4 Types of Bullying All Parents Should Be Aware Of
Here is a quick guide on the types of bullying that could be going on in your child’s school. More importantly, we give you some tools to stop it.
There are four different types of bullying that encompass the wide range of bullying behaviors seen in and around schools today.
Stopbullying.gov identifies three main categories: Verbal, social and physical bullying. Other groups, including parents.com, have now added cyberbullying to that list.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define bullying as “any unwanted aggressive behaviors by another youth or group of youth who are not siblings or current dating partners that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated.”
Around one in five children between the ages of 12 and 18 experience bullying, according to a 2015 study by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Campus Safety has reported on bullying assessment tools, the negative effects of bullying and ways to prevent bullying on campus, but the different types of bullying are important to understand.
Our slideshow gives examples of each category of bullying, the side effects associated with them according to stopbullying.gov and then summarize expert recommendations on how to stop bullying on school campuses.
Ways to Combat All Types of Bullying
School policies should address and define bullying clearly. The exact policy schools should adopt is very much up for debate, although many researchers have found that zero tolerance bullying policies have “not had an impact in keeping schools safer.” Those researchers suggested such policies can deter reporting because students may fear overly harsh punishments.
Authority figures, rather, should encourage students to report bullying whenever they see it. Anonymous tip lines can be a great way to encourage reporting.
Giving students anti-bullying training is also a good way to stop bullying. Research has also shown that popular students given anti-bullying training make a bigger different curbing bullying than teachers or school staff members.
Adults should never tell a student to simply ignore bullying or to fight back. Similarly, if an authority figure speaks to a bully once and forgets the matter it will likely do little to solve the problem.
Providing adequate supervision in places like hallways, at recess and in locker rooms can also help deter bullying on campus.
When it comes to stopping different types of bullying in the areas surrounding the campus, retired Detective Joseph Petrocelli recommends allowing underclassmen students to depart 15 minutes early to decrease unsupervised interactions between grades.
Only when schools begin quickly and effectively stopping all types of bullying can school officials truly say they’ve created a safe learning environment for students.
Now view this slideshow for examples of 4 types of bullying.
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