How bad is it, really?

Misinformation about the problem of bullying and harassment abounds. Adults believe that bullying is endemic in nature; that it is a normal part of growing up (Rigby (1998). "Boys will be boys" and "sticks and stones, etc." are sound beliefs for many (NEA, 2002). Adults don't see it as a problem because they don't recognize bullying-victim behavior often when it takes place in front of them. Children, especially adolescents, have become skilled in covert bullying behavior as well as covert victim response (Olweus, 2000).

Rigby (1998) describes the "insidious nature of bullying that causes it to flourish within the school system" (as cited in Rayner, 1998). Yet, the issue of bullying is rarely addressed (Nansel et al., 2001).

Recent statistics
· American schools harbor approximately 2.1 million bullies and 2.7 million of their victims (Dan Olweus, researcher, journal article of the National School Safety Center).

· 76.8 percent of students in a midwestern study say they have been bullied and 14 percent of those students indicated that they experienced severe reactions to the abuse (Study conducted by John H. Hoover, Ronald Oliver and Richard J. Hazler).

· The National School Safety Center estimates that 525,000 "attacks, shakedowns and robberies" occur in an average month in public secondary schools.

· It is estimated that 160,000 children miss school every day, due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students. (National Education Association).

· A survey conducted by the American Association of University Women reported that 85 percent of girls and 76 percent of boys have been sexually harassed in some form. Only 18 percent of those incidents were perpetuated by an adult.

· Young bullies carry a one-in-four chance of having a criminal record by age 30 (study by Leonard Eron and Ronald Huesmann).

· The National Education Association reports that every day, 6,250 teachers are threatened with bodily injury and 260 are physically assaulted.

· One incident of peer harassment takes place every 7 minutes.

· Aggressive behavior and bullying is even more common in elementary school than in junior and senior high. But as children get older their bullying behavior becomes more covert and sophisticated.

· According to Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, the Secret Service found that most of the attackers in columbine and other school shootings had experienced severe and long-standing forms of bullying and harassment.

· Adults intervene in less than 4% of all incidents.
· Peers intervene in less than 11% of all incidents.
· No one intervenes in over 80% of all incidents.

· Over 95% of the incidents of bullying in the schools occur when the teachers and no adults can witness the action. The majority of abuse takes place in the hallways, bathrooms, lunchrooms, and the playground/parking areas.

· Mobile phones and the Internet often provide ways for bullying activity, for example, with insulting messages, and anonymous or threatening emails. Cyber bullying has recently received a lot of attention with the suicide of a teenage girl who tough she was texting a teenage boy. It was discovered after her death that the boy was actually a mother of a girl in the neighborhood.