Keywords: Teen Bullying, the effects of bullying, bullying statistics, adolescent bullying effects, research, types of bullying
Introduction to Teen Bullying:
Bullying is an orderly mishandle of force. It relates to an aggressive behavior that can be relational, verbal or 
physical. This is an act that occurs every country, at any age, and also in any gender. Boys often bully using physical actions and threats, while many girls bully using relationship or verbal bullying. It involves being made to feel very angry, helpless, ashamed, hopeless, hurt, and a feeling of wanting to commit suicide when it’s unbearable. When bullying occurs, one’s physical health suffers, and one is at a greater risk of developing psychological problems relating to anxiety, low self-esteem, depression or adult onset PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). For some teenagers, it’s in the form of repeated teasing and verbally abusing. For other teenagers, bullying end up in social avoidance, physical assault or attack. Bullying can likewise happen online – which is called cyber bullying.
Every passing day, thousands of teenagers are afraid to go to school when they wake up. The act of bullying is a problem that has affected millions of students and this is making everyone very worried, not only the kids who undergo such pains. But due to the fact that teachers, parents, and every other adults do not see it, they really cannot understand how extreme bullying can reach. How terrible bullying differs broadly, as does its effect. What may mean an awful day at school for one child could be excruciation for another. While the dominant part of bullying is genuinely gentle, for instance, teasing that are not pleasant as opposed social exclusion or assault, whichever way bullying is defined, bullying is hurtful. When it continues, it can some of the time cause serious and persisting physical and/or mental damage.
Bullying stops teens from being actually who they want to be, and does not allow them to express themselves freely, and could even make them so unsafe to live. A child who had experienced bullying understands how devastating it could be, most especially teenagers. Bullying leaves such child feeling very frightened, angry, even depressed and fully undermined. Bullying isn’t an act that should in the any case be tolerated and if anyone has been bullied in time past, these contents would address issues relating to bullying, how it’s affecting the teens and leading to depression and suicide and how bullying can be controlled in our society.
Types of Bullying
Bulling ranges from different types and categories including cyber-bullying which could involve threatening, harassing, or humiliating someone using the computer system, cell phones, or the social media. Bullying among teens is mostly common in schools and scarcely in their immediate environment. Other types of bullying include:
School Bullying
School bullying can be physical, emotional or verbal in nature. In many cases, the aggressor has a few victims and is physically greater than the victims. In many occurrences, students witnessing may abstain from interceding or just taunt the victim being tormented to prevent being bullied.
Children have immeasurably suffered from school-related bullying and it should be stopped immediately. It has been observed that bullying in schools around the United States have immeasurably reduced, but it had not got to its total minimal. Only about one out of every five students in U.S middle schools and even high schools frequently reported that they had been bullied in 2013, which is the lowest rate ever sine the federal government started collecting data on bullying in 2005. Also, 22 percent of students between ages 12 and 18 said they had been victims of school bullying during the 2013 school year, compared to 28 percent estimate in 2011. This is very uncalled for.
- Verbal
This type includes calling names, making hostile jokes, belittling other’s abilities, and investigating one’s religion, race, ethnicity, color, and financial status. Students who experience the ill effects of verbal misuse may not show proper feelings immediately, but with time, it would build and lead to detrimental social and academic abilities.
- Physical
Most seen situation is the point at which a student of a bigger built picks on petite and susceptible people. This also happens when a group exacts physical abuse to different students or gang members. Cases of physical bullying include, however, are not restricted to punching, slapping, kicking, hitting, and pushing. Another act under this act is when an individual destroys a book, uniform, or any property of another student.
- Alienation
This is related to when a child is treated as an out-cast at school. Some annoying bullies will even urge other students to alienate a person during school activities, games, groupings, and at break periods. This is not fair as it affects the child mentally. Because of isolation, a child won’t have the capacity to form good relationships with others which can then result to separation even in the later stage of life.
- Cyber-bullying
Technology has been part of everybody’s life, it has also been a common act to inflict bullying. Children furnished with phones, laptops, tablets and different devices finds it easier to bully others through the utilization of technology mediums. A simple instant message that could be passed around the school or in the class is now categorized cyber bullying.
Emotional Bullying
Otherwise called social aggression, this is the demonstration of an aggressor assaulting a victim based on an emotional level. Emotional bullying is frequent in relationships whereby, a partner may act or make explanations in such a way as to bring about distress to the other partner. Bullying may likewise include the gossips, excluding a person from particular activities, declining to talk to somebody and making proclamation with an aim of offending a person.
Parental Bullying
Parental harassing is another most predominant kind of bullying in many parts of the world. Some parents relatively displace their insecurities or outrage on their children. This kind of bullying may be physical or emotional in nature.
It must also be noted that students are not the only bullies in school; it can likewise originate from the educator, principal, teacher, security watchman, or other staff individuals from the school.
Reasons Kids are Bullied
The major reasons why kids, particularly teens are bullied is because of social appearance and social status. People who bully others do this may be in picking on the people they feel do no fit in because of their look, their actions most especially kids who are shy and withdrawn, their race, religion, or because the bullies sometimes assumed their target may be lesbians or gay.
Others find it hard to manage their emotions, work things out, and learn to solve problems. Many bullies follow bully as the proverbial – easy way out, and it’s saddening that many kids try to adapt to it.
Some young people are basically influenced to bullying their peers, such attitudes include aggressive temperament, learned prejudices towards a particular group of people, low levels of empathy negative family experience relating to physical or emotional abuse.
Other young people who start secondary school to establish a new social hierarchy placing themselves a position, teens part of this anti-social friendship group might tend to bully.
Statistics of Bullying
Analysis from a 2002 CDC survey show that approximately 30 percent of teens in the U. S which implies over 5.7 million teens have been involved in bullying as a victim, perpetrator or spectator. As indicated by statistics from Family First Aid, around 30 percent of U.S. teenagers have been part of bullying, either as a bully or as a victim of teenage bullying.
American schools harbor an estimation of approximately 2.1 million bullies and 2.7 million of their victims, the number continue to increase at an alarming rate and this has to stop as quickly as possible. 1 in 7 students in grade k-12 has been recorded as a bully or a victim. 15 percent of most school absenteeism is directly related to the fears of being a victim at school. 1 out of 20 students has seen a gun with a student at school, 282, 000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools every month. 54 percent of students said students shoot at others because they are victims of physical abuse and according to the statistics, 1 out of every 10 students drops out due repeated bullying in school.
Physical bullying is more common among teenage boys, and girls frequently support verbal and emotional bullying. In reality, while boys report that they are more prone to be involved in physical fights, girls report that they are regularly the targets of nasty gossips – particularly including sexual rumor. Also, many girls are more prone to use exclusion as a teenage bullying system than boys seem to be.
Effects of Bullying
There are various impacts that accompany teenage bullying. Most importantly, there are the undeniable physical issues and injuries that result from physical bullying. It is not easy to continually maintain the painful effects of bullying because these effects some include emotional, verbal and digital harassing can profoundly influence adolescents also. These exercises can prompt discouragement (and even suicide), medication utilizes and hindered social advancement. This effect usually lingers in the minds of the victims. Studies also found it that years later, teenagers who turned adults and were victims have higher levels of poorer self-esteem and depression than other adults.
According to a 2007 survey relating bullying and suicidal behavior, many teenagers who were frequently bullied in their various schools were five times as likely to have severe suicidal thoughts and four times as prone to attempt suicide compared to students who were not victims
Another issue can be related to retaliation. At times, bullied teens have brutal fantasies of attacking their tormentors. Instances in which these teenagers get to be fierce, turning on their colleagues so as to get revenge. If these effects are not controlled in time, it could really lead into an awful experience for many families.
A teenager who had been brutally bullied might:
- Be very sad or anxious to go to school
- Say he or she hates school and express fear of school
- Become very isolated from other peers
- Start performing very poorly at school
- Come home with missing or damaged belongings
- Have sleepless nights
- Feel depressions related to headache, stomach ache or any related physical problems
- High low self-esteem or self confidence
Controlling Bullying
We all know that it is extremely hard to address teen bullying. However, there exist some things that can at least assist discourage bullying circumstances. It’s high time teens started being urged to look for friends, in person and on the internet, who are kind and supportive. They ought to attempt to move in groups if possible, since most bullies are often single out individuals who are alone.
Additionally, it is very necessary to have educators and other adult authorities present when possible in order to discourage bullying behavior. Teens can likewise talk to bullies about more suitable conduct, and trust that they are willing to listen. It is very important you keep reporting bullies repeatedly.
Furthermore, it is necessary for teen to walk away from the bully and teens should stop reacting with anger or trying to retaliate with physical force. It’s better to ignore them and tell them confidently that you’re not interested in what they say, with this you are showing to them they don’t have the power to control you. You’ve got to protect yourself from being physically hurt.
My great teens, it’s also high time you started viewing bullies from a different perspective, since you know that they are frustrated and unhappy personalities that wants to have control over you and how you feel so that you can also feel as bad as they feel too. Don’t ever give them such satisfaction. In addition, focus on your time and energy for better activities, be positive, reflect on virtually all the things in your life that you appreciate, such as your qualities and gifts. Never feel down, remorse or bad about your life. Be bold and confident.
Also Study: Bullying in Schools
Teens, never ever and ever try to control the uncontrollable. Focus more on the things you are capable of controlling. Choose the way to react to bullies constructively. Find others who also share the same values and interests as yours, move with them, learn a new spot and join a team or game. Share your feelings as you play, talk to your parents, coach, religious leader or any trusted friend.
Prevent cyber-bullying by telling friends to stop it, report cyber-bullying to trusted adults, block communications with cyber-bullies, share NCPC’s anti-cyber-bullying message with your friends and never share or post your personal information online including your address.
Finally, boost your confidence to its maxima. Performing exercise frequently will help you feel good about yourself, and reduce the stress you go through. Don’t beat up yourself, instead concentrate on your positive experiences.
Also Study: Case Study on Bullying
References:
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