Bullying
Bullying involves repeated exposure over time through events and actions that are viewed as negative and are performed by one or more students (Beran & Li, 2008; Kozasa et al., 2017). There are two types of bullying: direct, such as starting fights or verbal assaults, and indirect, such as spreading rumors and gossiping about individuals (Smith et al., 2002). Much of the literature on in-person bullying comes from work with elementary and high school age populations. Bullying emerges as humans compete for wealth and power (Donegan, 2012). As schools create competitive environments by driving students to try to gain an advantage over other students, they may unintentionally promote bullying through their competitive atmospheres in areas such as grades, sports, and college acceptance (Donegan, 2012). To gain a sense of superiority and power, bullies may abuse their victims physically, mentally, or verbally (Beran & Li, 2007). The imbalance of power occurs because bullies have a sense of dominance, which at times begins by other peers elevating the bully above other students (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). One form of bullying, then, may be viewed as proactive aggression, in which aggression is used to meet an individual’s goal to elevate and maintain a social status rather than used out of anger (Espelage et al., 2004).
By the time that students are college age, physical aggression decreases but evidence suggests that bullying continues at rates that are similar to what is seen in secondary school (Chapell et al, 2004; Pontzer, 2010). Further, there are negative consequences of bullying that persist in decreased academic and social achievement in college among victims (Donegan, 2012; Jantzer & Cashel, 2017).