| Bully Culture: Stopping
the Abuse
Bullying at School Takes Many Forms
But All Have Long-Term Effects
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| Alexander
Redmon |
By Latricia Wilson
It can be a comment in class, a shove in
the hallway, a mad-dog stare on the block or a dangerous
physical attack. For too many young people,
repeated harassment by a bully or mob group is stressful,
impacts school performance and may lead to long-term
health and emotional effects.
Bullying at school takes many forms. Bullying is
a repeated aggressive action by an individual or group
in order to intentionally hurt another person. Bullies
use intimidation, peer pressure and physical violence
to gain power over others. Bullying has many forms
and is prevalent among adolescents, teens and young
adults, but often goes unreported.
Bullies harass individuals they perceive
as weak, unwilling or unable to fight back.
They target people based on sexual orientation as
well as individuals with submissive personalities,
physical or mental differences, above or below-average
weight or speech and motor skill difficulties. But
anyone, regardless of appearance or social standing,
can become a victim.
Luckily, people are paying more attention to bullying,
and are working to create legislation to change the
outcomes for bullied children. This issue hits close
to home (see Beyond Bullying: My Personal Story
- coming soon), as I was a victim for many years and
am still coping with the long-term effects of being
bullied.
Bullying at School Carries Over: On and Offline
Bullying at school, or anywhere for that
matter, can take many forms, each with its own distinct
behaviors. According to the National Youth
Violence Prevention Resource Center (NYVPRC),
nearly 30 percent of US teens have either bullied
someone or been a victim of bullying themselves. Sometimes
bullying is subtle, like a comment in the school hallway.
Other times, it is overt, such as repeated harassment
and physical threats or violence. No matter how it's
manifested, bullying is done with the intention of
undermining an individual's emotional confidence,
self-esteem or social status.
Intentional bullying includes name-calling, hitting,
pushing, spreading rumors, destroying property and
using threatening words or behaviors to harm a specific
individual or group. In each case, the intention is
to coerce or influence the victim's behavior, actions
or lifestyle in order to gain power over that person.
Bullying by groups is also referred to as
''mobbing". (See also our article about
workplace mobbing.) Mobbing
is not just physical intimidation but may also include
emotional abuse such as shunning, isolating, intimidating
and humiliating an individual.
Bullying also includes peer pressure at school and
cyber-bullying.
Cyber-bullies use communication devices such as cell
phones or social networks like MySpace and Facebook
to participate in hostile actions against others.
There are reports of youth committing suicide after
being the target of intense cyber-bullying. A
UCLA study found that nearly three out of four teenagers
reported being bullied online over the course of a
year. Those who are experiencing cyber-bullying
may consider staying off social internet sites, erasing
online profiles and reporting abusers to web administrators.
Bullying at School is Difficult to Avoid or Ignore
By contrast, bullying at school is not so easy for
individuals to avoid or ignore. Changing schools or
neighborhoods to avoid a bully or group can be a complex
and stressful proposition that doesn't always guarantee
a student will be safe in their new environment. School
bullies can be detrimental to a student's emotional
well-being and academic development. Bullied
children may avoid going to school to avoid their
aggressor, limit participation in class, have difficulty
concentrating on schoolwork or maintaining passing
grades. Sometimes, school administrators
fail to handle bullying incidents as effectively as
they should -- especially if instructors or counselors
misidentify bullying incidents as simple harassment
or "typical teenage activity."
Bullying at School Scenarios
Negative peer pressure is another bullying
tactic in the school setting. Young people
in cliques or social groups may gang up on others
and use verbal or physical violence to intimidate
an individual. Groups may also exclude others from
their activities, games and school conversations or
force their targets away from supportive peers. Young
people that participate in mob groups often fear that
the mob leader will turn on them, creating a cycle
of intimidation.
School bullying may be detrimental to a victim's
educational and emotional development. Especially
at younger ages, children have a deeper need for acceptance
and belonging in social groups. Bullying can disrupt
these important connections. Students who are chronic
victims experience more physical and psychological
problems than their non-harassed peers. Additionally,
bullied youth may have a hard time growing out of
the "victim role." As adults, those who
were bullied may be more likely to have low self-esteem.
Bullying at School: The Bully's Impact
According to an Intervention in School and Clinic
report, there are short and long-term consequences
for both perpetrators and victims of bullying.
Adults who were chronically victimized in their youth
are at an increased risk for clinical depression,
low self-esteem and other mental health problems.
Children bullied over long periods may develop symptoms
similar to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),
including hyper-alertness and being easily startled
or emotionally distant.
Short-term effects of bullying at school
include aggression with siblings, anxiety, stress
and insomnia. Other characteristics may include
self-isolation, mood swings and physical manifestations
such as cuts or bruises. Childhood bullying and abuse
may cause problems later in life that are difficult
to overcome without the help of intensive therapy
and treatment, leading clinicians and professionals
to try and understand bullying's root causes.
Mental healthcare professionals have sought to find
out why youth become bullies to begin with. Youth
with low self-esteem may intimidate others to gain
a sense of power or control. Girls with self-confidence
or other personality issues may bully their peers
out of jealousy, resentment or because other girls
are doing it.
Bullies may be experiencing emotional or
physical abuse by a family member or other adults.
Parents who discipline children with violence or intimidation
can lead children to believe that the way to deal
with conflicts is with anger or aggression. Thus bullies
may intimidate others believing that it is acceptable
behavior. Additionally, parents who provide little
guidance or monitoring may contribute to the continuation
of bullying behavior at school.
Adults seeking to mitigate a bully's actions should
focus on the individual's underlying problems. Society
is slowly recognizing the long-term effects of bullying
with new legislation and legal measures aimed at preventing
abuse and protecting victims.
Bullying at School: Laws and Flaws
After a series of high-profile school shootings
in the '90s and early '00s, a number of state legislators
proposed laws requiring schools to have anti-bullying
policies and programs. More recently, federal legislators
even proposed national legislation on bullying.
Although several states require schools to have anti-bully
strategies, not all schools have the funding necessary
to develop these programs. Further complicating anti-bullying
intervention are cases where school shootings are
misconstrued as gang related, when in fact a shooter
may have been a bully's victim. Unfortunately, out
of desperation, bullied children may make the poor
decision to bring a weapon to school for self-defense.
The victim may then receive further punishment without
the support needed to overcome their abuse.
School and Society Solutions to Bullying at School
Protect Your Students or Your Employees
from Bullying
The SPEAK OUT Bullying
Incident Reporting and Management System
gives your school or workplace a unique, innovative
and affordable way of dealing with bullying.
From straightforward and confidential
disclosure of bullying incidents, through incident
management, right up to pinpointing the causes
of the wider issue.
Speak Out is with
you all the way.
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Bullying is an act of aggressive, dominating behavior
that many individuals engage in at some point in their
lives. This behavior usually results when an individual
lacks the power to control some aspect of their personal
life, has experienced abuse or bullying or has low
self-esteem. Bullies control their victims
in order to feel a false and temporary sense of empowerment.
Sadly, children bullied at school often bear mental,
emotional and physical scars that prevent them from
moving on with their lives.
It is when schools
lack
funding to effectively
mandate intervention and
prevention programs
that bullying flourishes.
Young people are at risk of becoming bullies when
parents use hateful language or physical abuse as
tools to discipline them. Bullied students
may be traumatized when schools administrators ignore
abuse or treat continual harassment as isolated incidents.
It is when schools lack funding to effectively mandate
intervention and prevention programs that bullying
flourishes. School districts and school boards should
strive to find methods to combat bullying just as
they have done with gang violence.
Bullies are empowered when people witness
their negative social behaviors but fail to intervene.
Despite it's prevalence, it's important to know that
there are practical strategies to prevent bullying.
Society shares some fault for the proliferation of
bullying at school, but understanding the various
forms of bullying, and implementing legislation and
school intervention programs
can transform lives.
Latricia Wilson is an OvercomeBullying.org
guest writer. If you are an expert in a field related
to school or workplace bullying and would like to
contribute to our efforts and promote your website
or services please contact
us for more information.
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