The Mulitple Effects of School Bullying

Children who are bullied at school often suffer long-term effects, from poor self esteem, emontional injury to physical disabilities. Why does this occur?

"Children that expereince hostility, abuse, physical discipline and other aggressive behaviors by their parents are more likely to model that behavior in their peer relationships," he writes. "Children learn from their parents how to behave and interact with others," Cerullo says. "So if they are learning about aggression and angry words at home, they will tend to use these behaviors as coping mechanisms when they interact with other children in school, the playground, or their after school activities."

School bullying has become a widespread social phenomenon involving both individual and group variables. The present study was aimed at analyzing how students' perception of a bullying episode might be influenced by group and context variables. A convenience sample of 355 adolescents read a short story, in which the in-group role (Bully vs. Victim) and level of teacher likeability (high vs. low) were manipulated.
Participants were asked to evaluate their own group and an out-group, in terms of four dependent variables: liking, right to use the basketball court, attribution of blame, and attribution of punishment. Current data showed a strong participant in-group bias and a generalized tendency to favor the in-group, especially when it was the victimized group. Conversely, the manipulation of teacher likeability did not affect students' perception of bullying, except for girls' attribution of punishment. Lastly, a clear gender effect emerged, in that boys accepted physical bullying more readily than girls did, except amonh middle school gilrs. Results are discussed in terms of group dynamics and pre-adolescent social identity concerns.

Many children in schools today report having frequent headaches or tummy aches, anxiety, depression, and fear that they sleep poorly, wet the bed, or feel sad, as a result of being bullied. Children who report these symptoms also report being bullied substantially more often than do their peers. Although it is not clear whether the association is causal, health professionals seeing such children should ask about bullying.

Nearly 3 out of every 4 high school teenagers say they were bullied online at least once during a recent 12-month period, and only 1 out of every 10 reported such cyber-bullying to parents or other adults, according to CDC.

Of those who were bullied online, eight-percent also have been bullied at school, the psychologists found. The probability of getting bullied online was substantially higher for those who have been the victims of school bullying.  Rather than threatening a child with physical violence, these bullies target a child's social status and relationships by shunning them, excluding them from social activities or spreading rumors, said Victoria Demis a local high school student. In the middle school, nearly half the sixth graders in two local area public schools say they were bullied by classmates during a five-day period, and or assulted after school.  We must esbalish more proactive approaches when dealing with bullying.