bullying at school essay

Essay on Bullying in Schools

School bullying can be defined as the situation in which one or more students (The Bullies) single out a child (victim) and intend in behavior intended to cause discomfort or harm the child. A bully will repeatedly target the same victim several times. Under all circumstances, bullies have an advantage over the victim as they possess more power. Compared to the victim, bullies usually have physically stronger with a large circle of friends or higher social standing. Bullying can inflict emotional distress, humiliation, and physical harm. More than 95% of learning institutions experience bullying globally. Bullying must be meet a specific rationale to be considered bullying. Such requirements include repetitiveness, recurrent imbalance of power, and provocation. Bullying can occur in schools, on campus, or the outskirts of school, but its setting must have been created within the school. Regardless of the position, all the stakeholders in a school context, such as parents, educators, children, and community members, are required to contribute to the prevention of bullying in schools. School bullying is increasingly becoming a social problem in modern society. Ideally, there are several types of school bullying attached to different causes. The effects of school bullying can be classified in psychological, economical, and academic dimensions.

Types of Bullying in Schools

The common types of bullying in a school setting include verbal, sexual, cyber, psychological, physical, and higher education bullying. Notably, victims in a learning context can experience bullying regardless of age. The aforementioned types of bullying are further classified as either direct or indirect bullying. Direct bullying is defined as an attack that is openly targeted to a victim. Direct bullying is either verbal or physical. Contrary, indirect bullying involves different forms of relational aggression that leads to social isolation through defaming one’s reputation and manipulating the conscience of others into falsehood. Indirect bullying is usually hard and subtle to detect in a school setting (Goodwin et al. 330). If undertaken by a group of bullies, direct and indirect bullying can be referred to as pack bullying. The different types of bullying can be defined either directly or indirectly relative to the implication to the victim.

Physical bullying occurs when there is unwanted physical contact between the victim and the bully. Physical contact can be hand to hand or tripping and throwing items at others that can cause physical harm. The second is emotional bullying. Emotional bullying can be defined as hurting others emotionally by negatively influencing their moods and psyche. The primary examples of emotional bullying include; belittling, spreading false information, and defamation. Verbal bullying can be defined as the usage of slanderous language or statements causing emotional distress to other people. Examples of verbal bullying include harassing, mocking, teasing, and threatening to cause harm. Finally, Cyberbullying is attached to the evolution of the internet and computers. The use of computers in bullying at schoolyards is on the surge. In most instances, schools experience difficulties in controlling cyberbullying as experiences are beyond the school fraternity.

The other common types of school bullying are sexual bullying and higher education bullying. Sexual bullying is either non-physical or physical, grounded on the gender or sexuality of the victim. In most instances, sexual bullying is undertaken by the male gender. The United States department of education reports an average of 60% of expulsions and suspensions from learning institutions attached to sexual bullying (Goodwin et al. 328). In most instances, the young ones are frames into tricks to share their nudes, after which there are forced to fulfill specific sexual demands at the expense of exposure. Higher education bullying occurs at the campus or college level. Around 95% of students have reported having been bullied at the college level. Higher education bullying results in depression and suicide in most cases.

Measures to Control Bullying

The main approaches in controlling bullying in school settings include the implementation of educative programs, creating a positive school climate, engaging parents, encouraging open communication and punishments. These techniques, however, vary depending on the learning level and the prevalence of bullying in the particular period. Education programs involve creating awareness to parents, students, and teachers regarding what constitutes bullying. Educative programs are instrumental in creating insight into the harmful nature of whichever kind of bullying. All the stakeholders within the school fraternity are enrolled in sessions of creating awareness on the signs of bullying and the most appropriate intervention criteria. The most common ways in educating on bullying include role-play, identification and reporting discussions, and other approaches to decline being involved in bullying. Nickerson(19) argued that educative programs are 62% effective in curbing the prevalence of bullying in learning institutions.

Secondly, schools can help in the prevention of bullying by promoting a positive school climate. Schools with a positive climate are presumed to have a healthy development, while the negative school climate results in a surge in bullying cases, unsafe feelings, victimization, and aggression. While the elements of positive school culture vary from norms relative to power, relationships, and feelings, it’s evident that a positive climate is a product of a conscious process that becomes self-reinforcing (Goodwin et al. 330). The main determinants of a positive climate include leadership and integrity in learning institutions. Therefore, the ability to have cognitive leaders is an advantage of coping with bullying in schools.

Third, schools should engage parents. Parents spend most of their time with children at the primary level. While there are many stakeholders involved in the lives of the children, parents play an essential role in understanding their behavior. Engaging parents in bullying scenarios means initiating communication on the progress of the children in terms of behavior and performance. Integration between parents and teachers is essential in providing consistent approaches that help yield a more productive and appropriate behavior (Nickerson 22). Parents can help their children recognize while being bullied by others. However, the approach is not viable in urban schools as parents experience difficulties establishing trust with schools.

Finally, schools should initiate open communication techniques. Open communication is essential in building rapport. Having open communication means that students can disclose their problems to teachers. Open communication helps the teachers gain more insight into existing bullies in the school (Nickerson 20). For instance, classroom meetings in grade 4 will enable teachers to obtain crucial information in enacting more controls to curb bullying in schools. Teachers are expected to listen carefully during the class meetings to avoid inflicting fear on the learners. Students should be assured of confidentiality and privacy of the information obtained as any disclosure might attract further bullying.

Effects of School Bullying 

The effect of school bullying can be categorized in psychological and academic dimensions. Bullying results in poor performance in school. More than 70% of learners subjected to bullying ends up recording a decline in academic performance. The results are more severe at a young age. Bullying would result in fading of interest and participation of learners in school activities as it results in unexplained injuries linked to affecting concentration (Menesini and Christina 246). The impact of bullying on educational performance is increasingly becoming imminent. Bullying installs fear in learners from attending school regularly, thus affecting their consistency and concentration in class. Based on this explanation, it’s evident that bullied students will experience difficulties in achieving their academic goals. Moreover, bullying is linked with an unsafe learning environment that creates a negative climate of fear and insecurities and the perception that teachers do not care about the welfare of learners, thus decline in quality of education.

Secondly, bullying is associated with psychological problems. While bullying to individuals helps them enhance their personality and perceptions as they grow, it’s presumed that bullying can risk an individual developing an antisocial personality disorder linked to committing crimes. Bullying leads to depression, anxiety, and psychosomatic symptoms, which often leads to alcohol and substance abuse by the victims at a later stage in their lives. It’s argued that victims of depression feel free and open to share their experience with others, unlike in bullying, where the victims would choose to shy talking about the feeling in fear of being bullied again. In the short run, bystanders of the bullying experience may develop the fear, guiltiness, and sadness, and if the experience persists, they might get psychologically drained (Sampson). Therefore, the victims of bullying experiences struggle with insomnia, suicidal thoughts, health problems, and depression. Bullying does affect not only the students but also their classmates and family. Feeling powerless, parents and immediate family members might fall victim to depression and emotional distress. Some parents would invest more time in protecting their children, thus affecting them psychologically and economically.

Causes of Bullying

There are numerous causes of school bullying attached to religion, socioeconomic status, race, and gender. Understanding the reasons why students chose to bully their classmates is significant to teachers in combating bullying. The National Center for Educational Statistics report established that 25% of Blacks, 22% of Caucasians, 17% of Hispanics, and 9% of Asian students were bullied in 2017 (Divecha). Some of the students that bully others have higher levels of courage and confidence and can respond aggressively if threatened by the behavior. Students at the college level get bullied on sexual matters. For instance, the subscribers to LGBTQA sexual orientation get bullied based on their decision as gay or lesbians. Moreover, bullying in schools is caused by other factors attached to families. Students from abuse and divorced families are likely to bully others due to jealousy, anger, and despair.

From the above discussion, it’s evident that school bullying in whichever capacity is detrimental to human dignity. School bullying is increasingly becoming a social problem in modern society. Ideally, there are several types of school bullying attached to different causes. The effects of school bullying can be classified in psychological, economical, and academic dimensions. The primary forms of school form such as verbal, sexual, cyber, psychological, physical, and higher education bullying are categorized into direct and indirect bullying. The intervention strategies to curb bullying should involve all the stakeholders, such as parents, teachers, and students. The main approaches in controlling bullying in school settings include implementing educative programs, creating a positive school climate, engaging parents, and encouraging open communication and punishments.

Works Cited

Divecha, Diana. “What Are the Best Ways to Prevent Bullying in Schools?”  Greater Good , https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_are_the_best_ways_to_prevent_bullyi ng_in_schools

Sampson, Rana. “Center for Problem-Oriented Policing.” Arizona State University,  https://popcenter.asu.edu/content/bullying-schools-0

Menesini, Ersilia, and Christina Salmivalli. “Bullying in schools: the state of knowledge and effective interventions.”  Psychology, health & medicine  22.sup1 (2017): 240-253.

Goodwin, John, et al. “Bullying in schools: an evaluation of the use of drama in bullying prevention.” Journal of Creativity in Mental Health 14.3 (2019): 329-342.

Nickerson, Amanda B. “Preventing and intervening with bullying in schools: A framework for evidence- based practice.”  School Mental Health  11.1 (2019): 15-28.

Cite this page

Similar essay samples.

• Essay on Advanced Social Science
• Essay on Why Were There Changing Attitudes to the Natural World in the...
• Essay on the Geography of Scotland
• Competing In Turbulent Times: Thorntons Plc Case Study
• Essay on Healthism and Its Influence Across Western Societies
• Biosensors and Analytical Techniques

The Broad Impact of School Bullying, and What Must Be Done

Major interventions are required to make schools safe learning environments..

Posted May 2, 2021 | Reviewed by Hara Estroff Marano

• How to Handle Bullying
• Find a therapist to support kids or teens
• At least one in five kids is bullied, and a significant percentage are bullies. Both are negatively affected, as are bystanders.
• Bullying is an epidemic that is not showing signs of improvement.
• Evidence-based bullying prevention programs can be effective, but school adoption is inconsistent.

According to the U.S. federal government website StopBullying.gov :

There is no federal law that specifically applies to bullying . In some cases, when bullying is based on race or ethnicity , color, national origin, sex, disability, or religion, bullying overlaps with harassment and schools are legally obligated to address it.

The National Bullying Prevention Center reports data suggesting that one in five children have been bullied. There are many risk factors for being targeted, including being seen as weak, being different from peers including being LGBT or having learning differences or visible disabilities, being depressed or anxious, and having few friends. It's hard to measure how many engage in bullying, but estimates range from one in twenty, to much higher .

The American Association of University Women reports that in grades 7-12, 48 percent of students (56 percent of girls and 40 percent of boys) are sexually harassed. In college, rates of sexual harassment rise to 66 percent. Eleven percent are raped or sexually assaulted.

Silence facilitates traumatization

Only 20 percent of attacked young women report sexual assault . And 89 percent of undergraduate schools report zero sexual harassment. This means that children, adolescents, young adults and their friends are at high risk for being victimized. It means that many kids know what is happening, and don't do anything.

This may be from fear of retaliation and socialization into a trauma-permissive culture, and it may be from lack of proper education and training. Institutional betrayal , when organizations fail to uphold their promises and responsibilities, adds to the problem.

In some states such as New York, laws like “ the Dignity for All Students Act ” (DASA) apply only to public schools. Private, religious, and denominational schools are not included, leaving 20 percent of students in NYC and 10 percent throughout the state unprotected. Research shows that over the last decade, bullying in U.S. high schools has held steady around 20 percent, and 15 percent for cyberbullying.

The impact of bullying

While there is much research on how bullying affects mental health, social function, and academics, the results are scattered across dozens of papers. A recent paper in the Journal of School Violence (Halliday et al., 2021) presents a needed systematic literature review on bullying’s impact in children aged 10-18.

1. Psychological: Being a victim of bullying was associated with increased depression , anxiety , and psychosis . Victims of bullying reported more suicidal thinking and engaged in greater self-harming behaviors. They were more likely to experience social anxiety , body-image issues, and negative conduct. Simultaneous cyberbullying and conventional bullying were associated with more severe depression.

2. Social: Bullying victims reported greater problems in relationships with family, friends and in day-to-day social interactions. They reported they enjoyed time with family and friends less, felt they were being treated unfairly more easily, and liked less where they lived. Victimized children were less popular and likeable, and experienced more social rejection. They tended to be friends with other victims, potentially heightening problems while also providing social support.

3. Academic achievement: Victimized kids on average had lower grades. Over time, they did worse especially in math. They tended to be more proficient readers, perhaps as a result of turning to books for comfort in isolation (something people with a history of being bullied commonly report in therapy ).

4. School attitudes: Bullied children and adolescents were less engaged in education, had poorer attendance, felt less belonging, and felt more negatively about school.

5. What happens with age? Researchers studied adult psychiatric outcomes of bullying, looking at both victims and bullies, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Psychiatry (Copeland et al., 2013). After controlling for other childhood hardships, researchers found that young adults experience increased rates of agoraphobia (fear of leaving the house), generalized anxiety, panic disorder, and increased depression risk. Men had higher suicide risk.

The impact of bullying does not stop in early adulthood. Research in the Journals of Gerontology (Hu, 2021) found that people over the age of 60 who were bullied as children had more severe depression and had lower life satisfaction.

6. Bullying and the brain: Work reported in Frontiers in Psychiatry (Muetzel et al., 2019) found that victims of bullying had thickening of the fusiform gyrus, an area of the cerebral cortex involved with facial recognition, and sensing emotions from facial expressions. 1 For those with posttraumatic stress disorder, brain changes may be extensive.

7. Bystanders are affected: Research also shows that bystanders have higher rates of anxiety and depression (Midgett et al., 2019). The problem is magnified for bystanders who are also victims. It is likely that taking appropriate action is protective.

Given that victims of bullying are at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ; Idsoe et al., 2012), it’s important to understand that many of the reported psychiatric findings may be better explained by PTSD than as a handful of overlapping but separate diagnoses. Trauma often goes unrecognized.

What can be done?

The psychosocial and academic costs of unmitigated bullying are astronomical, to say nothing of the considerable economic cost. Change is needed, but resistance to change, as with racism, gender bias, and other forms of discrimination , is built into how we see things.

Legislation: There is no federal antibullying legislation, and state laws may be weak and inconsistently applied. Given that bullying rates are no longer falling, it’s important for lawmakers and advocates to seek immediate changes.

Bullying prevention: Schools can adopt antibullying programs, though they are not universally effective and sometimes may backfire. Overall, however, research in JAMA Pediatrics (Fraguas et al., 2021) shows that antibullying programs reduce bullying, improve mental health outcomes, and stay effective over time. 2

Trauma-informed education creates an environment in which all participants are aware of the impact of childhood trauma and the need for specific modifications given how trauma is common among children and how it affects development.

According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN):

"The primary mission of schools is to support students in educational achievement. To reach this goal, children must feel safe, supported, and ready to learn. Children exposed to violence and trauma may not feel safe or ready to learn. Not only are individual children affected by traumatic experiences, but other students, the adults on campus, and the school community can be impacted by interacting or working with a child who has experienced trauma. Thus, as schools maintain their critical focus on education and achievement, they must also acknowledge that mental health and wellness are innately connected to students’ success in the classroom and to a thriving school environment."

Parenting makes a difference. Certain parenting styles may set kids up for emotional abuse in relationships , while others may be protective. A 2019 study reported in Frontiers in Public Health (Plexousakis et al.) found that children with anxious, overprotective mothers were more likely to be victims.

Those with cold or detached mothers were more likely to become bullies. Overprotective fathering was associated with worse PTSD symptoms, likely by getting in the way of socialization. The children of overprotective fathers were also more likely to be aggressive.

Quality parental bonding, however, appeared to help protect children from PTSD symptoms. A healthy home environment is essential both for helping victims of bullying and preventing bullying in at-risk children.

Parents who recognize the need to learn more positive approaches can help buffer again the all-too-common cycle of passing trauma from generation to generation, building resilience and nurturing secure attachment to enjoy better family experiences and equip children to thrive.

State-by-state legislation

Bullying prevention programs (the KiVA program is also notable)

Measuring Bullying Victimization, Perpetration and Bystander Experiences , Centers for Disease Control

Trauma-informed teaching

US Government Stop Bullying

1. Such differences could both result from being bullied (e.g. needing to scan faces for threat) and could also make being bullied more likely (e.g. misreading social cues leading to increased risk of being targeted).

2. Such programs focus on reducing negative messaging in order to keep stakeholders engaged, monitor and respond quickly to bullying, involve students in bullying prevention and detection in positive ways (e.g. being an “upstander” instead of a bystander), monitor more closely for bullying when the risk is higher (e.g. after anti-bullying trainings), respond fairly with the understanding that bullies often have problems of their own and need help, involved parents and teachers in anti-bullying education, and devote specific resources for anti-bullying.

Sarah Halliday, Tess Gregory, Amanda Taylor, Christianna Digenis & Deborah Turnbull (2021): The Impact of Bullying Victimization in Early Adolescence on Subsequent Psychosocial and Academic Outcomes across the Adolescent Period: A Systematic Review, Journal of School Violence, DOI: 10.1080/15388220.2021.1913598

Copeland WE, Wolke D, Angold A, Costello EJ. Adult Psychiatric Outcomes of Bullying and Being Bullied by Peers in Childhood and Adolescence. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013;70(4):419–426. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.504

Bo Hu, PhD, Is Bullying Victimization in Childhood Associated With Mental Health in Old Age, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Volume 76, Issue 1, January 2021, Pages 161–172, https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbz115

Muetzel RL, Mulder RH, Lamballais S, Cortes Hidalgo AP, Jansen P, Güroğlu B, Vernooiji MW, Hillegers M, White T, El Marroun H and Tiemeier H (2019) Frequent Bullying Involvement and Brain Morphology in Children. Front. Psychiatry 10:696. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00696

Midgett, A., Doumas, D.M. Witnessing Bullying at School: The Association Between Being a Bystander and Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms. School Mental Health 11, 454–463 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-019-09312-6

Idsoe, T., Dyregrov, A. & Idsoe, E.C. Bullying and PTSD Symptoms. J Abnorm Child Psychol 40, 901–911 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-012-9620-0

Fraguas D, Díaz-Caneja CM, Ayora M, Durán-Cutilla M, Abregú-Crespo R, Ezquiaga-Bravo I, Martín-Babarro J, Arango C. Assessment of School Anti-Bullying Interventions: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials. JAMA Pediatr. 2021 Jan 1;175(1):44-55. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.3541. PMID: 33136156; PMCID: PMC7607493.

Plexousakis SS, Kourkoutas E, Giovazolias T, Chatira K and Nikolopoulos D (2019) School Bullying and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: The Role of Parental Bonding. Front. Public Health 7:75. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00075

Note: An ExperiMentations Blog Post ("Our Blog Post") is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice. We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information obtained through Our Blog Post. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice, or other content. We are not responsible and will not be held liable for third-party comments on Our Blog Post. Any user comment on Our Blog Post that in our sole discretion restricts or inhibits any other user from using or enjoying Our Blog Post is prohibited and may be reported to Sussex Publishers/Psychology Today. Grant H. Brenner. All rights reserved.

Grant Hilary Brenner, M.D., a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, helps adults with mood and anxiety conditions, and works on many levels to help unleash their full capacities and live and love well.

• Find a Therapist
• Find a Treatment Center
• Find a Psychiatrist
• Find a Support Group
• Find Online Therapy
• United States
• Brooklyn, NY
• Chicago, IL
• Houston, TX
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York, NY
• Portland, OR
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Washington, DC
• Asperger's
• Bipolar Disorder
• Chronic Pain
• Eating Disorders
• Passive Aggression
• Personality
• Goal Setting
• Positive Psychology
• Stopping Smoking
• Low Sexual Desire
• Relationships
• Child Development
• Therapy Center NEW
• Diagnosis Dictionary
• Types of Therapy

Understanding what emotional intelligence looks like and the steps needed to improve it could light a path to a more emotionally adept world.

• Emotional Intelligence
• Gaslighting
• Affective Forecasting
• Neuroscience

School Bullying: Causes and Police Prevention Essay

Introduction, bullying in schools, what the police can do to prevent bullying in schools, community policing strategies, reference list.

Bullying is a form of scurrilous treatment which mainly entails emotional, physical or verbal harassment directed towards people of certain levels, gender, race and religion just to mention but a few. It mainly occurs when there is imbalance in power such that those deemed to be on the lower physical or social levels are bullied by those in the higher levels of power and social status.

Bullying can occur in many contexts especially where human beings interact with each other such as in the work places, learning institutions, family, churches among others. It is however more prone in schools as compared to the other areas. When bullying occurs, it causes oppression to the affected parties thus affecting their social life and studies in the case of students.

This paper is therefore an analysis of the possible causes and ways of preventing instances of bullying in schools by the police. Past and present approaches of addressing the issue of bullying in schools will further be discussed.

The problem of bullying in schools has been a major problem for many school going children and individuals. This is mainly because those who have undergone it or have seen fellow students in that situation will always have the fear of being in the same environment with the bullies.

As a matter of fact, recent research has shown that the instances of bullying in schools have been on the rise. This has been caused by the absence of ethos making some of the students or rather the bullies to obtain aggressive behavior to bully others.

It is for this reason that there has been need for the intervention of the community and the government to address the issue of bullying schools lest the school environment becomes the worst place to be in.

The fact that bullying in schools is very detrimental to the growth and psychological effects of most school going children leading to instances of depression, low self-esteem and in some cases suicide makes it require immediate causes of action to prevent it.

If this vice is left untreated, the school bullies end up being the societal criminals. School bullying has been identified to result into other antisocial behaviors such as shop lifting, drug and alcohol addicts, vandalism just to mention but a few. It therefore because of this reason that the police force comes in to prevent this act before it develops into more serious crimes.

To begin with is the enactment of the School Bullying Prevention Act which states regulates the control and discipline of school children thus prohibiting them from any form of harassment, bullying or intimidation in the school environment. Through the guidance of this policy, the police are therefore in a position to act in accordance to its provisions thus making any offender punishable under the law.

The police force can prevent instances of bullying in schools by visiting the nearby schools to give them presentation on bullying. This way, the students will understand the effects and consequences of bullying thus shun away from this practice.

Through the establishment of a good relationship with the school, the police force will educate the students on violent prevention and how they can deal with cases of bullying. This is to make sure that the students that nave been bullied report the matter to the authorities without fear since they are well informed of the measures to be taken. Through this information, the rate of bullying in schools will be reduced since the bullies will be aware of the impacts they could face after such acts.

A major obligation of the police force is that of provision of safety in the society. Therefore, the police force can use this as one way of dealing with bullying in schools. This is such that they ensure the school’s environment is very safe by making routine visits to the surrounding.

This will reduce bullying instances as the bullies usually use the hidden or the not-open ground to bully others. Thus in the instance that they are ware of police making visits in the school compound, they will deter from doing such acts for the fear of being caught.

Last but not least, the school’s administration should have direct hotline link with the police forces to ensure immediate response in case of bullying.

The problem of bullying in schools is not for a few but for everyone in the society. This is because the school children will at one point in time be members or leaders of the society. Therefore the community is no exception when it comes to dealing with the issue of bullying in schools. There are various community policy strategies that are applicable in stopping bullying in schools some of which include the following;

• Involving professionals, parents, volunteers and the youth in the fight against bullying in school- This entails involving different groups and categories of people to advice and guide the children on bullying effects and impacts. These people could include the counselors who will have counseling sessions in schools to educate the children on how to deal with the problem of bullying for those addicted to it or on how to report it for the victims of bullying. Parents also play a great role by raising their children in a disciplined manner. All the aforementioned groups of people can again come together and form ‘stop bullying in schools’ campaign.
• Raising community awareness; since bullying is often difficult at most times to understand, the community can raise awareness and inform people of how they can predict and recognize bullying. This will be through educating them on the signs of bullying and the consequent measures be taken.
• Assessing the strength and needs of the community- This entails finding out how the society perceives the bullying vice and measures that have been put in place to deal with it. This way, one will be in a good position to know the requirements of the community in terms of the issue of bullying in schools.

From the above discussion, it can be clearly seen that bullying is a bone of contention for many people. Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of all ambers of the society to deal with the issue of bullying in schools and not to be left on the hands of the school administrators only. Despite the fact that bullying instances have been on the rise in the recent past, ideal measures have been put in place to deal with the issue unlike it was in the past years.

Carey, T. (2003) Improving the success of anti-bullying intervention programs: A tool for matching programs with purposes. International Journal of Reality Therapy, 23(2), 16-23

Whitted, K.and Dupper, D. (2005). Best Practices for Preventing or Reducing

Bullying in Schools. Children and Schools , Vol. 27, No. 3, July 2005, pp. 167-175(9).

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, April 6). School Bullying: Causes and Police Prevention. https://ivypanda.com/essays/bullying-in-schools/

"School Bullying: Causes and Police Prevention." IvyPanda , 6 Apr. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/bullying-in-schools/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'School Bullying: Causes and Police Prevention'. 6 April.

IvyPanda . 2022. "School Bullying: Causes and Police Prevention." April 6, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/bullying-in-schools/.

1. IvyPanda . "School Bullying: Causes and Police Prevention." April 6, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/bullying-in-schools/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "School Bullying: Causes and Police Prevention." April 6, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/bullying-in-schools/.

• Character Traits of Bullying
• The “Bully-Free” Initiative: Bullying in Education
• Workplace Bullies Are Flawed Personalities
• Bullying, Facts and Countermeasures
• Bullying in School
• Social Influence on Bullying in Schools
• Experience of Young People Being Bullied
• School Bullying: Case Analysis
• Bullying in the Schools
• “Adolescents’ Perception of Bullying” by Frisen et al.
• Critique of the Argument: Is the Cost of A College A Bargain?
• Maintaining Safety in the Primary School: The Importance of Duty of Care for Students
• Duty of Care Policy Explained
• Current Educational Issues
• Most Popular Educational Issues and Points to Improve It

What you need to know about school violence and bullying

Bullying in schools deprives millions of children and young people of their fundamental right to education. A recent UNESCO report revealed that more than 30% of the world's students have been victims of bullying, with devastating consequences on academic achievement, school dropout, and physical and mental health.

The world is marking the first International Day against Violence and Bullying at School Including Cyberbullying , on 5 November. Here is what you need to know about school violence and bullying.

What is school violence?

School violence refers to all forms of violence that takes place in and around schools and is experienced by students and perpetrated by other students, teachers and other school staff. This includes bullying and cyberbullying. Bullying is one of the most pervasive forms of school violence, affecting 1 in 3 young people.

What forms may school violence take?

Based on existing international surveys that collect data on violence in schools, UNESCO recognizes the following forms of school violence:

• Physical violence, which is any form of physical aggression with intention to hurt perpetrated by peers, teachers or school staff.
• Psychological violence as verbal and emotional abuse, which includes any forms of isolating, rejecting, ignoring, insults, spreading rumors, making up lies, name-calling, ridicule, humiliation and threats, and psychological punishment.
• Sexual violence, which includes intimidation of a sexual nature, sexual harassment, unwanted touching, sexual coercion and rape, and it is perpetrated by a teacher, school staff or a schoolmate or classmate.
• Physical bullying, including hitting, kicking and the destruction of property;
• Psychological bullying, such as teasing, insulting and threatening; or relational, through the spreading of rumours and exclusion from a group; and
• Sexual bullying, such as making fun of a victim with sexual jokes, comments or gestures, which may be defined as sexual ‘harassment’ in some countries.
• Cyberbullying is a form of psychological or sexual bullying that takes place online. Examples of cyberbullying include posting or sending messages, pictures or videos, aimed at harassing, threatening or targeting another person via a variety of media and social media platforms. Cyberbullying may also include spreading rumours, posting false information, hurtful messages, embarrassing comments or photos, or excluding someone from online networks or other communications.

Who perpetrates school violence?

School violence is perpetrated by students, teachers and other school staff. However, available evidence shows that violence perpetrated by peers is the most common.

What are the main reasons why children are bullied?

All children can be bullied, yet evidence shows that children who are perceived to be “different” in any way are more at risk. Key factors include physical appearance, ethnic, linguistic or cultural background, gender, including not conforming to gender norms and stereotypes; social status and disability.

What are the consequences of school violence?

Educational consequences: Being bullied undermines the sense of belonging at school and affects continued engagement in education. Children who are frequently bullied are more likely to feel like an outsider at school, and more likely to want to leave school after finishing secondary education. Children who are bullied have lower academic achievements than those who are not frequently bullied.

Health consequences: Children’s mental health and well-being can be adversely impacted by bullying. Bullying is associated with higher rates of feeling lonely and suicidal, higher rates of smoking, alcohol and cannabis use and lower rates of self-reported life satisfaction and health. School violence can also cause physical injuries and harm.

What are the linkages between school violence and bullying, school-related gender-based violence and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression?

School violence may be perpetrated as a result of gender norms and stereotypes and enforced by unequal power dynamics and is therefore referred to as school-related gender-based violence. It includes, in particular, a specific type of gender-based violence that is linked to the actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity or expression of victims, including homophobic and transphobic bullying. School-related gender-based violence is a significant part of school violence that requires specific efforts to address.

Does school-related gender-based violence refer to sexual violence against girls only?         

No. School-related gender-based violence refers to all forms of school violence that is based on or driven by gender norms and stereotypes, which also includes violence against and between boys.

Is school violence always gender-based?           

There are many factors that drive school violence. Gender is one of the significant drivers of violence but not all school violence is based on gender. Moreover, international surveys do not systematically collect data on the gendered nature of school violence, nor on violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. 

Based on the analysis of global data, there are no major differences in the prevalence of bullying for boys and girls. However, there are some differences between boys and girls in terms of the types of bullying they experience. Boys are much more exposed to physical bullying, and to physical violence in general, than girls. Girls are slightly more exposed to psychological bullying, particularly through cyberbullying. According to the same data, sexual bullying the same proportion of boys and girls. Data coming from different countries, however, shows that girls are increasingly exposed to sexual bullying online.

How does UNESCO help prevent and address school violence and bullying?

The best available evidence shows that responses to school violence and bullying that are effective should be comprehensive and include a combination of policies and interventions. Often this comprehensive response to school violence and bullying is referred to as a whole-school approach. Based on an extensive review of existing conceptual frameworks that describe that whole-school approach, UNESCO has identified nine key components of a response that goes beyond schools and could be better described as a whole-education system or whole-education approach.  These components are the following:

• Strong political leadership and robust legal and policy framework to address school violence and bullying;
• Training and support for teachers on school violence and bullying prevention and positive classroom management
• Curriculum, learning & teaching to promote, a caring (i.e. anti- school violence and bullying) school climate and students’ social and emotional skills
• A safe psychological and physical school and classroom environment
• Reporting mechanisms for students affected by school violence and bullying, together with support and referral services
• Involvement of all stakeholders in the school community including parents
• Student empowerment and participation
• Collaboration and partnerships between the education sector and a wide range of partners (other government sectors, NGOs, academia)
• Evidence: monitoring of school violence and bullying and evaluation of responses

More on UNESCO’s work to prevent and address school violence and bullying

Read UNESCO's publication Behind the numbers: Ending school violence and bullying

Photo: Eakachai Leesin/Shutterstock.com

More on this subject

Other recent articles

Bullying in Schools

Although bullying is sometimes seen as “a part of growing up” or “kids being kids,” imagine the kid who is picked on every day, whether physically, socially, or through cyber-bullying. Think about Rebecca Sedwick, the 12-year-old who committed suicide in Florida following a year of bullying at the hands of two young girls. To Rebecca, the bullying was so serious and distressing that she took her own life.

Students need school to be a positive climate where they feel safe.

Or consider the 8-year-old boy who writes to Santa Claus about his twin sister bullied over her weight: "Dear Santa ... I wanted a (remote control) car and helicopter, but I don't want that anymore. Kids at school are still picking on my sister and it’s not fair … I prayed that they will stop, and she needs your help."

Bullying is a prevalent form of youth violence, particularly in school settings. As illustrated in the examples above, it is defined by  aggressive behavior  (i.e., behavior that is intentional and mean) that occurs  repeatedly over time  and within the context of a  power imbalance . Although both are harmful to youth, there is an important distinction between bullying and aggression — if there is an occasional conflict or fighting between two children of equal strength, size, and social status, this is aggression, but not bullying.

Most school-aged children are exposed to bullying in some form due to the unequal balance of power and influence that is so common in youth relationships and peer groups. Research shows that bullying and harassment in schools increases in late childhood and peaks in early adolescence, specifically during middle school and typically takes place in unstructured settings such as the cafeteria, hallways, and playground during recess.

Students need school to be a positive climate where they feel safe. This reduces their own stress and potential aggression, allowing them to focus on the learning necessary for them to be successful in their lives.

Fortunately, there are actions that students and school staff can take to prevent bullying and harassment in schools and to create a more positive school climate. The culture of school violence cannot be impacted by only working with bullies and victims alone. It takes consistent and united action by everyone — students, school staff, administrators, and parents. 

Click here to learn more about the power of a positive school climate.

Program Details

To better understand how positive efforts can be made, it is important to understand the various types of bullying:

• Physical:  Related to dominance and is the most prevalent form of aggression and bullying among boys (as compared to relational). Behaviors can include hitting, kicking, and threatening violence.
• Relational: Involves the manipulation of social standing or reputations and is the most prevalent form of aggression and bullying among girls (as compared to physical). Behaviors can include starting rumors and social exclusion.  Click here to learn more about relational aggression.
• Cyber:  Involves using electronics to harm others. This type of bullying can be especially harmful because the perpetrators are more difficult to identify, it can more quickly and impulsively be spread to larger audiences, and the physical evidence of the bullying cannot be easily erased from cyberspace. Victims of cyber bullying are often also victims of traditional off-line bullying.  Click here to learn more about cyberbullying.

Regardless of the type of bullying, there are several key roles that typically participate in the behavior.

• The  bully  has a power advantage as compared to the victim, whether the bully is physically stronger, more popular, and/or more socially influential.
• The  bystanders , or other peers that witness the bullying event, play a particularly important and perhaps underrated role in bullying.

Certain sub-groups of adolescents may be at a higher risk for bullying.  Click here to learn more.

• Between 21 and 49% of youth adolescents report being bullied in the past year
• 70.6% of youth are bystanders to bullying.
• In a 2010 study, 20% of girls and 25% of boys said they were bullied, bullied others, or both in the last month.
• In the same study, 90% of third to fifth grade students said they felt sorry for students who are bullied, but sympathy often does not translate into action.
• A 2009 study estimated that at least 20.8% of youth in the US were physically bullied, 53.6% were verbally bullied, 51.4% were socially bullied, and 13.6% were cyber bullied at least once over a two-month period.
• Victims of cyber bullying often do not report their victimization and are eight times more likely to carry a weapon to school.
• A 2011 study showed that bullying at age 14 predicted violent convictions between ages 15 and 20, self-reported violence at age 15 to 18, low job status at age 18, and drug use at 27 to 32 years of age.
• Bullying Classroom Check-Up (BCCU)
• Preventing Aggression in Schools Everyday (PRAISE)
• Friend to Friend

Recommended Resources

• Leff SS, Waasdorp TE, Paskewich, BS.  The Broader Impact of Friend to Friend (F2F): Effects on Teacher-student Relationships, Prosocial Behaviors, and Relationally and Physically Aggressive Behaviors .  Behavior Modification.  2016;40(4):589-610.
• Leff SS, Paskewich BS, Waasdorp TE, Waanders C, Bevans KB, Jawad AF.  Friend to Friend: A Randomized Trial for Urban African American Relationally Aggressive Girls .  Psychology of Violence.  2015;5(4):433-443.
• Leff, SS., Waasdorp, TE., & Mehari, KR.  An Updated Review of Existing Relational Aggression Programs . In S. M. Coyne & J. M. Ostrov (Eds.),  The Development of Relational Aggression  2018, pp. 283-317: Oxford University Press.
• Leff SS, Waasdorp TE, Paskewich BS, Gullan RL, Jawad AF, MacEvoy JP, Feinberg BE, Power TJ.  The Preventing Relational Aggression in Schools Everyday Program: A Preliminary Evaluation of Acceptability and Impact .  School Psychology Review , 2010, Volume 39, No. 4, pp. 569-587.
• Leff SS, Costigan T, Power TJ.  Using Participatory Research to Develop a Playground-based Prevention Program .  Journal of School Psychology . 42 (2004), 3-21.
• Leff SS, Gullan RL, Paskewich BS, Abdul-Kabir S, Jawad AF, Grossman M, et al.  An Initial Evaluation of a Culturally-adapted Social Problem Solving and Relational Aggression Prevention Program for Urban African American Relationally Aggressive Girls .  Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community.  2009;37(4):260-274.
• Waasdorp, TE., & Bradshaw, CP.  Examining Variation in Adolescent Bystanders’ Responses to Bullying .  School Psychology Review , 2018 Volume 47, No. 1, pp.18-33. 
• Waasdorp, TE., Pas, ET., Zablotsky, B., & Bradshaw, CP.  Ten-Year Trends in Bullying and Related Attitudes Among 4th- to 12th Graders .  Pediatrics , 2017 Volume 139, No. 6, pp. 1-8.
• Perspectives on addressing bullying in schools on the  Research in Action  blog
• Downloadable Tools from CHOP's Center for Violence Prevention
• Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Student Bullying: Overview of Research, Federal Initiatives, and Legal Issues (Congressional Research Service)
• Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World
• 'Masterminds and Wingmen': Preparing your son for the pitfalls of a boy's world
• Social Aggression Among Girls
• Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)
• StopBullying.gov

Related Content

Report: Students Better at Recognizing Relationally Aggressive Classmates

Children With Uncontrolled Asthma at Higher Risk of Being Bullied

Bullying in Schools and Online

Relational Aggression

Bullying Prevention Resources

Cyberbullying

Preventing Aggression in Schools Everyday

Friend to Friend: Reducing Relational Aggression In School Settings

Adapting Bullying Prevention Coaching for Virtual Delivery

Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

What Are the Best Ways to Prevent Bullying in Schools?

All 50 U.S. states require schools to have a bullying prevention policy.

But a policy, alone, is not enough. Despite the requirement, there’s been a slight uptick in all forms of bullying during the last three years. Bullying can look like experienced basketball players systematically intimidating novice players off the court, kids repeatedly stigmatizing immigrant classmates for their cultural differences, or a middle-school girl suddenly being insulted and excluded by her group of friends.

Bullying occurs everywhere, even in the highest-performing schools, and it is hurtful to everyone involved, from the targets of bullying to the witnesses—and even to bullies themselves. October is National Bullying Prevention Month, so it’s a good time to ask ourselves: What are the best practices for preventing bullying in schools? That’s a question I explored with my colleague Marc Brackett from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, in a recent paper that reviewed dozens of studies of real-world bullying prevention efforts.

As we discovered, not all approaches to bullying prevention are equally effective. Most bullying prevention programs focus on raising awareness of the problem and administering consequences. But programs that rely on punishment and zero tolerance have not been shown to be effective in the U.S.; and they often disproportionately target students of color. Programs like peer mediation that place responsibility on the children to work out conflicts can increase bullying. (Adult victims of abuse are never asked to “work it out” with their tormentor, and children have an additional legal right to protections due to their developmental status.) Bystander intervention, even among adults, only works for some people—extroverts, empaths, and people with higher social status and moral engagement. Many approaches that educators adopt have not been evaluated through research; instead, educators tend to select programs based on what their colleagues use.

We found two research-tested approaches that show the most promise for reducing bullying (along with other forms of aggression and conflict). They are a positive school climate, and social and emotional learning.

Building a positive school climate

School climate can be difficult to define, though possible to measure . It is the “felt sense” of being in a school, which can arise from a greeting, the way a problem is resolved, or how people work together; it is a school’s “heart and soul,” its “quality and character.” Schools with a positive climate foster healthy development, while a negative school climate is associated with higher rates of student bullying, aggression, victimization, and feeling unsafe.

GGSC Online Courses for Educators

A suite of practical, self-paced courses to help build kinder, happier schools

The elements of a positive climate may vary, but may often include norms about feelings and relationships, power and how it is expressed, and media consumption. Social norm engineering is a conscious process that builds a positive culture among student peers and school adults that becomes self-reinforcing. Like a healthy immune system, a positive school climate promotes optimal health and reduces the chances of dysfunction or disease.

Leadership is key to a positive climate. Is bullying minimized as a “normal rite of childhood,” or is it recognized as the harmful peer abuse that it is? Do leaders understand that uninterrupted, severe bullying can confer lifelong negative consequences on targets of bullies, bullies, and witnesses? Are school leaders committed to promoting all children’s positive psychological health, or do they over-rely on punishing misbehavior? Can they discern between typical developmental processes that need guidance versus bullying that needs assertive intervention? Are educators empathic to their students, and do they value children’s feelings?

Next, are teachers prepared to deal with bullying? Students consistently report that teachers miss most incidents of bullying and fail to help students when asked. A majority of teachers report that they feel unprepared to deal with classroom bullying. Some teachers bully students themselves , or show a lack of empathy toward children who are bullied. Teachers report that they receive little guidance in “classroom management,” and sometimes default to the disciplinary strategies they learned in their own families growing up.

However, reforming school climate should involve all stakeholders—students and parents, as well as the administrators and teachers—so a school’s specific issues can be addressed, and the flavor of local cultures retained. School climate assessments can be completed periodically to track the impact of improvements.

Advancing social and emotional learning

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is well known, and involves teaching skills of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, responsible decision making, and relationships management. (Full disclosure: Brackett and I are affiliated with the SEL program RULER .)

Evidence-based SEL approaches have been shown to deliver cost-effective, solid results. Numerous meta-analyses , research reviews , and individual studies of hundreds of thousands of K-12 students show that SEL improves emotional well-being, self-regulation, classroom relationships, and kind and helpful behavior among students. It reduces a range of problems like anxiety, emotional distress, and depression; reduces disruptive behaviors like conflicts, aggression, bullying, anger, and hostile attribution bias ; and it improves academic achievement, creativity, and leadership.

A study of 36 first-grade teachers showed that when teachers were more emotionally supportive of students, children were less aggressive and had greater behavioral self-control, compared to the use of behavior management, which did not improve student self-control. One meta-analysis showed that developing emotional competence was protective against becoming a victim of bullying; social competence and academic performance were protective against becoming a bully; and positive peer interactions were protective against becoming a bully-victim (one who has been bullied and bullies others). A series of longitudinal studies showed positive effects into midlife (e.g., fewer divorces, less unemployment) and even cross-generational effects of early SEL. Compared to a matched control group, the children of the adults who participated in the Perry Preschool Project had less criminal involvement and higher educational and employment achievement. A cost-benefit analysis of six SEL programs found them to be good investments, with $11 saved for every $1 spent.

Teachers also benefit from SEL. Those with emotional and social skills training have higher job satisfaction and less burnout, show more positive emotions toward their students, manage their classrooms better, and use more strategies that cultivate creativity, choice, and autonomy in their students. Teachers report that they want more SEL support to cultivate their own emotional and social skills, and to better understand their students’ feelings. But few teacher training programs focus on growing the teachers’ emotion regulation skills.

Bullying at different age levels

SEL approaches should be developmentally wise , since what is salient and possible for children changes at different ages.

For example, preschoolers are expelled from school at the highest rates of all, but the neurological hardware for their self-control is only just developing. Only then are the connections between the emotion circuitry and the more thinking regions of the prefrontal cortex beginning to be myelinated (insulated for faster connectivity), something that will take until the mid 20s to complete. An SEL program like PATHS or RULER that teaches young children language for feelings, and strategies for thinking before acting, can develop better self-regulation.

Online resources on bullying

Learn more about SEL programs .

Read your state’s legislation and policies on bullying .

Read your state’s legislation and policies on cyberbullying .

Schools can refer to this summary of legal issues on bullying .

Many states have laws that outlaw sexting, and most states outlaw revenge porn. Find out your state laws .

Discover tip sheets for preventing and responding to cyberbullying in middle and high school educators, parents, and teens.

Discover more tip sheets for parents and teens .

Sometimes, adults confuse normal developmental processes with bullying. For example, children begin to reorganize their friendships midway through elementary school, something that can naturally create hurt feelings and interpersonal conflict. It should not be misconstrued as bullying, though, which involves intentional, repeated aggression within an imbalance of power. Normal development also includes experimenting with power, and these normal dynamics should be guided safely toward developing a healthy sense of agency, rather than a hurtful exertion of power over someone else.

Finally, the onset of puberty marks the beginning of heightened sensitivity to social relationships, an especially important time to cultivate skills for kinder, gentler relationships. Unfortunately, this is the period when bullying spikes the highest. And while some strategies work well for younger children (for example, advising them to “tell a trusted adult”), this option may fail with teens, and the breakpoint seems to be around the eighth grade. Older teens require approaches that are less didactic and leverage their need for autonomy, while affirming their values and search for meaning. Physiologically, the brain changes during puberty confer a second chance for recalibrating their stress regulation system. That opportunity should be constructively seized.

Approaches should also take into account individual differences between children. Even SEL programs can stumble here, over-relying on just one or two emotion regulation strategies, like breathing or mindfulness. But children vary in their temperaments, sensitivities, strengths, and vulnerabilities. The best SEL approaches guide students toward discovering strategies that work best for them—strategies that are emotion- and context-specific, personalized, and culturally responsive. This approach requires unconventional flexibility on the part of the educators.

And, finally, approaches work best if they are not standalone pedagogies or from kits that end up in the classroom closet at the end of the year. In order to be effective, skills should become fully embedded across the curricula and the entire day, in all settings, and implemented by all adults—in other words, infiltrating the ecosystem. Only approaches used and taught as intended are successful.

Schools can’t do this alone

Families matter, too. Bullying in schools sometimes arises from harsh parenting practices or sibling bullying at home.

Even parents’ workplaces matter. Adults experience bullying in their workplaces at about the same rate as children in schools, and it’s even found among teachers and in senior living communities . In other words, bullying is not just a childhood problem; it is a pervasive human problem. And children are not buffered from the wider social world—bullying of children who belong to groups targeted in the national political discourse has spiked on playgrounds nationwide.

Ultimately, we need a substantial shift in our mindsets about the importance of children and their feelings. Children are more likely to thrive when we nurture their humanity, and offer them language and strategies and values to help them identify, express, and, thus, regulate their feelings. When parents, teachers, and administrators gain new awareness into the complex roots of bullying and adopt new strategies for addressing it, schools can lead the way. The kids are counting on us.

Courage in Education: Facing Challenges with Strength, Determination, and Hope

A new online course to help educators cultivate courage in schools and classrooms.

About the Author

Diana Divecha

Diana Divecha, Ph.D. , is a developmental psychologist, an assistant clinical professor at the Yale Child Study Center and Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and on the advisory board of the Greater Good Science Center. Her blog is developmentalscience.com .

You May Also Enjoy

The Bully Problem

Playground Heroes

How to Bullyproof Your Kid

Eight Keys to End Bullying

How Bullied Children Grow into Wounded Adults

Could Gay-Straight Alliances Reduce Bullying?

• Adolescent-development
• Bullying In Schools

Bullying in Schools

Ad Disclosure: Some of our MentalHelp.net recommendations, including BetterHelp, are also affiliates, and as such we may receive compensation from them if you choose to purchase products or services through the links provided

Bullying in schools is a worldwide problem that can have negative consequences for the general school climate and for the right of students to learn in a safe environment without fear. Bullying can also have negative lifelong consequences?both for students who bully and for their victims. Although much of the formal research on bullying has taken place in the Scandinavian countries, Great Britain, and Japan, the problems associated with bullying have been noted and discussed wherever formal schooling environments exist.

Bullying is comprised of direct behaviors such as teasing, taunting, threatening, hitting, and stealing that are initiated by one or more students against a victim. In addition to direct attacks, bullying may also be more indirect by causing a student to be socially isolated through intentional exclusion. While boys typically engage in direct bullying methods, girls who bully are more apt to utilize these more subtle indirect strategies, such as spreading rumors and enforcing social isolation (Ahmad & Smith, 1994; Smith & Sharp, 1994). Whether the bullying is direct or indirect, the key component of bullying is that the physical or psychological intimidation occurs repeatedly over time to create an ongoing pattern of harassment and abuse (Batsche & Knoff, 1994; Olweus, 1993).

Extent of the Problem

Various reports and studies have established that approximately 15% of students are either bullied regularly or are initiators of bullying behavior (Olweus, 1993). Direct bullying seems to increase through the elementary years, peak in the middle school/junior high school years, and decline during the high school years. However, while direct physical assault seems to decrease with age, verbal abuse appears to remain constant. School size, racial composition, and school setting (rural, suburban, or urban) do not seem to be distinguishing factors in predicting the occurrence of bullying. Finally, boys engage in bullying behavior and are victims of bullies more frequently than girls (Batsche & Knoff, 1994; Nolin, Davies, & Chandler, 1995; Olweus, 1993; Whitney & Smith, 1993).

Therapists are Standing By to Treat Your Depression, Anxiety or Other Mental Health Needs

Explore Your Options Today

Characteristics of Bullies and Victims

Students who engage in bullying behaviors seem to have a need to feel powerful and in control. They appear to derive satisfaction from inflicting injury and suffering on others, seem to have little empathy for their victims, and often defend their actions by saying that their victims provoked them in some way. Studies indicate that bullies often come from homes where physical punishment is used, where the children are taught to strike back physically as a way to handle problems, and where parental involvement and warmth are frequently lacking. Students who regularly display bullying behaviors are generally defiant or oppositional toward adults, antisocial, and apt to break school rules. In contrast to prevailing myths, bullies appear to have little anxiety and to possess strong self-esteem. There is little evidence to support the contention that they victimize others because they feel bad about themselves (Batsche & Knoff, 1994; Olweus, 1993).

Students who are victims of bullying are typically anxious, insecure, cautious, and suffer from low self-esteem, rarely defending themselves or retaliating when confronted by students who bully them. They may lack social skills and friends, and they are often socially isolated. Victims tend to be close to their parents and may have parents who can be described as overprotective. The major defining physical characteristic of victims is that they tend to be physically weaker than their peers?other physical characteristics such as weight, dress, or wearing eyeglasses do not appear to be significant factors that can be correlated with victimization (Batsche & Knoff, 1994; Olweus, 1993).

Consequences of Bullying

As established by studies in Scandinavian countries, a strong correlation appears to exist between bullying other students during the school years and experiencing legal or criminal troubles as adults. In one study, 60% of those characterized as bullies in grades 6-9 had at least one criminal conviction by age 24 (Olweus, 1993). Chronic bullies seem to maintain their behaviors into adulthood, negatively influencing their ability to develop and maintain positive relationships (Oliver, Hoover, & Hazler, 1994).

Victims often fear school and consider school to be an unsafe and unhappy place. As many as 7% of America's eighth-graders stay home at least once a month because of bullies. The act of being bullied tends to increase some students' isolation because their peers do not want to lose status by associating with them or because they do not want to increase the risks of being bullied themselves. Being bullied leads to depression and low self-esteem, problems that can carry into adulthood (Olweus, 1993; Batsche & Knoff, 1994).

Perceptions of Bullying

Oliver, Hoover, and Hazler (1994) surveyed students in the Midwest and found that a clear majority felt that victims were at least partially responsible for bringing the bullying on themselves. Students surveyed tended to agree that bullying toughened a weak person, and some felt that bullying "taught" victims appropriate behavior. Charach, Pepler, and Ziegler (1995) found that students considered victims to be "weak," "nerds," and "afraid to fight back." However, 43% of the students in this study said that they try to help the victim, 33% said that they should help but do not, and only 24% said that bullying was none of their business.

Parents are often unaware of the bullying problem and talk about it with their children only to a limited extent (Olweus, 1993). Student surveys reveal that a low percentage of students seem to believe that adults will help. Students feel that adult intervention is infrequent and ineffective, and that telling adults will only bring more harassment from bullies. Students report that teachers seldom or never talk to their classes about bullying (Charach, Pepler, & Ziegler, 1995). School personnel may view bullying as a harmless right of passage that is best ignored unless verbal and psychological intimidation crosses the line into physical assault or theft.

Intervention Programs

Bullying is a problem that occurs in the social environment as a whole. The bullies' aggression occurs in social contexts in which teachers and parents are generally unaware of the extent of the problem and other children are either reluctant to get involved or simply do not know how to help (Charach, Pepler, & Ziegler, 1995). Given this situation, effective interventions must involve the entire school community rather than focus on the perpetrators and victims alone. Smith and Sharp (1994) emphasize the need to develop whole-school bullying policies, implement curricular measures, improve the schoolground environment, and empower students through conflict resolution, peer counseling, and assertiveness training. Olweus (1993) details an approach that involves interventions at the school, class, and individual levels. It includes the following components:

• An initial questionnaire can be distributed to students and adults. The questionnaire helps both adults and students become aware of the extent of the problem, helps to justify intervention efforts, and serves as a benchmark to measure the impact of improvements in school climate once other intervention components are in place.
• A parental awareness campaign can be conducted during parent-teacher conference days, through parent newsletters, and at PTA meetings. The goal is to increase parental awareness of the problem, point out the importance of parental involvement for program success, and encourage parental support of program goals. Questionnaire results are publicized.
• Teachers can work with students at the class level to develop class rules against bullying. Many programs engage students in a series of formal role-playing exercises and related assignments that can teach those students directly involved in bullying alternative methods of interaction. These programs can also show other students how they can assist victims and how everyone can work together to create a school climate where bullying is not tolerated (Sjostrom & Stein, 1996).
• Other components of anti-bullying programs include individualized interventions with the bullies and victims, the implementation of cooperative learning activities to reduce social isolation, and increasing adult supervision at key times (e.g., recess or lunch). Schools that have implemented Olweus's program have reported a 50% reduction in bullying.

Bullying is a serious problem that can dramatically affect the ability of students to progress academically and socially. A comprehensive intervention plan that involves all students, parents, and school staff is required to ensure that all students can learn in a safe and fear-free environment.

For More Information

• Ahmad, Y., & Smith, P. K. (1994). Bullying in schools and the issue of sex differences. In John Archer (Ed.), Male violence. London: Routledge.
• Batsche, G. M., & Knoff, H. M. (1994). Bullies and their victims: Understanding a pervasive problem in the schools. School Psychology Review, 23(2), 165-174. EJ 490 574.
• Charach, A., Pepler, D., & Ziegler, S. (1995). Bullying at school--a Canadian perspective: A survey of problems and suggestions for intervention. Education Canada, 35(1), 12-18. EJ 502 058.
• Nolin, M. J., Davies, E., & Chandler, K. (1995). Student victimization at school. National Center for Education Statistics3/4Statistics in Brief (NCES 95-204). ED 388 439.
• Oliver, R., Hoover, J. H., & Hazler, R. (1994). The perceived roles of bullying in small-town Midwestern schools. Journal of Counseling and Development, 72(4), 416-419. EJ 489 169.
• Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying at school: What we know and what we can do. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. ED 384 437.
• Sjostrom, Lisa, & Stein, Nan. (1996). Bully proof: A teachers guide on teasing and bullying for use with fourth and fifth grade students. Boston, MA: Wellesley College Center for Research on Women and the NEA Professional Library. PS 024 450.
• Smith, P. K., & Sharp, S. (1994). School bullying: Insights and perspectives. London : Routledge. ED 387 223.
• Whitney, I., & Smith, P. K. (1993). A survey of the nature and extent of bullying in junior/middle and secondary schools. Educational Research, 35(1), 3-25. EJ 460 708.

This document was sourced from ERIC-EECE. However, that site is no longer operational. Their partial archives can be found here .

Additional Resources

As advocates of mental health and wellness, we take great pride in educating our readers on the various online therapy providers available. MentalHelp has partnered with several thought leaders in the mental health and wellness space, so we can help you make informed decisions on your wellness journey. MentalHelp may receive marketing compensation from these companies should you choose to use their services.

BetterHelp Online Therapy - BetterHelp offers online therapy services from licensed professionals through an easy-to-use website and app. To get matched with a virtual therapist, complete a brief questionnaire online or start get started with a 20% off your first month today .

Talkspace Online Therapy & Psychiatry - Licensed therapists and psychiatrists are available for virtual sessions via Talkspace . From virtual counseling to medication management services, Talkspace online therapy may be covered by your insurance provider. Simply fill out a brief assessment online to save $100 and match with a licensed therapist today .

MentalHelp may receive marketing compensation from the above-listed companies should you choose to use their services.

• Academic Effects of After-School Programs
• Adolescent Emotional Development
• Adolescent Moral Development
• Adolescent Physical Development
• Adolescent Sexual Development
• Adolescent Social Development
• Allowing Children More Autonomy
• An Overview of Adolescent Development
• Body Piercing
• Bullying in Early Adolescence: The Role of the Peer Group
• Child & Adolescent Development: Overview
• Child & Adolescent Development: Puberty
• Child Development Overview Summary
• Common Nutritional Challenges for Teenagers: Adolescent Obesity
• Common Nutritional Challenges for Teenagers: Eating Disorders and Unhealthy Dieting
• Computers and Young Children
• Discipline and Guidance: Older Adolescents and Young Adults (18 Years and Older)
• Emotional Self-Efficacy
• Introduction to Puberty
• John Bowlby
• Menstruation, Wet Dreams and Related Subjects
• MET/CBT: Treatment of Adolescent Substance Abuse
• Middle to Late Adolescence (ages 15 to 22): The Age of Romance
• Parental Guidelines to Promote Physical Activity in Teens
• Parenting Teens: Discipline, Love, Rules & Expectations
• Parents and Teenagers: Always Battling?
• Primary Physical Changes Associated With Puberty
• Psychological Testing: Stanford-Binet IQ Test
• Self-Identity and Values
• Skipping A Year: When Retention Is Recommended, What Should Parents Do?
• Social Pressures Influence Mood and Behavior
• Summary and Conclusion
• Tattoos and Body Piercing
• Teenage Caloric Requirements
• The Development of Adolescent Sexuality
• The Development of Gender Identity
• The Maturing Adolescent Brain
• The Transition to Middle School
• Video Games and Children
• Warning Signs
• Oppositional Defiant Disorder
• Mens Health
• What Is Addiction?
• Signs, Symptoms, & Effects Of Addiction
• What Causes Addiction?
• Mental Health, Dual-Diagnosis, & Behavioral Addictions
• Addiction Treatment
• Addiction Recovery
• Information On Specific Drugs
• Homosexuality And Bisexuality
• Internet Addiction
• Childhood Mental Disorders
• ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• Anxiety Disorders
• Bipolar Disorder
• Depression: Major Depression & Unipolar Varieties
• Eating Disorders
• Childhood Mental Disorders And Illnesses
• Dissociative Disorders
• Impulse Control Disorders
• Internet Addiction And Media Issues
• Intellectual Disabilities
• Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Somatic Symptom And Related Disorders
• Tourettes And Other Tic Disorders
• Physical Mental Illness Flipbook
• Suicide Rates Vector Map
• Alzheimers Disease And Other Cognitive Disorders
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• Colds And Flu
• Crohns Disease / Irritable Bowel
• Heart Disease
• High Blood Pressure
• Memory Problems
• Men's Health
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• Sleep Disorders
• Women's Health
• Anger Management
• Mindfulness
• Stress Reduction And Management
• Weight Loss
• Disabilities
• Domestic Violence And Rape
• Family & Relationship Issues
• Grief & Bereavement Issues
• Pain Management
• Relationship Problems
• Self Esteem
• Terrorism & War
• Health Insurance
• Health Policy & Advocacy
• Health Sciences
• Mental Health Professions
• Alternative Mental Health Medicine
• Medications
• Psychological Testing
• Psychotherapy
• Virtual Outpatient Eating Disorder Treatment
• Child Development And Parenting: Infants
• Child Development And Parenting: Early Childhood
• Sexuality & Sexual Problems
• Homosexuality & Bisexuality
• Aging & Geriatrics
• Death & Dying
• Physical Development: Motor Development
• Vygotsky's Social Developmental Emphasis
• Bullying & Peer Abuse
• Family And Relationship Issues
• Grief And Bereavement

Bullying Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on bullying.

Bullying refers to aggressive behavior so as to dominate the other person. It refers to the coercion of power over others so that one individual can dominate others. It is an act that is not one time, instead, it keeps on repeating over frequent intervals.  The person(s) who bullies others can be termed as bullies, who make fun of others due to several reasons. Bullying is a result of someone’s perception of the imbalance of power.

Types of bullying :

There can be various types of bullying, like:

• Physical bullying:  When the bullies try to physically hurt or torture someone, or even touch someone without his/her consent can be termed as physical bullying .
• Verbal bullying:  It is when a person taunts or teases the other person.
• Psychological bullying:  When a person or group of persons gossip about another person or exclude them from being part of the group, can be termed as psychological bullying.
• Cyber bullying:  When bullies make use of social media to insult or hurt someone. They may make comments bad and degrading comments on the person at the public forum and hence make the other person feel embarrassed. Bullies may also post personal information, pictures or videos on social media to deteriorate some one’s public image.

Read Essay on Cyber Bullying

Bullying can happen at any stage of life, such as school bullying, College bullying, Workplace bullying, Public Place bullying, etc. Many times not only the other persons but the family members or parents also unknowingly bully an individual by making constant discouraging remarks. Hence the victim gradually starts losing his/her self-esteem, and may also suffer from psychological disorders.

A UNESCO report says that 32% of students are bullied at schools worldwide. In our country as well, bullying is becoming quite common. Instead, bullying is becoming a major problem worldwide. It has been noted that physical bullying is prevalent amongst boys and psychological bullying is prevalent amongst girls.

Prevention strategies:

In the case of school bullying, parents and teachers can play an important role. They should try and notice the early symptoms of children/students such as behavioral change, lack of self-esteem, concentration deficit, etc. Early recognition of symptoms, prompt action and timely counseling can reduce the after-effects of bullying on the victim.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Anti-bullying laws :

One should be aware of the anti-bullying laws in India. Awareness about such laws may also create discouragement to the act of bullying amongst children and youngsters. Some information about anti-bullying laws is as follows:

• Laws in School: To put a notice on the notice board that if any student is found bullying other students then he/she can be rusticated. A committee should be formed which can have representatives from school, parents, legal, etc.
• Laws in Colleges: The government of India, in order to prevent ragging , has created guideline called “UGC regulations on curbing the menace of ragging in Higher Education Institutions,2009”.
• Cyber Bullying Laws: The victim can file a complaint under the Indian Penal Code .

Conclusion:

It is the duty of the parents to constantly preach their children about not bullying anyone and that it is wrong. Hence, if we, as a society need to grow and develop then we have to collectively work towards discouraging the act of bullying and hence make our children feel secure.

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

• Travelling Essay
• Picnic Essay
• Our Country Essay
• My Parents Essay
• Essay on Favourite Personality
• Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
• Essay on Knowledge is Power
• Essay on Gurpurab
• Essay on My Favourite Season
• Essay on Types of Sports

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Download the App

Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Bullying — Consequences of Bullying in Schools

Consequences of Bullying in Schools

• Categories: Art and Religion Bullying

About this sample

Words: 523 |

Published: Mar 16, 2024

Words: 523 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

Mental health impact, social development impact, physical consequences.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Prof. Kifaru

Verified writer

• Expert in: Arts & Culture Social Issues

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

2 pages / 913 words

6 pages / 2868 words

4 pages / 1795 words

5 pages / 2604 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Bullying

In this essay, readers can expect to delve into the pervasive issue of bullying and its detrimental consequences on mental health and well-being. The essay explores how bullying not only affects individuals but also has [...]

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Childhood Obesity Facts. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK436791/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK436791.pdf

School bullies represent a persistent and troubling issue in educational institutions worldwide. The negative consequences of bullying extend beyond the classroom, affecting the well-being and academic performance of both [...]

Bullying is a prevalent issue in educational institutions and society at large. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 20.8% of students reported being bullied in 2019. Bullying is defined as intentional [...]

What is bullying? In these research paper we are going to discuss a very difficult topic which is bullying. We will go in depth and we will analyze what causes bullying, what is bullying, types of bullying and much more. [...]

Bullying has become a major problem, and the use of the internet has just made it worse. Cyber bullying is bullying done by using technology; it can be done with computers, phones, and the biggest one social media. Children need [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

Theoretical Perspectives and Two Explanatory Models of School Bullying

• Original Paper
• Open access
• Published: 17 October 2022

Cite this article

You have full access to this open access article

• Ken Rigby 1  

20k Accesses

7 Citations

6 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

This article examines alternative and supplementary ways in which theorists and researchers have sought to account for bullying behavior among students in schools. Contemporary explanations acknowledge the variety, complexity, and interactivity of both person and environmental factors in determining acts of bullying in schools. Two explanatory models or frameworks are described: (i) an adaptation of the theory of planned behavior proposed by Ajzen (Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 50:179–211,  1991 ); and (ii) the comprehensive model of bullying (CMB) by Rigby (Multiperspectivity in school bullying, page 64. Routlege,  2021b ). The strengths and limitations of these models are discussed, together with applications in addressing school bullying.

Similar content being viewed by others

Understanding Teachers’ Likelihood of Intervention in Bullying Situations: Testing the Theory of Planned Behavior

The Intent Behind Bullying: an Application and Expansion of the Theory of Planned Behaviour

A Systematic Review on Primary School Teachers’ Characteristics and Behaviors in Identifying, Preventing, and Reducing Bullying

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

The rise of concern since the early 1990s over bullying in schools has led to a proliferation of theoretical explanations for why it is so prevalent among schoolchildren. Estimates derived from 71 countries reported by UNESCO ( 2019 ) suggest that around 32% of schoolchildren between the ages of 9 and 15 years were bullied for one or more days during the previous month. Analyses of trend data by UNESCO have shown that despite increasing attention to the problem, over half (55%) of these countries have reported no significant reductions. Although some carefully evaluated interventions to reduce bullying in schools have been modestly successful (Ttofi & Farrington, 2011 ), a large majority have had little or no effect. At the same time, numerous studies have shown that bullying behavior has the effect of seriously reducing the wellbeing and mental health and learning of victimized students (Armitage, 2021 ). In the light of these findings, more effective means of intervening to reduce bullying are needed, and these need to be grounded in an understanding of why bullying takes place in schools. This article seeks to examine a range of theoretical explanations for bullying behavior and describes two models that exhibit both strengths and limitations in describing why bullying occurs in schools and how it may be countered.

Explanations must begin an acceptable definition of bullying. It is conceived as a subset of aggression. Although some views on what precisely constitutes bullying behavior remain controversial, the formulation of the definition proposed by Olweus ( 1993 , p.9) has been broadly accepted by most researchers: that is, “a student is being bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed repeatedly and over time to negative actions on the part of one or more other students.” Crucial elements generally include (i) bullying is intentional and deliberate; (ii) it occurs in a situation in which there is an imbalance of power; and (iii) it is repeated over time. What may constitute “negative actions” has expanded more recently to include not only direct actions such as striking people and face-to-face verbal abuse, but also indirect negative actions such as exclusion, rumor spreading, and cyber bullying. In general terms, bullying has been viewed as a systematic abuse of power (Smith & Sharp, 1994 ) and by Tattum and Tattum ( 1992 , p.147) as “a conscious, willful desire to hurt another person and put him/her under stress.” This latter view is inadequate as a definition of bullying, which is recognized as a behavior. However, it draws attention to the motivational core of bullying, which may be seen as a state of mind, specifically a “desire.” Whether bullying can best be understood as a consequence of individual volition, as distinct from broader considerations such as group dynamics and the caring-ness or otherwise of the social milieu, has been questioned in a recent set of recommendations by a UNESCO committee on school violence (Cornu et al., 2022 ).

This article provides a brief survey of theoretical perspectives that have been thought to be relevant to understanding and explaining bullying in schools, together with supportive empirical findings. Two models purporting to explain bullying are described, linking, where possible, with theoretical formulations and reported findings. The models are then critically discussed as to their adequacy and potential value in assisting schools in addressing the problem of bullying.

Theoretical Explanations

Theoretical explanations of bullying may be categorized under three general headings: (1) the nature of the beast, an idiom that conveys the inherent or essential quality or character of something, which cannot be changed and must be accepted (see Anderson, 2022 ); (2) the nature of the environment, that is, the aggregate of external agents or conditions—physical, biological, social, and cultural—that influence the functions of an organism (APA, 2022 ); and (3) interaction between (1) and (2). Although different emphases may be placed on the “nature of the beast” and/or the nature of the environment in explaining bullying in schools, it is generally understood that a full explanation of bullying requires an examination of how each contributes and how the two interact with one another. According to a heuristic formula proposed by Lewin ( 1936 ), B  =  f ( P , E ), where B is the behavior (in this case “bullying”) and P stands for person—that is, the “beast” in question—and E is the environment.

Evolutionary psychology has produced a basic explanation of bullying that emphasizes what is “given” in the nature of living beings. Bullying is seen as an evolved adaptive strategy, practiced by both non-humans and humans, that offers benefits to its practitioners through the achievement of somatic, sexual, and dominance goals (Volk et al., 2012 ). Evolutionary theories of bullying acknowledge the significant role that the environment may play in the development of bullying behavior. However, as pointed out by Volk et al., despite substantial variations in environmental conditions, bullying among students is prevalent in all countries.

Related to the evolutionary view of bullying is the so-called dominance theory (Evans & Smokowski, 2016 ), according to which individuals and groups are motivated to bully others in order to gain and secure social capital, that is, to the benefits gained from social relationships (Putnam, 2000 ). Dominance per se may be for some individuals a means to an end, rather than an end in itself.

Consistent with the claims of evolutionary psychologists, there is evidence that the tendency of children to bully others is influenced by genetic factors. For instance, it has been reported that identical twins are significantly more likely to be similar in their tendency to bully others than are fraternal twins, even when the identical twins are reared apart (Ball et al., 2008 ). More recently, genetic material derived from analyses of samples of blood and saliva has been used to predict bullying behavior of children, as rated by fellow students (Musci et al., 2018 ). This is not to deny the influence of environmental factors but rather to support the view that genetics play an influential role in explaining bullying behavior.

Some explanations of bullying behavior emphasize the role of personality conceived as a set of relatively enduring psychological characteristics that affect the way people behave. For instance, Farrell and Volk ( 2017 ) see bullying as the product of an anti-social personality described by them as a predatory, exploitive personality trait. Research findings based on personality assessments indicate that children who bully tend to be relatively extraverted, psychotic, sadistic, narcissistic, Machiavellian, disagreeable, and deficient in emotional empathy (Vangeel et al., 2017 ). These qualities are, to some degree, genetically determined (Veldkamp et al., 2019 ). A further claim is that bullying behavior can be explained by psychoanalytical theory, according to which bullying can be seen as the outcome of a disposition to protect one’s ego through the use of projection and/or scapegoating (Dixon & Smith, 2011 ; Wampold, 2015 ).

In explaining aggression, a central role has sometimes been accorded to the consequences of frustration and/or being placed under considerable strain through negative life events with which a person is unable to cope. The classic definition of frustration in psychology is any event or stimulus that prevents an individual from attaining a goal and its accompanying reinforcement quality (Dollard et al., 1939 ). On the basis of empirical studies, it has been reported that experiencing frustration, even if unintended, commonly leads to a person acting aggressively (Berkowitz, 1989 ). This may include bullying behavior. For instance, levels of school bullying have been reported as relatively high in schools in England where community resentment and associated frustration have been aroused by increases in foreign migration (Denti, 2021 ). For some students and families, such perceived “intrusion” may constitute a strain leading to anti-social acts such as bullying (Agnew, 1992 ).

At the same time, not every instance of frustration or negative life events leads to acts of interpersonal aggression. Hence, one aspect or dimension of personality relevant to bullying is tolerance of frustration. As predicted, Potard et al. ( 2021 ) have confirmed that adolescent schoolchildren in France who were identified as bullies were more likely than those not involved bullying to report a relatively low level of tolerance of frustration on a Frustration Discomfort Scale. This result was significant on two subscales, one relating to entitlement, “I can’t stand it when people go against my wishes,” and one to achievement, “I can’t bear the frustration of not achieving my goals.”

Persons may be described according to cognitive capacities or modes of thinking that are related to bullying. Explanations of bullying may be derived from cognitive theory as developed by Bandura ( 1999 ). It has been reported that children who bully tend to be morally disengaged (Hymel & Bonnanno,  2014 ). They commonly invent reasons why a victim deserves to be hurt and are untroubled by any scruples (Thornberg & Jungert, 2014 ). It has been further claimed that having a greater cognitive capacity for discerning what others may be thinking, as in theory of mind, may advantage some prospective bullies who choose to exploit this capacity (Smith, 2017 ).

The person ( P ) in the Lewin formulation may also include age and gender. Both these factors have been found to be related to bullying behavior. Increases in its prevalence in schools have been reported as occurring in early adolescence. Boys are more commonly reported as perpetrators, at least as far as physical bullying is concerned; however, this difference may not extend to other forms of bullying, such as verbal and cyber bullying (Menesini & Salmivalli, 2017 ) and can depend on the cultural background (Rigby et al., 2019 ).

The Environment ( E )

The most general theory to account for behavior including bullying is reinforcement theory, as propounded by Skinner ( 1953 ). This theory dismisses the need to postulate any internal states, such as “desire” to explain bullying behavior. It is claimed that all bullying can best be understood as a consequence of certain actions, defined as bullying, being taken and positively reinforced. Positive behavior support programs in schools to counter bullying are based on the assumption that bullying will cease if it is not reinforced (Ross & Horner, 2009 ). In more recent years, learning theorists have sought to explain bullying by expanding the “purer” Skinnerian version of how learning occurs to include more cognitive factors and the importance of modeling in the acquisition of bullying behaviors (Bandura, 1977 ).

Other explanations specify features of the environment that give rise to bullying. These may include physical features such as the ambient temperature in one’s locality (Wei et al., 2017 ) and the built environment in which one spends time (Fram & Dickman, 2012 ). More commonly, attention is paid to the social environment, past and present. Following the seminal work of Bronfenbrenner ( 2009 ), a variety of social systems and influences have been identified as contributing to bullying behavior (See Espelage, 2014 ; Swearer & Hymel, 2015 ; Hornby, 2015 ). These include interacting microsystems in the immediate environment, such as the home, the local neighborhood, and the school. Other more expansive systems involve society and culture, within which government policies, the Law, and the media may play a part (Rigby, 2021b ). Each of these ecological systems is conceived as interacting with and influencing each other in all aspects of the children’s lives, including their interpersonal relations at school, and may, in some circumstances, result in bullying.

Research findings have supported some of the claims that aspects of the social ecology may influence the occurrence of bullying in schools. The home environment of children who experience cold, authoritarian parenting has been reported as being more likely than others to bully their peers at school (Connell et al., 2016 ; Rigby, 2013 ). Levels of reported bullying in school have been found to be much higher in some neighborhoods and communities than others; for example, they have been reported to be significantly higher in countries with greater economic inequality (Elgar et al., 2009 ). The ethos of the school attended by a child, as indicated by prevailing attitudes, values, and behaviors of students and teachers, is reportedly related to how children interact with their peers, with bullying perpetration being less prevalent in schools in which children feel supported by school staff (Modin et al., 2017 ; Thornberg et al., 2018 ). Social norms endorsed by peer or friendship groups, especially in relation to negative treatment of outsiders and those against whom there is bias or prejudice, are seen as contributing to bullying (Perkins et al., 2011 ).

The complexity of explaining bullying within an ecological framework becomes evident when the nature of interactions between the factors is considered. For example, the influence of an oppressive home environment may have more adverse consequences for a child when combined with negative school ethos, or have a less negative effect if combined with positive relations with teachers.

Interactions Between P and E

Reverting to the Lewin formulation, as adapted, B (bullying) =  f ( P , E ), one may ask how in practice this may help in explaining bullying. It requires us to consider how effects traceably to the environment are modified in accordance with the nature of individual persons. One might expect some ecological factors to influence bullying behavior more so or less so, according to the personal qualities of the child. As an example, a child with a low tolerance of frustration may become aggressive and engage in bullying in one school, but not in another school where he or she is helped by a teacher to control negative emotions. The relationship between a person and the environment can be viewed as reciprocal. A person is not only acted on by the environment but may also act to modify the environment, which in turn may produce changes in the person. For instance, learning not to over-react to provocation may lead to a change in how a child is treated by others at school, that is, produce a change in the social environment and, as a consequence, how he or she subsequently treats others.

A number of heuristic models have been constructed to identify factors, relationships, and inter-relationships that are thought to be relevant to understanding and explaining bullying in schools. They may differ in two ways: first according to the selection of variables considered relevant and, second, whether they indicate a “process” according to which selected independent variables bring about bullying behavior.

A wide range of relevant variables have been suggested by Astor and Benbenishty ( 2018 ). These are differentiated according to whether they are (i) internal factors, that is, ones that operate within a school, such as school climate, school leadership, availability of resources, and disciplinary procedures, and (ii) external factors, such as home background, neighborhood, and the mass media. Internal and external factors are seen as interacting in ways that may change over time. Person factors, apart from age and gender, are not considered; genetic influences or personality or attitude variables are not seen as playing any part. Acknowledging that evidence for the associations between measures of the factors is correlational, the authors do not claim directional, causal links between the variables. They point out, for instance, that a reduction in bullying in a school may result in an improvement in the school climate, which may further reduce bullying prevalence. Whilst their contribution notes a wide range of ecological factors that may influence bullying behavior, they do not attempt to show how such factors may, in combination, determine bullying behavior. The two models to be examined in this article describe or imply a “process” according to which environmental and person-related variables in combination give rise to bullying behavior.

The first model is derived from the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980 ), further elaborated by Ajzen ( 1991 ) in the theory of planned behavior. In an adaptation of this model (Rigby, 1997 ), three factors were identified as interacting and contributing to the intention to bully someone, (i) personal attitudes towards bullying behavior, seen as a consequence of a history of reinforcement following acts of bullying, (ii) perceived or subjective norms regarding bullying, and (iii) perceived behavioral control, that is, belief in one’s capacity to carry out the action of bullying. Factors (i) and (iii) are regarded as related to person. Normative influences, filtered through individual perceptions, relate to the environment. Collectively, these factors were thought to predict intention to act. Ajzen claimed that the intention to act is closely related to actually doing so. Thus, if a person has a positive attitude towards bullying behavior, believes that significant others, for example, a friendship group, actually support bullying behavior, and holds the belief that he or she is able to bully someone, then, according to the model, bullying is more likely to result. Unlike the model proposed by Astor and Benbenishty, hypothesized relationships predicting bullying behavior are testable (see Fig.  1 ).

Application of the model of planned behavior to bullying, based on Ajzen ( 1991 )

The planned behavior model has some theoretical and empirical support. It draws upon principles of reinforcement theory as applied in bullying interventions (Ross & Horner, 2009 ) and also upon social cognitive theory in highlighting the influence of perceived social norms among students (Burns et al., 2008 ; Salmivalli, 2010 ). The model includes the factor of perceived capability to perform an act of bullying, thereby recognizing that it can occur in circumstances in which there is an imbalance of power favoring the bully (Olweus, 1993 ). This model has used in several studies of adolescent schoolchildren to predict intention to bully (Rigby, 1997 ) and, more specifically, to engage in cyber bullying (Pabian & Vandebosch, 2014 ; Auemaneekul et al., 2020 ; Siriporn, 2021 ). In each study, all three factors, independently and collectively, made significant contributions.

A second model is more comprehensive in its inclusion of factors that may influence bullying behavior and also includes a description of how what may follow once the intention to bully has been made. The comprehensive model of bullying (CMB) as described by Rigby ( 2021b ) is distinctive in being based largely on the assumption made by Tattum and Tattum that bullying behavior is driven primarily by a desire on the part of a perpetrator to hurt or place someone under stress. Desire is seen here as a disposition or state of mind to act to bring about a specific outcome (Anscombe, 2000 ; Rigby, 2012a , b , 2021b ). It assumes that this hypothesized desire is determined by genetic or personality factors, together with a range of ecological factors. The stronger the influence in increasing the desire to hurt or place someone under stress, the more likely it is that a child will engage in aggressive and possibly bullying behavior. How the hypothesized desire may be generated is suggested in Fig.  2 , together with possible sequelae.

The comprehensive bullying model (CBM)

As in the formulation of Astor and Benbenishty, a number of relevant environmental factors are identified. These include an authoritarian and abusive home background (Georgiou et al., 2013 ), a troublesome neighborhood (Bowes et al., 2009 ), and a negative school ethos (Modin et al.,  2017 ) as indicated by negative relations between students and staff members. Negative and non-accepting attitudes towards other students may also contribute to bullying behavior. A qualitative study of how students in primary and secondary schools in Australia felt about “children at this school” indicated that negative judgements were expressed by 24% of the students, as in being “stupid,” “mean,” “bitchy,” “stuck up,” “uncool,” and “idiots.” Students making such judgements were also significantly more likely than others to report engaging in bullying at school (Rigby & Bortolozzo, 2013 ).

A set of person factors are also identified, including extraversion, low empathy, disagreeableness, and sadism. The environmental and person factors are seen as contributing in some way, directly or through interaction with each other, to produce a frame of mind characterized as having, in varying degrees, a desire to act hurt or pressure another person, and which under some conditions and circumstances could result in bullying behavior.

Whether children actually engage in aggressive behavior is seen to depend, in part, on whether the desire is sufficiently intense and sustained. It may dissipate over time without any aggression being expressed. Whether any aggression involves bullying (as distinct from conflict between individuals or groups of equal or similar power) may depend in part on the moral engagement or otherwise of the potential perpetrator. Morally disengaged students are seen as more likely to engage in bullying. Such disengagement is likely to be influenced by group membership and the social norms they share, as well as by personal prejudice (Iannello et al., 2021 ).

This model also draws attention to possible sequelae. These include (i) decisions made as to the person or persons to be targeted; (ii) the method(s) to be employed in carrying out the bullying, e.g., physical, verbal, and/or cyber; (iii) reactions of the targeted person(s) when the bullying is attempted, e.g., resisting and calling on help; (iv) opposing (restraining) or supporting (facilitating) bystander responses; and (v) the perceived presence and effectiveness of teacher surveillance and/or intervention. Given the perceived “successes, and especially the satisfaction it gives to the perpetrator, one might expect in some cases a cycle would be set up, with others joining in, so that the bullying becomes more difficult to stop.

Finding better, more comprehensive explanations for the occurrence of bullying in schools is an important step towards developing anti-bully policies and effective method of prevention and intervention. Many suggestions have been made as to the origins of this prevalent and harmful form of behavior. Various explanations have been proposed drawing on evolutionary psychology, behavioral genetics, reinforcement theory, frustration-aggression theory, strain theory, personality theory, social ecology, and cognitive theory. The models described above draw upon some of the reported findings and theoretical explanation relating to bullying behavior and are consistent with the view that bullying is an outcome of both person and environmental factors.

The model based on the theory of planned behavior recognizes that environmental and personal factors may interact in determining bullying, for instance, perceived social norms and enduring attitudes to bullying (considered a person attribute) seen as derived from a history of reinforcement. It challenges schools to consider how negative social group norms can be countered and the part that can be played through reinforcing positive, pro-social behavior. It also recognizes that bullying necessarily involves a perceived imbalance of power, which may in some cases be reduced, arguably by teaching targeted children to be more assertive, as appropriate. However, it may be criticized in being too narrowly conceived and as not including other factors that need to be taken into account in addressing bullying, such as a genetic predisposition, home background, and school ethos. Finally, it does not recognize the central role of motivation and how a state of mind prone to bully others can be managed.

The CMB provides a more comprehensive explanation of bullying behavior. It draws attention to the contribution of a range of person and environmental factors that have been identified as potentially influencing bullying behavior. It differs from the other models in postulating a state of mind, a desire to hurt or place another under stress, that may, under some conditions, motivate and give rise to bullying behavior. Inspection of the model may enable schools to identify steps that can be taken to prevent bullying or respond effectively to actual cases.

First, in focusing on the state of mind in students, namely a desire to hurt or place another under stress as leading to bullying behavior, educators are challenged to examine what they can do to reduce unnecessary sources of frustration or strain in the school for example, by promoting interpersonal empathy (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006 ); developing a supportive and caring school environment (Smit & Scherman, 2016 ); encouraging cooperative learning (Van Ryzin & Roseth, 2019 ); and working constructively with parents (Healy & Sanders, 2014 ).

It draws attention to students in a chronic or recurrent states of hostility and how they might be helped to regulate their emotions, for example, by teaching techniques of mindfulness (Foody & Samara, 2018 ) and/or conducting motivational interviewing with students who bully and are seeking help to change their behavior (Cross et al., 2018 ).

In considering the decision-making process whereby a student takes action to bully someone, attention is directed towards the means by which moral disengagement can be discouraged among students through counselling (Campaert et al.,  2017 ).

As well as seeking to develop a school ethos that may prevent bullying, the model may encourage schools to develop more effective and appropriate intervention methods, recognizing that a failure to stop cases of bullying from continuing can set up a cycle of bullying that may become more difficult to deal with, as more students may join in the bullying (Rigby, 2012a , b , 2021a ).

It identifies the importance of bystander behavior, given the strong influence of positive bystander action in stopping cases from continuing (Hawkins et al., 2001 ; Salmivalli, 2014 ). Teachers can encourage positive bystander action to assist victims through classroom discussions (Rigby & Johnson, 2006a , 2006b ). There is, however, a danger that by their actions bystanders can draw attention to the status of victims and put them more at risk of being bullied (Healy, 2020 )–and thereby perpetuate the problem.

Limitations and Criticism

The question remains as to why given experiences, such as perceived social norms supporting bullying and abusive, authoritarian parenting, should result in the desire to hurt and in some cases bullying behavior. Possible explanations for following social norms have included the desire to belong to an admired group who approve of the bullying, the acquisition of a positive self-image, and a fear of rejection and isolation if one adopts a contrary attitude (Gross & Vostroknutov, 2022 ). Why abusive parenting and negative school ethos may lead to children bullying others may also be seen as a consequence of frustration, especially among students with low tolerance for frustration, as suggested by the frustration-aggression hypothesis.

However, arguably, not all bullying may involve an aggressive intent. The motivation may, for instance, be a desire to increase or maintain one’s status in a group and/or to be admired by some peers (Veenstra et al., 2010 ). In such cases, the aim is not to hurt, though it may well do so. Parents and others may at times encourage and reinforce such behavior, mindful that their children’s “success” (defined by “social status”) may be achieved by dominating others in ways that may be viewed as non-malign. It may therefore be that the model is limited in its application to bullying behavior that involves an intention of the bully to harm another person. It would be of interest to discover how often a desire to hurt is present in cases of bullying as distinct from bullying that does not include such an element.

According to the famous maxim of Kurt Lewin ( 1951 ), there is nothing more practical than a good theory. It is with this expectation that one may follow the trail of his formula, as adapted: B (bullying) =  f ( P , E ). How successful this journey can be remains to be seen. The models presented here were consistent with empirical findings in relating bullying behavior to ecological and person variables. Furthermore, the models discussed can be used to draw attention to points at which appropriate interventions may be undertaken by schools to prevent bullying from occurring or from continuing and provide justifications for various actions in addressing the problem.

Agnew, R. (1992). Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency. Criminology, 30 (1), 47–87.

Article   Google Scholar  

Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50 (2), 179–211.

Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding and predicting social behavior. Prentice Hall.

Google Scholar  

Anderson, D. J. (2022). The nature of the beast: How emotions guide us. Basic Books.

Anscombe, E. (2000). Intention (2nd ed.). Harvard University Press.

APA. (2022). APA Dictionary of Psychology. American Psychological Association.

Armitage, R. (2021). Bullying in children: Impact on child’s health. BMJ. Paediatric Open, 5–1 , 1–8.

Astor, R. A., & Benbenisthty, R. (2018). Bullying, school violence, and climate in evolving contexts: Culture, organization, and time. Oxford University Press.

Book   Google Scholar  

Auemaneekul, N., Powwattana, A., Kiatsiri, E., & Thananowan, N. (2020). Investigating the mechanisms of theory of planned behavior on cyberbullying among Thai adolescents. Journal of Health Research, 34 (1), 42–55.

Ball, H., Arseneault, L., Taylor, A., Maughan, B., Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. (2008). Genetic and environmental influences on victims, bullies and bully-victims in childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49 (1), 104–112.

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Prentice Hall.

Bandura, A. (1999). Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 33 , 193–209.

Berkowitz, L. (1989). Frustration-aggression hypothesis: Examination and reformulation. Psychological Bulletin, 106 (1), 59–73.

Bowes L., Arseneault L., Maughan, B., Taylor A. Caspi A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2009) School, neighborhood, and family factors are associated with children’s bullying involvement: A nationally representative longitudinal study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 48 (5):545–553.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (2009). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Burns, S., Maycock, B., Cross, D., & Brown, G. (2008). The power of peers: Why some students bully others to conform. Qualitative Health Research, 18 (12), 1704–1716.

Campaert, K., Nocentini, A., & Menesini, E. (2017). The efficacy of teachers’ responses to incidents of bullying and victimization: The mediational role of moral disengagement for bullying. Aggressive Behavior, 43 , 483–492.

Connell, N. M., Morris, R. G., & Piquero, A. R. (2016). Predicting bullying: Exploring the contributions of childhood negative life experiences in predicting adolescent bullying behavior. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 60 (9), 1082–1096.

Cornu, C., Abduvahobov, P., & Laoufi, R. (2022). An Introduction to a whole-education approach to school bullying: Recommendations from UNESCO scientific committee on school violence and bullying including cyberbullying. Int Journal of Bullying Prevention . https://doi.org/10.1007/s42380-021-00093-8

Cross, D. S., Runions, K. C., Britt, E. F., & Gray, C. (2018). Motivational interviewing as a positive response to high-school bullying. Psychology in the Schools, 55 (5), 464–475.

Denti, D. (2021). Looking ahead in anger: The effects of foreign migration on youth resentment in England. Journal of Regional Science , 1–26.

Dixon, R., & Smith, P. K. (2011). Rethinking school bullying: Towards and integrated model. Cambridge University Press.

Dollard, J., Miller, N. E., Doob, L. W., Mowrer, O. H., & Sears, R. R. (1939). Frustration and aggression . Yale University Press.

Elgar, F. J., Craig, W., Boyce, W., Morgan, A., & Vella-Zarb, R. (2009). Income inequality and school bullying: Multilevel study of adolescents in 37 countries . Journal of Adolescent Health, 45 , 151–159.

Espelage, D. L. (2014). Ecological theory: Preventing youth bullying, aggression, and victimization. Theory into Practice, 53 (4), 257–264.

Evans, C. B. R., & Smokowski, P. R. (2016). Theoretical explanations for bullying in school: How ecological processes propagate perpetration and victimization. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 33 (4), 365–375.

Farrell, A. H., & Volk, A. A. (2017). Social ecology and adolescent bullying: Filtering risky environments through antisocial personality. Children and Youth Services Review, 83 , 85–100.

Foody, M., & Samara, M. (2018). Considering mindfulness techniques in school-based antibullying programs. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 7 (1), 3–9.

Fram, S. M., & Dickman, E. M. (2012). How the school-built environment exacerbates bullying and peer harassment. Children, Youth and Environmemts, 22 (1), 227–249.

Georgiou, S. N., Stavrinides, P., & Fousiani, K. (2013). Authoritarian parenting, power distance, and bullying propensity. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology, 1 (3), 199–206.

Gross, J., & Vostroknutov, A. (2022). Why do people follow social norms? Science Direct, 44 , 1–6.

Hawkins, D. L., Pepler, D. J., & Craig, W. M. (2001). Naturalistic observations of peer interventions in bullying. Social Development., 10 , 512–527.

Healy, K. L., & Sanders, M. R. (2014). Randomized controlled trial of a family intervention for children bullied by peers. Behavior Therapy, 45 (6), 760–777.

Healy, K. L. (2020). Hypotheses for possible iatrogenic impacts of school bullying prevention programs. Child Development Perspectives., 14 (4), 221–228.

Hornby, G. (2015). Bullying: An ecological approach to bullying in schools. Preventing School Failure, 60 (3), 1–9.

Hymel, S., & Bonanno, R. A. (2014). Moral disengagement processes in bullying. Theory into Practice, 53 (4), 278–285.

Iannello, N. M., Camodeca, M., Gelati, C., & Papotti, N. (2021). Prejudice and ethnic bullying among children: The role of moral disengagement and student-teacher relationships. Frontiers of Psychology, 12 , 1–11.

Jolliffe, D., & Farrington, D. (2006). Examining the relationship between low empathy and bullying. Aggressive Behavior, 32 , 540–550.

Lewin, K. (1936). Principles of topological psychology. McGraw-Hill.

Lewin, K. (1951). Reprinted 1964. Field theory in social science –selected theoretical papers by Kurt Lewin. N.Y.: Harper & Row.

Menesini, E., & Salmivalli, C. (2017). Bullying in schools: The state of knowledge and effective interventions. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 22 , 240–253.

Modin, B., Laftman, S. B., & Ostberg, V. ( 2017). Teacher rated school ethos and student reported bullying–A multilevel study of upper secondary schools in Stockholm, Sweden. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14 , 1–13.

Musci, R. J., Bettencourt, A. F., Sisto, B. S., Maher, B., Uhl, G., Ialongo, N., & Bradshaw, C. P. (2018). Evaluating the genetic susceptibility to peer reported bullying behaviors. Psychiatry Research, 263 , 193–198.

Article   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying at school: What we know and what we can do. Blackwell.

Pabian, S., & Vandebosch, H. (2014). Using the theory of planned behavior to understand cyberbullying: The importance of beliefs for developing interventions. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 11 (4), 463–477.

Perkins, H. W., Craig, D. W., & Perkins, J. M. (2011). Using social norms to reduce bullying: A research intervention among adolescents in five middle schools. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 14 (5), 703–722.

Potard, C., Pochon, R., Henry, A., Combes, C., Kubiszewski, V., & Roy, A. (2021). Relationships between school bullying and frustration intolerance beliefs in adolescence: A gender-specific analysis. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-021-00402-6

Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Rigby, K. (1997). Attitudes and beliefs about bullying among Australian school children. Irish Journal of Psychology, 18 (2), 202–220.

Rigby, K. (2012a). Bullying interventions in school: Six basic approaches. Boston/Wiley (American edition).

Rigby, K. (2012b). Bullying in schools: Addressing desires, not only behaviors. Educational Psychology Review, 24 (2), 339–348.

Rigby, K. (2013). Bullying in schools and its relation to parenting and family life. Family Matters, 91 , 61–68.

Rigby, K. (2021a). Addressing cases of bullying in schools: Reactive strategies. Editors: Peter K Smith and James O’Higgins. Chapter 20 In The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Bullying: A Comprehensive and International Review of Research and Intervention, 2 , 370–387. London: John Wiley and Sons.

Rigby, K. (2021). Multiperspectivity in school bullying . Routledge.

Rigby, K., & Bortolozzo, G. (2013). How schoolchildren’s acceptance of self and others relate to their attitudes to victims of bullying. Social Psychology of Education, 16 , 181–197.

Rigby, K., Haroun, D., & Ali, E. (2019). Bullying in schools in the United Arab Emirates and the personal safety of students. Child Indicators Research, 12 , 1663–1675.

Rigby, K., & Johnson, B. (2006a). Expressed readiness of Australian school children to act as bystanders in support of children who are being bullied. Educational Psychology, 26 , 425–440.

Rigby, K., & Johnson, B. (2006b). Playground heroes: Who can stop bullying? Greater Good, 14–17.

Ross, S. W., & Horner, R. H. (2009). Bully prevention in positive behavior support. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 42 , 747–759.

Salmivalli, C. (2010). Bullying and the peer group: A review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 15 , 112–120.

Salmivalli, C. (2014). Participant roles in bullying: How can peer bystanders be utilized in interventions? Theory into Practice, 53 (4), 286–292.

Siriporn, S. (2021). Theory of planned behavior in cyberbullying: A literature review. International Journal of Research and Review, 8 (11), 234–239.

Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. Simon and Schuster.

Smit, B., & Scherman, V. (2016). A case for relational leadership and an ethics of care for counteracting bullying at schools. South African Journal of Education, 36 (4), 1–9.

Smith, P. K., & Sharp, S. (Eds.). (1994). School bullying: Insights and perspectives. Routledge.

Smith, P. K. (2017). Bullying and theory of mind: A review. Current Psychiatry Reviews, 13 (2), 90–95.

Swearer, S. M., & Hymel, S. (2015). Understanding the psychology of bullying: Moving towards a socio-ecological diathesis- stress model. American Psychologist, 70 (4), 344–355.

Tattum, D., & Tattum, E. (1992). Social education and personal development. David Fulton.

Thornberg, R., & Jungert, T. (2014). School bullying and the mechanism of moral disengagement. Aggressive. Behavior, 40 , 99–108.

Thornberg, R., Wänström, L., Pozzoli, T., & Gianluca, G. (2018). Victim prevalence in bullying and its association with teacher–student and student–student relationships and class moral disengagement: A class-level path analysis. Research Papers in Education, 33 (3), 320–335.

Ttofi, M. M., & Farrington, D. P. (2011). Effectiveness of school-based programs to reduce bullying: A systematic and meta-analytic review. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 7 (1), 27–56.

UNESCO. (2019). School violence and bullying: Global status and trends, drivers and consequences. UNESCO.

VanGeel, M., Goemans, A., Toprak, F., & Vedder, P. (2017). Which personality traits are related to traditional bullying and cyberbullying? A study with the big five, dark triad and sadism. Personality and Individual Differences, 106 (1), 231–235.

Van Ryzin, M. J., & Roseth, C. J. (2019). Effects of cooperative learning on peer relations, empathy, and bullying in middle school. Aggressive Behavior, 45 (6), 643–651.

Veenstra, R., Lindenberg, S., Munniksma, A., & Dijkstra, J. K. (2010). The complex relation between bullying, victimization, acceptance, and rejection: Giving special attention to status, affection, and sex differences. Child Development, 81 (2), 480–486.

Veldkamp, S. A. M., Boomsma, D. I., de Zeeuw, E. L., van Beijsterveldt, C. E. M., Bartels, M., Dolan, C. V., & van Bergen, E. (2019). Genetic and environmental influences on different forms of bullying perpetration, bullying victimization, and their co-occurrence. Behavior Genetics, 49 , 432–443.

Volk, A. A., Camilleri, J. A., Dane, A. V., & Zopito, A. M. (2012). Is adolescent bullying an evolutionary adaptation? Aggressive Behavior, 38 , 222–238.

Wampold, B. E. (2015). The great psychotherapy debate: The evidence for what makes psychotherapy work . Routledge.

Wei, W., Lu, J. G., Galinsky, A. D., Wu, H., Gosling, S. D., Rentfrow, P. J., Yuan, W., Zhang, Q., Guo, Y., Zhang, M., Gui, W., Potter, J., Wang. J., Li, B., Xiaojie, L., Han, Y. M., Lu, M., Guo, Q., Choe, Y., Lin, W., Yu, K., Bai, Q., Shang, Z., Han, Y., & Wang, L. (2017). Regional ambient temperature is associated with human personality. Nature Human Behavior, 1 (12), 890–895.

Download references

Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Centre d’infection Et d’immunite de Lille, Adelaide, Australia

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ken Rigby .

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest.

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Rigby, K. Theoretical Perspectives and Two Explanatory Models of School Bullying. Int Journal of Bullying Prevention (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42380-022-00141-x

Download citation

Accepted : 18 September 2022

Published : 17 October 2022

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s42380-022-00141-x

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Bullying in schools
• Theories of aggression
• Personality
• Social ecology
• Explanatory models
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

How to Handle Bullying at School

Here’s what parents and teachers can do to stop bullying.

Getty Images

Bullying is behavior that hurts or harms someone else, and it can be physical, emotional or psychological.

As children return to their classrooms this fall, experts say parents and educators should look for signs of bullying at school, an age-old problem that often emerges in new and different forms every year.

Podcasts for Kids

Kristen Hampshire March 25, 2021

"It appears that bullying went down during the pandemic," Dorothy L. Espelage, a professor at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill and an expert in bullying prevention, wrote in an email. "But it will likely increase or be back to our pre-COVID rates."

Bullying, or at least reported cases, likely decreased when schools were closed by the coronavirus pandemic, taking students out of close proximity and into a virtual learning environment. But many experts say a return to school will almost certainly change that trend. Some fear that face masks and other COVID-19 protection measures could become a source of bullying.

What Is Bullying?

At its most basic level, bullying is behavior that hurts or harms another person. It can be physical, emotional or psychological. It can occur between friends or within groups, either in-person or online. Bullying can be overt and direct, with physical behavior such as fighting, hitting or name-calling, or it can be covert, with social interactions such as gossip or exclusion.

Roughly 1 in 5 children ages 12 to 18 are bullied in U.S. schools, according to data released in 2019 by the National Center for Education Statistics . Bullying is more prevalent in middle school than in high school, with almost 1 in 3 students reporting incidents in sixth grade. Overall, girls are more likely to report bullying, with almost 24% doing so, compared with about 17% of boys.

Experts say there are many effective ways to handle bullying at school, so long as parents, teachers and administrators work together to create a safe and inclusive environment and confront problems when they arise.

"Preventing bullying is first and foremost an adult responsibility," Ellen Walser deLara, author of Bullying Scars: The Impact on Adult Life and Relationships , wrote in an email.

Diagnose the Problem

To handle bullying at school, adults must first be attuned to the symptoms. A change in a child's behavior or mood is often a sign, according to Bailey Huston, coordinator of PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center. One example might be "a usually happy child who loves getting on the bus each morning suddenly demanding that their parents give them a ride to school," she wrote in an email.

Other potential indicators may include avoiding school; a decline in academic performance or grades; an inability to concentrate; unexplained headaches and stomachaches; sleeping problems; or increased anxiety, isolation or aggression, Huston says.

"Parents need to pay attention to bullying as a possible cause if their children's behavior changes from a positive place among their friends to an avoidant, sad, angry or anxious demeanor," Joel Haber, a psychologist and author who is an expert on bullying prevention, wrote in an email.

Parents can ask open-ended questions to help their children discuss a bullying situation. Start with questions that address the child's environment, Huston says. For example, "How was your bus ride today?" or, "Have you ever seen anyone being mean to someone on the bus?" Then move to questions that directly affect the child, such as, "Are you ever scared to get on the bus?" or, "Has anyone ever been mean to you on the bus?"

Take the Lead at School

Experts say that parents can and should take the lead in asserting that bullying behavior is not acceptable at school. They should communicate with other parents, share information and talk to teachers and administrators when they learn about problems.

According to experts, parents are well within their rights to ask that the school take measures to address bullying and provide a safe environment. Many schools are proactive and may already have a policy in place.

"Schools that create a culture of inclusion, train staff about bullying and follow clear protocols rewarding efforts to create a community for all faculty and students have better outcomes against bullying and greater safety," Haber says. "Schools that ignore bullying in their student body and faculty and don't take steps to protect the community allow those who bully a place to use their power to marginalize others. They create a culture where those toward the bottom of the social ladder are victimized."

Create an Intervention Plan

Experts say that parents should not teach children to fight back with aggression, nor expect them to figure out how to handle bullying at school on their own. Instead, parents should work with their child and create a plan together to address both the immediate problem and long-term solutions.

Children should know that they can walk away or avoid bullying situations, and that they can and should talk to an adult – a teacher, parent or anyone else – as soon as possible. There should be no negative connotation or consequences associated with sharing information about a bullying incident.

Make sure the plan incorporates the child's strengths and abilities, in order to help build self-confidence and resilience. The agreed-upon strategies should then be shared with others involved in the child's life, such as teachers, administrators, coaches, aftercare professionals and any other adults who interact with the child regularly.

It is important to remember that the student who is bullying others has often been bullied themselves, notes Maria Blaeuer, director of programs and outreach at the nonprofit Advocates for Justice and Education. Any intervention around bullying should therefore involve teaching new skills and strategies to both the bully and the victim.

Encourage Peer Support

Peer support can also be a crucial piece of handling bullying at school.

"Students are powerful in bullying situations, as they often know about bullying long before adults are aware of it," Huston says. "Students telling a peer to stop bullying has much more impact than adults giving that same advice."

It's important that students know they have options when responding to bullying on behalf of a peer, and that they can pick those that feel safe for them in different situations. They can directly intervene by discouraging the person bullying, defending the target or redirecting the situation away from bullying. Other options include reporting the bullying to adults or rallying support from peers to stop the bullying.

Model Proper Behavior

Parents can also help prevent bullying by modeling proper behavior in their own power dynamics at home.

"Parents who utilize and teach empathy and compassion through their own behavior, and do not abuse others who are less powerful, are the best teachers of anti-bullying behavior," Haber says.

That same idea applies in schools, where dozens – sometimes hundreds – of professionals are often working together in close quarters. How those adults interact can have an impact on how children relate to one another.

"Teachers in school have the same opportunity to teach compassion and empathy and role-model behavior," Haber says.

Learn More About Bullying and Prevention

While it is a common occurrence, experts say that bullying can have serious consequences.

"Bullying can have lifelong effects," Haber says. "The lack of safety, connectedness, and isolation that can emerge can be life-altering."

For parents, teachers, administrators and others who want to learn more about bullying and prevention, there are many resources available:

• PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center is filled with activities that can be conducted at school, materials that can be used in a classroom setting, information on National Bullying Prevention Month in October and other resources.
• The American Society for Positive Care of Children has a downloadable resource kit.
• Stopbullying.gov contains information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• The National Association of School Psychologists maintains a bullying prevention page for families and educators.
• The Children's Safety Network maintains a page with information on bullying, detailed statistics and resources such as guides, webinars, infographics and publications dedicated to prevention.

Searching for a school? Explore our K-12 directory .

Best States for Early Education

Tags: education , K-12 education , parenting , bullying , children's health , elementary school , middle school , high school

2024 Best Colleges

Search for your perfect fit with the U.S. News rankings of colleges and universities.

Popular Stories

Best Colleges

College Admissions Playbook

You May Also Like

Choosing a high school: what to consider.

Cole Claybourn April 23, 2024

Map: Top 100 Public High Schools

Sarah Wood and Cole Claybourn April 23, 2024

States With Highest Test Scores

Sarah Wood April 23, 2024

Metro Areas With Top-Ranked High Schools

A.R. Cabral April 23, 2024

U.S. News Releases High School Rankings

Explore the 2024 Best STEM High Schools

Nathan Hellman April 22, 2024

See the 2024 Best Public High Schools

Joshua Welling April 22, 2024

Ways Students Can Spend Spring Break

Anayat Durrani March 6, 2024

Attending an Online High School

Cole Claybourn Feb. 20, 2024

How to Perform Well on SAT, ACT Test Day

Cole Claybourn Feb. 13, 2024

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Effects of Bullying

Bullying can affect everyone—those who are bullied, those who bully, and those who witness bullying. Bullying is linked to many negative outcomes including impacts on mental health, substance use, and suicide. It is important to talk to kids to determine whether bullying—or something else—is a concern.

Kids Who are Bullied

Kids who are bullied can experience negative physical, social, emotional, academic, and mental health issues. Kids who are bullied are more likely to experience:

• Depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns, and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. These issues may persist into adulthood.
• Health complaints
• Decreased academic achievement—GPA and standardized test scores—and school participation. They are more likely to miss, skip, or drop out of school.

A very small number of bullied children might retaliate through extremely violent measures. In 12 of 15 school shooting cases in the 1990s, the shooters had a history of being bullied.

Kids Who Bully Others

Kids who bully others can also engage in violent and other risky behaviors into adulthood. Kids who bully are more likely to:

• Abuse alcohol and other drugs in adolescence and as adults
• Get into fights, vandalize property, and drop out of school
• Engage in early sexual activity
• Have criminal convictions and traffic citations as adults 
• Be abusive toward their romantic partners, spouses, or children as adults

Kids who witness bullying are more likely to:

• Have increased use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs
• Have increased mental health problems, including depression and anxiety
• Miss or skip school

The Relationship between Bullying and Suicide

Media reports often link bullying with suicide. However, most youth who are bullied do not have thoughts of suicide or engage in suicidal behaviors. 

Although kids who are bullied are at risk of suicide, bullying alone is not the cause. Many issues contribute to suicide risk, including depression, problems at home, and trauma history. Additionally, specific groups have an increased risk of suicide, including American Indian and Alaskan Native, Asian American, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. This risk can be increased further when these kids are not supported by parents, peers, and schools. Bullying can make an unsupportive situation worse.

• Trying to Conceive
• Signs & Symptoms
• Pregnancy Tests
• Fertility Testing
• Fertility Treatment
• Weeks & Trimesters
• Staying Healthy
• Preparing for Baby
• Complications & Concerns
• Pregnancy Loss
• Breastfeeding
• School-Aged Kids
• Raising Kids
• Personal Stories
• Everyday Wellness
• Safety & First Aid
• Immunizations
• Food & Nutrition
• Active Play
• Pregnancy Products
• Nursery & Sleep Products
• Nursing & Feeding Products
• Clothing & Accessories
• Toys & Gifts
• Ovulation Calculator
• Pregnancy Due Date Calculator
• How to Talk About Postpartum Depression
• Editorial Process
• Meet Our Review Board

10 Ways to Prevent School Bullying

Bullying at school can have serious consequences. Bullying negatively affects the social environment at school and creates an atmosphere of fear among students. Bullying can also impact a student's learning, whether a child is a target of bullying or a witness to it.  

The need to address bullying in schools is significant. However, schools cannot address the issue alone. Preventing bullying requires that parents get involved, too. Here are 10 ways you can help prevent bullying at your child's school.

Begin at Home

Camille Tokerud / Getty Images

One of the most important things you can do as a parent is ensure that your child understands what bullying is. More than a definition, this also includes what bullying can look and feel like. Start by having a conversation with your child about what constitutes healthy friendships  and what does not.

Although research suggests that parents are often the last to know when their child is being bullied or has bullied someone else, you can break that trend by talking with your kids every day about their social lives.  

To encourage your child to chat, ask open-ended questions like:

• Who did you have lunch with today?
• What did you do at recess?
• What happened on the bus ride/walk home from school?

Learn the Warning Signs

Phil Boorman / Getty Images

Many children don't tell anyone when they have been or are being bullied. Make sure that you can recognize the possible signs that your child is being bullied.

Bullying Red Flags

Signs that your child might be getting bullied at school can include:

• Avoiding school or activities
• Change in eating habits
• Change in hygiene
• Dropping grades
• Headaches, stomachaches, and other illnesses
• Mood and personality changes

Instill Healthy Habits

Image Source / Getty Images

It’s very important to instill an anti-bullying mindset in your child. This includes more than just teaching your child not to hit, shove, or tease other kids. Kids should learn that being critical, judgmental, making hurtful jokes, and spreading rumors also are unhealthy and constitute bullying.

Cyberbullying is also a big issue for kids. It's also never too early to teach your children about responsible online behavior.

Empower Your Kids

LWA / Getty Images

One of the most helpful things you can do is provide your kids tools with tools for dealing with bullying. Walking away, telling an adult, or telling the bully in a firm voice to stop, are all strategies that you can practice with your child.

It's also important to teach kids how and when to report bullying when they witness it, and help them understand why they do not want to be a bystander.

Research shows that most kids feel powerless to help when they see another person being bullied. Equip them with ideas on how to handle these difficult situations.

Become Familiar With Your School's Policies

It's important to have a firm grasp on how bullying is handled at your child's school . This includes knowing which person to call if something happens with your children, as well as having clear expectations for how the situation will be handled.

Report Bullying Incidents

If your child tells you they are being bulled, start by contacting school personnel and ask to meet with them in person. By holding a face-to-face meeting, you are demonstrating that you’re committed to seeing that the issue resolved.

It can also be useful to document all bullying incidents. This will help you be prepared if the situation escalates and law enforcement or other outside sources need to become involved.

Be an Advocate

Steve Debenport / Getty Images

It's vital to voice your support for bullying prevention, but it's also important to offer your time. Volunteer to work with your child's teachers or your school's guidance counselor to develop an anti-bullying program. If your child's school already has a program in place, offer to help when events and fundraisers are held.

Recruit Other Parents

When a lot of parents are committed to bullying prevention, a school's program will be more successful. Form a group of motivated parents to help you tackle the issue. Meet regularly to brainstorm ideas, share them with school officials, and help put new plans or suggestions into action.

Spend Time at School

Hero Images / Getty Images

If your schedule permits, accept opportunities to volunteer at school functions and during the day. Sometimes simply having an additional adult around is enough to deter bullying. However, with shrinking budgets, some schools have been forced to downsize. As a result, your kids might be getting less supervision on the playgrounds and during lunch.

Ask the PTA/PTO to Sponsor a Bullying-Prevention Program

Blend Images - KidStock / Getty Images

If your child's school has limited funds for bullying programs, approach your local PTA/PTO and ask for their assistance. You could also suggest a fundraiser to raise awareness and money.

Remember, bullying is not a normal part of childhood. Bullying affects everyone. As a parent, you have the power to do something about it. You can empower your child to stand up to bullies and feel that they can let an adult know if they are being bullied and help them understand what constitutes bullying behavior.

You can also set a good example by getting involved with your child's school and raising awareness and funds to help put bullying prevention measures in place.

Hong JS, Espelage DL. A review of research on bullying and peer victimization in school: An ecological system analysis .  Aggression and Violent Behavior. 2012;17(4): 311-322. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2012.03.003

Tokunaga RS. Following you home from school: A critical review and synthesis of research on cyberbullying victimization .  Computers in Human Behavior . 2010;26(3):277-287. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2009.11.014

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Warning Signs for Bullying .

By Sherri Gordon Sherri Gordon, CLC is a published author, certified professional life coach, and bullying prevention expert. 

• TODAY Plaza
• Share this —

• Watch Full Episodes
• Read With Jenna
• Inspirational
• Relationships
• TODAY Table
• Newsletters
• Start TODAY
• Shop TODAY Awards
• Citi Concert Series
• Listen All Day

Follow today

More Brands

• On The Show

Our son died by suicide 2 years ago. We’re still waiting for him at the dinner table

When death arrives at your home, there is no option to deny entry. At 1:25 a.m. on Sunday, May 1, 2022, we were awakened by two New York City police officers. As we opened the front door, the life we had known and loved so dearly ended. Our 17-year-old son Jack had died by suicide while away at school. Confronted with this sudden, out-of-order, tragic loss, it felt as if we were falling backwards through space with no sense of time or place.

A dark indelible line divides our world into two planes: before death (B.D.) and after death (A.D.). Every moment now falls into one of these two eras. We loved life with our children. And then deafening silence arrived. Death swept in unexpectedly and it took our child and left behind traumatic and complicated grief. It’s exceedingly painful to acknowledge we have now spent two years on this Earth without our son.

A grief journey is as unique as fingerprints. No two are the same. For us, much of the first year was spent trying to uncover the truth of Jack’s death. We knew he had been bullied unmercifully for over a year and had been dealing with false rumors that were also spread about him online. Before the bullying began, he was a happy and well-adjusted teenager with a strong support system that included his friends and devoted family. We never imagined that our happy child could be driven to take his own  life. His birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas all passed as we watched numbly. We endured.

In our second year without Jack, we realized that you never master the pain of losing a child. You carry it everywhere, in your heart, head, body and soul, forever. Such grief is lonely and isolating. And deeply personal. The second time Jack’s birthday arrived without him, the permanence of his loss began to set in.  The numbing of trauma slowly faded and the pain intensified. Deep unbearable pain. As described by Stephen Colbert on Anderson Cooper’s podcast , it’s as if a tiger has moved into our home, following us from room to room and swiping at us without warning.

Traumatic grief is both physical and emotional. Sudden exhaustion, chest pains, insomnia, nightmares, racing heart, panic. It feels as if the air is vacuumed out of your lungs, your throat and tongue burning with a charred sensation that no drink can quench or cool. As Bessel van der Kolk describes in “The Body Keeps the Score,” his bestselling book, traumatic experiences “leave traces on our minds and emotions, on our capacity for joy and intimacy, and even on our biology and immune systems.” And there is no cure because there is no disease. As the saying goes, grief is the price we pay for loving.  

After Jack died, everything in our life changed in an instant. Our family of four became a family of three at every meal. The “empty chair” is a powerful symbol of grief. It’s also real. At restaurants, the waiter asks if we are waiting for a fourth before clearing away the extra utensils. Yes, we are waiting. Forever. The home you shared with your family now has ghosts, memories of happy times that flash in your mind when you enter a room. We have grief friends who moved apartments or to new states or countries to escape. And then moved again. And again. Grief always follows. We are trying to stay put, in our home — in Jack’s home.

At restaurants, the waiter asks if we are waiting for a fourth before clearing away the extra utensils. Yes, we are waiting. Forever.

After tragic loss, a sense of isolation enters your life. Friends may have no idea what to say to you or worry about invading your privacy. We love talking about our son. But it is as if the school bus of parents and kids driving through life drops you at the curb and you watch them and their children ride away to graduate from high school and attend college, moving further and further into the future. Our son will forever be 17, only a junior in high school. Each of us is unique, but as humans we all want to be seen, listened to. 

Much of your old life simply evaporates after a loss like this. And it is hard, very hard, to start again and create new friendships, unless you can connect with other grieving parents. We are fortunate to have been able to do that.  

There is no “getting over” tragic loss. There is only surviving. You can find joy again, but grief never leaves. We are human — we love, laugh, care, speak and live with intensity and purpose. We have meaning and a mission. We are surviving. But whatever we do, or however we appear, there is no “channeling” this grief into something else. It coexists with everything else. We hold it all simultaneously.

There are far too many parents who understand our grief. And there are far too many children at risk. Teenage mental health has never been worse . There are unprecedented epidemics of teen suicide , loneliness , anxiety and depression . Dangers like bullying lurk at school and as our children spend more and more time on social media, they’re increasingly exposed to dangerous content and individuals.

We started the Jack Reid Foundation to raise public awareness about the dangers of bullying. We have been championing the enactment of legislation requiring anti-bullying programs in all schools — not just public ones. With the scourge of bullying and harassment reaching crisis levels, we need programs that protect all students. More so, we need to begin rebuilding communities for students to learn and connect, by encouraging empathy and compassion, and leading with kindness. If children do not feel safe, they cannot learn and grow.

We hope to change the way we approach bullying and cyber-bullying, and through change create a healthier learning environment for children. Most of all, we want to advocate for more kindness in the world, something Jack passionately believed in. Our relationship with our son has not ended. It has changed. By working to help other victims of bullying we keep him and his memory alive. We share these words from our broken, feeling hearts. With love.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Elizabeth and Bill Reid are the parents of Jack Reid and founders of the Jack Reid Foundation , which aims to raise awareness about the dangers of bullying. 

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Miss USA Resigns From Title, Citing Mental Health

Noelia Voigt, who represented Utah as she won the 2023 competition, said in a statement that relinquishing her title was a “tough decision.”

By Amanda Holpuch

Noelia Voigt, who was crowned Miss USA in September, said on Monday that she was stepping down from the role to prioritize her mental health.

Ms. Voigt, who represented Utah in the 2023 pageant in Reno, Nev., said in a statement on Instagram that resigning was “a tough decision.”

“In life, I strongly value the importance of making decisions that feel best for you and your mental health,” she said.

Ms. Voigt, who was born in Florida, said that she was the first Venezuelan-American woman to win Miss USA, which started in 1952. As the winner, Ms. Voigt went on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant in El Salvador in November. She placed in the top 20, and for the costume competition, she wore an outfit that featured small models of landmarks including the Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument and the White House.

Her surprise resignation prompted questions among pageant fans, including those who noticed that the first letters of the first 11 sentences in Ms. Voigt’s statement spelled: “I am silenced.” (The first letters of the final three sentences spell “hip.”)

Ms. Voigt and Miss USA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a statement on the Miss USA Instagram account, the organization said it respected and supported Ms. Voigt’s decision to step down.

“The well-being of our titleholders is a top priority, and we understand her need to prioritize herself at this time,” the statement said of Ms. Voigt. “We are currently reviewing plans for the transition of responsibilities to a successor, and we will soon announce the crowning of the new Miss USA.”

The first runner-up at Miss USA 2023 was Savannah Gankiewicz, Miss Hawaii USA. The three other runners-up were from Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Alexis Loomans, Miss Wisconsin USA, posted a photo with Ms. Voigt in an Instagram story and wrote “standing with you and for you.”

Ms. Voigt said in her statement that her favorite parts of being Miss USA included working with Smile Train, a nonprofit that supports people with cleft palates, and campaigning against bullying and in favor of immigrant rights.

“Deep down I know that this is just the beginning of a new chapter for me,” she wrote, “and my hope is that I continue to inspire others to remain steadfast, prioritize your mental health, advocate for yourself and others by using your voice, and never be afraid of what the future holds, even if it feels uncertain.”

Amanda Holpuch covers breaking news and other topics. More about Amanda Holpuch

The US didn't feel safe enough to raise a kid, so we moved to Japan

• Trevor D. Houchen and his wife were living in Atlanta when they found out they were expecting.
• He and his wife felt it would be unsafe to raise their child there and decided to move to Japan.
• He finds Japan more affordable, safe, and is happy to be living near his wife's family — but he's scared of bullying.

My wife was already six months pregnant when we agreed she would leave the US and have our baby in Japan . I would join a few months later.

We'd been living in Atlanta for about seven years when we found out we were expecting. She's Japanese, I'm American, and we met in LA.

We both started getting nervous about what our life would be like living with a child in our one-bedroom apartment in Atlanta, a city where the crime rate is 122% higher than the national average, according to Gitnux , a market data website.

I had been working two jobs at the time, so it also felt like my wife was going to have to be home alone without any family support for too many hours of the day.

The final decision came at the beginning of her third trimester. Some bleeding led to a one-night stay at a hospital in Atlanta. The shockingly high hospital bill — we're still battling it out with our insurance company — came next.

So, on the last allowable day for a pregnant woman to fly , she got on a plane to Japan.

My pregnant wife flew to Japan on her own to have our baby, I followed

I was in the middle of semesters at two different colleges — Georgia Technical College and Georgia Gwinnett College — as an adjunct professor, and leaving my students right then wasn't an option. We decided I'd finish the semester, close shop on our apartment, and then fly out to Japan to meet my newborn. He'd already be four months old by the time I got there.

After my wife arrived in Japan she texted me from her parents' home in Yokosuka — about an hour south of Tokyo by car— and said she'd made it safely and was glad to be back "home."

But I was "home," or so I thought. I spent the next four months teaching, packing, and selling all the stuff we'd accumulated over the years in Atlanta. I wrapped up the semester, and flew out to meet my son.

Having our baby in Japan was the right decision

When I arrived, my wife was living comfortably with our son at her parents' house. The cost of delivering our baby had been 650,000 yen, or $4,186. Of this amount the Ministry of Health covered 500,000 yen — a government co-pay for babies born to a parent enrolled in the national health insurance. The extra 150,000 yen we covered was for the private room my wife opted for, otherwise, there would have been no out-of-pocket expense.

In Japan, the cost of delivering a baby in a hospital ranges between 400,000 to 600,000 yen, or $2,552 to $3,827, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare . In the US, according to a survey by Perterson-KFF (formerly known as Kaiser Family Foundation) and based on data between 2018 through 2020, the average cost of childbirth for an insured mother is $18,865. While for insured mothers the majority of that is covered, out-of-pocket payments are still $2,852, on average.

Related stories

My wife was ecstatic to be back in her country and getting help from her parents and sister with our son.

When we would take our son for walks in his stroller, older Japanese men and women would often smile, bend down low to get a close look at our son, and say, "kawaii ne," "he's cute isn't he," in Japanese. The warmth and feeling of safety on the street made us feel like we'd made the right decision.

Day care is affordable in Japan

Our son is now one and we've started talking about putting him in Houkien, government-subsidized day care for kids 5 and under. Last year, the Japanese government announced that by 2025 day care for all children 6 months to 2 years old will be free, per The Japan Times .

At these day care centers kids receive health checks and they are run by certified caregivers

According to Care.com , the average cost of childcare in Atlanta is $19.56 per hour, adding up to over $3,000 a month. We wouldn't have been able to afford that.

Safety is no longer a concern

I regularly see children no older than five or six taking the subway in Tokyo by themselves, which I find impressive. After 8 months, I still get lost almost every day trying to navigate the busiest subway system in the world .

In Atlanta, we had heard gunshots at least a few times a week and few parents let their kids do anything on their own before turning 12. I wasn't allowed to take the subway by myself in New York City — where I grew up — until I was 15.

The crime, danger, and ruthless nature of the life I had known in the US just doesn't exist to any discernible degree here in Japan , especially in Yokosuka, where we live. By contrast, even though Atlanta's rate has dropped, in 2023, there were 135 homicides recorded . In contrast, I couldn't find a record for a single murder in Yokosuka in 2023.

Even with the US Naval base right in the middle of the city, Yokosuka is low-key, quiet, safe, and family friendly.

When it's time for junior high, I'd prefer my son go to school in the US

I'm all for our son going to elementary school in Japan . I want him to learn to speak Japanese fluently and feel safe enough to enjoy his childhood to its fullest. I'm also happy he's able to spend his formative years near his grandparents.

But beyond elementary school , I'd rather our son go to junior high and high school in the US. As a professor myself and after a 20-year long career in education, I have read studies that note the lack of critical thinking taught in Japanese high schools.

The Japanese proverb " deru kugi wa utareru" means "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down." My interpretation of this is, "don't be an individual," learn to be exactly like everyone else.

And then, there's the bullying. In a 2022 survey by the Japanese government, 681,948 cases of bullying were recorded in Japan's schools, per The Mainichi . As a biracial child in Japan , I would be anxious about the difficulties my son would face.

Like everything in life, there are pros and cons, but for the time being, my wife and I are happy to raise our son here in Japan where it's safe, nurturing, and affordable.

Watch: Why childcare has become so unaffordable

• Main content

Israel-Hamas War Poses Tough Questions for K-12 Leaders, Too

• Share article

The Israel-Hamas war that is roiling U.S. college campuses is also creating conflict, albeit less turbulent, in pockets of K-12 education across the country.

Some high school students have walked out to join nearby campus protests in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. A walkout at a New Jersey high school was postponed after pushback from local elected officials. In the District of Columbia, a high school Arab-student group has sued over alleged censorship of its pro-Palestinian club activities on campus. But there have been no reports of student encampments or occupations of any K-12 buildings.

“High schools across the country should understand that students have a right to talk about controversial issues in school, even during the school day, as long as they are not disrupting the educational process or violating the rights of other students,” said Arthur B. Spitzer, senior counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia, which is representing the Arab Student Union at Jackson-Reed High School, a public school.

Meanwhile, some Jewish students and groups allege incidents or patterns of antisemitism by their classmates or teachers and inadequate responses by school administrators.

This week, the spotlight will shine on questions of antisemitism at the K-12 level when a U.S. House education subcommittee grills leaders of three school districts.

“Jewish teachers, students, and faculty have been denied a safe learning environment and forced to contend with antisemitic agitators due to district leaders’ inaction,” Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., the chairman of the subcommittee on early childhood, elementary, and secondary education, said in a statement. “This pervasive and extreme antisemitism in K-12 schools is not only alarming—it is absolutely unacceptable.”

The committee will hear from David Banks, the chancellor of the 915,000-student New York City school system; Karla Silvestre, the board president of the 160,000-student Montgomery County school district in Maryland, which is just outside the nation’s capital; and Enikia Ford Morthel, the superintendent of the 9,000-student Berkeley Unified School District in California.

Each district has had episodes of alleged antisemitic conduct since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. In the New York City borough of Queens, pro-Palestinian students allegedly rampaged through the halls of a high school after they learned a teacher had attended a pro-Israel rally. In Montgomery County, there have been numerous reports of schools being vandalized with antisemitic speech and symbols, including swastikas.

A federal complaint and much debate in a progressive city

As for Berkeley, two national groups have filed a lengthy complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s office for civil rights, or OCR, alleging that school officials have not taken action to stop bullying and harassment of Jewish and Israeli students.

“Over the past four months, BUSD has knowingly allowed its K-12 campuses to become viciously hostile environments for Jewish and Israeli students,” says the Feb. 28 complaint filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, in Washington, and the Anti-Defamation League, in New York City.

The 32-page complaint includes numerous detailed allegations, including that students have directed antisemitic comments to their Jewish and Israeli classmates, that teachers have organized pro-Palestinian walkouts, and that administrators ignored complaints.

On Monday, the groups filed an expanded complaint , asserting that after the February filing, the “already hostile environment … took a turn for the worse,” with violent graffiti appearing on school grounds, cyberbullying of a student whose parent spoke out against antisemitism, and other incidents.

“We’re seeing a lot of bullying and harassment at the K-12 level that seems to be at least tolerated by administrators,” Marci Miller, a senior education specialist with the Brandeis Center, said in an interview. “The perpetrators aren’t being punished.”

In the Berkeley district’s only public comment on the OCR complaint, Ford Morthel said in a March 29 community message that “we take these and all complaints very seriously.”

“I want to again affirm that BUSD schools and classrooms must be spaces that are welcoming and humanizing,” the superintendent said. “I believe that being a diverse community dedicated to Equity and Inclusion requires deep listening and ongoing reflection—curiosity, compassion, and courage. As such, we do not consider this OCR complaint as an adversarial process but rather an opportunity to further examine our practices, procedures, and policies, ensuring compliance with federal laws and that we truly are advancing the district’s mission and values.”

The OCR complaint and debates over teaching about the Israel-Hamas conflict have been a source of regular public comment at Berkeley school board meetings, with some pro-Palestinian students and teachers pushing back against charges of antisemitism.

Xaro Kaufman, a senior at Berkeley High School who identified herself as Jewish, said at a March 6 meeting for which video is posted on the district’s website, “Make no mistake, if you are currently uncomfortable with your teachers and peers being pro-Palestine, it is not because they are antisemitic. It is because your views on Israel cloud your ability to see the genocide which is being committed.”

Speaking at the same meeting, Christina Harb, a Palestinian-American teacher at Berkeley High, said: “This is a war, clearly, on Palestine’s entire existence, and a parallel war is happening right here in our district. ... A small group of very entitled parents who are uncomfortable with the reality of what’s happening, are trying to conflate the issue of Palestine with the issue of antisemitism, undermining the seriousness of both issues.”

Students walk out, or try to, in several places

Elsewhere around the country, students have engaged in walkouts to join pro-Palestinian college campus demonstrations and encampments. In Chicago, several hundred secondary school students marched to the University of Chicago on May 1 to show support for Palestinians in Gaza. A few days earlier, in Austin, Texas, several hundred high school students walked out of classes to join demonstrations at the University of Texas flagship campus.

Aaron Terr, the director of public advocacy for the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said the recent conflicts have been reminders to school administrators that students in public schools have First Amendment rights “that follow them into school.”

“Students in school are free to speak, hand out fliers, and wear expressive clothing, as long as it doesn’t disrupt school,” he said. “Walkouts are another matter. Schools can punish for walkouts if they substantially disrupt school or if they are in violation of school attendance policies.”

Some student groups get pre-approval for walkouts, and sometimes administrators show leniency for short-term walkouts, Terr said. It isn’t clear whether recent walkouts have led to school discipline.

At Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees Township, N.J., students were planning a walkout in support of a ceasefire late last month. But local public officials, including one who has expressed strong support for Israel, voiced concerns about the plan, including that it was scheduled at the same time as the Jewish holiday of Passover. Some walkout organizers have expressed the view that they were censored, and three students have said they were suspended after clashing with the principal over the plan.

“That example looks pretty concerning,” said FIRE’s Terr, adding that the cancellation “would implicate the First Amendment.”

Conflict over a documentary film and club activities

In the lawsuit involving the Arab Student Union at Jackson-Reed High School in Washington, the club’s members allege that administrators have kept them from holding the same kind of activities that other recognized student clubs promote.

The school barred the club from showing a documentary critical of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, canceled the club’s Palestinian Culture Night, prohibited the students from distributing literature that depicted Palestinian cultural symbols, and barred the club from handing out stickers that read “Free Palestine,” the suit filed in federal district court alleges.

“That kind of non-disruptive communication is protected by the First Amendment inside a public high school,” said Spitzer, the ACLU lawyer representing the club. Although the club was eventually allowed to have its Palestinian Culture Night last month, the suit seeks an injunction allowing the club to hold another such night before the school year is out and to show the documentary “The Occupation of the American Mind” to any Jackson-Reed students willing to watch it at a club event, he said.

“The fact that some speech may make some people uncomfortable is not a reason to say it is not protected,” Spitzer said. “Making people who disagree with you feel bad is what the First Amendment is all about sometimes.”

In a declaration filed in court late Monday, Jackson-Reed High Principal Sah Brown said the Arab Student Union did not seek his permission in advance to show “The Occupation of the American Mind” at one of its meetings.

Brown said he viewed the film, a 2016 documentary that asserts that Israel has engaged in information warfare over longtime conflict in the region.

“Based on my review, I concluded that the film seemed likely to cause division among students, families, and faculty on this volatile issue, especially in light of the film’s messaging, which has been referred to as antisemitic,” the principal said in his declaration.

In an accompanying brief, the District of Columbia argues that granting an injunction to the student club over the multiple expressive activities “would subvert the vitally important job that school principals have in making reasonable determinations to keep schools safe and orderly.”

Gretchen Brion-Meisels, a senior lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education who teaches courses on youth voice, youth participation, and school culture and climate, says K-12 students who are becoming active in the debate over the Israel-Hamas conflict are seeking outlets to have intelligent discussions and share their views.

“High school students, like all students, deserve places and spaces where their voices can be heard, and also supports and structures for having complex dialogue across perspectives,” she said. “Students deserve access to the complex histories of the lands that they inhabit. Restrictions on whose histories are told, and in whose voices, undermine young people’s capacity to engage in democratic dialogue.”

Sign Up for The Savvy Principal

Edweek top school jobs.

Sign Up & Sign In