bullying












Bullying is the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively dominate others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception, by the bully or by others, of an imbalance of social or physical power. Behaviors used to assert such domination can include verbal harassment or threat, physical assault orcoercion, and such acts may be directed repeatedly towards particular targets. Rationalizations for such behavior sometimes include differences of social class, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, appearance, behavior, body language, personality, reputation, lineage, strength, size or ability.[1][2] If bullying is done by a group, it is called mobbing
Bullying may be defined as the activity ofrepeated, aggressive behavior intended to hurt another individual, physically, mentally or emotionally. Bullying is characterized by an individual behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person.[9] It can be classified into four types:[10]
1. Physical (hitting, punching, or kicking)
2. Verbal (name-calling or taunting)
3. Relational (destroying peer acceptance and friendships)
4.Cyber-bullying (using electronic means to harm others)
Physical, verbal, and relational bullying are most prevalent in primary school and could also begin much earlier. Cyber-bullying is more common in secondary school than in primary school.[10]
Norwegian researcher Dan Olweus[11] says bullying occurs when a person is "exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one ormore other persons". He says negative actions occur "when a person intentionally inflicts injury or discomfort upon another person, through physical contact, through words or in other ways."[11]
Of bullies and accomplices
Studies have shown that envy and resentment may be motives for bullying.[13] Research on the self-esteem of bullies has produced equivocal results.[14][15] While some bulliesare arrogant and narcissistic,[16] they can also use bullying as a tool to conceal shame or anxiety or to boost self-esteem: by demeaning others, the abuser feels empowered.[17]Bullies may bully out of jealousy or because they themselves are bullied.[18]
Researchers have identified other risk factors such as depression[19] and personality disorders,[20] as well as quickness to anger and use offorce, addiction to aggressive behaviors, mistaking others' actions as hostile, concern with preserving self-image, and engaging in obsessive or rigid actions.[21] A combination of these factors may also be causes of this behavior.[22] In one study of youth, a combination of antisocial traits and depression was found to be the best predictor of youth violence, whereas video game violence andtelevision violence exposure were not predictive of these behaviors.[23]
Bullying may also result from a genetic predisposition or a brain abnormality in the bully.[24] While parents can help a toddler develop emotional regulation and control to restrict aggressive behavior, some children fail to develop these skills due to insecure attachment with their families, ineffective discipline, andenvironmental factors such as a stressful home life and hostile siblings.[10] Moreover, according to some researchers, bullies may be inclined toward negativity and perform poorly academically. Dr. Cook says that "a typical bully has trouble resolving problems with others and also has trouble academically. He or she usually has negative attitudes and beliefs about others, feels negatively towardhimself/herself, comes from a family environment characterized by conflict and poor parenting, perceives school as negative and is negatively influenced by peers".[25]
Contrarily, some researchers have suggested that some bullies are psychologically strongest and have high social standing among their peers, while their targets are emotionally distressed and socially marginalized.[26] Peer groups often...