Three out of 10 adolescents in Taiwan have experienced bullying, either as victims or witnesses, with verbal and physical bullying being the most common, a survey conducted by the Taiwan International Association for Advancement of Children Rights has found.
A total of 30.58 percent of respondents — comprising junior and senior-high school students — said they have either been the victims of bullying or have seen or heard people around them being bullied.
The types of bullying were verbal bullying (86.3 percent), physical bullying (70.8 percent), relational bullying (67 percent), cyberbullying (18 percent) and sexual bullying (13.6 percent), the survey found.
When asked about the possible cause of bullying, respondents attributed 59 percent of the cases to the victim’s personality, 49.5 percent to physical appearance and 27 percent to personal hygiene.
The survey found that 13 percent of the respondents were victims of bullying, which resulted in polarized reactions, said Chang An-tzu (張安慈), a consultant at the association.
Some of the victims changed their attitudes in an attempt to fit in, but others became depressed and were reluctant or afraid to make friends, Chang said.
Bullied adolescents might refuse to attend school, injure themselves deliberately, have nightmares or even lash out when they think they are about to be bullied, Chang said.
Judging from the reasons cited for bullying, adolescent people’s character, including their ability to make friends, and their self-image and sense of worth, can be improved, Chang said.
Efforts to prevent bullying should be improved, because as many as 70 percent of adolescents ignore, choose not to get involved or do not know what to do when they witness bullying, Chang said.
The survey was conducted last month and collected 1,205 valid samples.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS