The Dark Side of School Bullying

Raj S. Arimado
Researcher

CRESILDA B. ASOMBRADO, MA, LPT

English teacher

SY 2021-2022
 Introduction

 In the past, bullying was considered to be physical acts of aggression that primarily occurred
between boys. It is now recognized that bullying can take many forms, including ongoing physical abuse
(e.g., hitting and pushing), verbal abuse (e.g., taunting and name-calling), social manipulation (e.g.,
rumor spreading and purposeful exclusion from activities), and attacks on property (e.g., breaking or
stealing belongings). One common distinction is between direct bullying (i.e., physical aggression or
chronic teasing that occur overtly between the bully and the victim) and indirect bullying (i.e., gossip or
rumors targeting the victim that occur between the bully and a third party). Recognition that bullying
can include these additional behaviors has broadened the definition and it is now more inclusive of
types of aggression that occurs more frequently between girls (e.g., gossip and exclusion).

Regardless of its specific form, all bullying involves the repeated abuse of a student by another
more powerful student who wants to harm the victim. The bully, in fact, comes to enjoy exercising
power over his or her selected target. It is a myth that bullies abuse others to compensate for low self-
esteem. In fact, they often have positive self-esteem, may be popular with their peers, and
inappropriately come to enjoy having power over others.

Bullying behavior is a serious problem among school-age children and adolescents; it has short-
and long-term effects on the individual who is bullied, the individual who bullies, the individual who is
bullied and bullies others, and the bystander present during the bullying event.

Review of Related Literature

According to an internet article entitled Effects of Bullying. Bullying affects the entire school
community. Bullying has a negative impact on students' health, wellbeing, and learning. It can leave stud
ents feeling lonely, unhappy, and scared. Bullying affects more than just the students who are bullied. M
ost students say they dislike seeing bullying at school because it makes them feel worried and uneasy. B
ullying students are more likely to have problems and be unhappy.

It has an impact on how victims perceive themselves, their friends, school, and their future.
Bullied students frequently suffer from depression, low self-esteem that can last a lifetime, shyness,
loneliness, physical illnesses, and threats or attempts at self-harm. Because of bullying, some students
miss school, have lower grades, or even drop out entirely. Bullying, both verbal and social/relational, can
be just as harmful as physical bullying.

Bullying's physical health consequences can be immediate, such as physical injury, or long-

term, such as headaches, sleepdisturbances, or somatization. However, the long
term physical consequences of bullying can be difficult to identify and link to previous bullying behavior 
as opposed tobeing the result of other causes such as anxiety or other adverse childhood events, which 
can also have physical consequences in adulthood.(Hager and Leadbeater, 2016).

There is also evidence that there are gender differences in the physical effects of bullying.
(Kowalski and Limber, 2013), for example, investigated the relationship between experiences with cyber
bullying or traditional bullying (i.e., bullying that does not involve digital electronic means of
communication) and psychological and physical health, as well as academic performance, in 931 rural
Pennsylvania students in grades 6 through 12.

Individuals who bully and are bullied face a unique set of consequences that children
who are only perpetrators and children who are only targets do not, such as comorbidity
of externalizing and internalizing problems,negative perception of self and others, poor
social skills, and rejection by the peer group.However, the peers with whom they interact
have a negative influence on this combination of roles in bullying (Cook et al.,2010).

Definition of Terms

1. Bullying - seek to harm, intimidate, or coerce (someone perceived as vulnerable).

2. Social manipulation -  entails using personality and conversational skills to tailor social situations
for one's own personal gain.
3. Victim – the student or the person that is getting bullied.
4. Depression -  is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest
and can interfere with your daily functioning.
5. Low self-esteem - is when someone lacks confidence about who they are and what they can do.
6. Rational bullying - is a type of aggression in which harm is caused by damaging someone's
relationships or social status.
7. Cyber bullying - the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending
messages of an intimidating or threatening nature.
 Conclusion

Being bullied results in living in constant fear and is a common phenomenon among learners
throughout the world. Learners fear for their lives as they are surrounded by widespread levels of
bullying on a daily basis (resulting in major anxieties). The fear caused by threats, humiliation and actual
acts of bullying is associated with feelings of anxiety, rage, sadness, frustration and uncertainty about
the future. With these emotional escapades, learners are bound to lose focus on academics. Some may
even decide to stay away from school owing to fear and uncontrollable emotions in order to avoid
bullying in schools. These learners miss out on valuable programs and skills that could be of value to
them and assist them in positive decision-making (even in adulthood).

The incidence of suicide has become a major concern in schools across the world. According to
the media and social media, learners take their own lives without alerting their friends and family
members due to stress and anxiety about the horrifying conditions at their schools. Adolescents are
faced with major challenges such as family matters, school bullying, religious activities, recreational
activities, friends, and even some work over the holidays. Such pressure and no one to provide guidance
(limited interventions from councilors and social workers) result in some learners breaking down and
opting for suicide, as opposed to living with the stress and anxiety

There is a need for increased levels of involvement from social workers and psychologists in
schools to render counselling services, prevention services and campaigns on bullying, empowerment
workshops and support groups for victims of bullying to reduce levels of stress and anxiety in affected
learners and to increase positive psychological functioning.

Furthermore, there is a need to create a platform where learners, parents and community
members would be encouraged to work together to bring about positive changes in communities with
high rates of violence. This will reduce the levels of environmental problems and increase support and
communication between the learners, parents and communities.
 References

Articles

Hager and Lead beater (2016). Consequences of Bullying Behavior

Kowalski RM, Limber SP (2013). Psychological, physical, and academic correlates of

cyberbullying and traditional bullying. Journal of Adolescent Health.

Cook CR, Williams KR, Guerra NG, Kim TE, Sadek S (2010). Predictors of bullying and
victimization in childhood and adolescence: A meta-analytic investigation.  School Psychology Quarterly. 

Internet

https://bullyingfree.nz/about-bullying/the-effects-of-bullying/