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Dear Diary,

Today was one of the worst days of my life. I give up. Why won't Gina just leave me alone? I've never done anything to her, but all she does is make fun of me! Today, on the bus, she and Sarah took my lunch and played keep-away with it. The bus driver had to get it back for me. That was so embarrassing. During lunch, she "accidentally" spilt her soda all over my lap and over my history notes. I just wanted to become invisible! And she is probably the one who hid my gym suit so I'd get in trouble in phys ed.

How much more of this can I take? I just can't figure out what I've done to deserve it all. No one seems to care. 1 feel so all alone! No one's on my side. No one is even nice enough to stick up for me. Am I really that bad?

I hate Gina so much my stomach hurts when I think about her! It's not fair! It's just not fair. I hate Gina. I hate myself!! I wish I was dead!

-(Excerpted from "Bullybusters")

Bullying behavior is a school-wide problem. Foltz-Gray (1996) and Olweus (1993) reported that one child out of every seven is either a bully or a victim of bullying. Mulrine (1999) noted that 43% of the children surveyed in a nationwide study indicated they were afraid to go to the bathroom during school because they feared being harassed. The National School Safety Center considered bullying to be the most enduring and underrated problem in U.S. schools (Mulrine, 1999).

Bullying

What is bullying? Most students think of bullying as one person threatening or actually physically assaulting another person for no apparent reason. While these are examples of bullying behaviors, they are not exhaustive. Bullying also includes name-calling, teasing, writing hurtful statements, intentional exclusion, stealing, and defacing personal property. Banks (1999) categorized bullying as either direct behaviors (teasing, taunting, hitting, shoving, kicking) initiated against a victim or indirect behaviors (behaviors that cause a student to be socially isolated through willful exclusion). He noted that boys typically engage in direct bullying, while girls who bully are more apt to use indirect methods such as spreading rumors...

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