Cyberbullying causes suicidal ideation in both bullies and victims: One in four cyberbullies acknowledges having tried to take their own life at some point (24.9%), and in the case of cybervictims one in five (21.1%). These are data belonging to the ‘I Study on bullying and cyberbullying in Spain in childhood and adolescence’, carried out by the Preventive Psychology Unit of the Complutense University and the ColaCao Foundation. The work is based on research, whose field work was carried out in 2023, with the participation of a non-negligible sample made up of almost 21,000 students between 4th grade of primary school and 4th grade of secondary school in the 17 autonomous communities.
«The relationship between bullying and suicidal ideation is very worrying and requires reflection as a society. It is crucial to offer special attention to students who have been victims, helping them mitigate the consequences of their experience and accompanying them throughout the process. Furthermore, we must work on support measures for violent individuals; they must include the treatment of emotional difficulties that increase the risk of violence towards others or towards themselves,” he reflects. Javier Coromina, patron of the ColaCao Foundation, on the occasion of the presentation of this study, coinciding with the l International Day against School Violence, which UNESCO commemorates tomorrow, November 7.
«Programs against bullying must also prevent its current extension through digital devices, which increase its severity by making victims suffer from it permanently and without being able to find a safe place to stop it, inhibiting the empathy of those who experience it. They exercise and enhance anonymity and impunity with serious consequences. Schools and families must cooperate closely in the fight against these two forms of bullying and need the collaboration of the rest of society,” explained the doctor. María José Díaz-Aguado, director of research and of the Preventive Psychology Unit of the Complutense University of Madrid.
“The majority don’t tell it”
The study also sheds other light on bullying and cyberbullying. In fact, more than half of cyberbullying victims do not tell anyone.. The silence among victims of cyberbullying (55%) is greater than in face-to-face bullying (38%).
The most frequent situations of cyberbullying according to those who carry them out are: calling names, spreading rumors, or criticizing physical appearance and in each classroom there is a student who acknowledges having participated in a cyberbullying situation in the last two months, with a frequency of At least two or three times a month. In terms of gender, girls suffer more cyberbullying (12.7%) than boys (8.7%). Likewise, boys (5%) acknowledge participating more in cyberbullying situations than girls (3.6%).
Other data show that almost half of bullying victims (46.4%) also suffer cyberbullyingso the suffering extends beyond the hours of attendance at school.
Given all this, experts consider it key to involve families in the prevention of bullying and cyberbullying, since the quality of family support and education reduces the risk of both cyberbullying and bullying.
“My son was bullied at school”
A third survey, this time from Funcas, estimates that 7% of parents with children in ESO are clear that their child was a victim of bullying last academic year (2023/24). However, concerns about possible bullying affects 15% of parents, since others believe that it could have been like that, without being sure of it.
They are the results of a survey carried out online in September 2024 among 1,200 mothers and fathers of ESO students and published this Wednesday on the occasion of the International Day against Violence and Harassment at School. The majority of parents stated that the harassment occurred through “insults and/or ridicule” (79%) and more than half (57%) reported “isolation and/or exclusion.”
24% of parents who clearly believe that their child was bullied at school He has decided to change school.
Another report presented by Totto and Educar es Todo this Wednesday in view of the world day that will be celebrated tomorrow is the ‘V Study on the perception of bullying in Spanish society’, based on interviews with more than 1,700 minors, teachers and parents. . According to this second report, cases of bullying have increased in the last year in Spain: 24.7% of students aged 5 to 18 claim to have been harassed, which represents an increase of more than one percentage point compared to last year.
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