(ECNS) -- A survey by China Youth Daily shows 86 percent of respondents believe there is "cold violence" present in schools while 69.6 percent said such non-physical attacks mainly happen at middle schools.
Among the 1,999 respondents, the top three forms of emotional abuse in schools were said to be sarcastic rhetoric (56.2 percent), hurling insults (51.4 percent) and mocking (50.2 percent).
A junior student at a university in Beijing said one of his classmates became reticent after his strong hometown accent became a laughing stock.
Besides middle school, over 55 percent thought students in high school are also vulnerable to emotional abuse.
From a gender perspective, 27 percent said male students inflict abuse and 36.8 percent thought of the opposite sex as perpetrators. Some 18.2 percent didn't see a relevance between violence and gender.
In the survey, 62.1 percent said selfishness and an absence of tolerance contributed to emotional tension, while some 60 percent blamed it on the living environment of one-child families. About 48 percent attributed emotional abuse to a lack of proper family education.
A high school teacher in Baoding City, Hebei Province, said the increasing stress on students to pass make-or-break exams also worsens interpersonal relationships among teenagers at a vulnerable age.
The survey also found 60.1 percent said emotional abuse casts a shadow as well as causes a loss of trust (53.8 percent), an inability to adapt to teamwork (45.3 percent) and affects academic performance (41.3 percent).
A second-year student at a high school in Jinan City, Shandong Province said one of her seven roommates was isolated because she kept waking up others early in the morning.
The survey showed 67.3 percent hope schools could offer psychological assistance and 65 percent called on parents to help promote the virtues of tolerance.
