Chapter 1

Background of the Study

Bullying is a very serious matter especially to students and becoming a

primary concern among children, adolescence and even adults. It is consider as
a worldwide problem that brings circumstances to students for the general school
climate and for the right of students to learn in a safe environment without fear
(Banks, 1997). School as a learning environment is not exempted with bullying.
Students have experienced physical and verbal forms of bullying even inside the
campus that greatly affects their morale as an individual, their motivation, and
passion for learning.
The relationship is characterized by an imbalance of power between the
bully and the victim based on physical size, strength, age or social status.
Bullying is the intentional, repetitive harming or injury by one’s peers; they are
occurrences in which the victim is unable to avoid or stop the victimization
(Brank, Hoetger & Hazen, 2012).
Bully and victimization have emerged as persistent problems in our
schools (Rose & Monda-Amaya, 2012). One in three adolescent students in
Canadian schools have reported being bullied (Government of Canada, 2012).
According to Olweus (1996), bullying is when “a student is exposed, repeatedly
and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students”.
The Philippine Republic Act No. 10627 (RA 10627) is strictly implemented
through the DepEd Order 55, s. 2013 known as Implementing Rules and
Regulations [IRR] (Department of Education, 2013). Yet bullying predominates in
public secondary schools even though educational institutions implement the law
to stop learners’ bullying behavior.
In school, their classmates are harassing some learners. A study funded
by the National Institutes of Health found out that boys have a high incidence of
bullying than girls (Ladd, 2017) confirming that females are more vulnerable
groups than their male counterparts (Abocejo et al., 2012; Almazan et al., 2018).
 Bullied learners are affected in terms of physical, emotional, social
and psychological aspects (Sidanius, Pratto and Mitchell, 1994). Also, learners’
academic performance was greatly affected. Most bullied students who cannot
cope the situation were dropping out.
In the countryside, despite the passing of the Republic Act 10627 or the
Anti-Bullying Act and the Department of Education (DepEd) Child’s Protection
Policy, the DepEd documented more than 1,700 cases of child abuse and
bullying in school year 2013-2014. Of these, 60 percent were only resolved
(Flores, 2014). Furthermore, in 2012-2013 DepEd report, 80% (1,165 out of
1,456) of the child abuse cases involved act of bullying (Malipot, 2013).
In Binakayan National High School, Kawit, Cavite, there is a reported 36
bullying cases for SY 2013-2014 which emanate from name calling, playing
offensive jokes, hiding or getting someone’s personal belongings, and inflicting
physical injury.
These had turned into physical bullying where kicking; slapping and
beating up another person in the school are the most common cases. In this
regard, the role of school being an avenue for a stable and secure learning
environment is expected to provide an education that caters to students’ physical
and mental well-beings, to develop their self-confidence and helps their ability to
pursue ambitions and interests.

Significance of the study

This research aims to spread awareness and understandings about

bullying and to better understand where does this comes from and what purpose
does the bullies have, to do such things.
Psychological effects are the most dominant when it comes to bullying.
Most research says that bullying has made students most likely to commit
suicide, also to undergo depression (Walton, 2013).
The study will primarily focus on how bullying affects a certain student and
how they cope up from such problem.
Theoretical Framework

Bullying, as we all know is a problem to society for a very long time now.
One theory that studies this phenomenon is the Conflict Theory of Karl Marx, it is
a society theory that states: “ Conflict theory states that tensions and conflicts
arise when resources, status, and power are unevenly distributed between
groups in society and that these conflicts become the engine for social change.
Now if we apply it to bullying, the uneven distribution is the power, status
and ego of the perpetrators (Bully) and the receivers (Victim) will cause who ever
is more powerful to have more priority and therefore rule those that are inferior to
him. Love and belongingness are the most important needs in practice, as
intimacy and connectedness with the persons we about to care is considered as
vital for fulfilling all the needs.

Conceptual Framework

The researchers’ framework below can be view “Bullying” as the

independent variable, while 1st year BSCRIM students of UMBC are the
dependent variables.

1st year BSCRIM of

Effects of Bullying University of Bansalan
College.
Statement of the Problem

1. What are the effects of bullying that may affect the well being of the

respondents?
2. How do experiences of bullying impact students in response to their
performances in school?
3. What are the possible ways in dealing with bullying?

Delimitation and Limitation of the study

This qualitative inquiry is delimited only to 30 selected participants from 1st

year BSCRIM students who are frequently reported, noted, and observed as
victims of bullying at University of Mindanao College.
These participants were officially enrolled in the forenamed school. Bullies
were not included in this study. One of the weaknesses of this study was the
limited number of participants in which their shared experiences may not truly
represent the reality that of the majority of the population in the entire school.
However, the researcher made sure that trustworthiness and credibility of the
participants were dealt with utmost safeguard.

Definition of terms

 Bullying - Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged

children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. 
 Victimization - the action of singling someone out for cruel or unjust
treatment.
 Harassment - aggressive pressure or intimidation.
 Psychology - the scientific study of the human mind and its functions,
especially those affecting behavior in a given context.
 Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature

In this chapter, significant literatures, related readings, and previous

studies about campus bullying are presented which definitely gave wider
understanding and perspective about this phenomenon.
Schools are considered to be one of the safest places where children are
seen on a daily basis and are under the supervision of teachers who are trained
and equipped caregivers. Children are victims of all forms of abuse, punishment,
neglect, discrimination, and ill treatment within the school setting. Though there
are various policies and programs at the international and national levels,
addressing child protection has been a serious challenge for every community.
Victimized children describe themselves as unpopular, unhappy, and unsafe at
school.
They tend to lack friends and to be rejected by peers. These children
report feeling afraid in school, reacting negatively toward school, and
consequently avoiding school more often than their peers (Mishna, 2003). A
study done by Schwartz, Farver, Chang, and Lee-Shin (2002) considered the
academic behaviour and school adjustment of children over the first year of
school life and reported that rejected children had less promising school
perceptions, significantly higher levels of school avoidance and considerably
lower school performance (as cited in Woods & Wolke, 2004).
The impact of the introduction of policies on bullying throughout a school
seems to be limited. The most common type of bullying is general name-calling,
followed by being hit, threatened, or having rumors spread about one. Bullying is
thought to be more prevalent among boys and the youngest pupils in a school.
We are unaware of any study that has examined the mental health problems of
children who are being bullied. We assessed self-reported anxiety, depression,
and self-esteem in bullied children and those who were not bullied and in bullies
and those who were not bullies (Salmon, James & Smith, 1998).
 Education is the best instrument in developing the potentials of every
individual. It equips an individual with the necessary knowledge and skills to
become a fruitful adherent in the society. The person obtains and nurture
knowledge, skills, habits and attitudes through teaching-learning process
(Abocejo and Padua, 2010; Ladd, 2017; Trazo and Abocejo, 2019)
Bullying is a continuing spoken, physical, or printed pestering exploiting
that arises in school learning institutions (Lai and Chang, 2008). Tormentors use
ferocity or danger to take dominance over their peers. Bullies incline to constantly
target children who are distinct in some way. If the youngsters are not assertive,
they cannot protect themselves neither ask support and turn out as victims
(Diepenhorst, 2014; Abocejo and Gubalane, 2013). More often victimisation
occurs ages between 10 to 14 years (National Center for Education Statistics,
2016). Certainly, it happens amid elder kids with features turn into elusive
(Shaeffer, as cited in Carigma, 2016).
The National Center for Education Statistics (2016) reported that greater
than 1 out of every 5 about (21) learners inform that they were intimidated. The
United States Department of Education (2015) noted that the occurrence of
bullying was around 28 percent based on the national government data gathered
on school bullying in 2005. Winton and Tuters (2014) who worked on the
Canadian education policy addressing bullying in schools, drew attention to the
issue of depicting bullying as a problem of persons perceived as naive and
difficult. Correspondingly, bullying is implied in the entire community which are
based on the social customs and public ethics (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth and
Malle, 1994; Ramirez, 2006; Patchin and Hinduja, 2016).
Bullying disregards ancient and systemic orders of authority that impact
personal connections (Benítez and Justicia, 2006) and it refutes inspection of the
associated sovereignty edifices and beliefs that honour certain conducts of
knowing, existence and acting (Chen, 2015) leading to bullying occurrences
linked with affiliation in a group (Benítez and Justicia, 2006).
Eslea and Rees (2001) noted that mocking verbally otherwise sending
messages through the use of electric devices or gadgets; initiating bodily
conducts like to thrust, pull, pierce, tightly grips, jerk, prickle as well as use
materials which serve as instrument to inflict injury are considered common
forms of intimidation. Further, bullying is done in terms of saying libelous reports
as well as allegations, which turns to anxiety.
It can also be any other conduct causing harm to the inner self or feelings
of a person (Patchin and Hinduja, 2016). Numerous cases of intimidation,
particularly those done unceasingly for how many years, even though the
conducts might invisibly become direct victims’ harm, offenders as well as the
school is accountable for the indecision of faculty or personnel in the academe.
There are several cases wherein bullied usually goes home
however, if the bullied person could endure intimidation, the person becomes
miserable then couldn’t work correctly, and commit suicide (Chen, 2015; Lee,
2011; Ramirez, 2006). There are about 100 nonetheless, 1000 of intimidations’
sufferers prefer killing themselves (Chen, 2015; Eslea and Rees, 2001; Ramirez,
2006).
Bullying could possibly be done inside the academe, areas of school’s
event, locality, in the school automobile or else in the stopovers of the school’s
automobile and even outside the campus with the use of gadgets by way of
sending mails, messages or twitters, among others (Eslea and Rees, 2001; Lai,
Ye and Chang, 2008).
When the school unsuccessfully work on what is instructed based on the
law regarding Anti-bullying, DepEd might append school’s operation or else
jeopardised for some agreements (Luistro, as cited in Aragones, 2016).
Addressing the issue of bullying could be done through investigating the
personality of adolescent regarding bullying. This may help in finding specific
factors that make adolescents more susceptible to bullying either as a victim or a
bully and even how to avoid it.
It may help in making programs to discourse bullying at early age through
outlining the sketch to a prospective victims as well as bullies. It can assist to
attain the accurate support on the youngster (Diepenhorst, 2014).
 In the school, educating learners about bullying behaviours by the
teachers and parents will aid all students feel safe and protected (Department of
Education, 2012). More often, learners who belong to poor families (Fernandez
and Abocejo, 2014) and whose parents are not educated (Alvarez, Ong and
Abocejo, 2017) are the more susceptible group to bullying. This scenario signals
the needs for schools to craft supportive policies to zero out tolerance and create
interventions to minimise cases of bullying.
A study by Shafer, Korn, Smith, Hunter, Mora-Merchan, Singer, & Van der
Meulen (2004), investigated the stability of victimization from primary to
secondary school, found that those students who were continuously bullied had
lower self-esteem than the control group or those only bullied in primary or
secondary school.
The worth of compassion should be imparted to bully learners in order to
modify their behaviours for the better. A bully must be taught to realise the feeling
of being bullied in order to stop bullying others. These behaviours may eventually
affect the smooth development of knowledge that resulted to reduce learners’
performance in the class (Cuñado and Abocejo, 2018).
The school scholastic performance decreases intensely if a student
suffered from bullying which typically emanates from low selfworth and capacity
to learn (Aragones, 2016).
Aragones (2016) also observed and experienced situations of bully
behavior among secondary learners. There were cases wherein bullying occurs
to another learner who says nasty and unpleasant things to another learner. It
also happened that some learners got hit, kicked, threatened, punched, sent
nasty notes; even name calling of parents and no one ever talk to him.
Some teachers in the lower grades were complaining with regards to the
misdemeanor acts of the students, which lead to poor academic performance
(Fernandez and Abocejo, 2014; Ladd, 2017).
 Holt and Keyes (2004) reported that a greater proportion of studies have
found that teachers report lower prevalence rates of bullying than students do,
which likely indicates that students are aware of bullying to a much greater extent
than teachers do.
Teachers, especially pre-service ones, are concerned about the problem
of bullying, that they often have limited knowledge of the issue, and that they
desire to learn more about it (Nicolaides, Toda, & Smith, 2002). Furthermore,
what is striking about teachers’ observation about bullying is that it seems very
possible for teachers who appear to have perfectly behaved classes to provide
havens for bullies that shelter them against detection.
Teachers and school administrators find ways and means to prevent
cases of bullying because, if bullying in schools will not stop it would most
possibly intensify school cruelty and would imperil to learners’ life and academic
performance.
This speaks to the savvy ability of some bullies to manipulate the
classroom environments of well meaning yet unsuspecting teachers, and to hide
behind facades of innocence. It is evident; this is a bullying situation teachers
need help recognizing (Allen, 2010).
The performance of bullied learners was affected since the traumatic
events triggered in the mind of the students causing to drop all his subjects
(Olweus, 1993).
Learners not cut classes and actively participate during class instruction.
Once, learners feel that they are secured from being bullied, they can easily learn
and establish good rapport with their peers that are vital in achieving high
scholastic school performance.
This paper contends that minimizing, if not eliminating, bullying in school
improve academic performance, facilitate learning and provide a conducive-
learning environment for learners. The absence of bullying in schools motivates
leaners to attend schooling, which assured a healthy, safe and enjoyable
learning institution.