Bullying is the aggressive behavior among students, which can be physical, verbal or moral acts that repeatedly occur, with no specific reason.  Bullying can be done by one or various students against another who possesses less physical and/or social power and dominance usually at school, and happens mainly inside the classroom or during break.

This phenomenon is related to aggressive and hostile behavior by students who judge themselves as superior and believe that they won’t be punished for their actions inside school. Bullies often come from broken homes, living with aggressive and violent parents. Behavior disorders such as disruptive disorder (oppositional defiant disorders and conduct disorder), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar disorder are commonly associated to bullies.

The target of bullying is usually those who are shy, quiet, insecure, with poor social skills and not capable of reacting to the aggression. Frequently they are physically weak and smaller than the bully, younger and therefore showing difficulty to defend themselves. New students at school, coming from other locations and from different religious groups are usually victims of bullying.  Many times these young people show behavior disorders associated to social phobia, dysthymia, depression or invasive development disorder (autism and Asperger syndrome).

Not only the targets suffer with the bullying, but those who witness this aggressive behavior also live in constant fear of becoming the next victim, and the school environment becomes hostile, frightening and unsafe.

Most victims do not look for help because they are afraid of the bullies and believe that there will be no punishment for the harassment. Bullying often happens inside the classroom, in front of teachers who many times minimize, make fun and underestimate the problem, therefore, not doing anything about the harassment.

Boys tend to be more involved in bullying where they intimidate physically, or through threats and are responsible for more aggressive acts. As for the girls, they are more verbal, usually with other girls, by excluding and spreading rumors.

Today it is so easy for young people to communicate through the world-wide web, that a new phenomenon has arisen: cyber bullying. Through virtual chat rooms, e-mails and WebPages on the internet, texts, images and even videos of the victims are exposed. Communities called “Myspace”, for instance, have been used for such actions. New communities are put together with the sole purpose of being aggressive, spreading rumors, offending and putting their victims down.

Children and youngsters, victims of bullying, experience great suffering that may interfere in their social-emotional development and school performance. The main consequences affecting those who are victims of bullying are low self-esteem, underachievement at school, resisting and refusing to go to school, frequently changing schools and quitting studies. Depression and school phobia may be triggered as a result of harassments, and many times suicidal attempts may occur.

Bullies want to control and dominate other students. Many were or are physically abused by their parents or relatives. They are often involved in delinquent acts, show conduct disorder symptoms and make abusive use of alcohol and drugs. In adulthood, they may become aggressive, violent parents and copy such behavior with their children or peers at work.