Bullying is a major problem in American schools, with many victims considering suicide, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
“Each day about 160,000 students miss school because of bullying or because of their fear of being bullied,” reported Nobullying.com. “Children and teens who are considered ‘different’ from their peers are the most frequent targets of bullies.
“Special-needs students; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) students; students who are overweight and students who are perceived as ‘weak’ are the most likely targets of bullying.”
BULLYING
Bullying is defined as intentionally aggressive, usually repeated, verbal, social or physical behavior aimed at a specific person or group of people.
Although forms of bullying like harassment and hazing are considered criminal, in general, bullying alone is not illegal.
Those bullied by peers were more likely to consider suicide and even attempt it, according to the Journal of Adolescent Health. The relationship is often influenced by factors like depression and delinquency.
“If the bully comes from a home where fighting and violence is the order of the day, then he or she will see it as an acceptable behavior in the society. The same case happens to be true in schools where there is a lot of bullying happening,” said an article on NoBullying.com.
About 61 percent of students surveyed by the Bureau of Justice linked school shootings with the perpetrator being physically abused at home, reported the Bureau of Justice.
“When a bully wants to become popular, it is understood that he will pick on the most unpopular kid, one who has for one reason or another been shunned by the peer group. The bully will reason that the peer group will applaud this anti-social behavior and he or she will then become popular at the expense of the poor victim,” NoBullying.com stressed.
Students often said bullying boosts the social status and popularity of the perpetrator, according to a UCLA psychology study of 1,895 students at 11 Los Angeles middle schools.
STUDY
According to the DHHS study:
1 in 3 students say they have experienced being bullied.
1 in 10 teens drop out of school as a result.
Only 20-30 percent of students who are bullied tell adults or authorities about their situation.
40 percent of boys who were identified as bullies in middle and high school had been arrested three or more times before age of 30.
There are no federal laws in the United States that address bullying directly, the study reported. Forty-nine states have passed anti-bullying legislation since 1999; only the state of Montana is without any legislation.
–By John Lam
