Bullying Overview

The classic image of school bullying—a big kid picking on a little kid on the playground—is an oversimplification of a range of cruel behaviors affecting nearly a third of America’s school children.

What was once dismissed as an unpleasant but unimportant aspect of growing up is now understood to be a major predictor of long-term problems for both bully and victim, a contributor to the widely held misperception among students that their schools are among the more dangerous places in their environments, and a common thread in the rash of school shootings over the past decade.

Bullying involves three conditions:

·        Negative or malicious behavior

·        Behavior repeated over time

·       An imbalance of strength between the involved parties [1]

While this clearly fits the conventional perception of direct, physical bullying associated with boys, it also encompasses the indirect forms of aggression—gossiping, slander and exclusion more commonly attributed to girls.

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