Very interesting article on a modern day bullying and it’s broad spectrum effect in our society.

Open this file : Bullying

The Effects of Bullying

By Sandhya Pandey

February 22, 2017

 

Abstract

 

Bullying is a major and increasing problem in the school environment these days. It is leading all kinds of issues that will be later discussed in the paper about academic achievements’, psychological issues, and an unsafe school environment. Bullying is when someone intentionally hurts someone either physically, and or verbally through name calling, teasing and spreading rumors about the victim. Bullies often do this to show power, control and feel good about themselves.

The Many Effects of Bullying

Bullying does not have to be childish play, it can be extremely violent. It seems as if no one recognizes the significance of bullying. For victims, they go to school every day facing harassment, taunting, and humiliation. There are several effects of bullying, but some of the main effects of bullying are the level of academic achievement, psychological issues, and unsafe school environments. Bullying is unwanted and aggressive behavior usually in the school environment between children. In order to consider it bullying, the actions need to be intentional as well as repetitive. Bullying can be physical, verbal, or cyber harassment.

As children grow up physical bullying starts to decline, and social, verbal and cyber bullying seems to increase as Rebecca Pister, the writer of “Understanding bullying Through the Eyes of Youth” mentions. This is because generally, younger children are less capable of expressing their feelings so therefore they commonly use the physical form of bullying. Bullying is not something that just happens it is something that is learned from watching others. This is why bullying can begin at a very young age because kids are receptive to others especially their parents because they do not know what is good or bad, they do what they see and hear.

Bullies want to feel a sense of power and control, they are insensitive to people’s feeling and they are also disobedient to adults both at home and school.  Whereas, the victims are mostly weak in some way such as being shy, or having low self-esteem which makes this kind of person an easy target to harass because they will mostly likely not tell anyone and endure the pain.

Academic Achievement

            Academic achievement is the first piece which effects school bullying. This is important because sometimes bullying can be so severe to the victim that they are not able to concentrate in school, and then they eventually start to hate going to school which in turn causes their grades to drop (van der Werf, 2014).

Grades

            Earning high grades in school is what mostly defines a strong student academically. As one moves to on to higher education from elementary to middle school, and middle school to high school etc., become more and more important. These grades will define how smart and intellectual a student is. These grades will eventually also determine what college and ultimately what career path they will choose. But, for that one needs to have a stable and safe school environments. Once bullying becomes a part of someone’s life even the strongest academic students start to deteriorate. According to Beebe and Robey (2011), “Students who are consistently and continuously bullied by their peers are more likely to not like school and receive lower grades, resulting in increased absences from school and truancy concerns.” The correlation between a student’s academic achievements and bullying are really strong.

Gender

Another impact to a child’s academic achievement can be caused by who the perpetrator exactly is. Female and male bullies each have their own way of bullying. Bullying includes physical violence, spreading rumors, name-calling, teasing, taunting, excluding someone from a group, and so forth.  As Rivers and Peter (1994), say “Traditionally, it has been argued that boys are more aggressive than girls and that this is most marked for physical aggression, with boys hitting and pushing their opponents, whereas girls are more verbally aggressive, engaging in name-calling and telling tales.” Also, studies have also found that the victims are generally bullied by their same gender, so boys will physically fight with boys and girls will spread rumors and speak ill of each other. And as these children get older these behaviors worsen and their way of attacking the victim becomes even stronger. Sometimes bullies even form groups, and this happens between girls more often.

Psychological Issues

The second most important thing about bullying is that it has a high impact on the mind. The stress caused by bullying can cause a negative impact on the development of the brain. Like previously mentioned if one does not have a stable mind it becomes harder for them to achieve good grades. It becomes hard to concentrate not only in school but in day to day life as well.

Social Problems

People who go through bullying struggle with anxiety, depression, and poor self-esteem. When some kids are already very shy at nature and then they are bullied on top of that they become an easy target, it can lead them to have a low self-esteem when they grow older. “Victims of bullying behavior are more likely to have psychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorder, and conduct disorder” (Beebe et al., 2011, pg. 3). Generally, kids with these kinds of problems will then stay away from school activities, and stop participating in class and extra-curricular activities. They will keep to themselves and it becomes harder for them to make new friends and keep old ones. Based on the severity of bullying, the victim’s social skill may drop as well. They may not be able to converse and put forth their opinion on others for the fear of being bullied again.

Suicidal Feelings

One of the worst parts about bullying is that it can lead to someone’s death. Especially, when someone’s child dies it affects the whole family and their friends.  Suicide due to bullying is a major concern these days as the numbers keep growing. According to Hinduja and Patchin (2010), “20% of respondents reported seriously thinking about attempting suicide (19.7% of females; 20.9% of males), while 19% reported attempting suicide (17.9% of females; 20.2% of males).”  For someone to take their own life, just imagine what they may be going through each day. Through research, Hinduja and Patchin have shown that bullying can lead to somebody to have depression, decreased self-worth, hopelessness, and loneliness (p.2).  For the victim to take such a step they need to be going through severe harassment like physical abuse such as pushing, pulling and grabbing in school, and verbal abuse such as calling names and spreading rumors. Also, these kinds of severe bullying follow the victim at home through cyberbullying (p. 2). Cyberbullying is when the perpetrator can send nasty text messages, emails, write about the victim on social media etc.

Unsafe School Environment

An awful part is that victims often hide the emotional problems that stem from bullying. And when one begins to hide so much pain that it builds and builds and eventually they burst, and end up doing something like harming themselves or others.

School Shootings

            At times some victims of bullying are pushed so far that they take the wrong decision and instead of harming themselves they end harming others as a cry for help. Warnick, Johnson, and Rocha (2010) found that:

According to a joint report from the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Education, there were four incidents of targeted school shootings in the 1970s, five in the 1980s, twenty-eight in the 1990s, and, according to our own count, there have been twenty-five so far in the 2000s” (p.1).

The growing numbers are scary, and in this article, it discussed that the murderers were victims of bullying and how they lived dark and painful tragedies before the shootings happened. (Warnick et al., 2010, p.1).

All things considered, bullying is a socially unacceptable behavior caused by social rejection and many other reasons. The main risk factors include academic achievement, psychological issues, and unsafe school environments. Bullying is one of the biggest problems in a school of all ages and this problem keeps growing more and more each year.

 

References

 

Beebe, J., & Robey, P. (2011). The Prevalence and Psychological Impact of Bullying on Adolescents: An Application of Choice Theory and Reality Therapy. International Journal of Choice Theory & Reality Therapy, 30(20), 33-44. Retrieved from
Academic Search Complete.

Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. (2010). Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Suicide. Archives of Suicide Research. 14(3). 206-221. doi: 10.1080/13811118.2010.494133.

Pister, R. (2014). Understanding Bullying Through the Eyes of the Youth. Journal of Ethnographic & Qualitative Research, 9(1), 27-43. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete.

Rivers, I., & Smith, P. (1994). Types of Bullying Behaviour and Their Correlates. Aggressive Behavior, 20(5), 359-368. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete.

van der Werf, C. (2014). The Effects of Bullying on Academic Achievement. Development and Society. (74), 275-308. doi: 10.13043/DYS.74.6

Warnick, B., & Johnson, B. (2010). The Tragedy and The Meaning of School Shootings. Educational Theory. 60(3). 371-390. doi: 10.1111/j.1741-5446.2010.00364.x