Females particularly vulnerable to cyberbullies
LAKE COUNTY – Cyberbullies hurt people everywhere. In Elmo, Big Arm, Polson, Pablo, Ronan, St. Ignatius, Charlo and Arlee, bullies open their mouths and hurl hatred, squint their eyes and throw dirty looks at their next victim.
Regardless of policies, interpretation and rules, bullies reign in political and civil offices, schools and home environments. And bullies make their attacks personal and public on the Internet.
Roxana Colman-Herak, CSKT COT program manager said cyber bullying is pervasive and invasive.
“Bullying is a form of aggression with the intent to cause harm driving it,” Colman-Herak said. “It can be a physical attack on another person or name-calling or threats.”
Psychologically speaking, bullying is when a person spreads rumors about a person, or excludes him from the group.
“The character traits exhibited by bullies include aggressive and impulsive behavior, lack of control and a need to feel important,” Colman-Herak said. “In part, they act this way because they want to be accepted.”
Cyber bullying is, “willful and repeated harm through a computer or cell phone,” Colman-Herak said.
Though local schools have general and cyber bullying policies, Colman-Herak said the cyber bullying problem continues.
“By its very nature it’s difficult to control,” Colman-Herak said. “It’s easier to be cruel online because the bully isn’t close to the victim and can’t personally see the emotional damage being done.”
In addition, cyber bullying offers a veil of protection and anonymity from the victim and the bully’s own family, making it harder to hold the cyber bully accountable.
While researching the subject, Colman-Herak learned that nearly 30 percent of school-age children reported being cyber bullied and nearly 60 percent of middle school students felt the same way.
Cyber bullying is much harder to quantify.
Victim suicide is one shocking outcome of cyber bullying, however.
“In recent years, a series of bullying-related suicides in the U.S. and across the globe have drawn attention to the connection between bullying and suicide,” Colman-Herak said.
The Center for Disease Control reported about 4,400 youth suicides annually, and another 4.4 million attempted young-people suicides each year.
Bullying can start as early as second grade. It tends to escalate in fourth grade (especially with girls) and peak in sixth to eighth grade, (but) often continues into high school, she said.
“Research has shown that if there is no intervention and behaviors go unchallenged, there is a danger that bullying will continue into adulthood, putting these individuals at risk for criminal, domestic and other violence related crimes,” Colman-Herak said.
Traditionally, boys are more physically oriented when expressing themselves. Girls are more verbal and more likely to become cyber bullies.
“Typically girls are more likely to spread rumors, threaten and tease others on Facebook, in text messages, and with camera phones,” she said. “All are equally damaging,” Colman-Herak said.
People are often victimized because they appear to be different.
“There really is no logic to this; an individual can be singled out for the silliest or smallest of reasons,” Colman-Herak said. “As to personality characteristics, victims tend to be socially isolated, quiet, sensitive, passive, and submissive. They may have difficulty making friends. Other children perceive them as being weak.”
Colman-Herak said victims often feel alone.
“Bullies have the ability to create the impression that they have everyone’s support, and this makes bystanders fearful of retaliation or alienation from the group,” Colman-Herak said. “This provides an opening for schools to implement programs that define bullying behaviors and teach appropriate intervention strategies.”
(Learn what our local school systems are doing to prevent school bullying in the next issue of the Leader.)
By the numbers:
Suicides:
Center for Disease Control:
About 4,400 youth suicides annually
For every successful youth suicide, experts estimate 100 attempts were made
Yale University
Bully victims are between two and nine times more likely to consider suicide.
ABC News
Nearly 30 percent of students are either bullies or victims
160,000 kids stay home from school daily because fear of bullies
Bullies:
Sixty percent of people who were bullies between sixth and ninth grade had at least one criminal conviction by age 24: Colman-Herak
Victims:
The Teaching Tolerance Organization, reported that 86 percent of gay and lesbian students report being bullied.
Get help:
Cyberbullying
We all have a responsibility to report incidents of bullying and reach out to support victims. For more information visit www.stopcyberbullying.org.
Suicide help
Experts operate the National Suicide Lifelife around the clock. The National Suicide Lifeline: 1(800) 273-TALK (8255).