Bullying affects three main groups; those who are bullied, those who bully, and those who witness the bullying.
When bullying continues within school grounds and nothing is done, the climate may become nugatory and filled with disrespect. This affects everyone. Students may feel insecure and not like school. When students see teachers and other staff members at school not doing anything to try and prevent the bullying or at least try and intervene in helping the situation, it tells the students that they are not trying hard and have little control over the student body and do not care what happens to them.
Bullying can affect a child in multiple ways of development. Here are some examples:
Cognitive:
Often quiet and submissive, so they do not participate that much in class. When they do not feel comfortable talking in class, they internalize and fall behind. When they fall behind they are most likely to see themselves as insignificant and unimportant.
When they have feelings of insignificance, it is dangerous because they will begin to exhibit antisocial behavior and low self-esteem. One’s self-esteem is high if others see them positively and low if others see them negatively, therefore those who are bullied have low self-esteem.
Those who are bullied live in fear. Fear overloads a child’s mind and their ability to problem solve and focus on any new task given to them. If they have poor problem solving skills, it can definitely affect the child’s cognitive development as they are then unable to cope in various situations and fear social interaction. Also, they struggle to make-believe play, which is something of importance in cognitive development.
Social and Emotional:
Inability to focus on school work leads academic performance from marginal to poor.
Those who are bullied build up anxiety which then in turn tends to make them feel insecure at school when they are around peers. Some children, both boys and girls, stay at home just so they can make sure they won’t be victimized.
Those who have experienced long-term bullying can see the school environment as toxic and frightening, so they go through school with major anxiety and insecurity. They lack friends and social support systems at school, and often are not confident in their physical abilities and strength.
Depression and other emotional trauma can be reported by those who are targeted.
Inability to develop normally socially and emotionally is highly affected by the bullying and has a major impact on the child’s life.
Communication:
It is important to communicate and be able to have social skills, especially in a school age, but bullying takes a big hit and harms the vital skills of socializing and communicating properly.
They are less likely to initiate conversation, therefore many of their peers will avoid conversing with them at all costs because they are not trying to make an effort.
During the school age years, it is very important that children make imaginative play and interaction with peers. Adult interaction is not enough for the child to grow up with successful communication development skills.
When a parent sees that their child is being teased or is less confident with socializing, it is not unusual for the parents to coddle and shelter their children when they see these insecurities, though, in turn, this actually increases the child’s antisocial behaviors and communication anxiety.
Physical Effects:
A child can have sleeping problems, night terrors, feeling tense, lots of headaches and poor appetite. When a child is not able to sleep well, they are not able to function at their maximum potential. Their participation in class and in extracurricular activities decreases, therefore increasing the depression emotion because they are not socializing.
Bed wetting is a top symptom of being bullied.
Not only is the child who is being bullied affected, but the family as well. Parents can feel a sense of isolation, fear, and incredulity.
http://effectsofbullyingonschoolage.weebly.com/favicon.ico
http://www.apa.org/about/gr/issues/cyf/bullying-school-climate.aspx
- Those who are bullied lose confidence in themselves, may experience depression, low self-esteem and/or suicidal thoughts or take their anger out in violent ways and hurt others. Students who are bullied are more than likely to either avoid school or drop out altogether. They have lower academic achievement especially in the subjects of math and reading. The effects of being bullied can last through their lifetime. Those with disabilities, different sexual orientation (LGBT), gender identity, weight, race, and/or religion are all main targets of being bullied.
- Students who bully are more likely to get in frequent fights, steal and vandalize property, underage drinking and usage of illegal drugs, report low grades, have a negative attitude, and perhaps even carry a weapon of some sort. Some bullies may be hard to pick out in a crowd because not all are engaged with rule breaking, so they are highly skilled socially and are very good at integrating themselves in with other older people like adults and teachers. When a child like this is being accused of being a bully, it is difficult for the adult to believe that a student of such maturity and great social skills could ever do something like that. Bullies can be very sneaky.
- When a bystander sees someone getting teased around, they won’t do anything to help and may feel guilty for that, but they would rather not do anything and stay out of it than get themselves mixed up in a situation and become the next target. Or on another note, they may see the bullying and actually want to take part in it, but may feel bad doing it afterwards because they knew it was wrong, but they were peer pressured into it anyways.
When bullying continues within school grounds and nothing is done, the climate may become nugatory and filled with disrespect. This affects everyone. Students may feel insecure and not like school. When students see teachers and other staff members at school not doing anything to try and prevent the bullying or at least try and intervene in helping the situation, it tells the students that they are not trying hard and have little control over the student body and do not care what happens to them.
Bullying can affect a child in multiple ways of development. Here are some examples:
Cognitive:
Often quiet and submissive, so they do not participate that much in class. When they do not feel comfortable talking in class, they internalize and fall behind. When they fall behind they are most likely to see themselves as insignificant and unimportant.
When they have feelings of insignificance, it is dangerous because they will begin to exhibit antisocial behavior and low self-esteem. One’s self-esteem is high if others see them positively and low if others see them negatively, therefore those who are bullied have low self-esteem.
Those who are bullied live in fear. Fear overloads a child’s mind and their ability to problem solve and focus on any new task given to them. If they have poor problem solving skills, it can definitely affect the child’s cognitive development as they are then unable to cope in various situations and fear social interaction. Also, they struggle to make-believe play, which is something of importance in cognitive development.
Social and Emotional:
Inability to focus on school work leads academic performance from marginal to poor.
Those who are bullied build up anxiety which then in turn tends to make them feel insecure at school when they are around peers. Some children, both boys and girls, stay at home just so they can make sure they won’t be victimized.
Those who have experienced long-term bullying can see the school environment as toxic and frightening, so they go through school with major anxiety and insecurity. They lack friends and social support systems at school, and often are not confident in their physical abilities and strength.
Depression and other emotional trauma can be reported by those who are targeted.
Inability to develop normally socially and emotionally is highly affected by the bullying and has a major impact on the child’s life.
Communication:
It is important to communicate and be able to have social skills, especially in a school age, but bullying takes a big hit and harms the vital skills of socializing and communicating properly.
They are less likely to initiate conversation, therefore many of their peers will avoid conversing with them at all costs because they are not trying to make an effort.
During the school age years, it is very important that children make imaginative play and interaction with peers. Adult interaction is not enough for the child to grow up with successful communication development skills.
When a parent sees that their child is being teased or is less confident with socializing, it is not unusual for the parents to coddle and shelter their children when they see these insecurities, though, in turn, this actually increases the child’s antisocial behaviors and communication anxiety.
Physical Effects:
A child can have sleeping problems, night terrors, feeling tense, lots of headaches and poor appetite. When a child is not able to sleep well, they are not able to function at their maximum potential. Their participation in class and in extracurricular activities decreases, therefore increasing the depression emotion because they are not socializing.
Bed wetting is a top symptom of being bullied.
Not only is the child who is being bullied affected, but the family as well. Parents can feel a sense of isolation, fear, and incredulity.
http://effectsofbullyingonschoolage.weebly.com/favicon.ico
http://www.apa.org/about/gr/issues/cyf/bullying-school-climate.aspx