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An estimated one in seven students is either a bully or victim
60% of boys who were bullies in middle school had at least one criminal conviction by the age of 24
- Punching, shoving and other acts that cause physical harm
- Spreading rumors (including cyber-bullying)
- Excluding people from a "group"
- Teasing in a mean way
- Getting certain people to "gang up" on others
- Sending mean text, email, or instant messages
- Posting nasty pictures or messages about others in blogs or on Web sites
- Using someone else's user name to spread rumors or lies about someone
- Nearly 35% of kids have been threatened online and almost one in five have had it happen more than once.
- Among this percentage, being ignored and disrespected were the most common forms of cyber bullying.
- Nine out of ten middle school students have had their feelings hurt online.
- About 75% have visited a Web site bashing another student.
- Four out of ten middle school students have had their password(s) stolen and changed by a bully who then locked them out of their own account or sent communications posing as them.
- About 21% of kids have received mean or threatening e-mails.
- The psychological and emotional outcomes of cyber-bullying are similar to real-life bullying outcomes, except for the reality that with cyber bullying there is often no escape. School ends at 3 p.m., while the Internet is available all the time.
- The primary cyber-bullying location where victimizing occurs, at 56%, is in chat rooms.
- Girls are about twice as likely as boys to be victims and perpetrators of cyber-bullying.
- About 58% of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online. More than four out of ten say it has happened more than once.
- Cyber-bullying has increased in recent years. In a national survey of 10-17 year olds, twice as many children indicated they had been victims and perpetrators of online harassment in 2005 compared with 2000.