Bullying Prevention

Facts on Bullying

There are about 160,000 children that miss school every day out of fear of being bullied. Nationwide surveys of 6th through 10th graders conducted by the national institute of Child Health and Human Development revealed that 17% of children in the 6th through 10th grade are bullied sometimes or weekly, while 19% bully others sometimes or weekly. (Ericson, OJJDP Fact Sheet, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention)

Bullying is characterized by the following three criteria:

  • It is aggressive behavior or intentional harmdoing
  • It is carried out repeatedly and over time
  • It occurs within an interpersonal relationship characterized by imbalance of power.

A student being bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students. Such negative actions include intentionally inflicting, or attempting to inflict, injury or discomfort upon another. (The following is taken from “Being a Friend and Having a Friend” text published by the Office of Violence Prevention.)

Bullying comes in many different disguises and forms.
Any way you look at it, it hurts!

Direct Bullying Can Be:

  • Teasing
  • Taunting
  • Threatening
  • Hitting
  • Pushing
  • Pinching
  • Stealing
  • Tripping
  • Destroying clothing, homework, etc.
  • Verbal Threats
  • Hurtful Words
  • Cruel Jokes or Tricks
  • making someone do something they don't want to do
  • Ganging up on someone

Indirect Bullying Can Be:

  • Intentional exclusion (i.e. "don't play with him"..."don't invite her!")
  • Spreading rumors or gossip
  • Enforcing social isolation
    • *ignoring or leaving someone out
  • Mean looks or rude gestures
  • Writing and passing cruel or threatening notes'
    • *some children now use email and other social media

One thing we CAN do:

RESIST ALLOWING DIRECT AND/OR INDIRECT BULLYING

Ways to be involved

  • October is National Bullying Prevention Month - help organize an activity during this time.
  • Visit www.stopbullying.gov for more information on ways that you can make a difference in your school and in someone's life.
  • Contact our partners in the attached directory.

healthy Chicago

Healthy Chicago is a new public health agenda with an ambitious sense of purpose for Chicago.  Created by the Chicago Department of Public Health, it is an agenda that engages our city with bold action and goal-driven results. Together we are going to transform the health of our city. We will make Chicago the healthiest city in the nation.

Healthy Chicago focuses on 12 key priorities all of which are found on the Healthy Chicago webpage.  Bullying Prevention is a concern for 2 major priorities in both the Adolescent Health Initiative and the Violence Prevention Office. Two of the targets of Healthy Chicago are to reduce school bullying to 11.1% to 9% and decrease the number of students missing school due to safety concerns from 15.1% to 9%.