Running head: THE EFFECTS OF BULLYING

The Effects of Bullying

Nicholas McCaskill
Winston-Salem State University

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Abstract

Bullying is a known problem that can be major in a childs life. Bullying is commonly
known to happen for schoolchildren throughout the world. According to (Vanderbilt &
Augustyn 2010) there has been issues pertaining bullying, but bullying is known among
all countries affecting starting at 9 percent through 54 percent of children depending on
the research that has been studied. Being bullied most happens when you are around the
age of 13, which is typically the middle school age. When being a victim, bully, or even a
bystander all can be affected by bullying. With that being said many groups are at risk of
having some type of encounters with bullying.

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The Effects of Bullying

Bullying by far is a negative thought or action done to cause harm to someone
other than his or her self. In 2001 according to a study by the name of the National
Institute of Child Health and Development quotes that it is about 3 to 10 children who are
affected as a victim, bully or even classified as both. When it comes to bullying, boys
have been known to bully more people than the average female bully would do. Even
though boys are engaged in a lot more psychical male aggression and bullying, the sex
differences are less pronounced from verbal bullying and is sometimes verse for indirect
bullying, says Frise,,jonsson & Persson (2007). In the school environment some children
deal with bullying every day, depending on ones situation, which can cause
complications later on in life. This paper will discuss the background of bullying that
happens among school age children, and how bullying effects them. Some of the effects
that happen to victims of bullying are the rate of killings can increase; also they can start
to dislike themselves or tend to have a lot of negative thoughts that can harm them or
others. I will also elaborate on the definition of a bully, why a bully does what he or she
does, and the effects that it has on the victim and some preventions for the victims who
are being bullied.
Acknowledging a Bully
Factors that describe a bully is known to be any powerful aggression or acting out
of character such as the use of strength, committing verbal and nonverbal threats,
physical abuse on someone smaller or submissive to the bully and also behavior
dominating someone else. The behavior of a bully is normally repeated and practiced
throughout time. A bully is known to have social and physical power when it deals with

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someone who is superior to the bully. According to researchers Wong, Cheng,& Chen
(2013) studies show that students start the act of bullying for many reasons such as social
status, self rewards, the fun behind bullying, or even emotional release which all factors
into the bullying causes. Although people believe that a bully appears to be physical in
person it can also be someone who bullies people online which is a cyber-bully. A cyber
bully has been known to use a lot of technology such as telephones, Internet browsers,
emails, and even text messaging to scare and bully the victim without being in the
presence of them. Although girls are frequently victims of cyber bullying, they are
more out to tell a parent or any other high titles person about it.
Most bullies are found during the schools because of their weaker mindset. Handicapped
children are the best targets for a bully. Researchers Landstedt & Persson (2014) says
according to the existing literature, 25 percent through 72 percent of adolescents reports
a life extended exposure of cyberbullying . Although that the population of bullying is
higher in the men ratio, women have been known to be effected more by cyber bullying
threats than men. The reason to that is because women are not that physical so they can
committee threats a lot through social media such as Facebook, instagram, snap chat and
even texting.
Bullying affects more people than we actually think. Being bullied is not only towards
the victim but also the bystander who witnessed the problem. The bystander is really one
of the most important people in the full commodity; the reason is all the different feelings
he or she goes through. Individuals who are the bystander remain in the presences for
more than 80% of the situation says, Polanin, Espeloge, and Pigott (2012). To be exact
the bystander goes through a lot of confusion because of lack of confidence within self.

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Without the lack of confidence the bystander becomes frail and scared to react with
helping the victim out the situation. Most people who witness the issue do not snitch
because they want to keep the bully on the good side just so that they will have a peaceful
life. Even though the bystander has a mental scare, nothing compares to the actual victim.
The victim hurts. The victim of bullying has the worse life towards circumstances
because the victim does not understand that people can help. Being scared to ask for help
is normal, most snitchers do not make it out alive. Although it is wrong to bully, bullies
manipulate the victim to thinking that it is right to do so. By the victim holding in so
much stress, complications build up in them such as anxiety, depression, and eating
disorders. Most victims are bullied around the ages of (8-13) which covers the elementary
through middle school ages, the reason why children are bullied around that age is
because that is when a child is most vulnerable. A lot of times when a kid is bullied a lot
he or she decides to do certain harmful things later in life to seek the thrill of what has
happened to he or she. That makes it a life cycle of the same issue on repeat and cant stop
the growth of what is happening because everyone wants to feel like he or she has won,
so hurting somebody else for the anger enjoyment makes it harder to prevent the situation
from reoccurring later in life.
The School System
Bullying occurs everywhere but it is most known to happen during school, which
is terrible for children. IN American schools study has been known to have record that
there are 2.1 million bullies, and 2.7 million bully victims, students through the grades of
kindergarten to 12th grade shows that every 1 out of 7 students has been victim of

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bullying or been known to be the bully according to Olweus, (2009). During school a lot
of bullying would be considered to be physical. The type of physical bullying indicates
punching, fighting, tripping or even punching. Physical bullying peaks during the
middle school years. A lot of children are really physical active at a younger age
because of the environment that they live in; teachers need to learn how to tell the
difference between playing rough and actually bullying. Kids, who seem to be
different based off appearance or perceived as scared according to others, make it
easier for a bully to target them out. Also children with complications such as weight
problems, food issues or even disabled most likely become bully victims. The children
who are obese that have weigh issue on continue to stay obese or get really sick to try and
stop the issue but a lot of time that doesnt working because your body naturally fights
off a lot of issues and if you starve yourself thats not the proper way to lose the weight so
you only get bigger as a person and the bullying stays going on. The disabled kids do not
understand the problem that actually going on because there is obviously a complication
that is current, so when they receive bully problem the victim does not know how to
communicate the issue to higher authority so it goes on for many days, months or even
years until somebody figure it out. Researchers believe that kids who are in middle
school bullying happens to them more because of the hormone level that people have. It
has been known of over 1,600 young children in the US who are in school from ages 6
through 9 years of age being bullied bothers their brain and thought process creating
complications of headaches, pain in the abdominal, urinating in the bed, feeling drowsy
and even sleeping disorders because of all the stress that was happening during school
and had nobody to express their feelings to. Children who are bullied in middle school

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are usually the children with lack of confidence or even just small children. Researchers
show that people who are bullied have a 50% chance of becoming a bully later in life.
The power of a bully
Bullying provides a higher role of a person who is actually being the bully,
however a bully gets respect from everyone in the school because they are afraid of the
bully. Bullies seem to be the biggest person in the class or grade level and nobody wants
to get on the bad side so children stay friendly towards them. A lot of bullies start to
continue to bully because of the popularity one receives in school. Most bullies start
bullying based off the home environment. A lot of them have mental problems or selfesteem situations.
Long Term Effects
The rate of deaths will increase or even problems at home can change a person if
the bullying does not decrease over time. Complications on the bully will only make
them act out verses killing, or even hurting others later in life. The reason is because the
stress builds up a lot of problems and it becomes hard to control their thoughts and
feelings. A person who suffers from being bullied may start to linger feelings of anger
and bitterness, desire for revenge from others or even take the anger out on someone
innocent. This trait makes it hard to stop bulling because people in pain only want to be
able to relieve the stress but dont understand how to release it in a well-mannered way.
Preventions of bullying
Stopping the act of bullying will be hard and would take a lot of support from
everyone to end it but it can happen. A way to prevent bullying from occurring could be,
being able to relate to the bully and talk to them about how they feel or why do they feel

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the need to bully, so then maybe one can get a better understanding. Which could
possibly help them in the long run and will put an end to their negative behavior.
Although bullying is harsh another way to help stop it would be to add more bullying
victim treatment centers. The treatment centers should be put inside the school systems
and be provided to each child that has experienced bullying or even those whom has
witnessed the act of it. Within the centers the therapist would need to make sure that the
information stays personal and that it is ok to be able to communicate the issues that they
are having as the bully victim. Researchers by the name of Ross & Horner (2014) came
up with a plan to stop the bullying. They designed a study called PBIS which means
Positive behavior and intervention support, this study would be going to the schools and
they will divide each groups into teams within the teams they will collect data. The data
that shows bullying the administration will then come up with a punishment for the bully.
The test covers from kindergarten through fifth grade, so they are trying to stop bullying
at its earliest stage. The research will help determine how many bullies and how many
bully victims are in that particular school. Children should learn to socialize with people
by starting them at a young age to play together and share with each other. That will
create friendship and warmth among a Childs life before he or she feels like taking things
from other just to do it cool. Each student should be assigned a mentor of the school that
follows him or her throughout each grade level. The mentors will be able to come spend
time with the child and create a friendship, even get to see the life style a child lives so
that he or she will be able to try and understand the issues that are going on to the bully or
the bully victim.

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Connections

TheschoolstaffbelievesthattheconnectiontoapersonshouldhavetodealwithaPersonal

feeling of protection and relation to school, and a strong staff relationship with students,
also a staff bond to other employees, also creating a staff connectedness to higher
authority such as principles or teachers as they express to bullying interventions across
the environment of the students within the school says OBrennan, Wassdrop, &
Bradshaw (2014). The staff should make a relationship with the students out side of the
classroom, which will build trust among each other, which could help benefit, a bully
victim. Also with a relationship made bullies would not want to try and hurt someone that
they know are close with resources. The higher staff administration should make a
connection with the children at the school maybe by like assigning a principle to each
grade level so that the students can get the support they need.
Catching a bully
Students will need to be able to show no fear of any type when around a bully.
Bullies are like a snake they only react when they feel fear so be as calm as the victim
can be. This helps catch a bully because if you get the proper resources thats on your
side to help with the bullying problem they can set you up to catch the bully when in
attack. The victim can wear an unnoticeable wire or earpiece, which will allow authority
to listen in on what is happening when the victim is alone with the bully. This plan helps
keep everyone safe because the cops could be in the back for protection of the bully and
then once the bully is caught he or she will be placed in a holding cell. The holding cell
will be there until the jury of Principe decides on what he or she will come up with for
the bullys consequence to eliminate the bullies in the school. Most bullies that are in the

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school system have been sent to a detention like school meaning Warlick, which is a
school for behavior children and they wont be able to enter into another school until the
behavior has changed and the time is lifted up.
Methods
The smartest way to lower the rate of bullying is by creating a bully snitch zone.
The zone is a protection plan that helps everybody who is a Vitim of bullying express the
feelings they have. Previous bullies should be able to attend the session also so that he or
she can see how bad the drama that they have caused. The people who where sentenced
to bullying in the previously charges should want to give back support if they have
changed their views on bullying. Through that plan the bully can help the victim limit it
self with the stress because being bullied creates a lot of stress problems more than he or
she can imagine.
In conclusion my research has provided a wide background information on how
bullying can be prevented. The reason I decided to research on bullying is because
bullying has occurred for many years just have not had a way of stopping the issue. If
bullying could stop from happening in schools on a day-to-day basis I believe that the
education rate will increase because some students decide not to learn because they are
scared of the bully. Bullies can change a person perspective on its self value which is
really terrible because the victim of bullying will decided to give up on self. Self giving
up is like quitting and you are not even dead but being that bullies terrorize them so much
they think death is the better way anyway. I believe that bullies should be giving a
punishment and not a mid punishment but a good punishment to where he or she will
understand that the issue they are creating is not acceptable because they are controlling

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somebody elses life of happiness. In todays life parents and positive people are abandon
kids life by not showing love to the kid which makes a child seek out for attention so
bullying gets the attention of others. With that being said parents need to start to show
more love to a child so he or she would be less likely to start to bully others because
everyone just wants to be loved.

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References

Frisen, A., Jonsson, A., & Persson, C. (2007). Adolescents Perception of Bullying who is
the victim? Who is the bully? What can be done to stop bullying? Department of
psychology. 42(168). 749-761.
Landstedt, E., & Persson, S., (2014). Bullying, cyberbullying and mental health in young
people. Journal of public Health.42. 393-399
OBrennan, L.M., Wassdrop, T.E., & Bradshaw, C.P. (2014) Strengthening bullying
prevention through staff connections. Journal of Educational Psychology.106(3).
870-880
Olweus, D. (2004). School Bullying is Nothing New, But Psychologists Identify New
Ways to Prevent It.
Polanin, J.R., Espelage, D. L., & Pigott, T.D. (2012). A Meta-Analysis of School-Based
Bullying Prevention Programs Effects on Bystander Intervention Behavior.
School psychology.41(1). 47-65.
Ross, S.W., & Horner, R. H., (2014). Bully Prevention in Positive Behavior. Journal of
Emotional Behavioral disorders.22(4). 225-236.
Wong, C.T., Cheng, Y.Y., & Chen. L.M. (2013). Multiple perspectives on the targets and
causes of school bullying. Educational psychology in practice.29(3). 278-292.
Vanderbilt, D., & Augustyn, M., (2010). The effects of bullying. Symposium of special
needs.

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