Bullying is a problem affecting many youths and can have lasting impact on their lives. In the United States, 20.1% of high school students in grades 9-12 reported they were bullied on school property and 16.2% reported they were bullied electronically through e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging, websites or texting (Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance, Center for Disease Control, 2011). To prevent bullying, it is necessary to understand the problem and know what steps to take to stop it.
What is Bullying?
Bullying is when someone repeatedly harms another person either physically or emotionally due to an imbalance of power. Actions such as physically or verbally attacking someone, spreading rumors, and purposely excluding someone from a group are examples of bullying. Recently, technology has opened up a new venue for bullying through the use of the internet, social media sites, and messaging, which is referred to as cyberbullying. The source of cyberbullying is difficult to locate and any harassing remarks or photos once they are posted online are hard to delete.