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American Morning

Bullying Study Looks At 15,000 Students Nationwide

Aired April 25, 2001 - 9:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Here's a new wake-up call for parents. A nationwide study has found that bullying affects 30 percent of American children in 6th through the 10th grades. 13 percent of the youngsters surveyed said that they were the bullies. 10 percent said that they had been bullied. And 6 percent claimed to be part of both groups. CNN's Elaine Quijano has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt like I was nothing and I got depressed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He came up and threw something at the back of my head and threw my hat at me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want them to leave me alone, I don't want them to do anything. I just want them to leave me alone and stop talking to me.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These students are talking about being bullied. They're not alone, according to a new study by the National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development. Researchers surveyed more than 15,000 students in grades 6 through 10 and found nearly one-third either were bullies, were the victims of bullies, or both.

TONJA NANSEL, STUDY CO-AUTHOR: We shouldn't think of this as a normal childhood behavior, or rite of passage, but rather as a serious issue that we need to address.

QUIJANO: Bullying can be either verbal, physical or psychological, like spreading rumors, or making sexual comments. Researchers found examples in every type of school, private, parochial and public schools; rural, suburban and urban schools.

(on camera): So, what's the best way to handle the problem? Experts say that depends on the situation. For some kids, approaching a trusted adult is the best solution. And for parents, often, the first step is awareness.

DALE SIMON, GUIDANCE COUNSELOR: If your child comes home and is sad, doesn't want to go to school, crying, complaining that he or she doesn't have any friends, kids don't like them -- any of that should be reported to the guidance counselor. QUIJANO: Experts say intervention is the key to making sure school yard bullying doesn't escalate into behavior with tragic consequences.

Elaine Quijano, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: You just heard a comment from the author of the bullying study, Tonja Nansel, in that story on the problem of bullying. Dr. Nansel joins us live now from Washington; she's got more on her findings and some solutions for us this morning.

Thank you for coming in, Dr. Nansel, appreciate your time this morning. Let's begin by first of all asking you about a comment that you made in that report. You said this is not just to be considered a rite of passage; why not? This is the kind of thing that's been happening for eons, has it not?

NANSEL: Yes, we belief it has. This is the first study that looked how often bullying really does occur in the United States. But we know from talking to adults and adults reminiscing back to their childhood, that bullying has occurred.

In the past years, however, we have really come to learn that bullying is associated with a lot of problems for youth, and may in fact have long-term consequences. So, with the prevalence of bullying that we saw in this study, it is really important that we address this as a serious public health problem.

HARRIS: All right, let's start out with what is new in this study. Is there anything new in this study that any parents who are watching this morning may not have known or heard before?

NANSEL: Probably the most important -- there are a couple of important things. Number one, bullying is very common. As you already stated about 30 percent of the children reported they had been bullied, and about one in six either bully or bullied on a frequent basis. That was about once a week or more.

It is important for parents to know they need to talk to their children about bullying, that they are a very important part of helping their children, either learn not to bully other children or to learn how to respond if they are being bullied.

HARRIS: OK, the numbers you have come across in this report. I would to ask you about whether or not those numbers represent an increase over time or what, because in recent years, we have heard bullying being raised as an issue in a number of different school shooting incidents that we've been covering on this network in particular, and things that have happening across the country that have been blamed on bullying at some point. Does this represent an increase of any kind?

NANSEL: Unfortunately, we don't know that, because the issue just has not been studied in the United States. This was the first study to look at how frequently bullying does occur. We do know awareness has been raised, and that has become an issue of a lot more discussion and concern lately.

HARRIS: You know, one of the things that people I'm sure are wondering, OK, if I've got one in my house, or I've got one in my neighborhood, how do I identify them? Did you come across anything these bullies had in common, perhaps their parents or their environment or whatever?

NANSEL: There are a few things we learned in this study. And other things we learned in previous research. In this study we found that students who were being bullied were more likely to feel very lonely, to be somewhat isolated and have difficulty getting along with their classmates. So, we really need to identify those students who are having difficulty fitting in as students who maybe targets of bullying.

Students who bullied other children were also involved in other problem behavior, such as smoking, drinking, and not doing well at school. So, those are the types of children who may be involved in bullying others.

HARRIS: How about the ones that are being bullied? We have a graphic prepared for parents showing signs whether or not your child is being bullied.

NANSEL: It is important for parents and teachers to look for these of signs because often, a child who is being bullied won't tell anyone. It is embarrassing, they feel weak. But if a child showing any signs of having difficulty at school, not wanting to go to school, showing depression, loneliness, feeling like they don't fit in, or low self-esteem, it is very important to talk to your child and try to find out what is going on.

HARRIS: You know, you've heard that saying that fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. What do we know now about the kinds of parents raising bullies?.

NANSEL: That's something that we need to learn a lot more about. The some done by a Dr. Oyies (ph) in Norway has found that oftentimes bullies come from families where these types of aggressive behaviors are more frequent or more normal, but this is something we don't know a lot about. So, we need to learn more.

HARRIS: Still need some answers there. Dr. Nansel, thanks much for your time this morning. You may have really helped out some people who are watching; we appreciate that.

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