Why do some people bully?

Drawing: Sung Hwi Chung

A bully can think of all kinds of ways to make another person feel hurt, afraid, uncomfortable, or just plain miserable.  It can be physical, verbal, or emotional.  Often bullies torment a victim over a long period of time, increasing the victim's sense of fear and distress.

Go to CBBC Newsround to explore your own ideas about bullying. You can take a quiz, analyze bullying dilemmas, and more.

Send your comments:

• Have you ever witnessed a bullying incident? What happened?
• What do you think makes bullies behave so aggressively?
• Why do you think they become bullies?

Comments

[Lim Ju Hee]

I have observed a bullying situation. When I was 14 years, there was a classmate who was bald. In his childhood, he had been sick, so he had lost his hair. Some bullies always teased him about his bald head. Whenever I saw them do it, my heart ached for him, but I couldn't do anything. I was also afraid of the bullies.

[Eunjin Kim]

A bully is a person who harasses another person who doesn't want to be harassed. For example, they call other students names or hit them. There are two reasons why bullies usually behave their way. One reason is many bullies have been abused by their parents, families, or friends in childhood, so they have emotional problems. Another reason is that bullies want to have power over other people. They want people to think they are tough, and think hitting and bothering victims will make other people think they are.

[Eunjin Kim]

Bullies have mental problems and tend to be aggressive and nervous.
They may have suffered in childhood. For example, they may have been abused or treated badly by their parents, family, or friends. This sometimes causes children to become bullies later on.

So, how do we deal with bullies? I think the best way to deal with bullies is to punish them strictly. If they do bullying, the school can do that they give suspension to bullies. Then, they will realize how bad bullying is.If they do bullying, the school can do that they give suspension to bullies.
For example, if they bully others, the school can suspend them.

[Seo, InJi]

When I was a middle school student I saw a bullying incident. Some students picked on one student who was weaker than the others, and they harassed him and even took money. At that time most of students though that bullies were bad, but no one told them anything. All students were scared that they would become victims. I think bullies more and more aggressively because others don’t want to intervene. As they become more violent, bystander hard intervene bullying.

[Sujeong Hong]

I see that some students harass small and weak students. Basically bullies want to have power and show it. I think that the reason why they bully other classmate is that they don't know how they can have real power. Also, they may want something they don't have and bully someone to get it.

[Mi Hye Ahn]

I once witnessed a bullying incident. When I was an elementary school student, there was a handicapped girl who couldn't speak very well. Many boys hit, teased and kicked her. The boys enjoyed bullying the girl and they wanted to show their power by bullying her. I think that the reason they became bullies is they wanted to have power over people.

[Sung Hwi Chung]

Bullies enjoy bullying and victims' fearful face. Then they think they are stronger than any other people so they are very mean people.

In my high school years in Korea, my friend Lee was a victim of bullying. Everyday, bullies took his money and hit him without reason. One day, bullies hit him in the chest and he fainted, but he didn't tell his parents or teachers anything. I thought he was scared of the bullies. Finally, he transfered to another school.

[Anne Davis]

Lim Ju Hee,
I think it is so very sad that this classmate was teased about being bald. He had already been through enough with his sickness. Once I read about a whole group of students who shaved their heads when a friend was sick and was losing all his hair. It was a way to make their friend not feel so alone. Maybe friends could do something like this in a bullying situation of this type. Maybe the bullies might get the message. Do you think this would be one solution you and your friends might consider doing?

[Anne Davis]

Eunjin Kim,

I think you are right in that we do need to punish bullies strictly. They must understand that this will not be tolerated.

It seems though that just suspending the bully will not get to the root of the problem. Can you think of other ways to deal with bullies than just suspension?

[Yong Jin Lee]

I saw several bullying incidents when I was a middle school student. The bullies harassed and took money from victims. I think they behave so aggressively because they usually hang around with many other bullies.

I was really surprised when I saw a real bullying incident. There were four bullies and only one victim. None of the bystanders attempted to help the victim because there were so many bullies and they were bigger than other students.

I think they become bullies because they are bigger and stronger and they just want to abuse their power over the other students.

[Anonymous]

The bully is a person who makes people feel bad by hurting them physically or verbally. Logically, there are some reasons why people bully. A child who used to be spanked and grounded all the times by his parents might obviously feel really unhappy and unliked. In conclusion, he'll try to have revenge by picking on weaker people. People can also bully to bring attention to themselves.

[Demba]

The bully is a person who makes people feel bad by hurting them physically or verbally. Logically, there are some reasons why people bully. A child who used to be spanked and grounded all the times by his parents might obviously feel really unhappy and unliked. In conclusion, he'll try to have revenge by picking on weaker people. People can also bully to bring attention to themselves.

[Lee, Eun Hyun]

When I was in middle and high school, I witnessed many bullying incidents. Bullies always picked on their victims, In addition, they spread rumors in school about their victims and did not let the other students be friends with them. They also hit and kicked the victims; however, the victims didn't do anything.

I think many bullies are influenced by home enviroment, They have a lot of stress in their home, They have a lot of stress at home and try to get rid of it by bullying other people.

[Sel]

I think people bully, because they do not have self-esteem, self-confidence, so by bullying they think it makes them look tougher, and in control. It makes them feel secure. I believe that also there may be problems at home, which effect their life in many ways, and they get angry and take the anger out on innocent people. This is wrong. People commit sucide ever year because of bullying. Some people don't even realise that they do - Until it gets serious.

Bullies are people that are afraid, insecure, unhappy, upset, cruel and mean people.

I am a peer mentor - someone who helps people with friendship, and family problems. In Primary I used to be a playground friend - same thing. This girl was constantly being bullied, and the bully was my friend. I did talk to her and it worked. For a while. The girl who was being bullied always ran to me, in tears. I always sorted it out. Calmed the place down. Until the girl being bullied came up to the bullies shouted insults spread rumours. I was shocked. Now she was a bully too. A big argument broke out. And my friend just decided the girl was worth nothing. And the girl who was being bullied left school, after showing such attitude.

Beat bullying.

You know have ever any of you guys noticed when someone is being bullied, there is always another person there witnessing the situation - But does nothing. This is wrong. I'm not saying jump in the situation and seperate them and get hurt yourself.I'm telling you to tell someone. Possibly an adult. Don't let them suffer in silence.

Don't suffer in silence. Tell someone.

Sel, 13, London, [email protected]

[Katja]

I find people say the same thing about why people bully. I think that there are more reasons why though. Maybe they are just lonely or unhappy about something...and bullying just makes them feel better knowing that other people are unhappy. The bully probably then thinks that he's not an outcast, because other people are like him and he won't get picked on or feel like an outsider.

[Laura]

When I was 11 years old and went to elementary school, I was bullied. One day at lunch time, a girl hit me with her backpack and I fell down. All my classmates laughed at me. I felt bad about the situation and reported it to the office. After that, she had to do detention, and then the classmates laughed at her. She never bullied anyone after that.

[Maddie]

I just started year 8 and wasn't very confident about meeting new people and making new friends. On the first day of high school I had sport and had to get changed into my sport uniform in the change room with everyone else.

As I was getting changed, I heard girls whispering about me. They were saying how fat I was and that I needed to get changed somewhere else. This made me really upset.

Then during sports we were doing running and I couldn't keep up. One of the girls yelled out to me 'Come on fatty, run faster!' This made me really depressed. I didn't eat for weeks. What they said scared me deeply.

Now I have moved schools. All my new friends love me and I never want to see those girls ever again!

[Sammy]

When I was in high school, I saw many people discriminate against others because they didn't like the way they dressed. I was usually a bystander and did nothing, but a few times I defended them because I believed it was the correct thing to do.

[Elena]

I think I understand what bullying means. Every day I see how some high school students bully others. I remember a case when some girls used to bully another girl by excluding her from their group, calling her ugly names, laughing at her, and being rude. This girl kept quiet; she just went away or ignored them.

[John]

To be honest I've seen bullying a lot and have been bullied. There is only 1 way to get rid of bullying, grab a weapon and severely beat the bully, and I mean beat them bloody and scream and shout and employ all the typical tactics to strike fear into their hearts and they won't return. it's not natural too, If people say bullies are cowards, then surely they'll know when it's over and they've pushed you too far.

[Monica]

I work in a school cafeteria. I see children bully other children in line before lunch, punching and hitting them. They don't respect other children.

[Pinkie]

I think that bullying is very wrong and that it should stop because if you have a problem, you can't stop it by not telling anyone. Tell someone, don't suffer in silence!

[Katie Mackrill]

I used to be bullied really bad and I hated myself and the person who was bullying me.

I think that bullying is a silly thing that people do to get attention and because the feel bad about themselves.

I admit that I used to bully people but have stopped now because I didnt like so I know for certain that other people wont like it if anyone gets bullied now I try to help them and to stop it right away.

[Asad Qazi]

Bullying is not good. it is really wrong and it should stop.

[Frazer Stead]

I used to be bullied at school. I felt like killing myself