Cause And Effect Of Bullying

Imagine having nightmares every night; pleading with your parents to let you miss school the next day, and all because of the torment from fellow classmates. Bullying, as defined by “Description of the Bullying Prevention Program”, is a form of overt and aggressive behavior that is intentional, hurtful, and persistent. (“Description”) Bullied students are teased, harassed, and assaulted either verbally or physically. This bullying may be by one or more peers, and usually happens to those students that are often socially rejected by their peers.

Bullying is defined as “verbal, physical, or psychological abuse or teasing accompanied by real or perceived imbalance of power” and is usually targets what children perceive as different (Olweus, 1993). Bullying is prevalent across the nation. It has devastating effects on students each day. Bullying is a problem for all students, regardless of race, gender or class. The National Education Association reports that 160,000 children are absent intentionally from school each day because they fear being bullied whether it is an attack or just intimidation by other students. This accounts for 15% of all school absenteeism (Hunter, 2012). Dan Olweus (1993) from the National School Safety Center tells us that bullying includes three parts: (1)

Bullying and in its many various ways effects everyone in a lot of ways. A lot of the people are being humiliated and hurt. Victims of bullying commit suicide because people that are being bullied think bullying will not stop. Bullying is a big problem in many countries, it is a problem that everyone can experience at anytime and anywhere. Bullying can be the number one problem everyone experiences in daily basis.

Bullying is one of the largest public health problems in the world today. Bullying involves the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively dominate others (Wikipedia). Children and adults are bullied in school, work, and even on the internet. Bullying can cause physical and mental health issues as well as a decrease in academic performance. It may also cause depression and anxiety and could lead to alcohol and/or drug abuse. The effects of bullying can also cause physical harm in kids and teens by disrupting their sleep, causing gastrointestinal issues and headaches (CNN Wire, 2016).

In the article Predicting bullying and victimization among early adolescents: Associations with disruptive behavior disorders it discusses how bullying has recently been studied by researchers to understand the causes and effects in classroom for students in elementary and middle school. The article discusses

Past research studies have found that half of the students being studied have been bullied while the other half of students have been bullies (Farrington, 1993). It appears that bullying was not a major concern before the 1970s which means little was done to help students who were on the receiving end of threatening behavior by other students. Bullying was once considered a normal part of a student’s life at school (Jacobsen & Bauman, 2007). Research done in the 1970s by Dan Olweus has proved that bullying is a cause for concern (Carrera et al., 2011). Students who are the victims of bullying can suffer from long lasting mental health affects (Jacobsen & Bauman, 2007). Bullying should not be considered a normal customary occurrence that students have to go through.

Bullying is a major issue in society today affecting many individuals' lives from young children to teenagers to adults. Bullying is continual, verbal, physical, social, psychological attacking attitude by a person or a group aimed towards a less powerful person or group. The national centre for educational statistics has confirmed that one out of four students has been reported bullied during the year. Consequences of bullying can be extreme or severe. Bullying is on the rise dramatically, especially because there are many more ways for bullying to happen and as technology is advancing so is bullying.

Bullying involves targeting an individual perceived to be vulnerable for repeated mistreatment (William, 2015). Adolescence all over the world face the psychosocial consequences of dealing with bullying. Children who face bullying are at a greater risk for developing emotional problems, such as suicide, behavior problems, poor school performance, and now physical health problems that are leading researchers to the relation between bullying and eating disorder symptoms.

In the 2014-2015 school years, 292,400 students reported being bullied out of a total of 763,000 students (Student Reports of Bullying: results From the 2015 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, National Center for Education statistics(NCES)). Bullying affects people greatly. There are many types of bullying, such as, physical, verbal, and cyber, which is over the internet. Not only does it affect one’s physical appearance, but some forms of bullying have a huge impact on a person’s mental health. Bullying can lead to an abundance of different consequences such as, self-harm, suicide, or violence toward others.

Introduction: Mistreatment and intimidation are common occurrences within childhood and adolescent peer groups. These actions can be detrimental to the social relationships of those involved, leaving an enduring impact on one’s ability to socialize and interact with those around them. Due to the severity of the potential harm bullying can cause, much research has been conducted on how bullying can influence the lives and actions of those associated with it. In order to address the issue of bullying, one must first understand not only the impact it may have, but the factors that influence how those involved are affected. These factors include the role one plays in the bullying, the method through which the bullying occurs, and the gender of the victim. This research has demonstrated how complex the relationship between victims of bullying and their fellow peers can be, as well as how damaging this phenomena is on those who experience it.

Although both secondary and primary sources describe the impact that bullying has on the victim as being negative, there are still differences between them. Natalie, the fifteen-year-old victim, says, “‘Soon I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I lost all self-esteem and became paranoid about people’” (Sawer). Depression, anxiety, and the other effects Natalie experienced from bullying are all harmful. She also said she considered suicide and would perform self-harm by doing things like tearing out her hair. The personal side of what bullying can cause a person to do/feel are revealed through what Natalie described. Although not as severe as Natalie, the other bullying victim, Eric, also had a damaging experience with bullying while it was occurring. Eric says, “’I think it's fair to say that bullying never affects the victim positively at a young age. It made me very shy and scared. I always felt like I had to be on guard’” (Goldman). The bullying had a negative impact on Eric’s life while it was occurring. He felt shy and scared which could be averse to his mental and physical health. The perpetrators made both the victims feel desolate. Feeling grim led to short term mental and physical issues such as being fearful and suicidal. The problems that Natalie and Eric faced shows the damaging impact that bullying had on the victim. The personal experience that is discussed is what makes the difference between the primary and the secondary source.

By high school, seventy-eight percent of student’s report being involved with bullying incidences. There are one million failed suicide attempts every year, of those para-suicides almost ninety percent report that they have experienced peer-victimization during their childhood. Although most academic institutions have put in place policies that help victims rights be recognized, many of the teachers, (even those having been specially trained to handle instances of bullying), admit to having uncertainty when it comes to enacting a plan to de-escalate a bullying situation. Bullying affects a wide range of sociological and psychopathological variables and can play havoc with a person’s mental health. Children that experience bullying exhibit both short-term, as well as long-term effects because of being bullied. Additionally, it is not only the child that is being targeted that suffers from future consequences because of the bully/victim dynamic, but also the bully. Peer-victimization has a myriad of unfortunate short-term effects, long-term effects, and can even impact the offender.

Bullying is a strength or an influence to intimidate another and to force them to do something he or she wants them to do (Dictionary.com). Bullying is also a form of harassment. In schools, people who are viewed as “different” are targeted and victims of bullying. Most victims of bullying are less popular, do not get along with others, they are annoying or “weird”, their race, and because of what they wear. Kids become bullies because they usually lack attention at home or they learn the behavior at home. Also, an adult figure inside or outside of the household that could be a parent, teacher or coach could make these children lash out. A lot of the time these bullies do not understand their own behaviors. Even though bullying has been going on for decades, the public still does not know all of the factors relating to bullying and all of the problems it is causing. Bullying is still a major problem but today, it may be seen in different forms today.

Bullying should always be taken serious if one suspects, or has been in contact with a victim. “Long-term Effects of Bullying” by Dieter Wolke and Suzet Tanya Lereya explains that bullying comes in many ways, one may be showing aggression verbally by name calling, insulting the individual; indirect bullying which can include leaving the victim out on gatherings or games and rumor spreading; and lastly physically such as hitting, or shoving. “Long-term Effects of Bullying” also explains by “bullying the individual is seeking abuse of power by aggressive behavior or intentional harm-doing by peers that is carried out repeatedly and involves an imbalance of power, either actual or perceived, between the victim and the bully.” It has been shown that the younger the child is that is being victimized the more damaging the long term effects. By inflicting pain to a child or any form of suffering can really affect the individual as they get older and may perceive things in a more pessimistic way, it can harm the child to really be oneself and explore different things in life. Nonetheless it can affect the victim to make new friends if the individual who is bullying is spreading rumors or making threats to others to cease or refrain to talking to the victim.

The school should generally be a safe place for parents to send their children too, but If a child feels neglected then they begin to take it out on other people, which lead to “Bullying” as a way to take their anger out for the feeling of neglect. Peer pressure has a great role on school violence to if one child sees another picking on someone they feel they have to do it to just to fit in. the children start to realize they are different and start to join gangs that they think fits their personality, by doing this brings trouble with other peers which could lead to great tragedy. The parents of the child are who they bond with first so if they don’t have a strong connection with each other they’re going to be a misconception in their relationship. Parents should have authority over their children and guidance so the child knows what wrong and what is right, so they behave the right way when the parents are not around. The parents are the ones who are responsible for, what the child is taught at home and the child should be responsible for how they act in school.