Psychological attacks with insults and ridicule as one of the main techniques take center stage in bullying. This is stated in the V Student Opinion Report prepared by the ANAR Foundation (Help for Children and Adolescents at Risk) together with the Mutua Madrileña Foundation. The study points out, however, that the perception of bullying in classrooms is decreasing and one in 10 students (11.8%) believes that there are classmates who suffer bullying compared to 24.4% the previous year.
"The physical damage decreases and the psychological damage takes center stage," warns the study in which 9,616 students between 11 and 14 years old and 356 teachers who attended awareness workshops last year participated. Thus, insults, ridicule and name-calling continue to be the "most prevalent" form of aggression. 88.1% of those surveyed referred to this type of harassment. The report points out that the perception of cyberbullying has also decreased to 7.4%. WhatsApp continues to be the most used channel to practice it (70.2%) followed by Instagram (49.6%) and Tik Tok (38.5%). Furthermore, almost one in four students (23.3%) acknowledges having participated without realizing it in a bullying situation.
Physical appearance (64.6%) and what they do and say (56%) are the most frequent ways of attacking the victim.
However, students' perception of bullying is declining. 11.8% believe that there are classmates in class who suffer from it. This is the lowest percentage recorded since the beginning of these studies, in 2015. Then the perception was around 50%. For Lorenzo Cooklin, general director of the Mutua Madrileña Foundation, the figures show that "the measures implemented by both governments and campaigns are working." There is more sensitivity towards the issue and also more tools to detect harassment, he explains.
Despite the good news, the predilection for psychological harassment is worrying. "We should not minimize the damage that psychological harassment can cause," says Benjamín Ballesteros, technical director of the ANAR Foundation. This form of bullying can cause anxiety, aggression, low self-esteem and also problems relating to relationships, he warns.
The trend of group attacks is also decreasing, according to the report's data, although they continue to occur in 68% of cases.
More tools and more sensitivity to detect warning situations seem to be behind the detected improvement. 53.9% of teachers surveyed have been aware of a case. However, nine out of ten teachers affirm that the bullying situation ended once they intervened. Even so, in 9.6% of cases, the harassment persists.
