The most widely accepted definition of bullying comes from the work of leading Norwegian researcher, Dr. Dan olweus:“Bullying…is a pattern of repeated aggressive behaviour, with negative intent, directed from one child to another where there is a power imbalance.”Olweus’ definition identifies three critical conditions that distringuish bullying from other forms of aggressive behaviours, including:
Power: Children who bully acquire their power through physical size and strength, by status within the peer group, and by recruiting support of the peer group.
Frequency: Bullying is not a random act. Rather, bullying is characterized by frequent and repeated attacks. It is this factor that brings about the anticipatory terror in the mind of the child being bullied that can be so detrimental and have the most debilitating long-term effects.
Intent to harm: Children who bully generally do so with the intent to either physically or emotionally harm the other child.
Taken from “Focus on Bulying: A Prevention Program for Elementary School Communities” – BC Ministry of Education
Forms of Bullying
Physical Bullying
Pushing, hitting, shoving, slapping, kicking, spitting at, or beating others up
Damaging or stealing another person’s belongings
Racial / Ethnocultural Bullying
Treating others differently or badly because of their race, culture, or the colour of their skin
Saying bad things about someone’s race, culture, or skin colour
Telling racist jokes
Verbal Bullying
Calling someone names, teasing or making fun of them
Embarrassing or threatening someone
Social Bullying
Leaving others out of a group or refusing to play with them
Saying bad things about others
Making others look silly
Telling others not to talk to someone
Electronic Bullying
Sending, e-mailing or phone text messages or pictures to threaten someon, hurt their feelings, embarrass or make them look bad, or tell people secrets about them.
Posting hurtful messages or pictures on a web page or a social network site like Facebook.
