Young people say that bullying is their biggest concern Bullying is found in all walks of life and can happen anywhere, to anyone. Some may say ‘it’s just part of growing up’, but many young people feel powerless to stop bullying and may carry its effects long into their adult lives. Bullying can take many different forms, some less obvious than others.

Bullying is deliberately hurtful behaviour that is usually repeated over a period of time. Bullying is not the same as disputes and squabbles between friends – although this may turn into bullying, and should be addressed. Bullying behaviour deliberately causes hurt, is repetitive and involves an imbalance of power. In other words, the person on the receiving end feels like they can’t defend themselves.

Bullying can be:

• Physical: Threatening or causing injury to a person or property

• Verbal: Teasing, insulting, ridiculing, humiliating or making sexist, racist, or homophobic comments to someone

• Social: Excluding others from a group, spreading gossip or rumours about them, rejecting or isolating them, or making them feel inferior

• Cyber: using digital media to purposefully harm someone, like spreading rumours and hurtful comments through the use of e-mail, mobile phones, social media websites and text messaging.

Young people experience bullying for a variety of reasons; where they live, their sexuality, gender, disability, the colour of their skin, what clothes they wear or what team they support. Often, young people have no idea why they are being bullied.

It’s every adult’s responsibility to ensure that young people live, learn and play in an environment where bullying behaviour does not take place. Young people say they want adults to help them when bullying takes place, but often adults find it difficult to establish whether bullying is taking place or know what to do

Extract from the The Scout Association's Anti-Bullying Guide