Psychological bullying affects more than 50% of Spanish students
Classrooms in many areas of the country face a serious problem that affects a multitude of students: bullying. Often this situation is related to a physical aggression, however the victim can also suffer one of these cases at a psychological level, a context that is more difficult to detect because there are no visual tests that alert parents, teachers or colleagues.
What is the real situation of the psychological harassment in Spain? To answer this question, the NGO Save the Children has carried out the first survey among children and young people between 10 and 17 years old about the different forms of violence they suffer in their daily lives.
82% have witnessed harassment
The first surprising fact about this survey is that bullying is part of students' daily lives. The 82% of the participants in this work acknowledges having witnessed some type of bullying in person: 72% claim to have seen how one partner made fun of another, 55% how one student hit another, 54% saw how they were He withdrew the word to another and 48% to have seen how false rumors about another student of the center began.
26% of respondents have also witnessed a case of cyberbullying. 22% acknowledge having received a vexatious photography of a partner or some kind of content that was looking to make fun of another. 17% say they have seen this content through social networks.
Save the Children has also been interested in the situation of the students and if they suffer any kind of bullying. 52% of respondents say they have suffered some form of violence or humiliation. Mockery is also the type of harassment that most claim to have received as "personally suffered" (34%). In second place appears the spread of false rumors or lies (28%).
The physical violence it remains as the third type of harassment that respondents most claim to suffer (22%). That a classmate has stopped talking to them (18%) and repeated insults (17%) are the other forms of bullying that are most recognized by the participants in this study. Finally, 7% have been victims of cyberbullying.
23% have participated
This survey has also gathered information about the figure of students as stalkers. The first thing that draws attention in this sense is that almost one in four children recognizes have participated in some kind of act of violence or humiliation to other partners.
Again, the mockery appears as the form of harassment in which the participants participate most (11%). Physical violence is second (9%), withdraw the word to a partner in third (8%) and make repeated insults in fourth (5%). Save the Children has also been interested in the victims and what is the profile of the victim.
In a 64% of the cases the victim was an overweight student or glasses, in 47% an individual with a physical problem, in 30% a student with a disability and in 24% colleagues who speak another language. This work has also served to show how young people have become aware of the importance of reporting these cases, both in those who are witnesses and in those who have the role of victim.
The 75% of the witnesses of school bullying told an adult the case he had witnessed and 71% of them acknowledged that this decision served some purpose. As for the victims, 93% of them have told some of the people around them. Of all of them, 84% went to their parents to let them know their situation, 48% to one of their teachers and 38% to their friends.
Other figures to whom the victim has told their problem are other relatives other than the parents (10%) or the professional (9%). In these cases, 86% of respondents acknowledged that it was helpful to tell these people while 14% of them did not see results from this decision.
Damián Montero
