected to bullying by their peers, especially the physically stronger students. Klebold and Harris were emotionally and physically abused. Isolated, they developed a hatred for their fellow students that manifested first in thoughts of suicide and then in murder. Stories of bullying turning to tragedy are numerous; the Columbine incident was the largest and received the most coverage.

Bullying — or its less physical form, teasing — is a form of personal harassment. In this paper, bullying and teasing will be explored in depth. Personal harassment is any behavior that is unacceptable to the recipient and that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment for work, study, or social life. In trying to understand bullying, it is important to recognize that it may ultimately be about the assertion of power and may spring from deep-seated personal inadequacies.

Defining Bullying and Its Many Forms

Bullying is the misuse of power — or, in the classroom context, the misuse of physical strength or social status. Bullies abuse power physically, psychologically, or sexually. Bullying manifests in criticisms and condemnations, which can be verbal or physical. Regardless of form, bullying is designed to humiliate and undermine. The victim becomes fearful and loses confidence, and the victim's visible distress fuels the bully's sense of importance, acting as a catalyst for future abuse. Bullying is also used to establish a pecking order. Academic bullying, for example, has been defined as "asserting a position of intellectual superiority in an aggressive, abusive or offensive manner, threats of academic failure, public sarcasm."

Among students in schools, bullying generally differs between boys and girls. Among boys, bullying is typically physical: stronger, more athletic students prey on those perceived as social misfits or those who pursue solely academic interests. Among girls, bullying is generally emotional; girls more often isolate the victim by spreading rumors and enforcing social exclusion (NCES, 2000). Physical abuse among girls also occurs. The line between bullying and sexual harassment is often blurred when the bully is male and the target is female (Gropper and Froschl, 2000), with such bullying frequently taking the form of unwanted physical contact. These attacks on the individual are normally sudden, irrational, unpredictable, and unfair. In addition to physical, verbal, and emotional bullying, sexual bullying encompasses all of the above as well as exhibitionism, voyeurism, sexual propositioning, sexual harassment, and abuse involving actual physical contact and sexual assault.

If left unchecked, bullying and teasing during childhood may develop into dysfunctional behaviors that are detrimental both to society and to the individual. It can lead the aggressor toward an entrenched sense of abused power, particularly when victims do not retaliate out of fear of further aggression or concern about loss of social or financial standing. Bullying and teasing are harmful to the classroom environment by hindering the delivery of instruction and the social development of students. While some attempts have been made to link childhood bullying to sexual harassment behaviors in adult life, there is no solid evidence that adult sexual harassment is a direct resultant behavior (Yanez-Perez, 1999). Statistics indicate that bullies identified after the age of seven are six times more likely than non-bullies to be convicted of a crime by age 24, with that ratio decreasing to approximately four times by age 30.

Bullies, Victims, and Bystanders

The bully's characteristics arise more from character and attitude than from any superficially obvious attribute. A bully values aggression because it creates a sense of self. Bullies generally lack empathy for their victims and also lack conscience, holding a firm belief that the victim deserved the attack. A bully likes to dominate and often lacks specific social skills such as the ability to consider other people's points of view, take responsibility for their own actions, and accept constructive criticism. Contrary to popular belief, the bully is not typically insecure or anxious and does not have low self-esteem (Knoll, 2000).

In addition to the bully, two other essential roles exist in the bullying dynamic: the target (victim) and the bystander. Victims can be passive or provocative. Passive victims are generally more insecure; they lack social skills and the ability to counter a bully. They often resort to crying, withdraw socially, and are frequently lonely, depressed, and emotionally fragile. Provocative targets, by contrast, often provoke others, are easily emotionally aroused, and tend to fight back — though their efforts are ineffective because they are not naturally aggressive. Provocative targets are more difficult to identify because they surround themselves with an air of aggressiveness. Research supports that students with learning disabilities are at greater risk of being targeted. All students, and particularly those who are targeted, might greatly benefit from life-skills development that broadens their repertoire of responses in social situations and conflict.

The third group in any bullying situation is the bystanders. They frequently choose not to intervene, often fearing that the attack will spread to them. They are frequently guilt-ridden and occasionally join in. Between 75% and 85% of students are not directly involved in bullying, yet they can be powerful forces for change. Teaching students to safely utilize the power of the "caring majority" is essential to engaging the whole school population in efforts to counteract bullying.

Conclusion: Reducing Bullying in Schools

It is critical that bullying and sexual harassment be reduced. No effort should be spared toward this endeavor. The consequences for the individual and for society are too serious to ignore. Bullying is a form of repetitive, ongoing harassment that crosses geographic, racial, and socioeconomic lines. By equipping teachers, parents, community leaders, and students themselves with the tools to recognize, address, and prevent bullying, schools can create environments in which every person's dignity is honored and all students can learn and grow without fear.

References

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