Physical, Verbal, Relational, And Cyber Bullying

According to the American Psychological Association(APA) bullying is a public health issue (2004). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines bullying as “any unwanted aggressive behavior by another youth or group of youths who are not siblings or current dating partners that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated”(2016)
There are many forms of bullying. The most common forms of bullying are physical, verbal, relational, and cyber. Physical bullying is face-to-face which can include spitting, shoving, pushing, and/or hitting (Wang et al., 2009). Verbal is name-calling, teasing, and threatening. Physical and verbal bullying are both considered direct forms

of bullying (Wang et al., 2009). Relational is an indirect form of bullying, excluding an individual from social groups, and spreading rumors (Wang et al., 2009). Cyber bullying occurs through the use of technology. Bullying can also be peer sexual harassment.
The top four roles in bullying are the bully/bullies, follower henchman, victim, and defender of the victim. The bully/bullies initiate the bullying and also play an active role in the situation (Olweus, n.d.). The follower henchman takes an active role in the situation but does not initiate the bullying (Olweus, n.d.). The victim is the person being targeted by the bully/bullies (Olweus, n.d.). The defender of the victim does not condone bullying and helps or tries to help the victim (Olweus, n.d.).
More than one in five children between the ages twelve and eighteen reported being bullied at school (Robers, Zhang, Morgan, & Muse-Gillette, 2015)
According to a study conducted by Wang, Iannotti, and Nansel 13.3 percent of students reported they had started and had an active role in physical bullying in the past two months (2009). The study also reported that 37.4 percent of students were verbally bullied, 27.2 percent were relationally bullied, and 8.3 percent were electronically bullied (Wang, Iannotti, & Nansel, 2009).
In 2013, the School Crime Supplement (SCS) national study reported twenty-two percent of students ranging from twelve to eighteen years of age were bullied at school (Lessne & Cidade, 2015).

Study proved females suffer more from bullying at school and cyber bullying than males. 23.7 percent of females reported being bullied at school versus 19.5 percent of males (Robers, Zhang, Morgan, & Muse-Gillette, 2015). 8.6 percent of females reported being bullied on the Internet versus 5.2 percent of males (Robers, Zhang, Morgan, & Muse-Gillette, 2015). Females are more likely to be victims of gossip and/or sexual commentaries while males are more prone to being physically bullied (Wang, Iannotti, & Nansel, 2009).
Cyber bullying is not traditional bullying. Cyber bullying is a form of aggression through technology for example, e-mails, social media, text messaging, instant messaging, and more (Wang, Iannotti, & Nansel, 2009). When a person is using social media or technology to share fabricated, humiliating, or argumentative information about another individual they are performing cyber bullying (Schurgin & Clarke-Pearson,

2011).
The reason social media impacts bullying is because the use of technology is growing.

According to a report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project seventy-five percent of teenagers’ own personal cellphones (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010). Fifty-eight percent of twelve year olds own personal cellphones (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010). Ninety-three percent of teenagers between the ages of twelve and seventeen go online (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010). Seventy-three of American teens that use the Internet also use social networking websites (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010). Sixty-five percent of teens use an online social networking site (Lenhart, 2009). Thirty-eight percent of youth ranging from twelve to fourteen years old reported they have an online profile and seventy-seven percent between the ages of fifteen and seventeen (Lenhart, 2009). Twitter is a very popular social networking site among adults but not teens. Only eight percent of teenagers’ ages twelve to seventeen use twitter compared to nineteen percent of adults ages eighteen to twenty-nine (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr,

2010).
According to Kowalski (2014) cyber bullying incidence percentages range from ten percent to forty percent for youth participants. Bullies use social media to their advantage. Although the percentages of teens on twitter are not high bullying still occurs. Twitter lets users use hash tags in their statuses, people can later on simply click on the hash tag and it will bring up everything posted with that specific hash tag. In a study conducted from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012 25,370,824 tweets were related to bullying (Calvin, Bellmore, Xu, & Zhu, 2015).

Cyber bullying has many negative psychosocial functioning impacts for example, lowered self- esteem, anxiety, suicidal, school absenteeism, depression, and loneliness (American Psychological Association, 2004). Amanda Todd was a British fifteen-year-old female who commit suicide due to cyber bullying in 2012 (Calvin, Bellmore, Xu, & Zhu, 2015). Amanda was forced to expose herself on webcam and the bully then revealed photos on Facebook. Amanda commits suicide five weeks after (Calvin, Bellmore, Xu, & Zhu, 2015). Jamey Rodemeyer, fourteen-year-old American male commits suicide because of cyber bullying in 2011(Calvin, Bellmore, Xu, & Zhu, 2015). Jamey was an activist against homophobic bullying through Tumblr and YouTube. He was also a victim of both traditional and cyber bullying (Calvin, Bellmore, Xu, & Zhu, 2015).