Fewer kids bullied today, compared to parents’ generation: poll
Posted February 25, 2015 7:00 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Is bullying less prominent today than it was a generation ago? According to a new Angus Reid poll many feel think it’s less of a problem today.
“The big take away from this is that three-quarters of Canadian adults say that they themselves were bullied in school while nearly half of today’s parents say it has happened or is happening to their kids,” says Shachi Kurl with the polling agency.
She explains how bullying is reported has also changed recently.
“When you talk to adults who were bullied in school as children between the ages of grade one and 12, what we find is that very few were either actually themselves reporting the bullying or believed that their school was aware of the bullying.”
Only 33 per cent of those adults reported bullying to their school or believed their school was aware of it.
“The situation today in terms of the school’s awareness and response to the issues is better today than they were when Canadian adults were being bullied as children,” says Kurl.
However, she says parents are still evenly divided on whether they think schools are doing enough.
“Parents are pretty much split on this issue. Almost exactly half say schools are doing well in responding effectively to bullying and almost half saying schools are not responding effectively. In British Columbia, what we find is there are higher levels of those who say schools are responding effectively to bullying than in other parts of the country.”
One-third of parents who have children that were bullied said the incident has had a “lasting and serious impact” on them.
