CHRISTIAN SAMARITAN HEALTH SERVICES AND TECHNICAL

SCHOOL, INC.
Puerto Highway, Puerto Cagayan De Oro City

(Correlation of Bullying and Depression)

A Research Proposal in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for

PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1

Submitted by:

Leader:

Manilyn A. Alipala

Members:

Jose Maria D. Ramasamy

Gem Kyle Nickollie D. Caduyac

Vivian Jane S. Sebusa

Cindy T. Quiawan

LadyJencen Ruth M. Batincila

Submitted to:

MR. JOCARL P. CAGAPE

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS

April 2021
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

Abstract ………………………

Introduction ………………………

a) Research Problem
b) Research Questions
c) Conceptual/ Theoretical Framework
d) The Research Design & Method
e) Scope & Limitations of the Study

CHAPTER 2

Review of Related Literature ………………………

a) Relevant Theories (Theoretical Framework)/

Discuss Variables (Conceptual Framework)
b) Previous Researches
c) Previous Researches
d) Critical Analysis of Relationships to Topic

References ………………………
 Chapter 1 1

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to determine the interconnection of bullying and depression among
adolescents in school. A literature review of some studies that correlates the reciprocality of both
bullying and depression is presented, including underlying cause and effect of bullying. Prospective
follow up studies shows that both victimization and bullying may pose risk factor for depression and
that depression may incline adolescence to bullying.

This study further explains factors— such as family problems, attention seeking, poor parental
guidance, low self-esteem, and depression itself— which derives bullying from happening. Although
not all studies have confirmed and/or is not applicable to all the victims and bullies, as per our study,
we hereby conclude that given from the data, this are the principal cause of bullying among
adolescents in school.

INTRODUCTION

School is a place where we all know helps us learn, develop, and guides us in configuring
ourselves not only for the present but also for what you want to be in the future. But school isn't
always describe as that. Schools are also battlefields where some students doesn't have the privilege
that some students receives such as fame, honor, respect, appreciation, and etc. It is a place of
survival for those who are not intellectually and financially capable. A place where some are honored
and respected, while some are rejected and bullied.

Bullying can happen to anyone, anywhere, and anyhow. It is a deliberate use of misconduct
happening through verbal, physical, and/or social behavior that intends to cause harm physically,
socially, and psychologically. Bullying behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over
time.

According to National Centers for Educational Statistics (2019), one out of five students,
roughly 20.2% and has higher percentage of male than female (6% vs. 4%), are reported being
bullied. Students who are involved in bullying, both the victim and the bully are at a great risk for both
mental health and behavior problems, and is most likely to experience depression, anxiety, sleep
difficulties, lower academic achievement, and dropping out of school.

In addition, There are variety of reasons why bullying happens and on how someone
becomes a bully. One of the cause is depression itself. When someone is depressed, they are likely
to be stressed and short tempered which leads them to express anger frustration due to the problems
they have in home, school, or in a workplace. It is somehow expressed in a violent platform such as
bullying.

Thus, once a person is bullied, it is crucial for parents, teachers, or any types of authority to
ensure that the bullying won't happen again.

Furthermore, bullying may also impose long-term effects that may appear anytime on both
victim and bully. According to William E. Copeland, assistant professor at the Center for
Developmental Epidemiology at Duke, "Bullying and the continued threat of being bullied can have
physiological consequences. There is evidence that over time this experience can dysregulate
biological stress response systems".
RESEARCH PROBLEM 2

Bullying has been shown to have negative effects not only to adolescents but also up to
adulthood. It also has detrimental effects on students' health, wellbeing and learning, and is becoming
an increasing concern in many places especially in schools where children and adolescents spend
most of their time at.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

What are the possible reasons of bullying?

What type of people is directly affected by bullying?
What are the possible ways of bullying?

CONCEPTUAL/THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

In this chapter of theories examines in this research involving between in regard among those
who are affected by bullying especially adolescence. There are many different things that can
influence a person to bully others. The motivations behind harmful bullying behavior can often be
tricky to pinpoint. It makes sense because it depends on the act of bully in different ways. While there
are studies draws on Agnew’s general strain theory to examine multiple outcomes of youth victimized
by repeated bullying prior to adolescence. One of the study also found a significant correlation
between early victimization to the bully – depression relationships, olweus (1993b).

In addition that victimization to bullying may be a traumatizing event that results in

depression. Bullying can deeply effect in adolescence and their development in many ways including
depression. In possible solution there might be some other things going on for them. However, if their
behaviors are negatively affecting others they should addressed it. It is also scientifically proven that
in the types of people directly affects bullying is never, a contrary to popular belief, because of the
unique characteristics of the person experiencing bullying. Out of the increasing number of studies
done on bullying and depression, several different explanations for this relationships have been
proposed.

Overall, bullying is happening all the time in our society, totally eliminating it would be very
difficult but nonetheless possible. In simple thoughts, by implementing these solutions it can lessen
the cases of bullying and pave the way for eradication.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD 3

Overview:

This chapter uses an emphasis on research design to discuss the interconnection of bullying
and depression in adolescence, and mixed methods research as the three major approaches to
research in the social sciences. The first major section considers the role of research methods in each
of the approaches. This discussion talks about bullying and depression in adolescence as the two
traditional alternatives in social sciences research. The third section examines what was the reason
and how to avoid this situation about bullying and depression in adolescence. The final section
considers the situation of mixed methods research as a newer and thus less fully developed approach
to doing social science research.

In our life as a teenager bullying is everywhere and depression is difficult to handle.

Depression is one of the most difficult to encounter as a teenager. Being bullied is stressful and being
a bully is stressing, the victim and the bully are both suffering depression, the bully is bullying
someone just to make themselves happy or to avoid problems in their minds and the victim is the one
who’s depressed about being bullied. Does bullying and being bullied need to be made? Is depression
needed to be faced in adolescence? In large part, the answer depends on what “The Interconnection
of bullying and depression in Adolescence” approaches to research.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study directly involves chosen students of Christian Samaritan School Senior High
School Department. This study aims to deepen knowledge about bullying, specifically why bullying
happens, who are the potential subjects of bullying, and how to stop bullying. The data collection will
be conducted to 50 random students (SHS) in Christian Samaritan School.

This study will not cover any other problems that are not considered as the stressor and
depressant. Each of the respondents are given the same questionnaires to answer. The result of this
study is only applicable to those respondents and will not be used as a measure to those who are not
involved in this study. The main source of the data will be the questionnaires prepared by the
researchers.
 Chapter 2 4

Review of Related Literature

Depression is one of the most frequent mental health problems among adolescents. It can
affect anyone, anywhere. Most people define it as a disease in which you can feel constant sadness
and loss of interest that hinders you from doing daily activities. Generally, depression does not result
from a single event, but from a mix of events and factors. There are wide range of causes that triggers
depression and that includes bullying as one of them.

Vaillancourt T, et.al (2008) said, bullying is recognized as aggressive, repeated, intentional

behavior involving an imbalance of power aimed toward an individual or group of individuals who
cannot easily defend themselves.

Bullying happens at no definite places. Kaltiala-Heino R, Fröjd S (2011), studied that about
10% –20% of children and adolescents are regularly involved in school bullying as either victims,
bullies, or both. Boys are involved more often than girls, and a greater proportion of children than of
adolescents report victimization from bullying. Thus, school is a place where children mostly spend
their time because of the need of education. Experiencing bullying at a young age is at a
disadvantage especially when it happens at an environment created to prosper intelligence, values,
and child development.

Moreover, Children bullying others have a fivefold risk of being in contact with mental health
services compared to children with no involvement in bullying. Lund et.al and Jordanova et al, also
reported that having been bullied at school was associated with an increased risk of clinical
depression in adulthood. Longer and more intensive bullying posed a higher risk for depression.
Among adult patients with anxiety disorders, having been bullied at school correlated with depression
as well as with social anxiety and functional impairment.

In addition, Due et.al reported that victimization from bullying in adolescence predicted
depression in young adulthood, and more clearly among socioeconomically-deprived adolescents
than among those with affluent backgrounds. However, there is also evidence that prior depression
may predict subsequent victimization from bullying, or that the association between victimization and
depression may be reciprocal.

Furthermore, Cuevas et.al, studied psychiatric diagnosis as a risk factor for different kinds of
victimization among children and adolescents. Depression was not addressed separately. Information
was collected, using a structured questionnaire, from parents who reported treatment contacts due to
nine different psychiatric diagnoses and victimization from various incidents. It was found that children
and adolescents with a psychiatric diagnosis were more likely than those without a diagnosis to be
victimized by a variety of assaults, including bullying. Luukkonen et al, Demonstrated that victimization
from bullying was associated with suicidal behavior among female, but not among male, adolescent
psychiatric inpatients.

Kaltiala-Heino R, Fröjd S (2011) however, all adolescents with behavioral problems may not
be treated in mental health settings. Individuals with depressive symptoms comorbid with antisocial
behavior may end up in the juvenile justice system or in the custody of social services, depending on
the service system of the country in question.
 Relevant Theories
Discuss Variables
Abuse
Physical, sexual, or
emotional abuse can
make you more
vulnerable to depression
later in life.
5
Bullying
Depression
Other Personal
Age Serious Illness Problem
People who are elderly Sometimes, depression Problems such as social
are at higher risk of happens along with a isolation due to other
depression. That can be major illness or maybe mental illness or being
made worse by other triggered by another cast out of a family or
factors, such as living medical condition. social group can
alone and having a lack contribute to the risk of
of social support. developing clinical
depression.
Previous Researches  6
 

Bullying and depression has been around for a very long time, it affected many lives in the whole
world. In the long run, many studies have been conducted and the following are their findings.
Brunstein Klomek A, et.al (2007) assessed the association between bullying behavior and depression,
suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts among adolescents. It shows ta self-report survey by 9th to
12th-grade students of 6 New York State High School from years 2002-2004. Roughly 9% of the
sample reported being victimized frequently, and 13% reported bullying others frequently. Regular
exposure to victimization or bullying others was related to high risks of depression, ideation, and
suicide attempts compared to adolescent that is not victimized. Being seldomly involve in bullying
behavior is also related to increased risk of depression and suicidality, especially girls. Findings
suggests that adolescents who are both victims and bullies are the most troubled. Bullying activity
was linked to psychopathology both in and out of the classroom. Exploitation and tormenting are
potential danger factors for young adult’s sadness and suicidality. In assessments of understudies
engaged with harassing conduct, it is essential to survey melancholy and suicidality.

Carlyle KE, Steinmen KJ (2007) argues that regardless of a huge writing on harassing, not many
investigations all the while inspect various components of the wonder or consider how they differ by
segment qualities. Accordingly, research discoveries in this space have been conflicting. This article
centers around 2 components of harassing practices - animosity and exploitation - and inspects
segment variety in their predominance, co-event, and relationship with other wellbeing results.
School-based overviews were regulated to an evaluation of sixth twelfth graders in 16 school regions
across a huge metropolitan region in the United States. Both measurements of bullying tended to be
more common among more youthful, male, African American and Local American understudies.
There were, be that as it may, a few exemptions as well as significant variety within
the size of statistic contrasts. Most youth included with bullying were either culprits or casualties, but
not both. For illustration, as it were 7.4% of all youths were classified as bully/victims.
Substance utilization was more strongly related to hostility, while depressive influence was
more unequivocally related to victimization.

Wienke Totura CM, et.al (2009) explains that social, behavioral, and academic correlates
shows a consensus between student self-report and instructor ratings of bullying and victimization in
this review. Surveys of peer relationships and psychosocial transition were conducted by middle
school students and teachers. Psychometric agreement on bullying/victimization and change among
groups (bullies, victims, bully/victims, and uninvolved) defined by raters were investigated using
analyses of variance and logistic regressions (student self-report only, teacher-report only, concordant
reports, and controversial reports). The most psychosocial and academic problems were found in the
concordant and controversial classes. Teacher reports of bullying and victimization interacted with
pupil academic disabilities and moodiness, with consensus between teacher and student self-reports
of bullying being stronger at higher levels of learning challenges and agreement for victimization being
smaller at higher levels of moodiness. The findings point to biases in evaluators perceptions of
student conduct and reinforce the need for many evaluators of student performance.
Related Literature Stated 7

A literature review of the associations between involvement in bullying and depression is

presented. Many studies have demonstrated a concurrent association between involvement in
bullying and depression in adolescent population samples. Not only victims but also bullies display
increased risk of depression, although not all studies have confirmed this for the bullies.

Retrospective studies among adults support the notion that victimization is followed by
depression. Prospective follow-up studies have suggested both that victimization from bullying may be
a risk factor for depression and that depression may predispose adolescents to bullying. Adolescents
involved in bullying are at a significant risk of experiencing psychiatric symptoms, alcohol and drug
abuse, and suicidal ideation or acts. The consequences of bullying may extend well into adulthood.
Depression is one of the most prevalent mental health problems of adolescence. This paper reviews
the literature on the correlation between depression and school bullying and attempts to evaluate
whether there is evidence for causal relationships between the phenomena. Many cross-sectional
surveys in adolescent populations from different countries and in different phases of adolescent
development have demonstrated an association between victimization from bullying and self-reported
depression,2, 4, 39–46 and between being bullied and suicidality.2, 39, 43 A variety of depression
scales and different self-report questionnaires, as well as the peer nomination method, have been
used in these studies, but independently of methods, a correlation between victimization from bullying
and depression has emerged in cross-sectional studies.

Cuevas et.al 47 studied psychiatric diagnosis as a risk factor for different kinds of victimization
among children and adolescents. Depression was not addressed separately. Information was
collected, using a structured questionnaire, from parents who reported treatment contacts due to nine
different psychiatric diagnoses and victimization from various incidents. It was found that children and
adolescents with a psychiatric diagnosis were more likely than those without a diagnosis to be
victimized by a variety of assaults, including bullying. Luukkonen et.al 48 studied the association
between psychiatric diagnoses and involvement in bullying among adolescent psychiatric inpatients.
The diagnoses were elicited in structured psychiatric assessments, and involvement in bullying was
recorded as self-reported at the time of the psychiatric assessment. Among boys, victimization from
bullying was associated with internalizing disorders, but among girls, no such association was found.
Unfortunately, different diagnoses within the internalizing disorders were not studied separately. In
another analysis, Luukkonen.et al 49 demonstrated that victimization from bullying was associated
with suicidal behavior among female, but not among male, adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Several
cross-sectional surveys have found elevated levels of depressive symptoms among school-aged
youth who report bullying their peers. 2, 39, 40, 42, 46, 71 However, studies utilizing peer nomination
to identify bullies have found no association between depressive symptoms and bullying.
Critical Analysis of Relationships to Topic 8

Bullies have been found to be characterized by externalizing behaviors or antisocial

tendencies, such as overt aggressiveness, a tendency to manipulate, lack of empathy, and positive
attitudes towards violence.32, 33 The peer group has a significant association with aggressive
behavior.

Physical aggression may be normative in deviant peer groups, while adolescents higher in
peer-perceived popularity may become more relationally aggressive over time. Aggressive behavior
functions to gain or maintain social status in the selected peer group.3 The hypothesis that low self-
esteem is associated with bullying others has recently been compromised by studies showing no
association between bullying and self-esteem, or relatively high self-esteem in bullies.13, 35, 36 Being
a bully has even been suggested to increase self-esteem in girls.37 It has been suggested that the
aspect of control explains different types of bullying. Proactive aggression is especially associated
with the need to control others, whereas reactive aggression is linked to deficits in self-control
capability.

Many cross-sectional surveys in adolescent populations from different countries and in

different phases of adolescent development have demonstrated an association between victimization
from bullying and self-reported depression, 2, 4, 39–46 and between being bullied and suicidality.2,
39, 43 A variety of depression scales and different self-report questionnaires, as well as the peer
nomination method, have been used in these studies, but independently of methods, a correlation
between victimization from bullying and depression has emerged in cross-sectional studies.
 References 9

 Kaltiala-Heino, R., & Fröjd, S. (2011). Correlation between bullying and clinical depression in
adolescent patients. Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics, 2, 37–44.
https://doi.org/10.2147/AHMT.S11554.
 Thapar, A., Collishaw, S., Pine, D. S., & Thapar, A. K. (2012). Depression in adolescence.
The Lancet, 379(9820), 1056–1067. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60871-4.
 Sigurdon JF, Undheim AM, Wallander JL, Lydersen S, Sund AM. The long term effects of
being bullied or a bully in adolescence on externalizing and internalizing mental health
problems in adulthood. Child adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2015:9:42-015-0075-2
(eCollection 2015).
 Copeland WE, Wolke D, Angold A, Costello ES. Adult psychiatry outcomes of bullying and
being bullied by peers in childhood and adolescence. JAMA psychiatry. 2013; 70(4):419-26.
 Lareya ST, Copeland WE, Costello EJ, Wolke D. Adult mental health consequences of peer
bullying and maltreatment in childhood; two cohorts in two countries. Lancet Psychiatry. 2015;
2(6):524-31.
 Brunstein Klomek A, Marrocco F, Kleinman M, Schonfeld IS, Gould MS. Bullying, depression,
and suicidality in adolescents. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2007 Jan; 46(1):40-49.
doi: 10.1097/01.chi.0000242237.84925.18. PMID: 17195728.
 Carlyle KE, Steinman KJ. Demographic differences in the prevalence, co-occurrence, and
correlates of adolescent bullying at school. J Sch Health. 2007 Nov; 77(9):623-9. doi:
10.1111/j.1746-1561.2007.00242.x. PMID: 17970866.
 Wienke Totura CM, Green AE, Karver MS, Gesten EL. Multiple informants in the assessment
of psychological, behavioral, and academic correlates of bullying and victimization in middle
school. J Adolesc. 2009 Apr; 32(2):193-211. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2008.04.005. Epub
2008 Sep 18. PMID: 18801565.