A generation ago, when the parents of today's teens were kids,
bullying tended to be something that adults left to kids to work
out for themselves. After all, it was generally considered that
victims of bullying could do no worse in their schoolyards than
fight back with their fists. But today, those same schoolyards seem
more dangerous. As the deaths at Columbine High School in 1999
tragically demonstrated, some bullying victims now fight back with
guns and bombs.
Bullying has always been a terrible experience for those being
bullied, but the deadly school violence of the past several years
has forced consideration of broader consequences. And according to
the most recent Gallup Youth Survey of teens aged 13 to 17*,
bullying is quite widespread. More than a third (37%) of teens
admit that they are sometimes teased or picked on at school, and
boys are slightly more likely than girls to say this happens to
them.
Not all fights at school take place between bullies and their
victims, though in past surveys teens have offered "standing up for
oneself" as a top reason why they get into fights. Regardless of
the reason, nearly a quarter (24%) of teens said they have been in
a physical fight in the past year. And fighting is not reserved
solely for boys -- while 30% of boys admit to fighting in the past
year, nearly one in five girls (18%) also said they had been in a
physical fight.
Stan Davis, a social worker and author of the book, Schools
Where Everyone Belongs: Practical Strategies for Reducing
Bullying, is not surprised by the seemingly high number of
teens who admit to fighting. In Davis' opinion, "Kids are
increasingly being presented [with] a media culture in which
physical responses to frustration are the role of heroes, and most
kids get little education in any other methods of resolving
conflicts."
Gallup's data also suggest a relationship between getting teased
or picked on at school and getting into physical fights. Thirty-one
percent of teens who said they get teased or picked on at school
also said they have been in a fight in the past year, compared with
20% of teens who don't get teased.
High-Achieving Students Less Likely to Be
Bullied
Students who define their class standing as "above average" are
less likely to be teased and picked on, and less likely to get into
fights, than students with average class standing or below.
Thirty-one percent of teens who say that they are "above average"
or "near the top" of their class admit to getting teased or picked
on, compared with 45% of teens who define their class standing as
"average" or "below average." Just 16% of above-average kids said
they've been in a fight in the past year, as did 36% of average or
below-average kids.
Davis speculates that "the more highly achieving students might
have more social status in the school, more ability to deflect
teasing through verbal responses, or might be kids who have more
resources in their environments so the same teasing does not bother
them." He also says that teens who perform above average
academically are likely to be in honors or AP classes, where there
are fewer behavioral problems.
Bottom Line
According to a March 2001 Gallup Poll, 62% of U.S. adults said
that "bullying and teasing of students at school" was an
"extremely" or "very" important cause of school shootings. Research
suggests that parents, teachers, and other kids can make a
difference in preventing bullying. Davis, who conducts bullying
prevention workshops for schools around the country, says that
teachers can discourage bullying by establishing "clear behavior
expectations and a system of consequences . . . for physical and
verbal aggression" and "through use of praise, positive
staff-student relationships . . . and helping bystanders stand up
to bullies, befriend targets, and work with adults to stop this
problem."
*The Gallup Youth Survey is conducted via an Internet
methodology provided by Knowledge Networks, using an online
research panel that is designed to be representative of the entire
U.S. population. The current questionnaire was completed by 517
respondents, aged 13 to 17, between Aug. 1 and Aug. 29, 2003. For
results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence
that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage
points.
