Bullying Facts

At ages 4-10 years old, bullying is usually inflicted upon same-sex peers, children at ages 11-18 years old extend their bullying to the opposite-sex as well. (Pepler, et al.)



The amount of bullying decreases as children grow older. In grades 1-3, 26% of the children reported victimization, 15% in grades 4-6, and only 12% in grades 7-8. (Pepler et al.)



Children in lower grades are most likely victims of older bullies, but children in higher grades are mostly victimized by same-age bullies. (Olweus, 1993)



Boys tend to report bullying more than girls. (Craig and Pepler, 1997)



Boys are usually involved in physical bullying, while girls are involved in verbal bullying such as gossiping. (Craig and Pepler, 1997)



Victims become withdrawn, depressed, tense, and develop a low self-esteem as a result of victimization. (Besag, 1989; Slee, 1995; Craig, 1997; Neary and Joseph, 1994)



Bullies often come from homes that are neglectful, hostile, and use harsh punishments. (Olweus, 1993)



Victims often keep their bullying problems a secret in fear of the bully's revenge or other children's disapproval. (Garfalo et al., 1987; Olweus, 1991)



48% of 12-year-old children have received unwanted sexual harassment such as negative comments, looks, gestures, and name-calling. (McMaster et al., 1997)



Toronto's Board of Education has documented that in grades 4-8, one child in five was victimized periodically, while one in 12 was bullied weekly or daily.



In one study, 120 hours of video surveillance around Toronto schools showed that in over 20% of bullying, peers actively joined in with the bully; 54% of the cases had students watching the bullying; in only 25% of the bullying did peers support the victim.



90% of children say they find it unpleasant to watch bullying.



Bullying can be defined as a criminal act if the bully is twelve years of age or older.

In toronto, Ziegler and Rosenstein - Manner (1991) conducted a survey on 211 students in 14 classes from Grades 4 to 8 regarding bullying in schools. They found that:



35% of the children were engaged in bullying problems more than once or twice in the school term.



The common locations for bullying, in order, were playgrounds, hallways, classrooms, lunchrooms, and washrooms.



38% of special education students compared to 18% of other students reported being bullied.



23% of the victims, and 71% of the teachers, reported that the teachers intervened often or almost always.



20% of students were victims and 15% bullies.



24% of students reported that race-related bullying occurred now and then or often.



Most bullies are boys (75%)

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