35 percent of bullying victims do not discuss the problem

The Asahi Shimbun
November 13, 2006
Source: http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200611130181.html

One in three victims of bullying at school last year kept the problem a secret, a fivefold increase from 2001, the National Police Agency said.

The agency is calling on bullying victims to use counseling counters set up at prefectural police departments to help deal with the problem, which has has been increasing since 2002.

According to the NPA, 165 cases of assault or injury related to bullying at school occurred last year, compared with 94 cases reported in 2002.

The figure for 2005 was the second highest in the last decade, behind only the 170 recorded in 2000, according to the NPA.

The agency also asked 203 bullying victims about the people they turned to for consultations.

About 35 percent said they did not talk to anybody, a huge jump from the 7 percent in 2001, according to the agency.

About 41 percent of the bullied children, who were allowed to give multiple answers, said they conferred with their parents or guardians. In 2001, 65 percent chose that answer.

The percentage of bullied students who talked to their teachers grew at a sluggish pace to 31 percent last year.

On the other hand, 13 percent of the children relied on third-party counseling organizations, such as police, about double the figure for 2001.

Among the 326 students who were caught or taken into police custody for perpetrating the bullying, 240 were junior high school students, 63 senior high school students, and 23 elementary school students.

The agency asked what motivated them to bully the others. Most of them blamed the victims.

The most popular answer, at 27.3 percent, was that the victims were "weak and offered no resistance."

About 27 percent said the victims were "pretentious and conceited," while 11.7 percent cited "frequent lies" and 11.3 percent cited "slowness" among the victims.(IHT/Asahi: November 13,2006