Physical Bullying
Harm to someone’s body or property
Emotional Bullying
Harm to someone’s self-esteem or
feeling of safety
Social Bullying
Harm to someone’s group acceptance
Verbal
Nonverbal
Verbal
Nonverbal
Verbal
Nonverbal
LEVEL ONE
• Expressing physical superiority
• Blaming the victim for starting the conflict
• Making threatening gestures
• Defacing property
• Pushing/shoving
• Taking small items
from others
• Insulting remarks
• Calling names
• Teasing about
possessions,
clothes, physical
appearance
• Giving dirty looks
• Holding nose or other insulting gestures
• Gossiping
• Starting or spreading rumors
• Teasing publicly about clothes, looks, relationships with boys/girls, etc.
• Ignoring someone and excluding them from a group
LEVEL TWO (some of these behaviors are against the law)
• Threatening physical harm
• Damaging property
• Stealing
• Starting fights
• Scratching or biting
• Pushing, tripping, or causing a fall
• Assaulting
• Insulting family
• Harassing with phone calls
• Insulting your size, intelligence, athletic ability, race, color, religion, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation
• Defacing school work or other personal property, such as clothing, locker, or books
• Saying someone is related to a person considered an enemy of this country (e.g., Osama bin Laden)
• Ostracizing using notes, Instant Messaging, e-mail, etc.
• Posting slander in public places (such as writing derogatory comments about someone in the school bathroom)
• Playing mean tricks to embarrass someone
LEVEL THREE (most of these behaviors are against the law)
• Making repeated and/or graphic threats (harassing)
• Practicing extortion (such as taking lunch money)
• Threatening to keep someone silent: “If you tell, it will be a lot worse!”
• Destroying property
• Setting fires
• Physical cruelty
• Repeatedly acting in a violent, threatening manner
• Assaulting with a weapon
• Harassing you because of bias against your race, color, religion, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation
• Destroying personal property, such as clothing, books, jewelry
• Writing graffiti with bias against your race, color, religion, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation
• Enforcing total group exclusion against someone by threatening others if they don’t comply
• Arranging public humiliation
Source: US Department of Education. Exploring the Nature and Prevention of Bullying. Washington, DC: Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools.