Too often, people don't take bullying seriously. Bullying happens when someone hurts or scares another person on purpose and the person being bullied has a hard time defending him or herself. It is aggressive behavior that is intentional, repeated over time and involves an imbalance of power or strength.

Studies show that between 15-25% of U.S. students are bullied with some frequency, while 15-20% report that they bully others with some frequency. Research also shows that as many as 160,000 students may stay home from school on any given day because they are afraid of being bullied.

Bullying can take many forms, including physical bullying such as hitting, punching or shoving; verbal bullying, such as teasing, name-calling or gossip; nonverbal or emotional bullying, such as intimidating someone through gestures, keeping certain people out of a "group" or getting certain people to "gang up" on others; and cyber bulling, by sending insulting messages by e-mail.

Children and youth who are bullied are more likely than other children to be depressed, lonely or anxious and commonly have low self-esteem, feel unwell and think about suicide. Young people who bully are more likely than those who don't bully to skip or drop out of school, vandalize property, smoke, drink alcohol and get into fights. Sixty percent of boys who were bullies in middle school had at least one criminal conviction by the age of 24.

Sadly, adults are often unaware of bullying problems. In one study, 70% of teachers believed they intervened "almost always" in bullying situations; only 25% of students agreed with this assessment. Parents, teachers, and other adults must do their part to create an atmosphere in which bullying is not tolerated.