Bullying in schools: Old problem or new phenomenon?
A spate of recent suicides and celebrity attention has thrust the issue of bullying into the spotlight as of late. And as today marks the third annual Anti-Bullying Day in Canada -- denoted by Bullying Canada, a charitable organization that encourages people to take part in their blue ribbon campaign -- national experts and government officials are asking, what can we do to address this problem? Has bullying in Canada actually increased? Or are we simply more aware of an old problem?
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Debra Pepler, a psychology professor from York University and founder of anti-bullying coalition PREVnet, says that while there is no hard data showing bullying is on the rise, there is a propensity for it to occur slightly more with girls than boys.
“The overall prevalence rate is about the same as it was a number of years ago, however, with girls it has increased slightly and with boys it has declined slightly."
Approximately 15-20 per cent of children and youth say they are victims of bullying in Canada. And while it may be true that bullying as a whole is not increasing, cyber-bullying has been. This includes harassment through texting, email, and social media sites.
Statistics Canada released data this September that showed one in 10 adults in 2009 reported their child (aged 8-17) was being cyber-bullied. In about 7 out of 10 cases, the victim was female.
"Gay and lesbian youth are reporting higher numbers of victimization for bullying overall,” says Shelly Hymel, psychology professor at the University of British Columbia and a national expert on bullying.
Hymel also points out that kids who are most likely to commit suicide as a result of bullying tend to have experiences being both the victim and perpetrator.
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Relative to other developed countries, Canada does not fair well in the bullying spectrum. According to 2001/2002 data from the World Health Organization, we ranked 9 out of 35 countries in terms of how frequently bullying occurred. The United States ranked number 13.
The good news is that evidence shows if a child who witnesses bullying intervenes, the bullying stops 57 per cent of the time within 10 seconds, says Hymel.
This November, the Ontario Liberal government introduced the Accepting Schools Act, which would require a school to expel a student who engaged in bullying -- a change from the current maximum penalty of suspension.
“There will be supports to the expelled student, such as attending an alternative school and receiving counseling services to help them with their behaviour issues,” says Pepler who sat on the committee that helped create the legislation.
The bill, yet to be passed and in need of support from the NDP and Conservatives, would also require school boards to allow gay-straight alliance student groups. However, the groups do not have to use the word "gay" in the group name, as some schools objected.
What are your thoughts on how to stop bullying? Can the problem be legislated away? Sound off in the comments.
