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Find Support, Resources, and Hope to Stand Against Bullying.
If you’re facing bullying, use the links below to find resources and support.
What is bullying?
Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.
In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:
An Imbalance of Power: Kids who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.
Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.
Types of Bullying
Verbal bullying is saying or writing mean things. Verbal bullying includes:
- Teasing
- Name-calling
- Inappropriate sexual comments
- Taunting
- Threatening to cause harm
Physical bullying involves hurting a person’s body or possessions. Physical bullying includes:
- Hitting/kicking/pinching
- Spitting
- Tripping/pushing
- Taking or breaking someone’s things
- Making mean or rude hand gestures
Social bullying, sometimes referred to as relational bullying, involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships. Social bullying includes:
- Leaving someone out on purpose
- Telling other children not to be friends with someone
- Spreading rumors about someone
- Embarrassing someone in public
Where and When Bullying Happens
Bullying can occur during or after school hours. While most reported bullying happens in the school building, a significant percentage also happens in places like on the playground or the bus. It can also happen travelling to or from school, in the youth’s neighborhood, or on the Internet.
Warning Signs
Being Bullied or At-Risk:
- Sudden change in school attendance.
- Frequent complaints of stomach aches, headaches, loss of appetite, etc. especially before going to school and returning.
- Avoids recess.
- Declining school work/participation or overinvestment in academic performance and/or becoming the teacher’s pet.
- Has a learning disability or obvious difference from other students.
- Appears pre-occupied and has difficulty concentrating.
- Insufficient social skills, inadequate self-assertion skills and socially isolated.
- Body language reflects low self-esteem or appears physically smaller/ weaker/ clumsier than other students.
- Irritates other students.
- Passive, withdrawn, overly sensitive.
- Displays signs of anxiety.
- Displays signs of depression.
- Presents injuries/upset with explanations that do not seem to fit.
- Talks about running away or suicide.
At-Risk for Displaying Bullying Behavior:
- Appears to enjoy feeling powerful, in control, dominating, or manipulating classmates.
- Equates being powerful and respected with fear.
- Skilled at sneaky behavior
- Blames others.
- Exhibits little compassion.
- Frequently on the defensive.
- Behaves in defiant and oppositional manner toward adults
- Seeks unusual amount of attention and attracts it through negative behavior.
- Displays impulsivity and lack of coping skills.
What is cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using electronic technology. Electronic technology includes devices and equipment such as cell phones, computers, and tablets as well as communication tools including social media sites, text messages, chat, and websites.
Examples of cyberbullying include mean text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles.
Why Cyberbullying is Different
Kids who are being cyberbullied are often bullied in person as well. Additionally, kids who are cyberbullied have a harder time getting away from the behavior.
- Deleting inappropriate or harassing messages, texts, and pictures is extremely difficult after they have been posted or sent.
- Cyberbullying can happen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and reach a kid even when he or she is alone. It can happen any time of the day or night.
- Cyberbullying messages and images can be posted anonymously and distributed quickly to a very wide audience. It can be difficult and sometimes impossible to trace the source.
Effects of Cyberbullying
Cell phones and computers themselves are not to blame for cyberbullying. Social media sites can be used for positive activities, like connecting kids with friends and family, helping students with school, and for entertainment. But these tools can also be used to hurt other people. Whether done in person or through technology, the effects of bullying are similar.
Kids who are cyberbullied are more likely to:
- Use alcohol and drugs
- Skip school
- Experience in-person bullying
- Be unwilling to attend school
- Receive poor grades
- Have lower self-esteem
- Have more health problems