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How
common is bullying?
In 1990, over 6,000
children from junior/middle and secondary schools in Sheffield
were asked about their experiences of bullying. Over a quarter
of the children (27%) from the junior/middle schools said
they had been bullied 'sometimes' or more often and 10%
said they were being bullied at least once a week. The numbers
dropped when secondary pupils were asked, with 10% saying
they had been bullied 'sometimes' or more often and 4% saying
that they were bullied at least once a week. When asked
about bullying others, 12% of the junior/middle pupils admitted
to bullying 'sometimes' or more often and 4% to bullying
once a week or more. 1% of the secondary school pupils in
the study admitted to bullying once a week or more.
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Article details
I Whitney and P Smith
(1993) 'A Survey of the Nature and Extent of Bullying in
Junior/Middle and Secondary Schools', in 'Educational Research',
Volume 35, Number 1, Spring.
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Graph
details
'Percentage of boys
and girls (averaged by class and school) who reported being
bullied and bullying others during this school term' from
the Whitney and Smith article above, table 1, page 8.
|
Junior/Middle
Schools |
Secondary
Schools |
|
Sometimes
or more |
Once
a week or more |
Sometimes
or more |
Once
a week or more |
| Been
bullied: |
|
|
|
|
| Boys
(N = 1271) |
28 |
10 |
12 |
5 |
| Girls
(N = 1352) |
27 |
10 |
9 |
4 |
| Overall
(N = 2623) |
27 |
10 |
10 |
4 |
| Bullied
others: |
|
|
|
|
| Boys
(N = 2152) |
16 |
6 |
8 |
2 |
| Girls
(N = 1983) |
7 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
| Overall
(N = 4135) |
12 |
4 |
6 |
1 |
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Author details
 Professor
Peter K Smith is Head of the Unit for School and Family
Studies, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, London.
He has been involved in bullying research for a number of
years and has published widely on this topic.
Peter Smith may be
contacted by email,
and the website of the Unit for School and Family Studies
at Goldsmiths College may be found
here.
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