The Effects of Bullying on Children

Name: Melissa Ippolito

Course: UNV-104 Communication and Information Literacy

Date: 12/11/2016

Instructor: Jacob Aroz

The Effects of Bullying on Children

        Bullying has many different effects on students that last throughout their lives and into adulthood.  Bullying, which can also be known as peer victimization, is behavior that is unwanted or aggressive between children that makes one child superior over the other.  There are three main types of bullying, they are verbal, social and physical.  These types of bullying can have long term effects on children, some more serious than others.  Children who are bullied have poor academic performance and suffer from physical and psychological effects.  

        Poor academic performance is a common effect of children who are bullied.  The rejection and victimization that children are exposed to when starting kindergarten lasts throughout the rest of their school years (Wang, Vaillancourt, McDougall, Krygsman, Smith, Cunningham, Haltigan, & Hymel, 2014).  A child’s academic performance is often one of the first indications that a child is being bullied.  Children who are bullied and rejected by others are also less likely to be an active participant in school, attend school and they also have lower grades than children who are not victims of bullying (Wang, Vaillancourt, McDougall, Krygsman, Smith, Cunningham, Haltigan, & Hymel, 2014).  Peer victimization, peer harassment, social exclusion and peer acceptance and how they relate to academic performance have been examined by researchers.  Relational victimization is defined as intentionally harming by shaping relationships or social status by social exclusion, spreading rumors and threatening to take away friendships (Woods, & Wolke, 2004).  Children who suffer from bullying, also known as peer victimization, will also likely have poor academic performance (Espelage, Hong, Rao, & Low, 2013).  Understanding how peer victimization affects our children and their ability to learn can help one in finding ways to prevent and stop bullying.  

        Physical bullying should not be taken lightly.  It effects not just the victim but also the bully and other children who are there when the bullying occurs.  When elementary students are bullied, they are more likely to experience physical effects than students who are not bullied.  These effects include headaches, dizziness and sleeping problems (Vaillancourt, Hymell, & McDougall, 2014).  In some cases, when a child is physically or otherwise bullied enough the effects can be devastating.  In the 1990’s there were 15 school shootings.  In 12 of those shootings the person doing the shooting was bullied (Vaillancourt, Hymell, & McDougall, 2014).  Another devastating effect of physical bullying can be suicide.  Physical bullying increases the risk of suicides in young adolescents (Litwiller, & Brausch, 2013).  When children feel, they have no way out, or no solution they could believe that this is the only way out for them.  Bullying can have long term and short term physical effects.  These effects include childhood obesity, panic attacks and insomnia or over sleeping.  

        Some of the effects bullying can have on children can be psychological and last throughout adulthood.  Children who are bullied tend to internalize their feelings instead of talking about them.  This can lead to excessive crying and worrying, depression, panic attacks and other mental disorders (Leadbeater, & Hoglund, 2009).  Some of these effects will get worse over time and some will not present until after the high school years (Ayenibiowo, Akinbode, & 2011).  This research is important because there have been many studies completed about the effects of bullying throughout the years and yet the problem still exists today.  More studies are needed so that more information can be obtained.  The more we know about the effects of bullying and peer victimization the better chance there will be a solution.  Teachers and other school faculty need to have training on how to handle instances of bullying and this will be a small step towards fixing this problem.  

        Bullying leads to many effects that children end up dealing with for a long time after graduating high school.  Those effects can be physical, psychological and can also affect academic performance.  The effects of bullying can be so severe that they can cause a child to see no way out and plan a school shooting that could end in suicide, or the child could just commit suicide.  In addition to poor academic performance children could also suffer from mental disorders and other psychological effects.   One can only reduce bullying and peer victimization by making it a priority in our schools and communities.  To make this subject a priority there needs to be more information available to teachers and school faculty.  To provide more information to teachers and school faculty there needs to be more research done on this topic and related topics.  There is a need to come together as one and recognize the effects that bullying has on our children and only then can we begin to come up with solutions that will make an impact on children who are being victimized by bullying.