Effects of Bullying on Children - Desklib

This paper discusses in detail the effect of bullying on children. It provides insight into the effects and meaning of bullying on children. The paper also discusses the short and long term effects of bullying on children.

Running head: EFFECTS OF BULLYING ON CHILDREN 1
Effects of Bullying On Children
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Institution

EFFECTS OF BULLYING ON CHILDREN 2
EFFECTS OF BULLYING ON CHILDREN
Introduction
This paper will discuss in detail the effect of bullying on children. Bullying is the process
of targeting an individual who is vulnerable or different and intimidating them. Bullying is a
universal problem that may have long and short term effects on those affected. Bullying aimed to
degrade the other person as well as hurt them emotionally and physically. It is normally directed
at sorts of individuals, for example, an individual from a certain race, background, sexual
orientation or religion. Bullying is a troublesome repetition more so an institution that infringe
on wellbeing, security, and dignity of the child (Hay, Meldrum & Mann, 2010). The academic,
psychosocial, and physical effects of bullying still remain unsolved in schools. So, this paper will
provide insight into the effects and meaning of bullying on children.
According to most researchers, Bullying refers to a desire to hurt as well as the execution
of a damaging action; it remains characterized by repetition as well as either a psychological or a
physical power imbalance (Espelage et al. 2018). Bullying can occur at any time, any age as well
as in many forms. Bullying can happen face to face and via online and mobile phones. Some
researchers described bullying as negative behaviors being performed repeatedly and deliberately
against people who have a problem in defending themselves. According to some researchers, the
rate of victimization remains 9% to 32% and the bullying’s rate is 3% to 27%.
There are many short terms and long term effects of bullying on children. These effects
of bullying differ on the kind of bullying exposed to an individual but the long term effects are
often detrimental. The following are the effects of bullying on children:
Psychologically bullying dispose of overwhelming effects on the personality of a child
for both, bully and victim. This includes psychosocial, physical, and academic effects that have a

EFFECTS OF BULLYING ON CHILDREN 3
phenomenal impact on the life of the individual. Some researchers stated the physical effect of
bullying on victims such as migraine, headaches, sweating, frequent illness, panic attacks, and
palpitation. Other researchers also stated academic effects of bullying, for example, poor
performance as well as, children feeling reluctant in going to school (Purpora Cooper & Sharifi,
2015). Studies indicate that such children fail to attain excellence academically because of
inability to concentrate fully in the classroom. Besides, the literature showed that such kids suffer
from a disorder known as attention deficit disorder (Albayrak, Yıldız & Erol, 2016). Moreover,
some researchers stated that the probability of developing psychosocial difficulties is rather
higher in victims than non-victims. These people faced a great problem in building social
adjustment and relationships. They are very poor in making group gathering, new friends and
tries to stay alone because of fear of getting injured. These children feel isolated as well as, hate
being in groups. Some researchers argued that these kids are more vulnerable to anxiety disorder,
depression and suicidal ideations. Researchers also found that some of the victims have a sense
of inferiority complex. These children will also experience rage and misperception.
Bullying effects character development of a child- Researchers argue that bullying can
still affect a person even after 10 years. Various studies and reports have proven that about 15
percent of children in schools are either originator of bullying behavior or are being bullied
regularly (Lam et al. 2015). Chances are your child at one point of their life has been a victim of
bullying at school. It is also true that memories of bullying are still present. This demonstrates
how bullying affects a child character development. It is revealed that children affected by
bullying transfer those feelings of insecurity and doubt about themselves to the next stage of
their development (Al-Bitar et al. 2013).This may lead to long term depression and suicidal
thoughts. A child who is bullied usually has low self-esteem.

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Apart from the above-mentioned effect, bullying has long-lasting distresses in the future
life of children. When children reached adulthood, they experienced a problem in building
personal relationships. Besides they can overreact on things that are not important. Research
showed that in adulthood, most of these victims often experience shyness when in the presence
of women and have problems in sexual relationships (Bowes et al. 2010). They may also engage
in vengeance such as murder as well as other criminal acts.
Bullying also causes psychosocial and academic effects on bullies. Research studies
indicated that bullies possess negative consequences in their future life if they are given the
chance of bullying without interference. Some researchers indicated that bullies are mostly
engaged in negative behaviors (Peng et al. 2016). And that academically they often attain low
grades in institutions and do not like the environment of the school. These children also develop
unwanted social skills as they grow to adulthood. Additionally, they often participated in acts
such as burglary, vandalism, and truancy.
Research studies show that about 50 percent of cases of suicides amongst children are
linked to bullying (Laschinger & Fida, 2014). The most serious effects of bullying are suicidal
thoughts. Many adults and young children have died due to traumatically bullied in their school.
For instance, most of the children committed suicide in school after being exposed to harsh
bullying. Furthermore, most researchers argued that bullying is linked to criminal violence,
crime, as well as another kind of antisocial behavior (Hinduja & Patchin, 2017). This antisocial
behavior refers to behaviors which may cause harassment, distress or alarm to more individuals
who are in the different household to that of the perpetrator. There are also other factors that can
contribute to suicide, for example, feeling of worthless, low self- esteem and depression, all these
are being stimulated by bullying.

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Some of the causes of bullying in schools include Anger, envy, Revenge, untaught, fear
of inferiority. Also, some children are being coerced into bullying by their colleagues in school.
Some students also participate in Bullying in order to maintain popularity in school.
Conclusion
It is true that exposure to bullying has both short term and long term effects on children.
Bullying is a severe problem that can prevent students from progressing socially and
academically. For instance, Children have bullied experience a psychological impact. Children
who are bullied also engage in criminal violence, crime, as well as other kinds of antisocial
behavior. Therefore, in order to prevent bullying in school, the government together with the
various groups in the society should develop some strategies to curb issues that are linked to
bullying. Some of the strategies include: the school administration should establish Anti-
Bullying programs both after school hours and during school hours to deal with the cases of
bullying in schools. At the class level, teachers should develop class rules that deal with bullying.
There should also be peer mediation education on the negative effect of bullying and the
school/local should establish Anti-Bully policy. Lastly, the government enacts rules and
regulations that inhibit bullying in the workplace and other institutions.
References

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Albayrak, S., Yıldız, A., & Erol, S. (2016). Assessing the effect of school bullying prevention
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Al-Bitar, Z. B., Al-Omari, I. K., Sonbol, H. N., Al-Ahmad, H. T., & Cunningham, S. J. (2013).
Bullying among Jordanian schoolchildren, its effects on school performance, and the
contribution of general physical and dentofacial features. American journal of
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Bowes, L., Maughan, B., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., & Arseneault, L. (2010). Families promote
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