Bullying

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged

children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The
behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over
time.

Both

kids

who

are

bullied

and

who

bully

others

bullying,

the

behavior

may

have serious, lasting problems.

In

order

to

be

considered

must

be

aggressive and include.

An Imbalance of Power. Kids who bully use their powersuch
as

physical

strength,

access

to

embarrassing

information,

or

popularityto control or harm others. Power imbalances can change

over time and in different situations, even if they involve the
same people
Bullying

behaviors

happen

more

than

once

or

have

the

potential to happen more than once.

Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading
rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding
someone from a group on purpose.
Besag(2001)stated that a bully is defined as a person who
uses superior strength to influence or intimidate another person
or to force him or her to do what they want.

In Zimmermans

article on Homophobia hurts straight men, too,

it talks about

college

student

who

committed

suicide

videotaped him and another boy having sex.

after

his

roommate

Bullying can be found

almost everywhere in homes, on the internet, and especially in

schools. Bullying has a lot of repercussions that affect people
in many ways. Recently, bullying has been blamed for the rising
number of teenage suicides all over the country. No one is born
to be a bully, it is a taught skill (Kropar). A victim of
bullying doesnt ask to be hurt; its a product of ignorance from
todays society. State agencies like the Department of Education
could

start

implementing

stricter

rules

to

protect

students.

Bullying has become a problem that needs to be addressed as soon

as possible to protect victims everywhere.
Carey, T.A. (2003) observed that children who are raised by a
family that has no structure or morals are at higher risk of
becoming

bullies.

substance

abuse

physically

and

For
home

example,
usually

verbally

child

gets

especially

that

grows

abused

by

when

those

their

up

in

parents

parents

are

tweaking for the next high. As a result they tend to express

their feelings by inflicting

pain on others because they cant

take out

parents for fear of getting abused

their pain on their

more. Another reason could be due to parents getting a divorce

leaving this child to feel alone , blaming themselves for their
separation leading them to rebel and act out towards others by
hurting them physically or verbally. Sibling abuse is also common

in homes when, children are placed in a position where parents

show more attention and affection towards one over

the other.

Some parents dont realize that they start this process amongst
their children by making them compete against each other. These
children tend to take out their frustration on their sibling
hitting or teasing them. By making parents more aware of this
problem, they have a better

understanding of how serious this

issue is and what needs to be done to help prevent bullying .

According

to

L.

M.&Levinson,

E.

M.

(2004,

Fall)

todays

technology it is easy for anyone to take an embarrassing picture

or video of someone else and post it on the internet for the
whole world to see. An article recently published in the Daily
Mail, reported a story that took place thousands of miles away in
the United States on a small island of Hawaii about a group of
high school cheerleaders that were accused of bullying via the
internet. The school shut down the cheerleading squad until an
investigation is completed. Incredibly this story has gone so far
that it has gone half away across the globe. Because bullying has
become

world-

wide

epidemic

plaguing

communities

like

an

infectious disease everyone is getting involved in exposing such

a hateful act that causes so much pain to the victims involved.
An alarming number of suicides are being reported by children due
to bullying all around the world (a British newspaper).

Journalof Counseling & DevelopmentRoss, P. N. (2006) observed

that there have been incidents that involved school shootings due
this problem. Where even kids are taking revenge by taking guns
and shooting their peers and teachers because of embarrassment
and humiliation that they have endured continuously. For example,
the news aired a story about a boy who went to school with a gun
and shot several students and a math teacher at an elementary
school in Nevada just last month because of bullying. Another
example, was the

first public school massacre that killed a lot

of

two

people,

when

boys

went

in

heavily

armed

and

started

shooting at everyone. In a recent article posted in Civil Beat,

on how Hawaii schools are still struggling to help tormented
kids addresses an issue of safety for students. Despite numerous
attempts by lawmakers to get a precise answer from the Department
of Education on their plans with identifying and dealing with
bullies in the educational system they could not give a direct
response but only given a response that there was already

a rule

in place which was the Chapter 19 law. It still doesnt

define the response that lawmakers were looking for ( Eagles ).
School shootings have been more popular on the news than a decade
ago. There werent

any cell phones, digital cameras or tablets

available back then and computers werent as savvy as it is now.

People were more friendly and respected each others

feelings.

Now, most of them dont care as much and rather hurt others

instead of being nice.

School officials and lawmakers need to

combine their efforts in combating this problem and agree to

identify and set rules and regulations to those accused in order
to protect the safety of students everywhere.

Recently, the

district has launched a million dollar campaign against bullying

making it publicly known to communities all over that this is a
serious ongoing issue that we all need to address .

Federation.Juvonen (2003)Stated that In a five year period 29

deaths by suicide has been reported ( Hawaii state review ).
There were numerous reasons behind these tragedies that claimed
the

lives

of

dysfunctional

so

many

families,

youngsters.

Some

reasons

were

could

be

there

are

parents

due
who

to
are

divorced or have a substance abuse problem causing hurt and harm

to these children who sees no alternative but to take their pain
away

by

taking

their

own

lives.

boyfriend

or

girlfriend

argument that may lead them to kill themselves to show that their
life is nothing without the other. The highest of all which is 61
percent

is

due

to

unknown

reasons,

meaning

there

was

no

explanation or evidence to show why their lives ended so early.

Everyone is affected by these tragedies including family members
of the deceased. When a child takes their lives, there is an
unbarring feeling that a parent goes through along with questions
like, why?. Why did he/she do this? Who is to blame for this?

What could I have done to stop this?

and so on. Sometimes

its

hard to see the signs of destruction a child is going through

inside but, it helps to have an open relationship with an adult
or someone to talk to before committing this unthinkable act.
These are just a few statistics that was done in Hawaii years
ago not counting those from other states. These numbers are
alarming to know especially when they are broken down into ethnic
groups, age, sex and reasons of suicides. Bullying comes in many
forms of abuse, whether it be physical, verbal or psychological
it still affects a person. Due to those reasons alone there have
been

many

attempts

of

threats,

cutting

themselves

and

even

success of ending their lives. It is a sad situation that some of

these victims had to endure to get to that point where they felt
that it was the only way out. Hotlines and assemblies at schools
could be a way of communication for some of these kids that they
could look for help before turning to suicide. Before it becomes
a

statistic,

everyone

should

pitch

in

to

do

their

part

in

stopping abuse now.

If by being taught to become a bully than it is easy to say that

it could also be taught to be a better person. By education and
awareness may people come to understand the importance of change.
It might be hard because bullying is publicly educated through
television

shows,

radio

stations

video

games

basically

everywhere you look violence and bullying are being promoted.

Children at an early age is a great example to start from
because their minds are like sponges and can absorb the goodness
that later structures them into kind hearted and open minded
individuals that know by hurting people is not right. Bullying is
an ignorant disease that can be contagious only if it is spread
by those infected. But it could also be cured by antidotes of
education and awareness of being Pono.

According

to

Magazines,

Mean

kids,

mothers

tell

their

wounded young, behave that way because they have unhappy home
lives,

or

feel

inadequate,

or

dont

have

enough

friends

or

because they somehow lack empathy. But a new study suggests some
mean kids actually behave that way simply because they can.
Contrary

to

accepted

ruffian-scholarship,

the

more

popular

middle- or high-school kid becomes, the more central to the

social network of the school, the more aggressive the behavior he
or she engages in. At least, that was the case in North Carolina,
where students from 19 middle and high schools were studied for
4.5 years by researchers at the University of California-Davis.

Authors Robert Faris and Diane Felmlee interviewed publicschool kids seven times over the course of their study, starting
when the students were in grades 6, 7 and 8. They asked the

students

to

name

their

friends

and

used

the

data

to

create

friendship maps. They then asked the kids who was unkind to them
and

whom

they

picked

on,

and

mapped

out

the

pathways

of

aggression.

Pawlowski, Merry M. (2001) declared that

almost no gender

differences were found among traditional victims, Study I showed

that girls were more likely than boys to be cybervictims. Boys
were more likely than girls to be traditional bullies, while
girls were equally as likely as boys to be cyberbullies. Study
II showed that psychosomatic problems were associated with being
a victim, a bully or a bully-victim. Cyberbullying showed no
stronger association with psychosomatic problems than traditional
bullying. Study III:Three main categories emerged from school
health staffs experience: 1) Anti-bullying team; 2) Working
style; and 3) Perspectives on bullying. The last two each
comprised two sub-categories: Team member/Single worker; and
Contextual perspective/Individual-oriented perspective.Study
IV showed that, regardless of gender and grade, students with a
disability

were

more

likely

to

be

bully-victims

and,

more

particularly, bully-victims involved in both traditional bullying

and cyberbullying. No differences between disabled adolescents
and others were found with respect to the association between
bullying and psychosomatic health.

The results show that some adolescents are more likely to

experience higher levels of psychosomatic health problems than
others. They also show that some adolescents are more likely to
be involved in bullying, either as victims, bullies or bullyvictims. This thesis also discusses contextual and individual
approaches adopted by schools in preventing bullying.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
104Besag,

V.

E.

(2001)

Bullies

and

Victims

in

Schools.

MiltonKeynes, England: Open University PressOlweus, D.,Olweus.org

Carey,

T.A.

bullyingintervention

(2003)Improving
programs:

the
tool

success
for

of

matching

antiprograms

withpurposes. International Journal of Reality Therapy,Crothers,

L. M. & Levinson, E. M. (2004, Fall). Assessmentof Bullying: A
review of methods and instruments.
Journalof Counseling & DevelopmentRoss, P. N. (2006). Arresting
violence: A resource guidefor schools and their communities. Toronto:
Ontario PublicSchool Teachers'
Federation.Juvonen

(2003)Bullying

Among

Young

Adolescents:

TheStrong, the Weak and the Troubledin Pediatrics, December2003,"The

benefits

of

bullying".

2004.

Retrieved

2011-09-03.Bullies

are

healthiest pupils". CNN News.

263Pawlowski, Merry M. (2001)Virginia Woolf and fascism:resisting
the dictators' seductionp.104Besag, V. E. (1989) Bullies and Victims in
Schools. MiltonKeynes, England: Open University PressOlweus,

University of Cagayan Valley

(Tuguegarao City)

CONCEPT PAPER: Bullying

Submitted to:
Mr. Larry Villanueva
(Instructor)

Submitted by:
Justin Earl Corea
Cedie Paul Ordillo
Merlito Valencia