4 Different Types of Bullying in Schools

Bullying changes lives. A victim of bullying can suffer long-lasting trauma that can devastate their mental health, their self-esteem, and their ability to cope at school and at home. Bullying has a domino effect of hopelessness on victims, perpetrators, their families, peers, and community members.  Bullying can lead to depression, anxiety, anger, low self-esteem, and ultimately suicide. However, with proper intervention, bullying is a behavior that can be changed. 

School communities take bullying very seriously and work to prevent bullying by establishing and consistently enforcing rules that clearly describe how students are expected to treat each other. When bullying does occur, their main goal is to find the cause of the bullying and stop it immediately. Schools realize the detrimental effects that different types of bullying has on their students and continuously strive to provide programs and interventions that can improve the emotional resilience of students in order to save their lives. 

Preventing All Types of Bullying In Schools 

Every state has laws requiring schools to respond to reports of bullying. However, preventing bullying is a challenging job due to its complex nature. When schools, families, and community members work collaboratively and communicate openly with students, and build a safe school environment, they can prevent all types of bullying in schools.. Once a student reports that bullying has taken place, a trusted adult can empower the student by helping them create an action plan. The adult should advocate for the student by offering support and assisting with solutions.  

Needless to say, all parties involved in a bullying situation must be handled with care and respect. Students who feel supported by their families, communities, and peers are less likely to bully others. It is important for school employees to investigate why students exhibit bullying behaviors. There may be extenuating, root causes that should be addressed to help the students stop the bullying behavior. Research into family history and peer relations are important points for school administrators to begin their investigation. School counselors and mental health experts will be instrumental in the analysis and implementation of therapy/strategies as they work with these students and families. 

Conquering all types of bullying is complicated and involves much more than meets the eye. A student may exhibit bullying tendencies that are difficult to understand. Bullying involves ongoing, unwanted, and aggressive misuse of power that intends to cause physical, social, and psychological harm. At first glance, it may seem like a student uses their power over another just to feel important or simply to get things they want (such as lunch money). However, the truth is that many students who exhibit these behaviors, regardless of the type of bullying, are struggling with various emotional issues themselves. These issues can stem from trouble in their personal life, anxiety or depression, or being the victim of abuse or bullying themselves. 

The first step to preventing bullying in schools is to be able to recognize the different types. 

4 Types of Bullying Students Face in Schools

There are several types of bullying in schools, but the four most common are physical bullying, verbal bullying, social bullying and cyber bullying. Learn more about the nuances in the different types of bullying below. 

1. Physical Bullying

Physical bullying involves hurting or harming a person’s body or possessions. Physical bullying is often more typical when bigger and stronger kids assert control over their victims by using physical force. Some common examples of physical bullying include aggressive actions, such as: 

• Kicking
• Spitting
• Shoving/Tripping
• Slapping/Hitting/Punching
•  Taking or Breaking someone’s belongings
• Other physical acts of aggression

2. Verbal Bullying

Verbal bullying involves name-calling, hurtful words, and harsh statements in order to gain control and power over a victim. The impact of bullying can impact victims even if the perpetrator never physically touches the victim. 

Insults are used to degrade, belittle, and demean another student. Unfortunately, it’s common for students who bully to target students with special needs or those who look or act differently than others.

Verbal bullying is another type of bullying in schools that is difficult to identify. Often, these verbal attacks occur when adults are out of earshot. Unfortunately, when there is no evidence, it becomes one student’s word against another’s. 

Adults often try to help students deal with verbal bullying by telling them to ignore it, but the emotional impact of verbal bullying is greater than adults realize. Verbal bullying can have a deeper long-term impact than physical bullying. It can cause low self-esteem, depression, self-harm, and thoughts of suicide. Thus, verbal bullying should be taken as seriously as all other types of bullying., 

3. Social Bullying

Social bullying is often called relational bullying or emotional bullying. This type of bullying has sneaky and insidious roots and often slips under the radars of teachers, administrators, and parents. This type of bullying occurs when a student acts in ways that sabotage another student’s social standing. With social bullying, students may ostracize other students, tell secrets about them, and spread false rumors about them. 

The goal of students who use social bullying as a tactic is to raise their own social standing by bringing the reputations of others down. Victims of this type of bullying are more often girls than boys and are likely to be cast out of groups, ignored, intimidated, teased, and insulted by others, leaving them to feel alone and disconnected.

4. Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is the newest and possibly the most significant type of bullying. It happens when a student uses technology to bully another student with negative or harmful content. The student might use the internet, smartphones, tablets, apps, online forums or gaming communities for social media sites to embarrass, threaten, spread rumors, or harass another student. Unfortunately, cyberbullying can be done 24/7 and becomes public and permanent. 

The Pew Research Center found that at least half of youth in the United States has faced bullying online in 2022. According to another study in early 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased online cyberbullying rates. 

Some of the most common forms of cyberbullying include:

• Making online threats
• Sending harassing texts or direct messages
• Sending hurtful emails
• Posting unbecoming photos or information

 Cyberbullying has become more common and widespread because it can be difficult to pinpoint the perpetrator because adults may not know about it. It is easier for this type of bullying to occur because there is no physical interaction, so it’s easier for the person to feel safe and anonymous as they set out to hurt others. Cyberbullying is especially dangerous because victims can be targeted anytime and anywhere. This is another way to make victims feel isolated and anxious, especially when they can’t escape the bullying in the “safety” of their own homes. 

Taking Action: Responding to Bullying

Members of school communities and families must work together and respond to bullying swiftly and consistently. Students often will not ask for help due to fear, so it’s important for adults to keep an eye out for warning signs. If students show changes in their emotional or behavioral states, open up the lines of communication.  By setting up a supportive environment for students, adults send a message that they are not alone. It also sends the message that there are trusted individuals who can help them develop healthy school and peer connections and interactions. By responding to bullying consistently, adults cultivate a safe learning environment where students feel free to learn without feeling threatened, harassed, or abused. 

It is imperative that schools establish and enforce expectations and policies that clearly describe how students are expected to lift each other up instead of breaking each other down. One of the most effective ways to get started in this mindset is by inviting Rachel’s Challenge into the school. The positive end result of a Rachel’s Challenge program is that students are given the power to spread kindness, hope, and connection with other students in a way that the opposite types of behaviors, such as bullying, become unacceptable within their school culture. 

Create Safe Schools with Rachel’s Challenge

Rachel’s Challenge addresses the root causes of school violence, bullying, prejudice, and self-harm through student wellness programs that build connection, hope, and resilience. Rachel’s Challenge is proven to reduce the different types of bullying in schools. 

Mental health education is critical to proactively prevent bullying and isolation. Rachel’s Challenge teaches students and adults in schools to change their behaviors in order to provide safe, learning environments for all students. With this type of mindset, students are challenged to embrace the principles of empathy, which is the cornerstone of creating an accepting, safe learning environment.

Through Rachel’s Challenge, students are exposed to opportunities to learn and hone healthy coping skills to handle stress. This helps create emotional resilience in students which is so vital in life.

By taking action through a  Rachel’s Challenge partnership, schools can provide an atmosphere that will save the lives of students and prevent the devastating damage that all types of bullying cause. For more information about how Rachel’s Challenge can help your school create a safe, accepting, empathetic learning environment for all students, reach out today.