Bullying is when a person or group repeatedly tries to harm someone who is weaker or who they think is weaker. Sometimes it involves direct attacks such as hitting, name calling, teasing or taunting. Sometimes it is indirect, such as spreading rumors or trying to make others reject someone.
Often people dismiss bullying among kids as a normal part of growing up. But bullying is harmful. It can lead children and teenagers to feel tense and afraid. It may lead them to avoid school. In severe cases, teens who are bullied may feel they need to take drastic measures or react violently. Others even consider suicide. For some, the effects of bullying last a lifetime.
School Bullying affects us all
The overall outlook of the long term effects of bullying upon society is grim:
- 60% of middle school students say that they have been bullied, while 16% of staff believes that students are bullied.
- 160,000 students stay home from school every day due to bullying. (NEA)
- 30% of students who reported they had been bullied said they had at times brought weapons to school.
- A bully is 6 times more likely to be incarcerated by the age of 24.
- A bully is 5 times more likely to have a serious criminal record when he grows up.
- 2/3 of students who are targets become bullies.
- 20% of all children say they have been bullied.
- 20% of high school students say they have seriously considered suicide within the last 12 months.
- 25% of students say that teachers intervened in bullying incidents while 71% of teachers say they intervened.
- The average child has watched 8,000 televised murders and 100,000 acts of violence before finishing elementary school.
- In schools where there are anti-bullying programs, bullying is reduced by 50%.
- Bullying was a factor in 2/3 of the 37 school shootings reviewed by the US Secret Service.
- According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety Health (NIOSH) (Sauter, et al.,1990), there is a loss of employment amounting to $19 billion and a drop in productivity of $3 billion due to workplace bullying.
- Law enforcement costs related to bullying are enormous. Since 1999, the Office on Violence against Women (OVW) has spent $98 million in assistance to address campus sexual violence.
In schools that have an anti-bullying program, bullying is reduced by 50%.
The Stop Bullying Now Foundation was founded to address the epidemic of bullying that exists in our schools today.
Our main objective is to raise funds to assist all 67 school districts in Florida as well as School Districts around the country in creating a sustainable and powerful anti-bullying program.
