The Huge Prevelence of Bullying - 617 Words

What comes to mind when you hear the word bully? I think of a group of sophomores in high school who clowns the incoming freshmen’s. Hearing the word bully also makes me think of a young boy who gets pushed around at school for wearing the same shirt he wore yesterday or the young girl who gets teased for being a little overweight. Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involve a real or perceived power imbalance (http://www.stopbullying.gov/what-is-bullying/). The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated over time (http://www.stopbullying.gov/what-is-bullying/). In this day, in time, in the U.S. bullying has become a very big issue among today’s youth. No matter what ethnicity, background, or race anyone can be the target of bullying. Groups play a vital part in a society social structure. A group can hold special meaning for members because of its relationship to other groups. For example, people in one group sometimes feel antagonistic toward or threatened by another group especially if that group perceived as being different, either culturally or racially (Richard, 2013) Bullying takes place during early adolescent. There was a study done about Bullying in Early Adolescence. During the study a sample of over 15,686 students in the United States (grades 6 through 10), 29.9% self-reported frequent involvement in bullying at school, with 13% participating as a bully, 10.9% as a victim, and 6% as both.