Bullying, Aggression, and Social Fallout

Abstract

Community Health| July 01 2001 Bullying, Aggression, and Social Fallout AAP Grand Rounds (2001) 6 (1): 4–5. https://doi.org/10.1542/gr.6-1-4 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Bullying, Aggression, and Social Fallout. AAP Grand Rounds July 2001; 6 (1): 4–5. https://doi.org/10.1542/gr.6-1-4 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All PublicationsAll JournalsAAP Grand RoundsPediatricsHospital PediatricsPediatrics In ReviewNeoReviewsAAP NewsAll AAP Sites Search Advanced Search Topics: aggressive behavior, bullying Source: Nansel TR, Overpeck M, Pilla RS, et al. Bullying behaviors among US youth: prevalence and association with psychosocial adjustment. JAMA. 2001;285:2094–2100. To determine the prevalence of bullying and being bullied and their associations with indicators of psychosocial adjustment among US youth, these investigators from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development surveyed 15,686 students attending 6th through 10th grades in US public and private schools during early 1998. The survey contained questions regarding bullying frequency and type (physical, verbal, and psychological), perceived school performance, social/emotional well-being, parental influences, alcohol use, smoking, and problem behaviors. The authors used stratified sampling to obtain a geographically representative sample with an over-sample of black and Hispanic students. Statistical sample weights were developed to adjust for minority oversampling. The authors found: The authors concluded that bullying is a widespread and serious problem meriting further investigation because of the behavioral and emotional difficulties associated with bullying and the potential long-term negative consequences for these youth. Bullying is a repetitive form of interpersonal violence, mostly verbal, sometimes physical, intended to harm, with strong emotional overtones, in which a more powerful person or group of persons attacks a less powerful person or group of persons. The authors note that most of the prior research on bullying has been done in Europe and Australia, that there is considerable variability in prevalence between countries, and that in Norway and England school interventions have resulted in 30–50% reductions in bullying.1,2 Bullying has been connected to media violence, particularly video games.3,4 The AAP’s Committee on Communications alerted pediatricians to this relationship in a Policy Statement,5 citing reports by the US Surgeon General as far back as 1972.6 There is much in the media that conditions our children to be aggressive, to dehumanize their “victims,” and to show no pity or remorse. The National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health (www.ncemch.org) lists resources that provide information on bullying7 including www.bullying.org, which offers web links to other resources. A recent school shooting in California in which the gunman may have been a target of bullying makes this report especially pertinent. We must not turn a blind eye to these behaviors. We should routinely inquire if our patients are involved in bullying and if so, direct parents and schools to appropriate resources. You do not currently have access to this content.