What is Bullying?
Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children and even adults that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. This behavior is often repeated, or has the potential to be repeated over time. Bullying is very intimidating and often includes a power imbalance. An example of this is when a bullying forces someone to do his or her own bidding.
Because of cultural and physical changes, young people can be unkind to each other during adolescence as they refine social skills and grow into adults. While these interactions are unpleasant, there is a clear line between conflict and bullying. Incidents of bullying may include three of these characteristics below:
1) Intentional- the behavior was aggressive and a deliberate attempt to hurt another person.
2) Repeated- these aggressive actions occur repeatedly over time to the same person or group of people.
3) Power imbalance- the person bullying has more physical or social power than the child or children being bullied.
Bullying almost always takes an emotional toll upon the child being bullied, but the actions that constitute bullying vary. There are four types of bullying, which can occur separately or simultaneously:
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Physical Bullying
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Verbal Bullying
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Social Bullying
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Cyberbullying
The Different Types of Bullying and Their Signs
Kids who are bullied and/or bully others may develop or already have serious, lasting problems, such as mental health disorders. So to help you grow a better understanding of what bullying looks like, below is a list of the four main types of bullying and what they exactly look like in action.
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Physical bullying involves hitting, shoving, pushing, tripping, and other aggressive kinds of force.
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Verbal bullying involves hurtful comments, name-calling, and aggressive teasing.
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Social bullying involves using relationships to hurt someone. It involves excluding or ostracizing someone from a friend group, spreading rumors, or giving someone “the silent treatment”.
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Cyberbullying happens through technological devices and usually occurs over the internet. Cyberbullying is one of the worst of the four bullying types since it continues to increase world-wide as digital media becomes more prevalent in the social culture of children and teens. It has been harder for adults to manage Cyberbullying more than the others since it occurs through social media and advanced technology that has little or few parental adjustments.
Link to Free Printable Avoid Bullying information Packet!
