Article by Darlene Barriere
Title: Youngster Abuse: Does it lead to bullying?Author: Darlene Barriere Copyright 2006Contact: childabu@youngster-abuse-effects.comWord Count: 1137
Report:
Young children from abusive properties can indeed go on to bully–bullying is a sign of abuse–but not all abused young children turn into bullies and not all bullies come from abusive houses. There are other aspects that can figure out whether or not or not a child will go on to bully:
- the child’s temperament- lack of supervision (NOTE: bullies demand continuous supervision)- the social climate at school
On average, kids and youth devote about 6 hours a day in school. It is the only location that youngsters are brought together in significant numbers for extended periods of time on a typical basis. Inside the society of school, young children and youth try to fit in, frequently by joining in peer group circles and cliques. This society inside a society tends to make schools very susceptible to bullying.
According to the British Columbia Ministry of Education (2000), most bullying takes place in or close to the school constructing. Some statistics reflect that far more than 90% of bullying happens either in the school or on the school playground.
Bullying and harassment have historically and traditionally been regarded as rites of passage, one thing all children and youth have to go by way of as part of the growing up method. This is a myth.
In the past 20 years or so, bullying and harassment have received international interest, due in part to children and youth who commit suicide as a outcome of becoming a victim of relentless bullying and their inability to cope. There have been sufficient incidents’ of young children committing suicide due to the fact of incessant bullying that a phrase has been coined for it: bullycide.
Canada, in fact, just the province of British Columbia, the province in which I reside, has its share of internationally-recognized bullying victims:
November 2000, in Mission, British Columbia: Dawn Marie Wesley, 14 years old, hanged herself in her bedroom with her dog’s leash. In her suicide note, she named three girls at school who had tormented and threatened her.
March 2000, Surrey, British Columbia: Hamed Nastoh, 14 years old, leapt off the Patullo Bridge immediately after he left a 5-page suicide note that comprehensive the relentless bullying he endured.
November 1997, Victoria, British Columbia: Rena Virk, 14 years old, was bullied, attacked and beaten unconscious by 7 girls and 1 boy–all schoolmates–and then brutally murdered. What was specifically startling in this case was the truth that hundreds of students knew about the cruel and relentless taunting, and even of Rena’s death before an individual finally reported her death to the police.
April 1997, Nanaimo, British Columbia: A grade-4 student pulled a knife on yet another student who was taunting him. He’d been dealing with torment by his peers for over a year. After the knife incident, the boy and his family had been ordered to take an anger management course. The school took no immediate action with the youngsters who bullied him.
How prevalent is bullying and harassment in Canada?
1 in five youngsters is bullied 1 in 12 youth are regularly harassed in school by other students (Gladue, 1999).
Threat elements for bullying:
- submissiveness- shy, reserved, quiet, sensitive- the youngest or smallest- a youngster unwilling to fight – a kid who wears clothes that are considered unfashionable- a child who exhibits annoying behaviours- a child who expresses emotions swiftly- becoming the new kid on the block- a child who has been previously traumatized- being rich or poor- a various ethnicity- gender/sexual orientation is noticed as deserving of contempt or inferior
STAT: According to Egan (2000), 1 in 6 gay teens is beaten so badly in the course of adolescence that he demands medical attention.
- religious beliefs are viewed as deserving of contempt or inferior- a kid who is bright, talented, gifted- a child who does not conform to what is viewed as the “norm”- a kid who is unusually fat, thin, brief, tall
STAT: According to Pepler & Craig (1997), young girls had been a lot more afraid of becoming fat than they had been of nuclear war, cancer or losing their parents.
- a youngster who wears braces or glasses- has acne or any other visible skin condition- has a physical or developmental/mental disability- just getting at the wrong spot at the incorrect time
Anybody can be a target for bullying and boys and girls are equally most likely to be victims.
There are school administrators who think that their school does not have a bullying issue. This is an additional myth. ALL schools have bullying troubles. Maybe liability troubles enter into the mix, or perhaps they actually do believe the claim. The following statistics dispell that claim:
STAT: An international study done for Wellness Canada in 1999 reflected that 56% of boys and 40% of girls in grades 6 and eight had bullied somebody that year.
STAT: In that identical 1999 international study, 43% of boys and 35% of girls mentioned they had been bullied in that year.
STAT:According to Pepler & Craig (2000), 71% of teachers mentioned they generally intervene in bullying episodes 25% of students said teachers intervene.
This last statistic tells us that teachers are unaware of just how significantly bullying is going on in schools. If teachers are unaware of the dilemma, they are not in a position to intervene. Without having intervention, bullies will not cease their violent behaviour. Left unchecked, as the bully gets older, the bullying behaviour escalates to harassment.
For more on harassment, verify out my post titled Bullying vs. Harassment.
To summarize, children from abusive properties often exhibit bullying behaviours. These children are either lashing out, or they are trying to achieve manage of the people around them since they have no control otherwise. But kid abuse is not the only governing issue here. A child’s disposition, a lack of supervision and guidance, and the school environment also play a function.
Yes, child abuse can lead to bullying, but bullying is not always the result of kid abuse.
RESOURCES:
http://www.kid-abuse-effects.com is a website that facts the 4 types of youngster abuse (emotional, physical, sexual, and neglect) signs, effects and statistics for every single sexual abuse victims, which includes victims with disabilities sex offenders, such as female, youngster, adolescent, and World wide web offenders laws governing kid abuse intervention prevention plus a forum to write your own kid abuse story.
Connected PAGES:
http://www.youngster-abuse-effects.com/emotional-abuse-signs.html
Statistical references at http://www.kid-abuse-effects.com/bullying.html
Post titled: Bullying vs. Harassment
Darlene Barriere’s On My Own Terms, A Memoir, a book about surviving the effects of kid abuse, is now accessible for download in PDF e-book format at http://www.youngster-abuse-effects.com/child-abuse-story.html
You have permission to publish this post electronically or in print, free of charge of charge, as lengthy as all bylines and reside hyperlinks are included.
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Darlene Barriere is a certified violence and abuse prevention educator with the Canadian Red Cross. She conducts workshops with youth and adults on the topic of child abuse, bullying and harassment, violence in sports, and relationship violence. She has written a book detailing how she overcame the devastating effects of child abuse (for download web site, see below Connected Pages).