Where the Bullies Are …
By Carrie Lee
Originally published by Reuters, June 12, 2002
HONG KONG (Reuters) — Hong Kong children are bullied more by their peers in school than kids in the West, according to a study released Wednesday.
Nearly a third of 174 primary school children surveyed in April and May said they had been bullied on campus in the past three months, according to the study, conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and social services agency Heep Hong Society.
Most said they had been pushed by classmates or made fun of, but others said they had been slapped, punched, kicked or even sexually harassed.
The rate was far higher than nine percent in Norway, 16 percent in Australia, 10-24 percent in the United States, 20 percent in Canada and 21-27 percent in Britain, researchers told a news conference, citing various polls overseas between 1993 and 2002.
Professor Wong Chack-kie of the university's Social Work Department said the higher incidence of bullying in Hong Kong schools may be due to Chinese cultural values.
"I believe that Chinese pay more attention to performance and judge people's value by performance … but not their intrinsic value," he said.
"So some may think, oh, as I'm older or doing better than you, or as you're weak, self-abased or diffident, I can bully you," Wong said.
Researchers said they were also concerned that the trend could reflect growing violence in society at large.
Social workers say domestic violence has increased in the territory in the past few years as the economy slumped and more people worry about paying the bills or losing their jobs.
"From my counseling experience, some kids who bully others at school have themselves been bullied elsewhere. They may have suffered violence from adults, probably parents, and take it out on other children," said Monica Yau, one of the researchers.
"According to overseas studies, kids who bully peers have a higher chance than others of committing offences or assaulting people when they grow up," Yau added.
