Statistical Statements on bullying in recent years, with a survey in a small city center.

The term "bullying" was coined to refer to the acts of violence generally perpetrated during adolescence and pre-teenage, especially at school. Bullying expresses a concept still without its own detailed technical definition and is generally used to refer to the whole series of bad behaviors held by young people towards their peers, characterized by violent, vexatious and persecutory actions. Being evident and clear manifestation of lawlessness, the phenomenon is inevitably linked to juvenile crime, hooliganism and vandalism: bullying adolescents is the equivalent of mobbing that occurs among adults. In short, bullying can be defined as the attitude of arrogance and abuse of power against the weak; in particular, the term includes a wide range of harassment and aggressive behavior, including physical and verbal abuse, ridicule threats, defamation and rumors spread orally or by other means of communication (SMS, smartphones, Internet, etc.), until the phenomenon of so-called cyberbullying. "Bullies" are those young people who often take a defiant, arrogant and violent attitude, while "bullied" are those who are exposed repeatedly and for a certain period of time to negative actions and harassing by one or more persons, from which they are not able to defend themselves. The consequences of bullying can be serious, procuring for those who are victims tendency to isolation, psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression, and in severe cases even suicidal ideation. The public awareness of this phenomenon is growing, and it is hoped that this will lead to initiatives at the political level to try to counter the problem.