Reassessing Adolescent Bullying Using a Liquid, Best Policy Practice Approach
Bullying is defined as the prolonged malicious act of harming peers by abusing their own--or an existing imbalance of--power, and has become one of the most common sources of trauma among adolescents. One report shows that one of three children were victims of bullying during some point in their life, and that 10-14% of all adolescents were victims of chronic bullying for at least six months prior to conducting the survey. Children who were victims of bullying are also found to be at a higher risk of diagnoses for anxiety disorders and depression during young and middle adulthood. These victims are reported to be more likely to have lower levels of general/physical health and lower educational acquirements than young and middle aged adults who were not bullied (Wolke & Lereya, 2015). Because bullying is such a prominent problem, citizens, policymakers, and social scientists alike, should feel or have some social and moral obligation to address, and hopefully avert bullying.
The state of bullying and how it is enacted is constantly changing, adapting to social frameworks. Because bullies can adapt to social changes and regulations, research suggest that we, as a society, should be equally adaptive in how we perceive, address, prevent, and punish bullying.
Before taking steps to prevent bullying, it is important to first understand where concentrated problems exist and originate. The four most
Bullying has been recognized as a risk factor in improvement and personal growth of children and adulthood. It is a form of hostile conduct in which an individual engages to cause another individual harm or distress (Kirves, & Sajaniemi, 2012).. Therefore, it is vital to be able to detect signs of bullying in order to stop further consequences, such as self-harm, and suicide. Children who have experienced bullying become hopeless, anxious, have low self-efficacy, and have recurrent negative thoughts (Kirves, & Sajaniemi, 2012). Research in bullying has also concluded that children who bully other children are more prone to become anti-social and engage in criminal activity (Kirves, & Sajaniemi, 2012).
After bullying, most people are changed in ways that may last for a very long time, in ways that can hurt, in ways that can rip apart their life. Bullied individuals often have higher risk of many mental illnesses. They are four times as likely to develop an anxiety disorder in adulthood compared with kids who were uninvolved in bullying. And the victims had a five-times greater risk of depression than uninvolved kids, as well as 10 times the likelihood of suicidal thoughts or actions and 15 times the likelihood of developing a panic disorder. All this was found in one 20 year study published in 2013.
Bullying affects children and teenagers because it can lead to low self esteem, isolation, depression, and even self-harm or worse, suicide. There are many websites that are not conclusive because they contain anecdotes without statistical evidence or case studies and research. “Bullying Is a 'Serious Public Health Problem,' Experts Say” by Ashley Strickland’s audience ranges from parents to teenagers. Strickland provides credible information on bullying because she includes essential content, statistical evidence, and solutions, which makes this article as an important and valuable source to use for a cause-and-effect essay.
Bullying has engrained in American society since the country’s founding. Bred from a capitalistic economy and competitive social hierarchy, bullying has remained a relevant issue through the years. School age children are learning skills and lessons from their teachers as well as through peer interactions. Although schools are great tools that children benefit from, there are some bad experiences, such as bullying, that may negatively affect and remain with these children for the rest of their lives. Some
Bullying at school is a big problem that is found in all the schools in the United States and across the world. Since the late 1990s there have been several fatal school shootings committed by victims of bullying that have brought bullying major media attention. This has resulted in an increase of awareness about the harmful effects on the kids being bullied as well as the bullies themselves. This has brought a large amount of local, state, and nationwide programs designed to try to prevent bullying or to at least try to contain the problem. “In an effort to adequately address the problem, many schools are taking a proactive approach through prevention and intervention, but how do we know if and when such intervention is effective? First and foremost, we must have an accurate understanding of the dynamic and complex phenomenon of bullying across development and as it spans the multiple levels of the social ecology” (Casper, Meter, & Card, 2015, par 2). Many psychologists, sociologists, and school administrators have been publishing research on school bullying. Bullying is a significant threat to many children because it causes psychological problems not only for those who get bullied but also those who do the bullying. Even though bullying is a significant problem the are few solutions that can help prevent or significantly reducing bullying like reporting bullying, know the characteristics, and passing laws.
Bullying is an undesirable, antagonistic conduct among not only school aged children but also adults. People who are bullied may have serious and long-term problems. Bullying has become more prominent throughout the years, increasing the suicide rate in the U.S. to 24.5% since 2003. (Hey U.G.L.Y, 2006) This results in approximately 160,000 individuals stay home from school or work each day because they are afraid or feel threatened by bullies. (Hey U.G.L.Y, 2006) Approximately 4,400 lives are lost each year due to bullying. (Hey U.G.L.Y, 2006) A nationwide survey was done throughout public schools and private schools in 2014 to find out how many students actually considered suicide due to bullying. (Hey U.G.L.Y, 2006) 15% of students reported
Before taking steps to prevent bullying, it is important to first understand where concentrated problems exist and originate. The three most prominent forms of bullying among adolescents are physical, relational, and cyberbullying
“Nationwide, one out of four students from the ages twelve to eighteen have been bullied. That is twenty five percent to the teenage/young adult population and these numbers are continuously to rise every day” (Wassdorp, Bradshaw, and Leaf 116, 149-156). Bullying is the action of repeated harmful acts or harassing another in various forms. Many situations fall under one or even multiple of these categories: physical, verbal, indirect, and cyber. What this does is strips the victim down from their identity and leaves them to pity themselves for being the way they are. Bullying is an issue in this nation because it tears apart the teenage/young adult population, and it is causing an increase in risk of suicide among these groups. Bullying is
In the United States and all over the world people get bullied every day at school. As a result, this motivates people to try an stop bullying. Countries have made laws to keep kids in school and out of school, safe from bullying, and some schools have rules to deal with bullying. Furthermore, bullying can have many other major impacts on bullies, victims, and witness of bullying. For example it can have an impact on mental health, and it can lead to suicide.
“I really want the public to be aware of the link between mental health issues and bullying. Whether students are involved as bullies, victims or bystanders, in many cases anxiety and depression may be co-occurring problems” (Swearer, 2010, para. 15). Young adolescents live in fear of being bullied, some even suffer from stress and depression because of it. The mental and physical damages of bullying is an issue that should not be tolerated anywhere or towards anyone at any time. T. Jungert, B. Piroddi, and R. Thornberg (2016) have claim that a person should, “never put someone else down to make [themselves] feel better” (p. 8). It is no surprise when reading that teenage victims who have been bullied suffer from long-term problems as they get older. To learn more about the effects of bullying in adolescents, one must know the correct definition, and go over the different characteristics of victims and bullies, along with the consequences of it.
Bullying and victimization in United States schools has just recently begun to be studied(Milsom & Gallo, 2006). Many schools realizing the impact that bullying has on children are quick advocate anti-bullying programs and punish bullies, however victims of bullies are usally given no emotional support. Research on bullying reveals that there are both immediate and future consequences for the targets of bullying (Gottheil and Dubow, 2001). Students are more likely to suffer from academic problems, absenteeism, loneliness and loss of friends especially when the bullying behavior is severe and prolonged (Robert & Coursol, 1996). Children who are targets of aggression are also more likely to be depressed and develop low self-esteem (Gottheil
Bullying has always been recognized as a normal part of growing up; therefore, most people in the past have not given bullying much thought. Bullying is often thought as “kids being kids” or a “rite of passage,” but it is much more of a problem than just being a kid (Maughan 2). According to the U.S. Deparment of Education, over 13 million students are bullied each year, and over 160,000 students avoid going to school because they are bullied (Maughan 1). Students who feel so threatened by bullying that they do not want to go to school demonstrates just how much bullying can change a child’s life. Bullying is a serious problem, and a child’s life could be dramatically changed by being terrorized at school. (Maughan, 1-2)
The legislation is intended to protect victims of bullying; however, consequences for bullying may be too severe. (Garby, 2013) postulates students who are considered bullies are not criminals, but rather copying learned behaviors (p. 449). (Teisl, Rogosch, Oshri, & Cicchetti, 2012) studied 470 kids growing up in high-risk neighborhoods and approximately half of those kids were exposed to maltreatment. It was more likely that these kids were identified as bullies. Not only is legislation affecting children, but workplace bullying is also being addressed. (Greenwald, 2010) interviews Eric A. Tate who asks the questions, “Do you really want to be the subject of being sued if you lose your temper? If you're on a deadline and somebody screws up royally, how do you discipline people?” The problem is how do we punish a bully? The goal of the bullying problem is to eliminate bullying, but sending someone to jail for assault may not be in the best interest to correct the bullying problem. Consideration needs to be paid attention to those who may have grown up exposed to aggressive behavior ultimately learning that behavior as an acceptable way to deal with
As more and more children go to school, the rates of bullying go up as time goes by. there are many times at which students suffer all the bullying that occurs within their lives. As more schools become aware of the magnitude of the bullying occurring right under their noses, there are rules created to aid the victim. There are various types of bullying and these are created to do one thing, instill superiority among the “stronger” and place a feeling of inferiority. Bullies are the ones who are detrimental to a child’s development.
It is only in the recent years that attention has turned toward the widespread problem of bullying, especially in schools, and that bullying is identified as a serious problem that merits intervention and research (Coy). Therefore, relatively little effort has been made to overcome or address the problem, which still remains a widespread social vice. This paper purports to illustrate how, despite efforts made to rectify the situation, bullying still remains rampant, and is getting worse.