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Bullying: The Effect of Bullying in Schools

Lauren Maun

Mary Baldwin University

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Abstract

School bullying is a pervasive problem found in elementary, middle, and high schools across the
United States and around the world. It can take many direct and indirect forms, including
physical violence, name-calling, taunting, teasing, rumor-spreading and social exclusion. Once
thought of as a normal part of growing up, school bullying is now widely recognized as a serious
problem that must be met with systematic preventative efforts. This paper examines the
prevalence and effects of school bullying. It discusses profiles of bullies and victims, and
explores the most effective methods now used to combat school bullying.
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Bullying: The Effect of Bullying in Schools

Bullying is not just punching someone in the face or someone calling you names.
Bullying is a lot more than that. There are different types of bullying that exist. Some include
physical, verbal, indirect, social alienation, intimidation and cyber bullying. It is estimated that
200 million children and youth around the world are being bullied (Jette, 2012). Physical
bullying is any kind of physical contact that could hurt someone, such as punching, pushing,
kicking, and hitting. Verbal bullying is name calling, making offensive remarks, or joking about
someone’s race, religion, social status, gender, or the way they may look. At 46.5% of bullying
in schools is verbal bullying. Indirect bullying is 18.5% of all bullying (Whitted & Dupper,
2005). For example, if someone spreads a rumor about someone else because they may have
thought it was funny or because they may have not liked that person would be indirect bullying.
Social alienation is when bullies exclude someone from a group on purpose. Intimidation is
when a bully threatens or scares someone else to get a person to do what they want. Last, cyber
bullying is done by sending messages, pictures, or information using electronic media like
computers, cell phones, email, instant messenger, Facebook, Snapchat, or Instagram. Thirteen
million people from ages 6 to 17 are victims of cyber bullying (Whitted & Dupper, 2005). Two
million of individuals told no one about the encounter and 8% tried to commit suicide due to it
(Jette, 2012).

Review

School bullying is a pervasive problem found in elementary, middle, and high schools across the
United States and around the world. As an international phenomenon, school bullying occurs at
similar rates in disparate cultures, countries, and educational settings (Carney & Merrell, 2001).
Once seen as a normal, if not harmless part of growing up, school bullying is now recognized as
one of the primary threats to school safety today (Jette, 2012). Since the late 1990s, several fatal
school shootings committed by the victims of school bullying have brought major media
attention to the issue. The result has been an increase in public awareness about the harmful
effects of school bullying and a flurry of local, state, and nationwide programs designed to
prevent or at least contain the problem. In recent years, psychologists, sociologists, and school
administrators have all published a plethora of research about school bullying.
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Definitions of school bullying include four basic elements. First, school bullying does not
happen between peers who share an equal or similar degree of power, but always involves a
more powerful perpetrator intimidating a weaker subject. Bullying depends upon an imbalance
of power, which can be created by any number of factors, including but not limited to physical
size, age, popularity and psychological strength (Rigby, 2003). Second, bullying is deliberate; a
bully intends to cause harm or distress in his or her victim (Scarpaci, 2006). Third, bullying can
come in direct and indirect forms. Physical violence, such as shoving, poking, hitting, or
tripping, is a form direct bullying. So is verbal bullying, which includes name-calling, teasing,
and derision. Indirect bullying is social in nature and involves the bully excluding his or her
victim from a peer group. An example of this type of bullying is spreading malicious rumors
(Rigby, 2003). Last, bullying is continual; it consists of an ongoing pattern of abuse (Scarpaci,
2006).

Prevalence of Bullying in Schools

School bullying is most prevalent among children between the ages of 9 and 15, who are
in the stages of late childhood and early adolescence, and occurs most often in elementary and
middle schools (Carney & Merrell, 2001). As children mature, the types of bullying in which
they engage tend to change. Younger school bullies use name-calling and forms of physical
aggression more often than older school bullies, who are more likely to sexually harass their
victims, or inflect their bullying with sexual overtones (JunoCarney & Merrell, 2001). In some
cases, bullying among older children may also involve racially charged or homophobic abuse
(Whitted & Dupper, 2005). In recent years, technology-savvy adolescents have begun to use the
Internet to conduct 'cyber-bullying' on websites, in chat-rooms, and via e-mail, and to send
harassing text messages to mobile phones.

Experts now recognize bullying as a form of violence. In fact, some consider school bullying to
be "the most prevalent form of low-level violence in schools today" (Whitted & Dupper, 2005).
If allowed to continue unchecked, school bullying severely compromises school safety. Several
studies have demonstrated that bullying can lead to a heightened disposition to crime and violent
retributive behavior in bullies, victims, and bystanders who witness bullying (Whitted & Dupper,
2005). These negative effects are magnified by the fact that 85% of bullying incidents involve
bystanders (Rigby, 2003).
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In order to prevent children from being harmed by school bullying, professional educators and
parents should understand the depth of the bullying problem in U.S. schools, be aware of the
common characteristics of bullies and victims, and be acquainted with the most effective bully-
prevention methods now in use.

Virtually all school children around the world are in some way affected by school bullying
(Rigby, 2003 ). The United States is no exception: The American Medical Association reports
that 50% of all U.S. school children are bullied at some point during their schooling and 10% are
bullied on a regular basis (Scarpaci, 2012). Another study has shown that 1 in 5 elementary
school children and 1 in 10 middle school students in the U.S. are bullied regularly (Jette, 2012).
Still another study, conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human development,
found that 13% of all 6th-10th graders bullied classmates and 11% had been bullied regularly
(Scarpaci, 2012). School bullying is a universal problem throughout the U.S., occurring at
similar rates in urban, suburban, and rural environments (Carney & Merrell, 2001).

Negative Effects of Bullying in Schools

Besides disrupting classroom activities, school bullying generally harms children's ability
to learn at school, and has been shown to contribute to truancy and dropout rates (Scarpaci, 2012;
Whitted & Dupper, 2005). As a low-level, subtle form of violence, bullying creates an unsafe
school environment and can lead to more serious types of violence among students (Whitted &
Dupper, 2005). Those students who witness bullying often become distressed, intimidated, and
fearful that they themselves might become victims of bullying. These feelings may harm
academic performance and distract attention from school work (Whitted & Dupper, 2005). In
fact, bullying prevention programs have been proven to raise the overall academic achievement
of schools, suggesting that rampant bullying undermines educational efforts (Scarpaci, 2012).

Bullying also causes extremely damaging effects in the victims of bullies. These effects are
similar to those caused by child abuse, and their intensity and persistence tend to increase when
the bullying begins at a younger age (Scarpaci, 2012). Victims of bullying suffer from lowered
psychological well being, poor social adjustment, and psychological distress. Many victims are
targeted because they have low self-esteem, a problem that is only exacerbated by the bullying
(Rigby, 2003). Victims commonly experience emotional problems such as anxiety, depression,
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and loneliness more often than their peers (Whitted & Dupper, 2005). They also develop somatic
symptoms, such as problems sleeping, chronic head-aches and stomachaches, bedwetting, and
fatigue (Brown et al., 2005). Bullying also leads to academic and behavioral problems in victims,
who may lose interest in school, or use somatic symptoms as an excuse to stay home from school
(Scarpaci, 2012).

While most victims react to bullying by withdrawing and suffering in silence, a rare subset of
victims retaliate with violent behavior. In most cases, victims direct violent behavior against
themselves in the form of suicide. However, as adults, some victims have sought out and
murdered those who bullied them as children. Other victims have conducted highly publicized
school shootings in which they targeted those classmates who bullied them — perhaps most
prominently in the case of the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.
Victims of bullying can increase the overall likelihood of serious school violence because they
are more likely than other students to bring a weapon to school for protection (Carney & Merrell,
2001).

There is evidence that school bullies also suffer from their own behavior. However, it is difficult
to establish whether these negative consequences are direct results of bullying or are products of
the psychological issues that led to bullying (Rigby, 2003). Nonetheless, bullies are prone to
suicide and alcoholism, and are significantly more likely to become involved in delinquent
activities, such as vandalism, truancy, and carrying weapons, and to become involved in the
criminal justice system (Jette, 2012). Studies have shown that by the age of 24, 60% of former
bullies have been convicted of a crime and 40% have more than three arrests. In conclusion
everyone must shoulder the responsibility of putting an end to bullying. These negative effects
bullying has placed on schools is a suffering in silence. All schools should have an effective plan
in place in regards to bullying and its effects on students.
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References

Carney, A. G. & Merrell, K. W. (2001). Bullying in schools: Perspectives on understanding and

preventing an international problem. School Psychology International, 22(3), 364-382.

Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034301223011

Jette, K. (2012). Socio-Economic Status: A determinant of perceptions and responses to bullying.

Retrieved from https://etd.ohiolink.edu/

Rigby, K. (2003). Consequences of bullying in schools. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry,

48(9), 583-590. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/070674370304800904

Scarpaci, R.T. (2012). Bullying effective strategies for its prevention. Taylor & Francis Online,

42(4), 170-174. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/00228958.2006.10518023

Whitted, K. S. & Dupper, D. R. (2005). Best practices for preventing or reducing bullying in

schools. National Association of Social Workers Press, 27(3), 167-175. Retrieved from

https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/27.3.167