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Bullying in Schools: Causes, Effects, and Solutions

• Categories: Bullying Youth Violence

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Words: 1534 |

Published: Dec 16, 2021

Words: 1534 | Pages: 3 | 8 min read

Works Cited

• Bradshaw, C. P., Sawyer, A. L., & O'Brennan, L. M. (2007). Bullying and peer victimization at school: Perceptual differences between students and school staff. School Psychology Review, 36(3), 361-382.
• Espelage, D. L., & Swearer, S. M. (2003). Research on school bullying and victimization: What have we learned and where do we go from here?. School Psychology Review, 32(3), 365-383.
• Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2018). Cyberbullying fact sheet: Identification, prevention, and response. Cyberbullying Research Center.
• National Bullying Prevention Center. (2021). Resources. https://www.pacer.org/bullying/resources/
• National Center for Education Statistics. (2022). Student reports of bullying and cyberbullying: Results from the 2020–21 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. US Department of Education.
• Olweus, D. (2013). School bullying: Development and some important challenges. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 9, 751-780.
• Patchin, J. W., & Hinduja, S. (2020). School climate 2.0: Preventing cyberbullying and sexting one classroom at a time. Corwin Press.
• StopBullying.gov. (2021). Prevent bullying. https://www.stopbullying.gov/prevention/index.html
• Thompson, F., Smith, P. K., & Rigby, K. (2022). Addressing bullying in schools: Theory and practice. Routledge.
• Ttofi, M. M., & Farrington, D. P. (2011). Effectiveness of school-based programs to reduce bullying: A systematic and meta-analytic review. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 7(1), 27-56.

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School Bullying: Causes and Effects

Bullying has become one of the most urgent problems in modern society. It comes from different sources and affects victims’ psychological state and quality of life. In this essay, we analyze the causes of bullying in school, its effects on victims, and mitigation measures that should be taken.

Cause and Effect of Bullying: Essay Introduction

Cause of bullying in school, bullying causes and effects: mitigation measures, works cited.

Bullying is one of the main challenges children face at school. It is a global problem that is currently affecting many youth. The rate at which bullying cases are reported causes many worries to parents. The issue is severe to the extent that many children have learned to live with it, and some have created the notion that bullying is part of their life in the early years of their development. Several cases, especially in the United States and Japan, have been reported about children’s humiliation, mistreatment, physical attacks, and even rape cases of young female learners.

The effects of bullying on a child can be very traumatizing if not carefully addressed. These effects sometimes are long-lasting and can provoke the victim to take dangerous measures to forget the incidents. According to Rigby (64), bullying experiences can cost the lives of the victims if not prevented in time. In New York, it is reported that a young immigrant killed herself due to excessive bullying. This researcher argues that it is high time for the issue of bullying in schools to be addressed. The notion that bullying is a rite of passage should be eliminated. This research paper aims to explore the causes, effects, and possible solutions to bullying in schools.

According to Olweus (34), many reasons lead to bullying in schools. One of the main causes is the cultural factor. This includes race and ethnicity. A child may be a bully or a victim if he or she comes from a majority or minority race, respectively. Another cause of bullying in schools is the nature of life a child is exposed to. In many families in developed countries, children can comfortably watch TV even in their bedrooms. Instead of studying, such children spend their time playing computer games. Their games make them bullies because they see others practice the same.

According to Tattumand Lane (27), high expectations of parents of their children contribute to bullying. The reason is that a child will spend much time studying to perform well and meet the parents’ expectations. Failure to achieve the target may develop stress in a child, and they will express anger through shouting or bullying fellow learners. Another cause of bullying in schools emanates from the family’s social status. A child from a humble background will always have some pressurizing needs that are not met. This child will always want to express this frustration to fellow learners, especially those from stable families, by bullying them.

The effects of bullying, as mentioned above, can be very traumatizing. Victims of bullying may opt to drop out of school because of the trauma they experience. Others may develop irresponsible behavior that involves missing classes on most occasions. School irregularities among the learners result in poor performance. Bullying leads to stress among the victims. This, in turn, results in poor communication with these children. McGrath (44) argues that, in some cases, excessive bullying can lead to victims committing suicide to escape from painful experiences and memories.

Some of the effects are short-term, but if not well addressed, they can result in serious complications. The victims may have bed-wetting problems, unexplained worries, and digestive problems because of the fear instilled in them. Some victims with the intention of hitting back may develop very destructive behavior. Other victims may end up engaging in drug abuse to make them forget their painful experiences. Bullying affects the normal development of victims and makes them have low self-esteem (Dupper 62). 

Mitigating bullying in schools is not a one-person battle. Since it is a global issue, it calls for a collaborative and participatory approach to addressing the problem. Teachers, parents, and policymakers have a significant role in curbing this bad behavior in schools. Teachers spend much of their time with the learners and, therefore, can easily control their behavior while in school. They should be tough and keen to identify the bullies and expel or suspend them from school to avoid spreading such behaviors among other learners. School administrators should seriously punish the physically strong learners who take advantage of the weak ones by mistreating them. The administration should not tolerate any sign of bullying within the school (Tattum&Lane 53). 

Parents should also be strict with their children and avoid anything that may turn them into bullies. Watching TV and playing computer games must be regulated at home. The child should be seriously punished if he or she shows some bullying behavior while at home. The government also has an essential role in curbing this vice. Policymakers must enact policies that address bullying in schools. These policies should be implemented and strictly adhered to, and whoever violates them should face the law irrespective of age. All the stakeholders, including the humanitarian non-governmental organizations, must join hands to curb this vice in society. Through this collaborative approach, success will be achieved.

Dupper, David. School Bullying: New Perspectives on a Growing Problem . New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print.

McGrath, Mary. School Bullying: Tools for Avoiding Harm and Liability . Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin Press, 2007. Print.

Olweus, Dan. Bullying at School: What We Know and What We Can Do . Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1993. Print.

Rigby, Ken. Bullying in Schools and What to Do About It . Melbourne, Vic: ACER, 2007. Print.

Tattum, Delwyn, and David Lane. Bullying in Schools . Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham, 1988. Print.

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Essay on Bullying in Schools

School bullying can be defined as the situation in which one or more students (The Bullies) single out a child (victim) and intend in behavior intended to cause discomfort or harm the child. A bully will repeatedly target the same victim several times. Under all circumstances, bullies have an advantage over the victim as they possess more power. Compared to the victim, bullies usually have physically stronger with a large circle of friends or higher social standing. Bullying can inflict emotional distress, humiliation, and physical harm. More than 95% of learning institutions experience bullying globally. Bullying must be meet a specific rationale to be considered bullying. Such requirements include repetitiveness, recurrent imbalance of power, and provocation. Bullying can occur in schools, on campus, or the outskirts of school, but its setting must have been created within the school. Regardless of the position, all the stakeholders in a school context, such as parents, educators, children, and community members, are required to contribute to the prevention of bullying in schools. School bullying is increasingly becoming a social problem in modern society. Ideally, there are several types of school bullying attached to different causes. The effects of school bullying can be classified in psychological, economical, and academic dimensions.

Types of Bullying in Schools

The common types of bullying in a school setting include verbal, sexual, cyber, psychological, physical, and higher education bullying. Notably, victims in a learning context can experience bullying regardless of age. The aforementioned types of bullying are further classified as either direct or indirect bullying. Direct bullying is defined as an attack that is openly targeted to a victim. Direct bullying is either verbal or physical. Contrary, indirect bullying involves different forms of relational aggression that leads to social isolation through defaming one’s reputation and manipulating the conscience of others into falsehood. Indirect bullying is usually hard and subtle to detect in a school setting (Goodwin et al. 330). If undertaken by a group of bullies, direct and indirect bullying can be referred to as pack bullying. The different types of bullying can be defined either directly or indirectly relative to the implication to the victim.

Physical bullying occurs when there is unwanted physical contact between the victim and the bully. Physical contact can be hand to hand or tripping and throwing items at others that can cause physical harm. The second is emotional bullying. Emotional bullying can be defined as hurting others emotionally by negatively influencing their moods and psyche. The primary examples of emotional bullying include; belittling, spreading false information, and defamation. Verbal bullying can be defined as the usage of slanderous language or statements causing emotional distress to other people. Examples of verbal bullying include harassing, mocking, teasing, and threatening to cause harm. Finally, Cyberbullying is attached to the evolution of the internet and computers. The use of computers in bullying at schoolyards is on the surge. In most instances, schools experience difficulties in controlling cyberbullying as experiences are beyond the school fraternity.

The other common types of school bullying are sexual bullying and higher education bullying. Sexual bullying is either non-physical or physical, grounded on the gender or sexuality of the victim. In most instances, sexual bullying is undertaken by the male gender. The United States department of education reports an average of 60% of expulsions and suspensions from learning institutions attached to sexual bullying (Goodwin et al. 328). In most instances, the young ones are frames into tricks to share their nudes, after which there are forced to fulfill specific sexual demands at the expense of exposure. Higher education bullying occurs at the campus or college level. Around 95% of students have reported having been bullied at the college level. Higher education bullying results in depression and suicide in most cases.

Measures to Control Bullying

The main approaches in controlling bullying in school settings include the implementation of educative programs, creating a positive school climate, engaging parents, encouraging open communication and punishments. These techniques, however, vary depending on the learning level and the prevalence of bullying in the particular period. Education programs involve creating awareness to parents, students, and teachers regarding what constitutes bullying. Educative programs are instrumental in creating insight into the harmful nature of whichever kind of bullying. All the stakeholders within the school fraternity are enrolled in sessions of creating awareness on the signs of bullying and the most appropriate intervention criteria. The most common ways in educating on bullying include role-play, identification and reporting discussions, and other approaches to decline being involved in bullying. Nickerson(19) argued that educative programs are 62% effective in curbing the prevalence of bullying in learning institutions.

Secondly, schools can help in the prevention of bullying by promoting a positive school climate. Schools with a positive climate are presumed to have a healthy development, while the negative school climate results in a surge in bullying cases, unsafe feelings, victimization, and aggression. While the elements of positive school culture vary from norms relative to power, relationships, and feelings, it’s evident that a positive climate is a product of a conscious process that becomes self-reinforcing (Goodwin et al. 330). The main determinants of a positive climate include leadership and integrity in learning institutions. Therefore, the ability to have cognitive leaders is an advantage of coping with bullying in schools.

Third, schools should engage parents. Parents spend most of their time with children at the primary level. While there are many stakeholders involved in the lives of the children, parents play an essential role in understanding their behavior. Engaging parents in bullying scenarios means initiating communication on the progress of the children in terms of behavior and performance. Integration between parents and teachers is essential in providing consistent approaches that help yield a more productive and appropriate behavior (Nickerson 22). Parents can help their children recognize while being bullied by others. However, the approach is not viable in urban schools as parents experience difficulties establishing trust with schools.

Finally, schools should initiate open communication techniques. Open communication is essential in building rapport. Having open communication means that students can disclose their problems to teachers. Open communication helps the teachers gain more insight into existing bullies in the school (Nickerson 20). For instance, classroom meetings in grade 4 will enable teachers to obtain crucial information in enacting more controls to curb bullying in schools. Teachers are expected to listen carefully during the class meetings to avoid inflicting fear on the learners. Students should be assured of confidentiality and privacy of the information obtained as any disclosure might attract further bullying.

Effects of School Bullying 

The effect of school bullying can be categorized in psychological and academic dimensions. Bullying results in poor performance in school. More than 70% of learners subjected to bullying ends up recording a decline in academic performance. The results are more severe at a young age. Bullying would result in fading of interest and participation of learners in school activities as it results in unexplained injuries linked to affecting concentration (Menesini and Christina 246). The impact of bullying on educational performance is increasingly becoming imminent. Bullying installs fear in learners from attending school regularly, thus affecting their consistency and concentration in class. Based on this explanation, it’s evident that bullied students will experience difficulties in achieving their academic goals. Moreover, bullying is linked with an unsafe learning environment that creates a negative climate of fear and insecurities and the perception that teachers do not care about the welfare of learners, thus decline in quality of education.

Secondly, bullying is associated with psychological problems. While bullying to individuals helps them enhance their personality and perceptions as they grow, it’s presumed that bullying can risk an individual developing an antisocial personality disorder linked to committing crimes. Bullying leads to depression, anxiety, and psychosomatic symptoms, which often leads to alcohol and substance abuse by the victims at a later stage in their lives. It’s argued that victims of depression feel free and open to share their experience with others, unlike in bullying, where the victims would choose to shy talking about the feeling in fear of being bullied again. In the short run, bystanders of the bullying experience may develop the fear, guiltiness, and sadness, and if the experience persists, they might get psychologically drained (Sampson). Therefore, the victims of bullying experiences struggle with insomnia, suicidal thoughts, health problems, and depression. Bullying does affect not only the students but also their classmates and family. Feeling powerless, parents and immediate family members might fall victim to depression and emotional distress. Some parents would invest more time in protecting their children, thus affecting them psychologically and economically.

Causes of Bullying

There are numerous causes of school bullying attached to religion, socioeconomic status, race, and gender. Understanding the reasons why students chose to bully their classmates is significant to teachers in combating bullying. The National Center for Educational Statistics report established that 25% of Blacks, 22% of Caucasians, 17% of Hispanics, and 9% of Asian students were bullied in 2017 (Divecha). Some of the students that bully others have higher levels of courage and confidence and can respond aggressively if threatened by the behavior. Students at the college level get bullied on sexual matters. For instance, the subscribers to LGBTQA sexual orientation get bullied based on their decision as gay or lesbians. Moreover, bullying in schools is caused by other factors attached to families. Students from abuse and divorced families are likely to bully others due to jealousy, anger, and despair.

From the above discussion, it’s evident that school bullying in whichever capacity is detrimental to human dignity. School bullying is increasingly becoming a social problem in modern society. Ideally, there are several types of school bullying attached to different causes. The effects of school bullying can be classified in psychological, economical, and academic dimensions. The primary forms of school form such as verbal, sexual, cyber, psychological, physical, and higher education bullying are categorized into direct and indirect bullying. The intervention strategies to curb bullying should involve all the stakeholders, such as parents, teachers, and students. The main approaches in controlling bullying in school settings include implementing educative programs, creating a positive school climate, engaging parents, and encouraging open communication and punishments.

Works Cited

Divecha, Diana. “What Are the Best Ways to Prevent Bullying in Schools?”  Greater Good , https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_are_the_best_ways_to_prevent_bullyi ng_in_schools

Sampson, Rana. “Center for Problem-Oriented Policing.” Arizona State University,  https://popcenter.asu.edu/content/bullying-schools-0

Menesini, Ersilia, and Christina Salmivalli. “Bullying in schools: the state of knowledge and effective interventions.”  Psychology, health & medicine  22.sup1 (2017): 240-253.

Goodwin, John, et al. “Bullying in schools: an evaluation of the use of drama in bullying prevention.” Journal of Creativity in Mental Health 14.3 (2019): 329-342.

Nickerson, Amanda B. “Preventing and intervening with bullying in schools: A framework for evidence- based practice.”  School Mental Health  11.1 (2019): 15-28.

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The Broad Impact of School Bullying, and What Must Be Done

Major interventions are required to make schools safe learning environments..

Posted May 2, 2021 | Reviewed by Hara Estroff Marano

• How to Handle Bullying
• Find a therapist to support kids or teens
• At least one in five kids is bullied, and a significant percentage are bullies. Both are negatively affected, as are bystanders.
• Bullying is an epidemic that is not showing signs of improvement.
• Evidence-based bullying prevention programs can be effective, but school adoption is inconsistent.

According to the U.S. federal government website StopBullying.gov :

There is no federal law that specifically applies to bullying . In some cases, when bullying is based on race or ethnicity , color, national origin, sex, disability, or religion, bullying overlaps with harassment and schools are legally obligated to address it.

The National Bullying Prevention Center reports data suggesting that one in five children have been bullied. There are many risk factors for being targeted, including being seen as weak, being different from peers including being LGBT or having learning differences or visible disabilities, being depressed or anxious, and having few friends. It's hard to measure how many engage in bullying, but estimates range from one in twenty, to much higher .

The American Association of University Women reports that in grades 7-12, 48 percent of students (56 percent of girls and 40 percent of boys) are sexually harassed. In college, rates of sexual harassment rise to 66 percent. Eleven percent are raped or sexually assaulted.

Silence facilitates traumatization

Only 20 percent of attacked young women report sexual assault . And 89 percent of undergraduate schools report zero sexual harassment. This means that children, adolescents, young adults and their friends are at high risk for being victimized. It means that many kids know what is happening, and don't do anything.

This may be from fear of retaliation and socialization into a trauma-permissive culture, and it may be from lack of proper education and training. Institutional betrayal , when organizations fail to uphold their promises and responsibilities, adds to the problem.

In some states such as New York, laws like “ the Dignity for All Students Act ” (DASA) apply only to public schools. Private, religious, and denominational schools are not included, leaving 20 percent of students in NYC and 10 percent throughout the state unprotected. Research shows that over the last decade, bullying in U.S. high schools has held steady around 20 percent, and 15 percent for cyberbullying.

The impact of bullying

While there is much research on how bullying affects mental health, social function, and academics, the results are scattered across dozens of papers. A recent paper in the Journal of School Violence (Halliday et al., 2021) presents a needed systematic literature review on bullying’s impact in children aged 10-18.

1. Psychological: Being a victim of bullying was associated with increased depression , anxiety , and psychosis . Victims of bullying reported more suicidal thinking and engaged in greater self-harming behaviors. They were more likely to experience social anxiety , body-image issues, and negative conduct. Simultaneous cyberbullying and conventional bullying were associated with more severe depression.

2. Social: Bullying victims reported greater problems in relationships with family, friends and in day-to-day social interactions. They reported they enjoyed time with family and friends less, felt they were being treated unfairly more easily, and liked less where they lived. Victimized children were less popular and likeable, and experienced more social rejection. They tended to be friends with other victims, potentially heightening problems while also providing social support.

3. Academic achievement: Victimized kids on average had lower grades. Over time, they did worse especially in math. They tended to be more proficient readers, perhaps as a result of turning to books for comfort in isolation (something people with a history of being bullied commonly report in therapy ).

4. School attitudes: Bullied children and adolescents were less engaged in education, had poorer attendance, felt less belonging, and felt more negatively about school.

5. What happens with age? Researchers studied adult psychiatric outcomes of bullying, looking at both victims and bullies, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Psychiatry (Copeland et al., 2013). After controlling for other childhood hardships, researchers found that young adults experience increased rates of agoraphobia (fear of leaving the house), generalized anxiety, panic disorder, and increased depression risk. Men had higher suicide risk.

The impact of bullying does not stop in early adulthood. Research in the Journals of Gerontology (Hu, 2021) found that people over the age of 60 who were bullied as children had more severe depression and had lower life satisfaction.

6. Bullying and the brain: Work reported in Frontiers in Psychiatry (Muetzel et al., 2019) found that victims of bullying had thickening of the fusiform gyrus, an area of the cerebral cortex involved with facial recognition, and sensing emotions from facial expressions. 1 For those with posttraumatic stress disorder, brain changes may be extensive.

7. Bystanders are affected: Research also shows that bystanders have higher rates of anxiety and depression (Midgett et al., 2019). The problem is magnified for bystanders who are also victims. It is likely that taking appropriate action is protective.

Given that victims of bullying are at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ; Idsoe et al., 2012), it’s important to understand that many of the reported psychiatric findings may be better explained by PTSD than as a handful of overlapping but separate diagnoses. Trauma often goes unrecognized.

What can be done?

The psychosocial and academic costs of unmitigated bullying are astronomical, to say nothing of the considerable economic cost. Change is needed, but resistance to change, as with racism, gender bias, and other forms of discrimination , is built into how we see things.

Legislation: There is no federal antibullying legislation, and state laws may be weak and inconsistently applied. Given that bullying rates are no longer falling, it’s important for lawmakers and advocates to seek immediate changes.

Bullying prevention: Schools can adopt antibullying programs, though they are not universally effective and sometimes may backfire. Overall, however, research in JAMA Pediatrics (Fraguas et al., 2021) shows that antibullying programs reduce bullying, improve mental health outcomes, and stay effective over time. 2

Trauma-informed education creates an environment in which all participants are aware of the impact of childhood trauma and the need for specific modifications given how trauma is common among children and how it affects development.

According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN):

"The primary mission of schools is to support students in educational achievement. To reach this goal, children must feel safe, supported, and ready to learn. Children exposed to violence and trauma may not feel safe or ready to learn. Not only are individual children affected by traumatic experiences, but other students, the adults on campus, and the school community can be impacted by interacting or working with a child who has experienced trauma. Thus, as schools maintain their critical focus on education and achievement, they must also acknowledge that mental health and wellness are innately connected to students’ success in the classroom and to a thriving school environment."

Parenting makes a difference. Certain parenting styles may set kids up for emotional abuse in relationships , while others may be protective. A 2019 study reported in Frontiers in Public Health (Plexousakis et al.) found that children with anxious, overprotective mothers were more likely to be victims.

Those with cold or detached mothers were more likely to become bullies. Overprotective fathering was associated with worse PTSD symptoms, likely by getting in the way of socialization. The children of overprotective fathers were also more likely to be aggressive.

Quality parental bonding, however, appeared to help protect children from PTSD symptoms. A healthy home environment is essential both for helping victims of bullying and preventing bullying in at-risk children.

Parents who recognize the need to learn more positive approaches can help buffer again the all-too-common cycle of passing trauma from generation to generation, building resilience and nurturing secure attachment to enjoy better family experiences and equip children to thrive.

State-by-state legislation

Bullying prevention programs (the KiVA program is also notable)

Measuring Bullying Victimization, Perpetration and Bystander Experiences , Centers for Disease Control

Trauma-informed teaching

US Government Stop Bullying

1. Such differences could both result from being bullied (e.g. needing to scan faces for threat) and could also make being bullied more likely (e.g. misreading social cues leading to increased risk of being targeted).

2. Such programs focus on reducing negative messaging in order to keep stakeholders engaged, monitor and respond quickly to bullying, involve students in bullying prevention and detection in positive ways (e.g. being an “upstander” instead of a bystander), monitor more closely for bullying when the risk is higher (e.g. after anti-bullying trainings), respond fairly with the understanding that bullies often have problems of their own and need help, involved parents and teachers in anti-bullying education, and devote specific resources for anti-bullying.

Sarah Halliday, Tess Gregory, Amanda Taylor, Christianna Digenis & Deborah Turnbull (2021): The Impact of Bullying Victimization in Early Adolescence on Subsequent Psychosocial and Academic Outcomes across the Adolescent Period: A Systematic Review, Journal of School Violence, DOI: 10.1080/15388220.2021.1913598

Copeland WE, Wolke D, Angold A, Costello EJ. Adult Psychiatric Outcomes of Bullying and Being Bullied by Peers in Childhood and Adolescence. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013;70(4):419–426. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.504

Bo Hu, PhD, Is Bullying Victimization in Childhood Associated With Mental Health in Old Age, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Volume 76, Issue 1, January 2021, Pages 161–172, https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbz115

Muetzel RL, Mulder RH, Lamballais S, Cortes Hidalgo AP, Jansen P, Güroğlu B, Vernooiji MW, Hillegers M, White T, El Marroun H and Tiemeier H (2019) Frequent Bullying Involvement and Brain Morphology in Children. Front. Psychiatry 10:696. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00696

Midgett, A., Doumas, D.M. Witnessing Bullying at School: The Association Between Being a Bystander and Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms. School Mental Health 11, 454–463 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-019-09312-6

Idsoe, T., Dyregrov, A. & Idsoe, E.C. Bullying and PTSD Symptoms. J Abnorm Child Psychol 40, 901–911 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-012-9620-0

Fraguas D, Díaz-Caneja CM, Ayora M, Durán-Cutilla M, Abregú-Crespo R, Ezquiaga-Bravo I, Martín-Babarro J, Arango C. Assessment of School Anti-Bullying Interventions: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials. JAMA Pediatr. 2021 Jan 1;175(1):44-55. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.3541. PMID: 33136156; PMCID: PMC7607493.

Plexousakis SS, Kourkoutas E, Giovazolias T, Chatira K and Nikolopoulos D (2019) School Bullying and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: The Role of Parental Bonding. Front. Public Health 7:75. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00075

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Defining school bullying and its implications on education, teachers and learners

Contributing to UNESCO’s work on fostering safe learning environments , which addresses many different forms of violence, the UNESCO Chair on Bullying and Cyberbullying, in collaboration with the World Anti-Bullying Forum (WABF), led an international working group to create a more holistic and inclusive definition of school bullying. Professor James O’Higgins Norman, UNESCO Chair on Bullying and Cyberbullying, shares his insights on this work.

Why revisit the definition of bullying?

Many current anti-bullying programmes in schools are rooted in early definitions characterizing bullying as an “unwanted aggressive behavior that is repeated over time and involves an imbalance of power or strength”. While this was groundbreaking at the time and advanced the work of researchers, policy makers, educators and others, evolving perspectives have deepened our understanding of bullying.

Research shows that progress in reducing school bullying has been slow, with only a 19% decrease in perpetration and a 15% drop in the rate of learners facing bullying. This means we must reassess our understanding and approaches to bullying, especially in our increasingly complex world, where both in-person and online bullying intertwine with personal and societal issues.

How are you revisiting the definition of bullying?

As a UNESCO Chair, my role involves facilitating interdisciplinary research and dialogue, and working towards a more holistic approach to bullying. Our recommendation for a ‘whole-education’ approach to tackle bullying recognizes individual, contextual, and societal dimensions.

With support from UNESCO and the WABF, I facilitated the working group to revisit the definition of bullying, consulting scholars, policymakers and practitioners worldwide. We gathered feedback from a diverse group and have conducted wide consultations. This working group was launched following the recommendations by a Scientific Committee on preventing and addressing school bullying and cyberbullying, convened by UNESCO and the French Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.

What would a revised definition mean for education policymakers and practitioners, for school communities and learners?

The proposed definition promotes a holistic and inclusion-driven approach to tackling bullying and violence in schools and in online spaces. 

Crafting a more inclusive definition has the potential to break down academic and professional barriers, encouraging cooperation between sectors, and among scholars, policymakers, educators, and learners. It provides a solid foundation to better understand bullying particularly regarding those most marginalized due to appearance, ethnicity, gender, social class, or sexuality, among others. Bullying is a complex issue tied to individual, contextual, and structural factors, making collaboration essential.

Together, we can deepen our understanding and address not only the behavior but also the underlying systems and ideologies supporting bullying.

What is your vision for this improved definition of school bullying?

My vision aligns with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4, on education, in that our work on bullying, and all other forms of school violence, is aimed at ensuring an inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all. 

What message do you have for teachers and learners?

To teachers and school staff: Do not accept bullying as normal. Create a safe classroom environment by setting clear expectations for kindness and respect, remain vigilant for signs of bullying, stay informed about effective prevention strategies, and promptly address any incidents. Implement a robust anti-bullying policy. Under the idea of a ‘whole-education’ approach, collaborate with colleagues and parents, incorporate empathy and anti-bullying content into the curriculum, and use collaborative learning methods.

To learners: Report bullying, be confident in recognizing and responding to it, and encourage bystander intervention. You have the power to stop bullying.

New definition and what’s next?

The working group presented its proposed revised definition of school bullying at the WABF held in October 2023. The proposed definition reads:

School bullying is a damaging social process that is characterized by an imbalance of power driven by social (societal) and institutional norms. It is often repeated and manifests as unwanted interpersonal behaviour among students or school personnel that causes physical, social, and emotional harm to the targeted individuals or groups, and the wider school community.

This new inclusive definition of school bullying was largely welcomed by delegates at the Forum. The UNESCO Chair and WABF hope that this revised definition will contribute to opening a new chapter in the global conversation on the nature of and responses to bullying and cyberbullying. 

For UNESCO, the new definition of bullying reflects our approach and work to ensure that schools are safe and supportive learning environments. This means that to end all forms of school violence, including bullying, we must understand that these behaviours do not happen in isolation, that there are different drivers of violence, and that a ‘whole-education’ approach is needed. 

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• Published: 14 December 2021

Bullying at school and mental health problems among adolescents: a repeated cross-sectional study

• Håkan Källmén 1 &
• Mats Hallgren   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0599-2403 2  

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health volume  15 , Article number:  74 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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To examine recent trends in bullying and mental health problems among adolescents and the association between them.

A questionnaire measuring mental health problems, bullying at school, socio-economic status, and the school environment was distributed to all secondary school students aged 15 (school-year 9) and 18 (school-year 11) in Stockholm during 2014, 2018, and 2020 (n = 32,722). Associations between bullying and mental health problems were assessed using logistic regression analyses adjusting for relevant demographic, socio-economic, and school-related factors.

The prevalence of bullying remained stable and was highest among girls in year 9; range = 4.9% to 16.9%. Mental health problems increased; range = + 1.2% (year 9 boys) to + 4.6% (year 11 girls) and were consistently higher among girls (17.2% in year 11, 2020). In adjusted models, having been bullied was detrimentally associated with mental health (OR = 2.57 [2.24–2.96]). Reports of mental health problems were four times higher among boys who had been bullied compared to those not bullied. The corresponding figure for girls was 2.4 times higher.

Conclusions

Exposure to bullying at school was associated with higher odds of mental health problems. Boys appear to be more vulnerable to the deleterious effects of bullying than girls.

Introduction

Bullying involves repeated hurtful actions between peers where an imbalance of power exists [ 1 ]. Arseneault et al. [ 2 ] conducted a review of the mental health consequences of bullying for children and adolescents and found that bullying is associated with severe symptoms of mental health problems, including self-harm and suicidality. Bullying was shown to have detrimental effects that persist into late adolescence and contribute independently to mental health problems. Updated reviews have presented evidence indicating that bullying is causative of mental illness in many adolescents [ 3 , 4 ].

There are indications that mental health problems are increasing among adolescents in some Nordic countries. Hagquist et al. [ 5 ] examined trends in mental health among Scandinavian adolescents (n = 116, 531) aged 11–15 years between 1993 and 2014. Mental health problems were operationalized as difficulty concentrating, sleep disorders, headache, stomach pain, feeling tense, sad and/or dizzy. The study revealed increasing rates of adolescent mental health problems in all four counties (Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark), with Sweden experiencing the sharpest increase among older adolescents, particularly girls. Worsening adolescent mental health has also been reported in the United Kingdom. A study of 28,100 school-aged adolescents in England found that two out of five young people scored above thresholds for emotional problems, conduct problems or hyperactivity [ 6 ]. Female gender, deprivation, high needs status (educational/social), ethnic background, and older age were all associated with higher odds of experiencing mental health difficulties.

Bullying is shown to increase the risk of poor mental health and may partly explain these detrimental changes. Le et al. [ 7 ] reported an inverse association between bullying and mental health among 11–16-year-olds in Vietnam. They also found that poor mental health can make some children and adolescents more vulnerable to bullying at school. Bayer et al. [ 8 ] examined links between bullying at school and mental health among 8–9-year-old children in Australia. Those who experienced bullying more than once a week had poorer mental health than children who experienced bullying less frequently. Friendships moderated this association, such that children with more friends experienced fewer mental health problems (protective effect). Hysing et al. [ 9 ] investigated the association between experiences of bullying (as a victim or perpetrator) and mental health, sleep disorders, and school performance among 16–19 year olds from Norway (n = 10,200). Participants were categorized as victims, bullies, or bully-victims (that is, victims who also bullied others). All three categories were associated with worse mental health, school performance, and sleeping difficulties. Those who had been bullied also reported more emotional problems, while those who bullied others reported more conduct disorders [ 9 ].

As most adolescents spend a considerable amount of time at school, the school environment has been a major focus of mental health research [ 10 , 11 ]. In a recent review, Saminathen et al. [ 12 ] concluded that school is a potential protective factor against mental health problems, as it provides a socially supportive context and prepares students for higher education and employment. However, it may also be the primary setting for protracted bullying and stress [ 13 ]. Another factor associated with adolescent mental health is parental socio-economic status (SES) [ 14 ]. A systematic review indicated that lower parental SES is associated with poorer adolescent mental health [ 15 ]. However, no previous studies have examined whether SES modifies or attenuates the association between bullying and mental health. Similarly, it remains unclear whether school related factors, such as school grades and the school environment, influence the relationship between bullying and mental health. This information could help to identify those adolescents most at risk of harm from bullying.

To address these issues, we investigated the prevalence of bullying at school and mental health problems among Swedish adolescents aged 15–18 years between 2014 and 2020 using a population-based school survey. We also examined associations between bullying at school and mental health problems adjusting for relevant demographic, socioeconomic, and school-related factors. We hypothesized that: (1) bullying and adolescent mental health problems have increased over time; (2) There is an association between bullying victimization and mental health, so that mental health problems are more prevalent among those who have been victims of bullying; and (3) that school-related factors would attenuate the association between bullying and mental health.

Participants

The Stockholm school survey is completed every other year by students in lower secondary school (year 9—compulsory) and upper secondary school (year 11). The survey is mandatory for public schools, but voluntary for private schools. The purpose of the survey is to help inform decision making by local authorities that will ultimately improve students’ wellbeing. The questions relate to life circumstances, including SES, schoolwork, bullying, drug use, health, and crime. Non-completers are those who were absent from school when the survey was completed (< 5%). Response rates vary from year to year but are typically around 75%. For the current study data were available for 2014, 2018 and 2020. In 2014; 5235 boys and 5761 girls responded, in 2018; 5017 boys and 5211 girls responded, and in 2020; 5633 boys and 5865 girls responded (total n = 32,722). Data for the exposure variable, bullied at school, were missing for 4159 students, leaving 28,563 participants in the crude model. The fully adjusted model (described below) included 15,985 participants. The mean age in grade 9 was 15.3 years (SD = 0.51) and in grade 11, 17.3 years (SD = 0.61). As the data are completely anonymous, the study was exempt from ethical approval according to an earlier decision from the Ethical Review Board in Stockholm (2010-241 31-5). Details of the survey are available via a website [ 16 ], and are described in a previous paper [ 17 ].

Students completed the questionnaire during a school lesson, placed it in a sealed envelope and handed it to their teacher. Student were permitted the entire lesson (about 40 min) to complete the questionnaire and were informed that participation was voluntary (and that they were free to cancel their participation at any time without consequences). Students were also informed that the Origo Group was responsible for collection of the data on behalf of the City of Stockholm.

Study outcome

Mental health problems were assessed by using a modified version of the Psychosomatic Problem Scale [ 18 ] shown to be appropriate for children and adolescents and invariant across gender and years. The scale was later modified [ 19 ]. In the modified version, items about difficulty concentrating and feeling giddy were deleted and an item about ‘life being great to live’ was added. Seven different symptoms or problems, such as headaches, depression, feeling fear, stomach problems, difficulty sleeping, believing it’s great to live (coded negatively as seldom or rarely) and poor appetite were used. Students who responded (on a 5-point scale) that any of these problems typically occurs ‘at least once a week’ were considered as having indicators of a mental health problem. Cronbach alpha was 0.69 across the whole sample. Adding these problem areas, a total index was created from 0 to 7 mental health symptoms. Those who scored between 0 and 4 points on the total symptoms index were considered to have a low indication of mental health problems (coded as 0); those who scored between 5 and 7 symptoms were considered as likely having mental health problems (coded as 1).

Primary exposure

Experiences of bullying were measured by the following two questions: Have you felt bullied or harassed during the past school year? Have you been involved in bullying or harassing other students during this school year? Alternatives for the first question were: yes or no with several options describing how the bullying had taken place (if yes). Alternatives indicating emotional bullying were feelings of being mocked, ridiculed, socially excluded, or teased. Alternatives indicating physical bullying were being beaten, kicked, forced to do something against their will, robbed, or locked away somewhere. The response alternatives for the second question gave an estimation of how often the respondent had participated in bullying others (from once to several times a week). Combining the answers to these two questions, five different categories of bullying were identified: (1) never been bullied and never bully others; (2) victims of emotional (verbal) bullying who have never bullied others; (3) victims of physical bullying who have never bullied others; (4) victims of bullying who have also bullied others; and (5) perpetrators of bullying, but not victims. As the number of positive cases in the last three categories was low (range = 3–15 cases) bully categories 2–4 were combined into one primary exposure variable: ‘bullied at school’.

Assessment year was operationalized as the year when data was collected: 2014, 2018, and 2020. Age was operationalized as school grade 9 (15–16 years) or 11 (17–18 years). Gender was self-reported (boy or girl). The school situation To assess experiences of the school situation, students responded to 18 statements about well-being in school, participation in important school matters, perceptions of their teachers, and teaching quality. Responses were given on a four-point Likert scale ranging from ‘do not agree at all’ to ‘fully agree’. To reduce the 18-items down to their essential factors, we performed a principal axis factor analysis. Results showed that the 18 statements formed five factors which, according to the Kaiser criterion (eigen values > 1) explained 56% of the covariance in the student’s experience of the school situation. The five factors identified were: (1) Participation in school; (2) Interesting and meaningful work; (3) Feeling well at school; (4) Structured school lessons; and (5) Praise for achievements. For each factor, an index was created that was dichotomised (poor versus good circumstance) using the median-split and dummy coded with ‘good circumstance’ as reference. A description of the items included in each factor is available as Additional file 1 . Socio-economic status (SES) was assessed with three questions about the education level of the student’s mother and father (dichotomized as university degree versus not), and the amount of spending money the student typically received for entertainment each month (> SEK 1000 [approximately $120] versus less). Higher parental education and more spending money were used as reference categories. School grades in Swedish, English, and mathematics were measured separately on a 7-point scale and dichotomized as high (grades A, B, and C) versus low (grades D, E, and F). High school grades were used as the reference category.

Statistical analyses

The prevalence of mental health problems and bullying at school are presented using descriptive statistics, stratified by survey year (2014, 2018, 2020), gender, and school year (9 versus 11). As noted, we reduced the 18-item questionnaire assessing school function down to five essential factors by conducting a principal axis factor analysis (see Additional file 1 ). We then calculated the association between bullying at school (defined above) and mental health problems using multivariable logistic regression. Results are presented as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (Cis). To assess the contribution of SES and school-related factors to this association, three models are presented: Crude, Model 1 adjusted for demographic factors: age, gender, and assessment year; Model 2 adjusted for Model 1 plus SES (parental education and student spending money), and Model 3 adjusted for Model 2 plus school-related factors (school grades and the five factors identified in the principal factor analysis). These covariates were entered into the regression models in three blocks, where the final model represents the fully adjusted analyses. In all models, the category ‘not bullied at school’ was used as the reference. Pseudo R-square was calculated to estimate what proportion of the variance in mental health problems was explained by each model. Unlike the R-square statistic derived from linear regression, the Pseudo R-square statistic derived from logistic regression gives an indicator of the explained variance, as opposed to an exact estimate, and is considered informative in identifying the relative contribution of each model to the outcome [ 20 ]. All analyses were performed using SPSS v. 26.0.

Prevalence of bullying at school and mental health problems

Estimates of the prevalence of bullying at school and mental health problems across the 12 strata of data (3 years × 2 school grades × 2 genders) are shown in Table 1 . The prevalence of bullying at school increased minimally (< 1%) between 2014 and 2020, except among girls in grade 11 (2.5% increase). Mental health problems increased between 2014 and 2020 (range = 1.2% [boys in year 11] to 4.6% [girls in year 11]); were three to four times more prevalent among girls (range = 11.6% to 17.2%) compared to boys (range = 2.6% to 4.9%); and were more prevalent among older adolescents compared to younger adolescents (range = 1% to 3.1% higher). Pooling all data, reports of mental health problems were four times more prevalent among boys who had been victims of bullying compared to those who reported no experiences with bullying. The corresponding figure for girls was two and a half times as prevalent.

Associations between bullying at school and mental health problems

Table 2 shows the association between bullying at school and mental health problems after adjustment for relevant covariates. Demographic factors, including female gender (OR = 3.87; CI 3.48–4.29), older age (OR = 1.38, CI 1.26–1.50), and more recent assessment year (OR = 1.18, CI 1.13–1.25) were associated with higher odds of mental health problems. In Model 2, none of the included SES variables (parental education and student spending money) were associated with mental health problems. In Model 3 (fully adjusted), the following school-related factors were associated with higher odds of mental health problems: lower grades in Swedish (OR = 1.42, CI 1.22–1.67); uninteresting or meaningless schoolwork (OR = 2.44, CI 2.13–2.78); feeling unwell at school (OR = 1.64, CI 1.34–1.85); unstructured school lessons (OR = 1.31, CI = 1.16–1.47); and no praise for achievements (OR = 1.19, CI 1.06–1.34). After adjustment for all covariates, being bullied at school remained associated with higher odds of mental health problems (OR = 2.57; CI 2.24–2.96). Demographic and school-related factors explained 12% and 6% of the variance in mental health problems, respectively (Pseudo R-Square). The inclusion of socioeconomic factors did not alter the variance explained.

Our findings indicate that mental health problems increased among Swedish adolescents between 2014 and 2020, while the prevalence of bullying at school remained stable (< 1% increase), except among girls in year 11, where the prevalence increased by 2.5%. As previously reported [ 5 , 6 ], mental health problems were more common among girls and older adolescents. These findings align with previous studies showing that adolescents who are bullied at school are more likely to experience mental health problems compared to those who are not bullied [ 3 , 4 , 9 ]. This detrimental relationship was observed after adjustment for school-related factors shown to be associated with adolescent mental health [ 10 ].

A novel finding was that boys who had been bullied at school reported a four-times higher prevalence of mental health problems compared to non-bullied boys. The corresponding figure for girls was 2.5 times higher for those who were bullied compared to non-bullied girls, which could indicate that boys are more vulnerable to the deleterious effects of bullying than girls. Alternatively, it may indicate that boys are (on average) bullied more frequently or more intensely than girls, leading to worse mental health. Social support could also play a role; adolescent girls often have stronger social networks than boys and could be more inclined to voice concerns about bullying to significant others, who in turn may offer supports which are protective [ 21 ]. Related studies partly confirm this speculative explanation. An Estonian study involving 2048 children and adolescents aged 10–16 years found that, compared to girls, boys who had been bullied were more likely to report severe distress, measured by poor mental health and feelings of hopelessness [ 22 ].

Other studies suggest that heritable traits, such as the tendency to internalize problems and having low self-esteem are associated with being a bully-victim [ 23 ]. Genetics are understood to explain a large proportion of bullying-related behaviors among adolescents. A study from the Netherlands involving 8215 primary school children found that genetics explained approximately 65% of the risk of being a bully-victim [ 24 ]. This proportion was similar for boys and girls. Higher than average body mass index (BMI) is another recognized risk factor [ 25 ]. A recent Australian trial involving 13 schools and 1087 students (mean age = 13 years) targeted adolescents with high-risk personality traits (hopelessness, anxiety sensitivity, impulsivity, sensation seeking) to reduce bullying at school; both as victims and perpetrators [ 26 ]. There was no significant intervention effect for bullying victimization or perpetration in the total sample. In a secondary analysis, compared to the control schools, intervention school students showed greater reductions in victimization, suicidal ideation, and emotional symptoms. These findings potentially support targeting high-risk personality traits in bullying prevention [ 26 ].

The relative stability of bullying at school between 2014 and 2020 suggests that other factors may better explain the increase in mental health problems seen here. Many factors could be contributing to these changes, including the increasingly competitive labour market, higher demands for education, and the rapid expansion of social media [ 19 , 27 , 28 ]. A recent Swedish study involving 29,199 students aged between 11 and 16 years found that the effects of school stress on psychosomatic symptoms have become stronger over time (1993–2017) and have increased more among girls than among boys [ 10 ]. Research is needed examining possible gender differences in perceived school stress and how these differences moderate associations between bullying and mental health.

Strengths and limitations

Strengths of the current study include the large participant sample from diverse schools; public and private, theoretical and practical orientations. The survey included items measuring diverse aspects of the school environment; factors previously linked to adolescent mental health but rarely included as covariates in studies of bullying and mental health. Some limitations are also acknowledged. These data are cross-sectional which means that the direction of the associations cannot be determined. Moreover, all the variables measured were self-reported. Previous studies indicate that students tend to under-report bullying and mental health problems [ 29 ]; thus, our results may underestimate the prevalence of these behaviors.

In conclusion, consistent with our stated hypotheses, we observed an increase in self-reported mental health problems among Swedish adolescents, and a detrimental association between bullying at school and mental health problems. Although bullying at school does not appear to be the primary explanation for these changes, bullying was detrimentally associated with mental health after adjustment for relevant demographic, socio-economic, and school-related factors, confirming our third hypothesis. The finding that boys are potentially more vulnerable than girls to the deleterious effects of bullying should be replicated in future studies, and the mechanisms investigated. Future studies should examine the longitudinal association between bullying and mental health, including which factors mediate/moderate this relationship. Epigenetic studies are also required to better understand the complex interaction between environmental and biological risk factors for adolescent mental health [ 24 ].

Availability of data and materials

Data requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis; please email the corresponding author.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Authors are grateful to the Department for Social Affairs, Stockholm, for permission to use data from the Stockholm School Survey.

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Håkan Källmén

Epidemiology of Psychiatric Conditions, Substance Use and Social Environment (EPiCSS), Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Level 6, Solnavägen 1e, Solna, Sweden

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Källmén, H., Hallgren, M. Bullying at school and mental health problems among adolescents: a repeated cross-sectional study. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 15 , 74 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-021-00425-y

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Home ➔ Free Essay Examples ➔ Bullying Essay

Bullying Essay – Writing Guide

A bullying essay is a piece of writing that explores the issue of bullying, its causes, effects, and possible solutions. Bullying is a widespread problem that affects people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds. It is a form of aggressive behavior that can be physical, verbal, or psychological, and is often repeated over time. Bullying can significantly impact the mental and emotional well-being of those affected, leading to anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and even suicide.

A bullying essay is an assignment that students can be required to write at all education levels. The problem of bullying is pervasive in schools and has many facets that must be addressed with equal consideration. That’s why there are many things you can write about in your essay on bullying. Read on to see a short essay example on this topic with a few comments and some topics you can use as examples for this assignment.

The bullying paper example below is divided into three core elements: introduction, body, and conclusion. Each part is followed by a short analysis of that part.

Bullying Essay Example (with commentaries)

Topic: The Three Major Effects of Bullying in Schools

Type: Informative Essay

Introduction

Bullying in schools has remained constant from decade to decade. Bullying is terrible for children in schools and can have various detrimental effects. According to the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Education, bullying comprises three core elements: unwanted aggressive behavior, observed or perceived power imbalance, and repetition or high likelihood of repetition. It is alarming that almost 20% of students aged 12 to 18 experience bullying nationwide. School bullying can adversely affect kids, including health conditions, learning problems, low self-esteem, and mental health issues.

Introduction analysis:

The introduction oof this essay provides background information on bullying. Then, the writer uses statistics from credible sources as an attention hook, which is one of the good ways to start an essay. And it ends with a thesis statement that states the three main aspects that will be discussed in the essay. However, it lacks a proper transition between the hook and the thesis statement.

Body paragraphs

The first and one of the major negative effects of bullying in school is its ability to wreak havoc on a child’s health and well-being. Aside from physical injuries which may result from physical shoving or pushing, bullying can cause headaches, trouble sleeping, and stomach aches. The mind and body are connected; hence, any stressor to a child’s well-being can manifest as physical symptoms. Bullying may also aggravate pre-existing health conditions like skin, heart, and gastrointestinal diseases. The negative impact on a child’s health is one of the more obvious adverse effects of school bullying.

In addition to affecting the child’s physical health, bullying can cause learning struggles and delays in development. The academic impact on the child experiencing bullying can be overwhelming. Often, one of the first indicators that a child may be experiencing bullying is a sudden decline in grades or poor academic performance. Sometimes, kids are so caught up with how bullying makes them feel that they forget to study, don’t do their homework, or have difficulty paying attention in class and digesting the study material. Bullied children often make excuses to skip school, pretend to be sick, or lie to their parents about attending classes. Overall, the academic impact of bullying is one of the worst ones that must be considered when tackling the problem.

To make matters worse, besides negative physical health outcomes and unsatisfactory grades or a decline in academic achievement, kids who experience bullying in schools also suffer from poor self-esteem and mental health effects. For example, bullied kids tend to experience negative emotions such as social isolation, anger, loneliness, and more. In some cases with high school students, these negative emotions can lead to the misuse of drugs or alcohol. Bullying causes kids to feel poorly about themselves, increasing their risk for depression, anxiety, self-harm, or suicide. These effects can be short-term or long-lasting, even when bullying has ended.

Body analysis:

The body of the essay discusses the three main negative consequences of bullying mentioned in the thesis statement of this bullying essay. Each of these points is elaborated on with specific examples. The language used is clear and easy to understand. However, the essay does not flow smoothly from one point to the next and feels somewhat choppy as a result.

School bullying can have significant and detrimental negative effects on kids, including adverse health outcomes, inadequate academic performance, and mental struggles. Kids who are bullied are more likely to experience a manifestation of health conditions, which may become chronic. Bullying causes kids to be less likely to perform well academically and may cause them to skip class, thereby impacting their learning. Lastly, bullying causes kids to experience unhealthy emotions and poor self-esteem. Bullying is a chronic problem that we must continue to address in schools everywhere.

Conclusion analysis:

The essay’s conclusion restates the three main points of the body and reaffirms that bullying is a serious problem with far-reaching consequences. But, it feels somewhat abrupt and could be further developed at the very end, even though it is an informative piece.

97 Bullying Essay Examples – Here’s a PDF file with more examples of papers about bullying (by various authors). They vary in size and quality, so make sure to analyze them thoroughly.

What to Write About (Topics)

Below, you will find various ideas you can use to write an essay on bullying. The topics are divided by essay type as it will affect how you write and what you write about.

Expository essay : You can educate or inform your audience about bullying or define bullying from your unique perspective. Here are a few topic examples:

• Bullying in Primary and Secondary Schools
• How to Stand up to a Bully Effectively
• What Role Bystanders Play in Bullying Situations
• How to Support Someone Who is Being Bullied
• The Legal Repercussions of Bullying
• Existing Policies and Laws That Fight Bullying
• Best Ways to Handle Bullying for Educators
• How to Overcome the Consequences of Bullying
• Examples of Effective and Ineffective Anti-bullying Programs in Educational Institutions

Classification essay : You can explore and describe the types and subtypes of bullying. For example:

• Bullying in schools
• Workplace bullying
• Cyberbullying
• Bullying of children
• Bullying of teenagers
• Bullying of adults
• Verbal bullying
• Physical bullying
• Emotional bullying
• Racial bullying
• Religious bullying
• Cultural bullying
• Fat shaming

Problem-solution essay : You can explore and describe the possible solutions to bullying. Here are some topic examples for this bullying essay type:

• How schools can effectively address bullying
• The role of parents in preventing bullying
• How we can change the culture of bullying
• How we can support a bullying victim
• How to create a more positive school climate to prevent bullying

Cause and effect essay : You can explore and describe the effects of bullying or the causes that lead to bullying. Below are several topic samples:

• How bullying leads to school violence
• How bullying can lead students to suicidal thoughts
• The long-term effects of being bullied
• How bullying affects the academic performance of students
• The psychological consequences of bullying

Persuasive essay : You can try to take a stance on bullying and persuade the readers to take action. Such a bullying essay could be written on the following topics:

• School shootings: why do school shootings happen, and how can we prevent them?
• Repeated verbal abuse: how does repeated verbal abuse affect bullying victims, and what can be done to stop it?
• Family members: should family members be held responsible for bullying?
• Bystanders: what role do bystanders play in bullying, and how can we encourage them to take action?
• Social media: how does social media contribute to bullying, and what can be done to stop it?

Argumentative essay : You can argue your point of view on bullying or any of its aspects in an argumentative paper. Topic examples:

• What causes people to bully others?
• Can we end school bullying for sure?
• Should people who bully others be punished?
• Is there a difference between boys and girls who bully?
• Is there a link between bullying and poor mental health?

Narrative essay : You can tell your personal story related to bullying (if you have one) or a story of someone you know. Topic examples might include the following:

• How I studied bullying behavior for my project
• How spreading rumors ruined my middle-school life
• How other countries I have been to deal with school bullying
• Why I changed schools five times and don’t have many friends
• How it can get to you even through text messages

Bullying is a serious and growing problem affecting individuals, their families, and communities. It is a complex subject to broach and talk about because it provides little comfort to parents, but it should be discussed to implement strategies to mitigate bullying and its effects. And while it is true that some young people will likely “grow out of” being bullied, it’s also true that some never stop being bullied.

In conclusion, this essay guide on bullying has provided a comprehensive overview of the issue and its impact on individuals. It is a problem that affects individuals of all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life. By working together and taking action, we can help create a world where everyone feels safe, valued, and respected, and where bullying has no place. If you are writing an essay on this topic, this guide can serve as a valuable resource to help you better understand the issue and develop practical solutions to address it. Remember, if you or someone you know is being bullied, speaking out and seeking help is important.

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Bullying in children: impact on child health

Richard armitage.

Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

Associated Data

Bullying in childhood is a major public health problem that increases the risk of poor health, social and educational outcomes in childhood and adolescence. These consequences are felt by all those involved in bullying (bullies, victims and bully–victims) and are now recognised to propagate deep into adulthood. Cyberbullying is a relatively new type of bullying in addition to the traditional forms of direct physical, direct verbal and indirect bullying. Children who are perceived as being ‘different’ in any way are at greater risk of victimisation, with physical appearance being the most frequent trigger of childhood bullying. Globally, one in three children have been bullied in the past 30 days, although there is substantial regional variation in the prevalence and type of bullying experienced. The consequences of childhood bullying can be categorised into three broad categories: educational consequences during childhood, health consequences during childhood and all consequences during adulthood. Many dose–response relationships exist between the frequency and intensity of bullying experienced and the severity of negative health consequence reported. The majority of victims of cyberbullying are also victims of traditional bullying, meaning cyberbullying creates very few additional victims. Overall, adverse mental health outcomes due to bullying in childhood most severely impact on bully–victims. Bullying prevention is vital for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, with whole-school cooperative learning interventions having the strongest evidence base for successful outcomes. Clear management and referral pathways for health professionals dealing with childhood bullying are lacking in both primary and secondary care, although specialist services are available locally and online.

Key messages

• Bullying in childhood is a global public health problem that impacts on child, adolescent and adult health.
• Bullying exists in its traditional, sexual and cyber forms, all of which impact on the physical, mental and social health of victims, bullies and bully–victims.
• Children perceived as ‘different’ in any way are at greater risk of victimisation.
• Bullying is extremely prevalent: one in three children globally has been victimised in the preceding month.
• Existing bullying prevention interventions are rarely evidence-based and alternative approaches are urgently needed.

Introduction

Bullying in childhood has been classified by the WHO as a major public health problem 1 and for decades has been known to increase the risk of poor health, social and educational outcomes in childhood and adolescence. 2 Characterised by repeated victimisation within a power-imbalanced relationship, bullying encompasses a wide range of types, frequencies and aggression levels, ranging from teasing and name calling to physical, verbal and social abuse. 3 The dynamics within such relationships become consolidated with repeated and sustained episodes of bullying: bullies accrue compounding power while victims are stripped of their own and become progressively less able to defend themselves and increasingly vulnerable to psychological distress. 4

However, only in the last decade have prospective studies been published that reveal the far-reaching effects of childhood bullying that extend into adulthood. There is now substantial evidence that being bullied as a child or adolescent has a causal relationship to the development of mental health issues beyond the early years of life, including depression, anxiety and suicidality. 5 As such, addressing the global public health problem of bullying in childhood has received increasing international attention and is vital for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4. 6 The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child health and education has focused further attention on bullying in its digital form, so-called ‘cyberbullying’, the prevalence of which is feared to be increasing. 7

Types of bullying

Participants in childhood bullying take up one of three roles: the victim, the bully (or perpetrator) or the bully–victim (who is both a perpetrator and a victim of bullying). 5 Victims and bullies either belong to the same peer group (peer bullying) or the same family unit (sibling bullying), 8 although bullying frequently occurs in multiple settings simultaneously, such as at school (peer bullying) and in the home (sibling bullying), representing a ubiquitous ecology of bullying that permeates the child’s life.

Three main types of bullying are observed, the typical characteristics of which are illustrated in table 1 .

Typical characteristics of the main types of childhood bullying

While traditional bullying has been recognised and studied for many decades 9 and is often accepted as an inevitable aspect of a normal childhood, 3 cyberbullying represents a relatively new phenomenon in which childhood bullying now takes place through digital modalities. The widespread uptake of electronic devices has reached almost complete saturation among adolescents in high-income countries, with users checking their devices hundreds of times and for hours each day. 10 While providing beneficial access to information and social support, this large and growing online exposure of young people renders them vulnerable to exploitation, gambling, and grooming by criminals and sexual abusers, as well as cyberbullying. 11 Due to the increased potential for large audiences, anonymous attacks and the permanence of posted messages, coupled with lower levels of direct feedback, reduced time and space limits, and decreased adult supervision, it is feared that cyberbullying may pose a greater threat to child and adolescent health than traditional bullying modalities. 12

Factors that influence bullying

Two large-scale international surveys regularly conducted by the WHO—the Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) 13 and the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study 14 —provide data from 144 countries and territories in all regions of the world. These data identify specific factors that strongly influence the type, frequency and severity of bullying experienced by children and adolescents globally. These factors, which are briefly described in table 2 , suggest that children who are perceived as being ‘different’ in any way are at greater risk of victimisation.

Summary of factors that influence child and adolescent bullying 15

Prevalence of bullying

A 2019 report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) 15 examined the global prevalence of bullying in childhood and adolescence using data from the GSHS and HBSC studies along with addition data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 16 and the Programme for International Students Assessment. 17 It found that almost one in three (32%) children globally has been the victim of bullying on one or more days in the preceding month, and that 1 in 13 (7.3%) has been bullied on six or more days over the same period. 15 However, there is substantial regional variation in the prevalence of bullying across the world, ranging from 22.8% of children being victimised in Central America, through 25.0% and 31.7% in Europe and North America, respectively, to 48.2% in sub-Saharan Africa. There is also significant geographical variation in the type of bullying reported, with direct physical and sexual bullying being dominant in low-income and middle-income countries, and indirect bullying being the most frequent type in high-income regions. Nevertheless, bullying is a sizeable public health problem of truly global importance.

Encouragingly, there has been a decrease in the prevalence of bullying in half (50.0%) of countries since 2002, while 31.4% have seen no significant change over this time frame. 15 However, 18.6% of countries have witnessed an increase in childhood bullying, primarily among members of one sex or the other, although in both girls and boys in North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Myanmar, the Philippines, and United Arab Emirates. 15

Since its appearance, cyberbullying has received substantial media attention claiming that the near-ubiquitous uptake of social media among adolescents has induced a tidal wave of online victimisation and triggered multiple high-profile suicides among adolescents after being bullied online. 18 19 However, a recent meta-analysis suggests that cyberbullying is far less prevalent than bullying in its traditional forms, with rates of online victimisation less than half of those offline. 20 The study also found relatively strong correlations between bullying in its traditional and cyber varieties, suggesting victims of online bullying are also likely to be bullied offline, and that that these different forms of victimisation reflect alternative methods of enacting the same perpetrator behaviour. Recent evidence from England also indicates a difference between sexes, with 1 in 20 adolescent girls and 1 in 50 adolescent boys reporting cyberbully victimisation over the previous 2 months. 21

Consequences of bullying

There is a vast range of possible consequences of bullying in childhood, determined by multiple factors including the frequency, severity and type of bullying, the role of the participant (victim, bully or bully–victim) and the timing at which the consequences are observed (during childhood, adolescence or adulthood). The consequences can be grouped into three broad categories: educational consequences during childhood and adolescence, health consequences during childhood and adolescence, and all consequences during adulthood. Each will now be discussed individually.

Educational consequences during childhood and adolescence

Children who are frequently bullied are more likely to feel like an outsider at school, 17 while indirect bullying specifically has been shown to have a negative effect on socialisation and feelings of acceptance among children in schools. 22 Accordingly, a child’s sense of belonging at school increases as bullying decreases. 22 In addition, being bullied can affect continued engagement in education. Compared with those who are not bullied, children who are frequently bullied are nearly twice as likely to regularly skip school and are more likely to want to leave school after finishing secondary education. 16 The effect of frequent bullying on these educational consequences is illustrated in table 3 .

Relationship between being frequently bullied and educational consequences 20

Children who are bullied score lower in tests than those who are not. For example, in 15 Latin American countries, the test scores of bullied children were 2.1% lower in mathematics and 2.5% lower in reading than non-bullied children. 22 Compared with children never or almost never bullied, average learning achievement scores were 2.7% lower in children bullied monthly, and 7.5% lower in children bullied weekly, indicating a dose–response relationship. These findings are globally consistent across both low-income and high-income countries. 17

Health consequences during childhood and adolescence

Numerous meta-analyses, 2 23–26 longitudinal studies 5 27 28 and cross-sectional studies 29–31 have demonstrated strong relationships between childhood bullying and physical, mental and social health outcomes in victims, bullies and bully–victims. Some of these consequences are illustrated in table 4 . Reported physical health outcomes are mostly psychosomatic in nature. Most studies focused on the impacts on victims, although adverse effects on bullies and bully–victims are also recognised. Many studies identified a dose–response relationship between the frequency and intensity of bullying experienced and the severity of negative health consequence reported.

Summary of childhood health consequences of bullying during childhood

While there is significant regional variation, the association between childhood bullying and suicidal ideation and behaviour are recognised globally. 32 Alarmingly, childhood bully victimisation is associated with a risk of mental health problems similar to that experienced by children in public or substitute care. 33 Victimisation in sibling bullying is associated with substantial emotional problems in childhood, including low self-esteem, depression and self-harm, 8 and increases the risk of further victimisation through peer bullying. Overall, adverse mental health outcomes due to bullying in childhood appear to most severely impact on bully–victims, followed by victims and bullies. 34

Nine out of 10 adolescents who report victimisation by cyberbullying are also victims of bullying in its traditional forms, 35 meaning cyberbullying creates very few additional victims, 36 but is another weapon in the bully’s arsenal and has not replaced traditional methods. 37 Cyberbullying victimisation appears to be an independent risk factor for mental health problems only in girls and is not associated with suicidal ideation in either sex. 38 As such, traditional bullying is still the major type of bullying associated with poor mental health outcomes in children and adolescents. 21

Consequences during adulthood

A recent meta-analysis 39 and numerous other prospective longitudinal studies 40 41 that used large, population-based, community samples analysed through quantitative methods suggest that childhood bullying can lead to three main negative outcomes in adulthood for victims, bullies and bully–victims: psychopathology, suicidality and criminality. Some of these consequences are illustrated in table 5 .

Summary of adulthood consequences of bullying during childhood

A strong dose–response relationship exists between frequency of peer victimisation in childhood and adolescence and the risk of adulthood adversities. 39 For example, frequently bullied adolescents are twice as likely to develop depression in early adulthood compared with non-victimised peers, and is seen in both men and women. 41 Startlingly, the effects of this dose–response relationship seems to persist until at least 50 years of age. 33

The impact of childhood bully victimisation on adulthood mental health outcomes is staggering. Approximately 29% of the adulthood depression burden could be attributed to victimisation by peers in adolescence, 41 and bully victimisation by peers is thought to have a greater impact on adult mental health than maltreatment by adults, including sexual and physical abuse. 42 Finally, these consequences reach beyond the realm of health, as childhood bullying victimisation is associated with a lack of social relationships, economic hardship and poor perceived quality of life at age 50. 33

Bullying prevention

Until not long ago, being bullied was considered a normal rite of passage through which children must simply persevere. 3 However, the size and scale of its impact on child health, and later on adulthood health, are now clearly understood and render it a significant public health problem warranting urgent attention. 1 While parental and peer support are known to be protective against victimisation, regardless of global location, cultural norms or socioeconomic status, 43 structured programmes have been deployed at scale to prevent victimisation and its associated problems.

School-based interventions have been shown to significantly reduce bullying behaviour in children and adolescents. Whole-school approaches incorporating multiple disciplines and high levels of staff engagement provide the greatest potential for successful outcomes, while curriculum-based and targeted social skills training are less effective methods that may even worsen victimisation. 44 The most widely adopted approach is the Olweus Bullying Prevention Programme (OBPP), a comprehensive, school-wide programme designed to reduce bullying and achieve better peer relations among school-aged children. 9 However, despite its broad global uptake, meta-analyses of studies examining the effectiveness of the OBPP have shown mixed results across different cultures. 45–47

Cooperative learning, in which teachers increase opportunities for positive peer interaction through carefully structured, group-based learning activities in schools, is an alternative approach to bullying prevention that has recently gained traction and been shown to significantly reduce bullying and its associated emotional problems while enhancing student engagement and educational achievement. 48 Also housed within the educational environment, school-based health centres became popular in the USA in the 1990s and provided medical, mental health, behavioural, dental and vision care for children directly in schools, and have had some positive impacts on mitigating the prevalence and impact of bullying. 49 In the UK, school nurses act as liaisons between primary care and education systems, and are often the first to identify victims of bullying, although their numbers in the UK fell by 30% between 2010 and 2019. 50

Due to the link between sibling and peer bullying, there have been calls for bullying prevention interventions to be developed and made available to start in the home, and for general practitioners and paediatricians to routinely enquire about sibling bullying. 8

While countless cyberbullying prevention programmes, both offline and online, are marketed to educational institutions, only a small proportion have been rigorously evaluated. 51 Furthermore, as cyberbullying rarely induces negative impacts on child health independently, interventions to tackle these effects must also target traditional forms of bullying to have meaningful impact.

Addressing the global public health problem of bullying in childhood and adolescence is vital for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. In recognition of this, UNESCO recently launched its first International Day Against Violence and Bullying at School, an annual event which aims to build global awareness about the problem’s scale, severity and need for collaborative action. 52 Meaningful progress on this problem is urgently needed to increase mental well-being and reduce the burden of mental illness in both children and adults globally. Suggestions for immediate action are briefly described in box 1 .

Actions needed to improve child health through the prevention of bullying

• Promote the importance of parental and peer support in the prevention of bully victimisation across families and schools.
• Educate health professionals about the consequences of childhood bullying and provide training and resources to allow identification, appropriate management and timely referral of such cases (see further).
• Develop and make widely available bullying prevention interventions that tackle sibling bullying in the home.
• Create and deploy whole-school cooperative learning approaches to reduce bullying within educational institutions.
• Address cyberbullying with evidence-based interventions that also tackle traditional forms of bullying.
• Increase awareness of the presentation and impacts of bullying on child health among primary care professionals.

What to do if you suspect childhood bullying

GPs should be prepared to consider bullying as a potential contributory factor in presentations of non-specific physical and mental health complaints from children. While GPs recognise their responsibility to deal with disclosures of childhood bullying and its associated health consequences, they often feel unable to adequately do so due to the constraints of time-pressured primary care consultations, and uncertainty around the specialist services to which such children can be appropriately referred. 53

Clear management and referral pathways for health professionals dealing with childhood bullying are lacking in both primary and secondary care. Local, national and online antibullying organisations, such as Ditch the Label 54 and the Anti-Bullying Alliance, 55 provide free advice for children affected by bullying, and their parents, teachers and health professionals, along with free online certified CPD training for anyone working with children. School nurses continue to act as liaisons between primary care and education systems 56 and should be central to the multidisciplinary management of childhood bullying. Finally, if bullying is considered to be contributory to childhood depression, child and adolescent mental health services, along with primary care practitioners and educational professionals, should work collaboratively to foster effective antibullying approaches. 57

Supplementary Material

Contributors: RA was the sole contributor to the work.

Funding: The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests: No, there are no competing interests.

Patient and public involvement: Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, conduct, reporting or dissemination plans of this research.

Patient consent for publication: Not required.

Provenance and peer review: Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

Data availability statement: Data sharing is not applicable as no datasets have been generated and/or analysed for this study.

Preventing Bullying Through Science, Policy, and Practice (2016)

Chapter: 1 introduction, 1 introduction.

Bullying, long tolerated by many as a rite of passage into adulthood, is now recognized as a major and preventable public health problem, one that can have long-lasting consequences ( McDougall and Vaillancourt, 2015 ; Wolke and Lereya, 2015 ). Those consequences—for those who are bullied, for the perpetrators of bullying, and for witnesses who are present during a bullying event—include poor school performance, anxiety, depression, and future delinquent and aggressive behavior. Federal, state, and local governments have responded by adopting laws and implementing programs to prevent bullying and deal with its consequences. However, many of these responses have been undertaken with little attention to what is known about bullying and its effects. Even the definition of bullying varies among both researchers and lawmakers, though it generally includes physical and verbal behavior, behavior leading to social isolation, and behavior that uses digital communications technology (cyberbullying). This report adopts the term “bullying behavior,” which is frequently used in the research field, to cover all of these behaviors.

Bullying behavior is evident as early as preschool, although it peaks during the middle school years ( Currie et al., 2012 ; Vaillancourt et al., 2010 ). It can occur in diverse social settings, including classrooms, school gyms and cafeterias, on school buses, and online. Bullying behavior affects not only the children and youth who are bullied, who bully, and who are both bullied and bully others but also bystanders to bullying incidents. Given the myriad situations in which bullying can occur and the many people who may be involved, identifying effective prevention programs and policies is challenging, and it is unlikely that any one approach will be ap-

propriate in all situations. Commonly used bullying prevention approaches include policies regarding acceptable behavior in schools and behavioral interventions to promote positive cultural norms.

STUDY CHARGE

Recognizing that bullying behavior is a major public health problem that demands the concerted and coordinated time and attention of parents, educators and school administrators, health care providers, policy makers, families, and others concerned with the care of children, a group of federal agencies and private foundations asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to undertake a study of what is known and what needs to be known to further the field of preventing bullying behavior. The Committee on the Biological and Psychosocial Effects of Peer Victimization:

Lessons for Bullying Prevention was created to carry out this task under the Academies’ Board on Children, Youth, and Families and the Committee on Law and Justice. The study received financial support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Highmark Foundation, the National Institute of Justice, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Semi J. and Ruth W. Begun Foundation, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The full statement of task for the committee is presented in Box 1-1 .

Although the committee acknowledges the importance of this topic as it pertains to all children in the United States and in U.S. territories, this report focuses on the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Also, while the committee acknowledges that bullying behavior occurs in the school

environment for youth in foster care, in juvenile justice facilities, and in other residential treatment facilities, this report does not address bullying behavior in those environments because it is beyond the study charge.

CONTEXT FOR THE STUDY

This section of the report highlights relevant work in the field and, later in the chapter under “The Committee’s Approach,” presents the conceptual framework and corresponding definitions of terms that the committee has adopted.

Historical Context

Bullying behavior was first characterized in the scientific literature as part of the childhood experience more than 100 years ago in “Teasing and Bullying,” published in the Pedagogical Seminary ( Burk, 1897 ). The author described bullying behavior, attempted to delineate causes and cures for the tormenting of others, and called for additional research ( Koo, 2007 ). Nearly a century later, Dan Olweus, a Swedish research professor of psychology in Norway, conducted an intensive study on bullying ( Olweus, 1978 ). The efforts of Olweus brought awareness to the issue and motivated other professionals to conduct their own research, thereby expanding and contributing to knowledge of bullying behavior. Since Olweus’s early work, research on bullying has steadily increased (see Farrington and Ttofi, 2009 ; Hymel and Swearer, 2015 ).

Over the past few decades, venues where bullying behavior occurs have expanded with the advent of the Internet, chat rooms, instant messaging, social media, and other forms of digital electronic communication. These modes of communication have provided a new communal avenue for bullying. While the media reports linking bullying to suicide suggest a causal relationship, the available research suggests that there are often multiple factors that contribute to a youth’s suicide-related ideology and behavior. Several studies, however, have demonstrated an association between bullying involvement and suicide-related ideology and behavior (see, e.g., Holt et al., 2015 ; Kim and Leventhal, 2008 ; Sourander, 2010 ; van Geel et al., 2014 ).

In 2013, the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requested that the Institute of Medicine 1 and the National Research Council convene an ad hoc planning committee to plan and conduct a 2-day public workshop to highlight relevant information and knowledge that could inform a multidisciplinary

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1 Prior to 2015, the National Academy of Medicine was known as the Institute of Medicine.

road map on next steps for the field of bullying prevention. Content areas that were explored during the April 2014 workshop included the identification of conceptual models and interventions that have proven effective in decreasing bullying and the antecedents to bullying while increasing protective factors that mitigate the negative health impact of bullying. The discussions highlighted the need for a better understanding of the effectiveness of program interventions in realistic settings; the importance of understanding what works for whom and under what circumstances, as well as the influence of different mediators (i.e., what accounts for associations between variables) and moderators (i.e., what affects the direction or strength of associations between variables) in bullying prevention efforts; and the need for coordination among agencies to prevent and respond to bullying. The workshop summary ( Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2014c ) informs this committee’s work.

Federal Efforts to Address Bullying and Related Topics

Currently, there is no comprehensive federal statute that explicitly prohibits bullying among children and adolescents, including cyberbullying. However, in the wake of the growing concerns surrounding the implications of bullying, several federal initiatives do address bullying among children and adolescents, and although some of them do not primarily focus on bullying, they permit some funds to be used for bullying prevention purposes.

The earliest federal initiative was in 1999, when three agencies collaborated to establish the Safe Schools/Healthy Students initiative in response to a series of deadly school shootings in the late 1990s. The program is administered by the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice to prevent youth violence and promote the healthy development of youth. It is jointly funded by the Department of Education and by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The program has provided grantees with both the opportunity to benefit from collaboration and the tools to sustain it through deliberate planning, more cost-effective service delivery, and a broader funding base ( Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2015 ).

The next major effort was in 2010, when the Department of Education awarded $38.8 million in grants under the Safe and Supportive Schools (S3) Program to 11 states to support statewide measurement of conditions for learning and targeted programmatic interventions to improve conditions for learning, in order to help schools improve safety and reduce substance use. The S3 Program was administered by the Safe and Supportive Schools Group, which also administered the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act State and Local Grants Program, authorized by the

1994 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. 2 It was one of several programs related to developing and maintaining safe, disciplined, and drug-free schools. In addition to the S3 grants program, the group administered a number of interagency agreements with a focus on (but not limited to) bullying, school recovery research, data collection, and drug and violence prevention activities ( U.S. Department of Education, 2015 ).

A collaborative effort among the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Interior, and Justice; the Federal Trade Commission; and the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders created the Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention (FPBP) Steering Committee. Led by the U.S. Department of Education, the FPBP works to coordinate policy, research, and communications on bullying topics. The FPBP Website provides extensive resources on bullying behavior, including information on what bullying is, its risk factors, its warning signs, and its effects. 3 The FPBP Steering Committee also plans to provide details on how to get help for those who have been bullied. It also was involved in creating the “Be More than a Bystander” Public Service Announcement campaign with the Ad Council to engage students in bullying prevention. To improve school climate and reduce rates of bullying nationwide, FPBP has sponsored four bullying prevention summits attended by education practitioners, policy makers, researchers, and federal officials.

In 2014, the National Institute of Justice—the scientific research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice—launched the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative with a congressional appropriation of $75 million. The funds are to be used for rigorous research to produce practical knowledge that can improve the safety of schools and students, including bullying prevention. The initiative is carried out through partnerships among researchers, educators, and other stakeholders, including law enforcement, behavioral and mental health professionals, courts, and other justice system professionals ( National Institute of Justice, 2015 ).

In 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act was signed by President Obama, reauthorizing the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is committed to providing equal opportunities for all students. Although bullying is neither defined nor prohibited in this act, it is explicitly mentioned in regard to applicability of safe school funding, which it had not been in previous iterations of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The above are examples of federal initiatives aimed at promoting the

2 The Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act was included as Title IV, Part A, of the 1994 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. See http://www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/gun_violence/sect08-i.html [October 2015].

3 For details, see http://www.stopbullying.gov/ [October 2015].

healthy development of youth, improving the safety of schools and students, and reducing rates of bullying behavior. There are several other federal initiatives that address student bullying directly or allow funds to be used for bullying prevention activities.

Definitional Context

The terms “bullying,” “harassment,” and “peer victimization” have been used in the scientific literature to refer to behavior that is aggressive, is carried out repeatedly and over time, and occurs in an interpersonal relationship where a power imbalance exists ( Eisenberg and Aalsma, 2005 ). Although some of these terms have been used interchangeably in the literature, peer victimization is targeted aggressive behavior of one child against another that causes physical, emotional, social, or psychological harm. While conflict and bullying among siblings are important in their own right ( Tanrikulu and Campbell, 2015 ), this area falls outside of the scope of the committee’s charge. Sibling conflict and aggression falls under the broader concept of interpersonal aggression, which includes dating violence, sexual assault, and sibling violence, in addition to bullying as defined for this report. Olweus (1993) noted that bullying, unlike other forms of peer victimization where the children involved are equally matched, involves a power imbalance between the perpetrator and the target, where the target has difficulty defending him or herself and feels helpless against the aggressor. This power imbalance is typically considered a defining feature of bullying, which distinguishes this particular form of aggression from other forms, and is typically repeated in multiple bullying incidents involving the same individuals over time ( Olweus, 1993 ).

Bullying and violence are subcategories of aggressive behavior that overlap ( Olweus, 1996 ). There are situations in which violence is used in the context of bullying. However, not all forms of bullying (e.g., rumor spreading) involve violent behavior. The committee also acknowledges that perspective about intentions can matter and that in many situations, there may be at least two plausible perceptions involved in the bullying behavior.

A number of factors may influence one’s perception of the term “bullying” ( Smith and Monks, 2008 ). Children and adolescents’ understanding of the term “bullying” may be subject to cultural interpretations or translations of the term ( Hopkins et al., 2013 ). Studies have also shown that influences on children’s understanding of bullying include the child’s experiences as he or she matures and whether the child witnesses the bullying behavior of others ( Hellström et al., 2015 ; Monks and Smith, 2006 ; Smith and Monks, 2008 ).

In 2010, the FPBP Steering Committee convened its first summit, which brought together more than 150 nonprofit and corporate leaders,

researchers, practitioners, parents, and youths to identify challenges in bullying prevention. Discussions at the summit revealed inconsistencies in the definition of bullying behavior and the need to create a uniform definition of bullying. Subsequently, a review of the 2011 CDC publication of assessment tools used to measure bullying among youth ( Hamburger et al., 2011 ) revealed inconsistent definitions of bullying and diverse measurement strategies. Those inconsistencies and diverse measurements make it difficult to compare the prevalence of bullying across studies ( Vivolo et al., 2011 ) and complicate the task of distinguishing bullying from other types of aggression between youths. A uniform definition can support the consistent tracking of bullying behavior over time, facilitate the comparison of bullying prevalence rates and associated risk and protective factors across different data collection systems, and enable the collection of comparable information on the performance of bullying intervention and prevention programs across contexts ( Gladden et al., 2014 ). The CDC and U.S. Department of Education collaborated on the creation of the following uniform definition of bullying (quoted in Gladden et al., 2014, p. 7 ):

Bullying is any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or group of youths who are not siblings or current dating partners that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated. Bullying may inflict harm or distress on the targeted youth including physical, psychological, social, or educational harm.

This report noted that the definition includes school-age individuals ages 5-18 and explicitly excludes sibling violence and violence that occurs in the context of a dating or intimate relationship ( Gladden et al., 2014 ). This definition also highlighted that there are direct and indirect modes of bullying, as well as different types of bullying. Direct bullying involves “aggressive behavior(s) that occur in the presence of the targeted youth”; indirect bullying includes “aggressive behavior(s) that are not directly communicated to the targeted youth” ( Gladden et al., 2014, p. 7 ). The direct forms of violence (e.g., sibling violence, teen dating violence, intimate partner violence) can include aggression that is physical, sexual, or psychological, but the context and uniquely dynamic nature of the relationship between the target and the perpetrator in which these acts occur is different from that of peer bullying. Examples of direct bullying include pushing, hitting, verbal taunting, or direct written communication. A common form of indirect bullying is spreading rumors. Four different types of bullying are commonly identified—physical, verbal, relational, and damage to property. Some observational studies have shown that the different forms of bullying that youths commonly experience may overlap ( Bradshaw et al., 2015 ;

Godleski et al., 2015 ). The four types of bullying are defined as follows ( Gladden et al., 2014 ):

• Physical bullying involves the use of physical force (e.g., shoving, hitting, spitting, pushing, and tripping).
• Verbal bullying involves oral or written communication that causes harm (e.g., taunting, name calling, offensive notes or hand gestures, verbal threats).
• Relational bullying is behavior “designed to harm the reputation and relationships of the targeted youth (e.g., social isolation, rumor spreading, posting derogatory comments or pictures online).”
• Damage to property is “theft, alteration, or damaging of the target youth’s property by the perpetrator to cause harm.”

In recent years, a new form of aggression or bullying has emerged, labeled “cyberbullying,” in which the aggression occurs through modern technological devices, specifically mobile phones or the Internet ( Slonje and Smith, 2008 ). Cyberbullying may take the form of mean or nasty messages or comments, rumor spreading through posts or creation of groups, and exclusion by groups of peers online.

While the CDC definition identifies bullying that occurs using technology as electronic bullying and views that as a context or location where bullying occurs, one of the major challenges in the field is how to conceptualize and define cyberbullying ( Tokunaga, 2010 ). The extent to which the CDC definition can be applied to cyberbullying is unclear, particularly with respect to several key concepts within the CDC definition. First, whether determination of an interaction as “wanted” or “unwanted” or whether communication was intended to be harmful can be challenging to assess in the absence of important in-person socioemotional cues (e.g., vocal tone, facial expressions). Second, assessing “repetition” is challenging in that a single harmful act on the Internet has the potential to be shared or viewed multiple times ( Sticca and Perren, 2013 ). Third, cyberbullying can involve a less powerful peer using technological tools to bully a peer who is perceived to have more power. In this manner, technology may provide the tools that create a power imbalance, in contrast to traditional bullying, which typically involves an existing power imbalance.

A study that used focus groups with college students to discuss whether the CDC definition applied to cyberbullying found that students were wary of applying the definition due to their perception that cyberbullying often involves less emphasis on aggression, intention, and repetition than other forms of bullying ( Kota et al., 2014 ). Many researchers have responded to this lack of conceptual and definitional clarity by creating their own measures to assess cyberbullying. It is noteworthy that very few of these

definitions and measures include the components of traditional bullying—i.e., repetition, power imbalance, and intent ( Berne et al., 2013 ). A more recent study argues that the term “cyberbullying” should be reserved for incidents that involve key aspects of bullying such as repetition and differential power ( Ybarra et al., 2014 ).

Although the formulation of a uniform definition of bullying appears to be a step in the right direction for the field of bullying prevention, there are some limitations of the CDC definition. For example, some researchers find the focus on school-age youth as well as the repeated nature of bullying to be rather limiting; similarly the exclusion of bullying in the context of sibling relationships or dating relationships may preclude full appreciation of the range of aggressive behaviors that may co-occur with or constitute bullying behavior. As noted above, other researchers have raised concerns about whether cyberbullying should be considered a particular form or mode under the broader heading of bullying as suggested in the CDC definition, or whether a separate defintion is needed. Furthermore, the measurement of bullying prevalence using such a definiton of bullying is rather complex and does not lend itself well to large-scale survey research. The CDC definition was intended to inform public health surveillance efforts, rather than to serve as a definition for policy. However, increased alignment between bullying definitions used by policy makers and researchers would greatly advance the field. Much of the extant research on bullying has not applied a consistent definition or one that aligns with the CDC definition. As a result of these and other challenges to the CDC definition, thus far there has been inconsistent adoption of this particular definition by researchers, practitioners, or policy makers; however, as the definition was created in 2014, less than 2 years is not a sufficient amount of time to assess whether it has been successfully adopted or will be in the future.

THE COMMITTEE’S APPROACH

This report builds on the April 2014 workshop, summarized in Building Capacity to Reduce Bullying: Workshop Summary ( Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2014c ). The committee’s work was accomplished over an 18-month period that began in October 2014, after the workshop was held and the formal summary of it had been released. The study committee members represented expertise in communication technology, criminology, developmental and clinical psychology, education, mental health, neurobiological development, pediatrics, public health, school administration, school district policy, and state law and policy. (See Appendix E for biographical sketches of the committee members and staff.) The committee met three times in person and conducted other meetings by teleconferences and electronic communication.

Information Gathering

The committee conducted an extensive review of the literature pertaining to peer victimization and bullying. In some instances, the committee drew upon the broader literature on aggression and violence. The review began with an English-language literature search of online databases, including ERIC, Google Scholar, Lexis Law Reviews Database, Medline, PubMed, Scopus, PsycInfo, and Web of Science, and was expanded as literature and resources from other countries were identified by committee members and project staff as relevant. The committee drew upon the early childhood literature since there is substantial evidence indicating that bullying involvement happens as early as preschool (see Vlachou et al., 2011 ). The committee also drew on the literature on late adolescence and looked at related areas of research such as maltreatment for insights into this emerging field.

The committee used a variety of sources to supplement its review of the literature. The committee held two public information-gathering sessions, one with the study sponsors and the second with experts on the neurobiology of bullying; bullying as a group phenomenon and the role of bystanders; the role of media in bullying prevention; and the intersection of social science, the law, and bullying and peer victimization. See Appendix A for the agendas for these two sessions. To explore different facets of bullying and give perspectives from the field, a subgroup of the committee and study staff also conducted a site visit to a northeastern city, where they convened four stakeholder groups comprised, respectively, of local practitioners, school personnel, private foundation representatives, and young adults. The site visit provided the committee with an opportunity for place-based learning about bullying prevention programs and best practices. Each focus group was transcribed and summarized thematically in accordance with this report’s chapter considerations. Themes related to the chapters are displayed throughout the report in boxes titled “Perspectives from the Field”; these boxes reflect responses synthesized from all four focus groups. See Appendix B for the site visit’s agenda and for summaries of the focus groups.

The committee also benefited from earlier reports by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine through its Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education and the Institute of Medicine, most notably:

• Reducing Risks for Mental Disorders: Frontiers for Preventive Intervention Research ( Institute of Medicine, 1994 )
• Community Programs to Promote Youth Development ( National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2002 )
• Deadly Lessons: Understanding Lethal School Violence ( National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2003 )
• Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People: Progress and Possibilities ( National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2009 )
• The Science of Adolescent Risk-Taking: Workshop Report ( Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2011 )
• Communications and Technology for Violence Prevention: Workshop Summary ( Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2012 )
• Building Capacity to Reduce Bullying: Workshop Summary ( Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2014c )
• The Evidence for Violence Prevention across the Lifespan and Around the World: Workshop Summary ( Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2014a )
• Strategies for Scaling Effective Family-Focused Preventive Interventions to Promote Children’s Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Health: Workshop Summary ( Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2014b )
• Investing in the Health and Well-Being of Young Adults ( Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2015 )

Although these past reports and workshop summaries address various forms of violence and victimization, this report is the first consensus study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on the state of the science on the biological and psychosocial consequences of bullying and the risk and protective factors that either increase or decrease bullying behavior and its consequences.

Terminology

Given the variable use of the terms “bullying” and “peer victimization” in both the research-based and practice-based literature, the committee chose to use the current CDC definition quoted above ( Gladden et al., 2014, p. 7 ). While the committee determined that this was the best definition to use, it acknowledges that this definition is not necessarily the most user-friendly definition for students and has the potential to cause problems for students reporting bullying. Not only does this definition provide detail on the common elements of bullying behavior but it also was developed with input from a panel of researchers and practitioners. The committee also followed the CDC in focusing primarily on individuals between the ages of 5 and 18. The committee recognizes that children’s development occurs on a continuum, and so while it relied primarily on the CDC defini-

tion, its work and this report acknowledge the importance of addressing bullying in both early childhood and emerging adulthood. For purposes of this report, the committee used the terms “early childhood” to refer to ages 1-4, “middle childhood” for ages 5 to 10, “early adolescence” for ages 11-14, “middle adolescence” for ages 15-17, and “late adolescence” for ages 18-21. This terminology and the associated age ranges are consistent with the Bright Futures and American Academy of Pediatrics definition of the stages of development. 4

A given instance of bullying behavior involves at least two unequal roles: one or more individuals who perpetrate the behavior (the perpetrator in this instance) and at least one individual who is bullied (the target in this instance). To avoid labeling and potentially further stigmatizing individuals with the terms “bully” and “victim,” which are sometimes viewed as traits of persons rather than role descriptions in a particular instance of behavior, the committee decided to use “individual who is bullied” to refer to the target of a bullying instance or pattern and “individual who bullies” to refer to the perpetrator of a bullying instance or pattern. Thus, “individual who is bullied and bullies others” can refer to one who is either perpetrating a bullying behavior or a target of bullying behavior, depending on the incident. This terminology is consistent with the approach used by the FPBP (see above). Also, bullying is a dynamic social interaction ( Espelage and Swearer, 2003 ) where individuals can play different roles in bullying interactions based on both individual and contextual factors.

The committee used “cyberbullying” to refer to bullying that takes place using technology or digital electronic means. “Digital electronic forms of contact” comprise a broad category that may include e-mail, blogs, social networking Websites, online games, chat rooms, forums, instant messaging, Skype, text messaging, and mobile phone pictures. The committee uses the term “traditional bullying” to refer to bullying behavior that is not cyberbullying (to aid in comparisons), recognizing that the term has been used at times in slightly different senses in the literature.

Where accurate reporting of study findings requires use of the above terms but with senses different from those specified here, the committee has noted the sense in which the source used the term. Similarly, accurate reporting has at times required use of terms such as “victimization” or “victim” that the committee has chosen to avoid in its own statements.

4 For details on these stages of adolescence, see https://brightfutures.aap.org/Bright%20Futures%20Documents/3-Promoting_Child_Development.pdf [October 2015].

ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT

This report is organized into seven chapters. After this introductory chapter, Chapter 2 provides a broad overview of the scope of the problem.

Chapter 3 focuses on the conceptual frameworks for the study and the developmental trajectory of the child who is bullied, the child who bullies, and the child who is bullied and also bullies. It explores processes that can explain heterogeneity in bullying outcomes by focusing on contextual processes that moderate the effect of individual characteristics on bullying behavior.

Chapter 4 discusses the cyclical nature of bullying and the consequences of bullying behavior. It summarizes what is known about the psychosocial, physical health, neurobiological, academic-performance, and population-level consequences of bullying.

Chapter 5 provides an overview of the landscape in bullying prevention programming. This chapter describes in detail the context for preventive interventions and the specific actions that various stakeholders can take to achieve a coordinated response to bullying behavior. The chapter uses the Institute of Medicine’s multi-tiered framework ( National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2009 ) to present the different levels of approaches to preventing bullying behavior.

Chapter 6 reviews what is known about federal, state, and local laws and policies and their impact on bullying.

After a critical review of the relevant research and practice-based literatures, Chapter 7 discusses the committee conclusions and recommendations and provides a path forward for bullying prevention.

The report includes a number of appendixes. Appendix A includes meeting agendas of the committee’s public information-gathering meetings. Appendix B includes the agenda and summaries of the site visit. Appendix C includes summaries of bullying prevalence data from the national surveys discussed in Chapter 2 . Appendix D provides a list of selected federal resources on bullying for parents and teachers. Appendix E provides biographical sketches of the committee members and project staff.

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Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2015). Safe Schools/Healthy Students. 2015. Available: http://www.samhsa.gov/safe-schools-healthy-students/about [November 2015].

Tanrikulu, I., and Campbell, M. (2015). Correlates of traditional bullying and cyberbullying perpetration among Australian students. Children and Youth Services Review , 55 , 138-146.

Tokunaga, R.S. (2010). Following you home from school: A critical review and synthesis of research on cyberbullying victimization. Computers in Human Behavior, 26 (3), 277-287.

U.S. Department of Education. (2015). Safe and Supportive Schools . Available: http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-awards-388-million-safe-and-supportive-school-grants [October 2015].

Vaillancourt, T., Trinh, V., McDougall, P., Duku, E., Cunningham, L., Cunningham, C., Hymel, S., and Short, K. (2010). Optimizing population screening of bullying in school-aged children. Journal of School Violence, 9 (3), 233-250.

van Geel, M., Vedder, P., and Tanilon, J. (2014). Relationship between peer victimization, cyberbullying, and suicide in children and adolescents: A meta-analysis. Journal of the American Medical Association. Pediatrics, 168 (5), 435-442.

Vivolo, A.M., Holt, M.K., and Massetti, G.M. (2011). Individual and contextual factors for bullying and peer victimization: Implications for prevention. Journal of School Violence, 10 (2), 201-212.

Vlachou, M., Andreou, E., Botsoglou, K., and Didaskalou, E. (2011). Bully/victim problems among preschool children: A review of current research evidence. Educational Psychology Review, 23 (3), 329-358.

Wolke, D., and Lereya, S.T. (2015). Long-term effects of bullying. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 100 (9), 879-885.

Ybarra, M.L., Espelage, D.L., and Mitchell, K.J. (2014). Differentiating youth who are bullied from other victims of peer-aggression: The importance of differential power and repetition. Journal of Adolescent Health, 55 (2), 293-300.

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Bullying has long been tolerated as a rite of passage among children and adolescents. There is an implication that individuals who are bullied must have "asked for" this type of treatment, or deserved it. Sometimes, even the child who is bullied begins to internalize this idea. For many years, there has been a general acceptance and collective shrug when it comes to a child or adolescent with greater social capital or power pushing around a child perceived as subordinate. But bullying is not developmentally appropriate; it should not be considered a normal part of the typical social grouping that occurs throughout a child's life.

Although bullying behavior endures through generations, the milieu is changing. Historically, bulling has occurred at school, the physical setting in which most of childhood is centered and the primary source for peer group formation. In recent years, however, the physical setting is not the only place bullying is occurring. Technology allows for an entirely new type of digital electronic aggression, cyberbullying, which takes place through chat rooms, instant messaging, social media, and other forms of digital electronic communication.

Composition of peer groups, shifting demographics, changing societal norms, and modern technology are contextual factors that must be considered to understand and effectively react to bullying in the United States. Youth are embedded in multiple contexts and each of these contexts interacts with individual characteristics of youth in ways that either exacerbate or attenuate the association between these individual characteristics and bullying perpetration or victimization. Recognizing that bullying behavior is a major public health problem that demands the concerted and coordinated time and attention of parents, educators and school administrators, health care providers, policy makers, families, and others concerned with the care of children, this report evaluates the state of the science on biological and psychosocial consequences of peer victimization and the risk and protective factors that either increase or decrease peer victimization behavior and consequences.

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• Research Resources

Consequences of Bullying

It is important for parents and people who work with children and adolescents to understand that bullying can have both short- and long-term effects on everyone involved. While most research on bullying has been about children and adolescents who have been bullied, those who bully others are also negatively impacted, as are those who are both bullied and bully others, and even those who are not directly involved but witness bullying.

Children Who Have Been Bullied

Research has found that children and adolescents who have been bullied can experience negative psychological, physical, and academic effects.

Psychological Effects

The psychological effects of bullying include depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, self-harming behavior (especially for girls), alcohol and drug use and dependence, aggression, and involvement in violence or crime (especially for boys). While bullying can lead to mental health problems for any child, those who already have mental health difficulties are even more likely to be bullied and to experience its negative effects.

Cyberbullying – bullying that happens with computers or mobile devices – has also been linked to mental health problems. Compared with peers who were not cyberbullied, children who were cyberbullied report higher levels of depression and thoughts of suicide, as well as greater emotional distress, hostility, and delinquency.

Physical Effects

Bullying and Suicide

Bullying is a risk factor for depression and thinking about suicide. Children who bully others, are bullied, or both bully and are bullied are more likely to think about or attempt suicide than those who are not involved in bullying at all.

The physical effects of bullying can be obvious and immediate, such as being injured from a physical attack. However, the ongoing stress and trauma of being bullied can also lead to physical problems over time. A child who is bullied could develop sleep disorders - such as difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep - stomachaches, headaches, heart palpitations, dizziness, bedwetting, and chronic pain and somatization (i.e., a syndrome of distressful, physical symptoms that cannot be explained by a medical cause).

Being bullied also increases cortisol levels – a stress hormone – in the body, which typically happens after a stressful event. Stress from bullying can impact the immune system and hormones. Imaging studies show that brain activity and functioning can be affected by bullying, which may help explain the behavior of children who have been bullied.

Academic Effects

Research has consistently shown that bullying can have a negative impact on how well children and adolescents do in school. It has a negative impact on both grades and standardized test scores starting as early as kindergarten and continuing through high school.

Children Who Bully and Those Who Witness Bullying

Very little research has been done to understand the effects of bullying on children who bully, and those who witness bullying (e.g., bystanders). More research is needed to understand the consequences of bullying on the individuals who bully others, particularly to understand the differences between those who are generally aggressive and those who bully others.

Studies of children who witness bullying usually focus on their role in the bullying situation (e.g., if they backed up the child who bullied, or defended the victim) and why they did or did not intervene. While studies rarely assess the effects of bullying exposure on the witness, some research has found that bullying witnesses experience anxiety and insecurity based on their own fears of retaliation.

Children Who Bully and Are Also Bullied

Children and adolescents who bully others and who are also bullied are at the greatest risk for negative mental and physical health consequences, compared to those who only bully or are only being bullied. These children and adolescents may experience a combination of psychological problems, a negative perception of themselves and others, poor social skills, conduct problems, and rejection by their peer group.

Compared with non-involved peers, those who have bullied others and have also been bullied have been found to be at increased risk for serious mental illness, be at high risk for thinking about and attempting suicide, and demonstrate heightened aggression.

Exposure to bullying in any manner – by being bullied, bullying others, or witnessing peers being bullied – has long-term, negative effects on children. The School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey found that in 2015, about 21 percent of students ages 12-18 reported being bullied at school during the school year. Given the prevalence of youth exposed to bullying across the nation, it is important to understand the consequences of bullying on children and adolescents, how it relates to other violent behaviors and mental health challenges, in order to effectively address them.

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Source and Research Limitations

The information discussed in this fact sheet is based on the comprehensive review of bullying research presented in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s report entitled Preventing Bullying Through Science, Policy, and Practice .

This report includes the most up to date research on bullying, but it is important to note that this research has several important limitations. Most of the research is cross-sectional, which means it took place at one point in time. This type of research shows us what things are related to each other at that time, but cannot tell us which thing came first or if one of those things caused the other to occur.

The Issue of Bullying in the Schools Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
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Personal experience

Forms, effects and recommendations of bullying, works cited.

This paper attempts to look at the issue of bullying in the schools. A personal story about how I was bullied when I was young is included. The paper looks at this issue by considering aspects like causes and forms of bullying as well as examples of bullying cases.

Since the number of bullying cases has been on the increase in schools, recommendations will be offered on the best thing to do when bullying cases are reported. Main ideas on the topic will be presented so that the issue can be presented in a comprehensive way (Smith, Pepler, and Rigby 56-60).

I grew up in south Bronx until I was thirteen years old when we moved to an Irish neighborhood. My brother and sister are half Irish and half Puerto Rican, unlike me; my whole family has a very fair skin. The first time I landed on this neighborhood, I was very delighted since unlike our previous home I could play outside the house.

I still recall what befell me the first time I went out to play; all the children in the neighborhood were white and the girls started harassing me by telling me that if I was hoping to live there I had to be white, they even spread baby powder on my face. We later become friends although some of their parents resented me because I was Spanish. The situation did not get any better since some children nicknamed me Goya bean: this made to hate Goya beans

When summer ended, I joined school and it so happened that I was the only Spanish girl in the whole school. Things did not go well here either since I picked fights frequently because other children teased me. At some point, it became a routine that I had to be involved in a fight everyday. The principle took the initiative of calling my mother to discuss the matter. When my mother came, she was told that I was a problematic child since I frequently fought with other children.

The board of directors claimed that with my stubborn nature I deserved to be taken to a special school where other problematic children studied. Since then, I was regarded as a problematic child. My mother was forced to transfer me to another school since I was expelled from my former school. I developed low self-esteem and I started taking drugs, soon afterwards I dropped out of school at sixth grade.

This victimization made me to start thinking of ways that I could change my way of life to show that I was still strong hence prove to my aggressors wrong. The events acted as a motivating factor for me to make a difference. Each time I feel like giving up my efforts of trying to be what I want to be, I look back and remember all the challenges that I have overcome in my life.

This makes me to realize that I have much more challenges to face and overcome; thus I become a stronger person. Every time I look back, I do not regret what I have gone through since it is through these chain of events that I have become what I am today.

One thing that I am proud of is that I managed to turn anger into motivation. Nevertheless, I must admit that these experiences left me with a scar since when one is a victim of bullying he or she is tempted to believe that something is wrong with them one asks questions like ‘why me?’ Bullying kills one’s self esteem and also makes one to feel isolated.

The victim may fear or feel ashamed to tell anyone since he or she may think that this has never happened to anyone else. It gives me joy to know that the issue of bullying is now a pubic affair since bullying stories were unheard of when I was growing up. It is also important to note that children are no longer afraid to report bullying cases.

Slavens and Kerrigan (23) see bullying as a term used to describe a pattern of behavior that is cruel and humiliating towards another person, he further notes that it can affect people of all walks of life and age.

Bullying can occur in two forms, verbal and physical. One can be bullied verbally when the bully attempts to verbally anger the victim by mocking them on purpose. Physical bullying occurs when the bully or aggressor forces physical contact with his or her victim, this may be in form of kicking or punching to the point that the victim becomes submissive.

Physical bullying is more serious as compared to verbal bullying since it can lead to serious injuries and sometimes death of the victim (Orpinas, Horne, 12-34). Bullies enjoy intimidating others to either gain fame or to satisfy their ego. Teenagers may bully others due to peer pressure since they may want to fit in a certain click. Factors that can lead to bullying include differences in physical and cultural characteristics; in addition, showing signs of inferiority can also be a major cause of bullying.

This vice has many effects on the victim. Since the bully has control over the victim, the victim can become stressed to the extent of becoming depressed. Most victims of bullying have low self esteem since they do not feel self-sufficient. The victim can also develop negative attitude towards the environment and the people around him.

Such a person may isolate him/her self from the rest of the world because of a feeling of inadequacy. School children who have been bullied may drop out of school or start taking drugs so as to seek consolation (Field, 211-250).

Teachers should be strict when dealing with bullies. Heavy punishment should be given to the aggressors so as to prevent them from repeating the act again and to also warn others not to repeat the same mistake in future. Victims of bullying should be encouraged to report to their seniors if they are bullied.

It is important for the teacher to diagnose any physical and psychological problems affecting the students. Schools and other institutions should set up advisory centers where students can be helped to overcome the aftermath of bullying. These centers should have friendly counselors so that students can feel free to discuss their problems with them (Slavens and Kerrigan, 12). The counselors should also be well trained so that they can offer professional help to the victims.

Bullying is the act of humiliating others either verbally of physically. A bully is the aggressor who undertakes bullying. Although bullying is common in schools, it can also occur in other settings such as the workplaces. It is important for the school administration to come up with ways of dealing with bullying cases such as punishing the bully heavily. People bully others for different reasons such as the need to feel superior. The vice bears negative impacts to the victim to the extent that it can be verbal.

Field, Tim. Bully in sight: how to predict, resist, challenge and combat workplace bullying: overcoming the silence and denial by which abuse thrives . New Jersey: Success Unlimited, 2000. pp. 211-250

Orpinas, Pamela, Horne, Arthur. Bullying prevention: creating a positive school climate and developing social competence . MI: University of Michigan, 2006. pp. 12-34

Slavens, Elaine and Kerrigan, Brooke. Bullying: deal with it before push comes to shove. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, 2003. pp. 12-30

Smith, Peter, Pepler, Debra, and Rigby, Ken. Bullying in schools: how successful can interventions be? Ontario : Cambridge University Press, 2004. pp. 56-60

• Bullying, Facts and Countermeasures
• Optional Self-Defence War Against Lesser Aggressor
• The “Bully-Free” Initiative: Bullying in Education
• Naturalistic Observation of Racial, Gender and Social Class Stereotyping in Serving Clients in Public Catering
• Negative Effects of Putting up a Home shelter in the Neighborhood
• Teen Pregnancy: Causes, Effects and Prevention
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IvyPanda. (2018, July 19). The Issue of Bullying in the Schools. https://ivypanda.com/essays/bullying/

"The Issue of Bullying in the Schools." IvyPanda , 19 July 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/bullying/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'The Issue of Bullying in the Schools'. 19 July.

IvyPanda . 2018. "The Issue of Bullying in the Schools." July 19, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/bullying/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Issue of Bullying in the Schools." July 19, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/bullying/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Issue of Bullying in the Schools." July 19, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/bullying/.

Students Experiencing Bullying

This information is designed to help teachers respond to students who may need support. It is not intended to be used as a diagnostic tool or to replace the use of formal assessments employed by mental health professionals. Additionally, it is important to consider the context of the situation, individual differences, and cultural and linguistic considerations.

Teachers are an important part of establishing and maintaining healthy environments for children to learn and grow. Teachers are critical contributors to promoting safe school interactions and facilitating positive relationships.

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More Primers

What is Bullying?

• Bullying, including cyberbullying, involves repeated actions intended to cause harm in relationships where there is a real or perceived power imbalance.
• Bullying can be verbal (e.g., purposeful humiliation, teasing, threatening), physical (e.g., hitting, kicking, shoving) or relational (e.g., social exclusion, spreading hurtful rumors).
• Bullying can occur in many contexts on school campus or off campus (e.g., in the virtual learning environment [VLE] or cyberbullying) Cyberbullying, for example, is not limited to either physical academic spaces or even the hours spent in them, but in fact, often occurs outside of both.
• Bullying and cyberbullying includes the interactions among students who bully, targets of bullying, and, at times, bystanders. Students may fall into one or more of these groups, depending on the social situation.
• Bias-based bullying is bullying that specifically targets a person because of characteristics of their identity (e.g., race, language, sexual orientation, ability, body size, gender identity, religion and/or practices).
• Cyberbullying is distinct from in-person bullying. It is willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices.
• Cyberbullying content can be very public and pervasive, and can exist permanently in a digital archive, such as via social media. It can also be targeted directly to a single student, such as via text or direct messaging.

How Does Bullying Affect Students?

There is the potential for long-term negative mental health outcomes (e.g., anxiety, low self-esteem, and depression) for youth whoare the targets of bullying as well as those who bully.  Schools with healthy climates that discourage bullying have better academic outcomes.

• Bullying may serve a function for students who instigate it (e.g., help them to achieve popularity, attention). Understanding the function that bullying serves can help teachers and professionals at school to identify other, more positive ways for students to succeed.
• Students who initiate bullying may have been in a situation where they themselves were bullied.
• Students who bully others are at a high risk for conduct problems (e.g., domestic violence, substance abuse).
• Students who bully others need support from teachers and professionals in the school.
• Students who engage in cyberbullying may feel more emboldened about doing so online than they would in person because of the actual physical separation, lack of school staff oversight, and/or anonymity offered by online communication.
• Students who are targeted for bullying are often members of historically marginalized groups, such as racial and ethnic minorities, the LGBTQ community, and children with different abilities.
• Students who are bullied can disengage from school, which can, in turn, negatively impacts their relationships and academic achievement. They may even engage in self-harm.
• Students who are bullied may seek self-protection behaviors such as avoiding recess, defending themselves, or, in cases of cyberbullying, attempting to retaliate in kind.
• Via device delivery, cyberbullying threatens the student with notifications, which can make them feel like the instigator is always near.
• Students who are bullied need support from teachers and professionals in the school.
• Students who are bullied should be encouraged to report bullying to trusted adults: a neighbor, mentor, parent, friend’s parent, teacher, coach, etc.
• Bystanders are students who observe bullying but are not directly involved in bullying. These witnesses often fear being victimized themselves.
• Bystanders can play four roles when they witness bullying:
• Assistant: these children may not lead in the bullying behavior, but serve as an “assistant” to the children who are bullying by encouraging the behavior or occasionally joining in.
• Reinforcer: these children are not directly involved in bullying, but they provide an audience. They will often laugh or provide other support for the children who are engaged in bullying, which may encourage the bullying to continue.
• Outsider: these children remain separate from the bullying situation – they do not reinforce the bullying behavior, but neither do they defend the child being bullied. They may not show that they are on anyone’s side. However, just providing an audience can encourage bullying behavior.
• Defenders: these children may intervene when bullying occurs, actively coming to the defense of or comforting the child being bullied.
• Bystanders can play an important part in calling out and reporting bullying, and stopping it from occurring.
• When bullying is ignored, bystanders may conclude these actions are condoned by the adults.
• Student witnesses who fail to intervene can experience guilt that they did not stop the incident.

In-person Bullying on School Grounds

• Name calling, fighting, humiliation, and public shaming in class or at school.
• Excluding someone from a group or event, such as from the lunch table.
• Gossiping or spreading rumors.
• Physical acts such as shoving, pushing, punching, stealing, or even attempting to intimidate a peer to help them cheat in class or on homework.
• Stalking and following.

Cyberbullying Via Classroom Chat, Social Media, or Gaming Platforms

• Name calling, fighting, humiliation, and public shaming online.
• Excluding someone from a chat or other online event.
• Gossiping or spreading rumors, sometimes through a false impersonation/avatar/online personality.
• Sharing incriminating or embarrassing pictures or texts.
• Cyberstalking, inauthentically responding to a post or message, trolling, and “catfishing” or false online personality.

What Can Teachers Do?

Do : Address the inappropriate behavior early and often.

Don’t ignore problematic behavior. Inconsistent responses increase the likelihood of the behavior recurring.

Do : Separately engage students who bully, targets of bullying, and bystanders in resolving the incident.

Don’t focus only on a single individual in the situation or meet with all parties at the same time.

Do : Use consequences that repair the harm and help the perpetrator understand the impact of their actions. Express belief in the bullying student’s ability to engage in positive behaviors and offer praise.

Don’t address the instigator with punitive, humiliating, and exclusionary disciplinary practices (e.g., suspension, public admission of guilt, zero tolerance policies).

Do : Empower bystanders to intervene and report incidents of bullying and affirm their integrity and courage.

Don’t assume that witnesses are uninvolved, even in the VLE.

Do : Be consistent. Set expectations for student behavior and remind students of the expectations frequently. Specific expectations will likely differ between in-person classes and the VLE. Take the time to address microaggressions at the time of the incident.

Specific expectations will likely differ between in-person classes and the VLE. Take the time to address microaggressions at the time of the incident. 

Don’t wait for a major event or a designated initiative (e.g., AntiBullying Week) to address behaviors.

Do : Accurately label the inappropriate behavior as bullying.

Don’t minimize or downplay an incident based on assumptions about student characteristics or relationships.

Recommended Practices

• Schools with safe and positive school climates often use an explicit social and emotional learning curriculum. Seek training on adopting a comprehensive social emotional learning curriculum to promote safe, positive school environments. Select a social emotional learning curriculum that specifically addresses bullying, cyberbullying, and bias-based bullying (bullying based on identity characteristics, such as race, language, gender). Consider the comfort of each student when planning meetings. Having the target of bullying and the instigator in the same room can be intimidating and embarrassing. Bystanders often wish to remain anonymous.
• With your students, develop a class contract that specifies mutual respect, inclusion, and anti-bullying. Refer to the contract throughout the year.
• Conduct classroom activities around bullying. Discuss its short-term and long-term impacts on health and personality. Have discussions to promote better peer relations.
• Discuss bullying in the context of students’ sociopolitical contexts, including the possibility of bullying targeting students because of their identity, and the importance of addressing bias-based bullying and hate speech.
• Be the adult your students need. Treat students with warmth and respect: Let students know that you are available to listen and help them.

Refer Students to Further Help if Needed

• Be familiar with your state’s antibullying legislation and your school’s and district’s policies regarding bullying.
• Encourage parents to report bullying to school staff, rather than attempting to resolve bullying incidents among themselves.
• Review your school policy for seeking student supports.
• Contact school counselors, psychologists, social workers, and other personnel.
• Stop Bullying
• BullyBusters Help & Advice
• Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence
• APA Bullying Resource
• Cyberbullying resources: Cyberbullying Research Center Common Sense KidsHealth Child Mind Institute Cyberbully411
• Institute of Education Sciences Research-Based Strategies for Effective Remote Learning 

Related Mental Health Primers

Trauma exposure , depression , stress , low self-esteem

Empirical Research

Acker, M.M. & O’Leary, S.G. (1987). Effects of reprimands and praise on behavior in the classroom. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 15, 549-557.

DuPaul, G.J., Eckert, T.L., & Vilardo, B.A. (2012).  The effects of school-based interventions for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A meta-analysis, 1996-2010. School Psychology Review, 41, 387-412. 

Fabiano, G.A., Pelham, W.E. Jr., Coles, E.K., Gnagy, E.M., Chronis-Tuscano, A., & O’Connor, B.C. (2009).  A meta-analysis of behavioral treatments for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Clinical Psychology Review, 29, 29-140.

Pfiffner, L.J., Villodas, M., Kaiser, N., Rooney, M., & McBurnett, K. (2013). Educational outcomes of a collaborative school-home behavioral intervention for ADHD. School Psychology Quarterly, 28, 25-36.

Sarver, D.E., Rapport, M.D., Kofler, M.J., Raiker, J. S., & Friedman, L. M. (2015). Hyperactivity in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Impairing deficit or compensatory behavior? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 43, 1219–1232. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-015-0011-1

The Mental Health Primers are developed by the Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education . This resource was updated in October 2021 with support from cooperative agreement NU87PS004366 funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views or endorsement of the CDC or the Department of Health and Human Services.

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Last updated: October 2021

Bullying Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on bullying.

Bullying refers to aggressive behavior so as to dominate the other person. It refers to the coercion of power over others so that one individual can dominate others. It is an act that is not one time, instead, it keeps on repeating over frequent intervals.  The person(s) who bullies others can be termed as bullies, who make fun of others due to several reasons. Bullying is a result of someone’s perception of the imbalance of power.

Types of bullying :

There can be various types of bullying, like:

• Physical bullying:  When the bullies try to physically hurt or torture someone, or even touch someone without his/her consent can be termed as physical bullying .
• Verbal bullying:  It is when a person taunts or teases the other person.
• Psychological bullying:  When a person or group of persons gossip about another person or exclude them from being part of the group, can be termed as psychological bullying.
• Cyber bullying:  When bullies make use of social media to insult or hurt someone. They may make comments bad and degrading comments on the person at the public forum and hence make the other person feel embarrassed. Bullies may also post personal information, pictures or videos on social media to deteriorate some one’s public image.

Read Essay on Cyber Bullying

Bullying can happen at any stage of life, such as school bullying, College bullying, Workplace bullying, Public Place bullying, etc. Many times not only the other persons but the family members or parents also unknowingly bully an individual by making constant discouraging remarks. Hence the victim gradually starts losing his/her self-esteem, and may also suffer from psychological disorders.

A UNESCO report says that 32% of students are bullied at schools worldwide. In our country as well, bullying is becoming quite common. Instead, bullying is becoming a major problem worldwide. It has been noted that physical bullying is prevalent amongst boys and psychological bullying is prevalent amongst girls.

Prevention strategies:

In the case of school bullying, parents and teachers can play an important role. They should try and notice the early symptoms of children/students such as behavioral change, lack of self-esteem, concentration deficit, etc. Early recognition of symptoms, prompt action and timely counseling can reduce the after-effects of bullying on the victim.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Anti-bullying laws :

One should be aware of the anti-bullying laws in India. Awareness about such laws may also create discouragement to the act of bullying amongst children and youngsters. Some information about anti-bullying laws is as follows:

• Laws in School: To put a notice on the notice board that if any student is found bullying other students then he/she can be rusticated. A committee should be formed which can have representatives from school, parents, legal, etc.
• Laws in Colleges: The government of India, in order to prevent ragging , has created guideline called “UGC regulations on curbing the menace of ragging in Higher Education Institutions,2009”.
• Cyber Bullying Laws: The victim can file a complaint under the Indian Penal Code .

Conclusion:

It is the duty of the parents to constantly preach their children about not bullying anyone and that it is wrong. Hence, if we, as a society need to grow and develop then we have to collectively work towards discouraging the act of bullying and hence make our children feel secure.

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137 Intriguing Cause & Effect Essay Topics for Students

Teach critical thinking, logic, and the art of persuasion.

Cause-and-effect essays aren’t just a way to help students strengthen their writing skills. They’ll also learn critical thinking, logic, and the art of persuasion. In addition, they teach students to demonstrate how one thing directly influences another. Coming up with engaging cause-and-effect essay topics can be challenging, but we have you covered. This list of ideas includes a variety of topics that range from social and cultural movements to mental health and the environment.

Science and Environment Cause & Effect Essay Topics

• Describe the effect of urbanization on the environment.
• What is the impact of air pollution on health?
• What are the causes and consequences of plastics on marine life?
• What is the impact of rising sea temperatures on fish and marine life?
• Describe the impact of human behavior on global warming.

• What is the effect of social media on environmentalism?
• What causes volcanic eruptions?
• What causes trees to die?
• What are the effects of gravity?
• Why are plants green?
• Why do trees shed their leaves?
• What causes a species to become endangered?
• What are some of the causes of animals losing their habitats?
• Describe the effect of overpopulation on the environment.
• What are the effects of famine on human population?
• What are the causes and effects of Antarctica floods?
• What are the effects of pollution on the ocean?
• What effect do cars have on the environment?
• Why is it important to manage wildfires?
• What has been the impact of DNA on crime scene processing?

• What are the impacts of deforestation in Brazil?
• What are the effects of GMO foods on human health?
• What are the impacts of immunizations on human health?

Technology and Social Media Cause & Effect Essay Topics

• What are the effects of social media on adolescent development?
• How does technology affect productivity?
• What are the effects of video games on childhood development?
• How do cell phones affect human relationships?
• What are some reasons a teacher might ban cell phones from class?

• What effects do cell phones have on sleep?
• What effects did the invention of the Internet have on technology?
• What were the origins of cyberbullying?
• What are the effects of tablet use on small children?
• How has online dating changed relationships?
• What makes some people less likely to use social media?
• What are the effects of social media on privacy?
• How does the rise of TikTok affect Facebook and Instagram?
• In what ways could social media lead to extremism?
• What is the impact of social media on the increasing popularity of plastic surgery and other enhancements?

• What are some of the benefits of owning a smartphone and what are some of the drawbacks?
• What has been the impact of online shopping on brick-and-mortar stores?
• What has been the impact of smartphones on marriages and relationships?
• What are the causes and effects of texting while driving?
• What has the rise of “influencers” meant for Hollywood?
• In what ways have photo filters influenced young people’s self-esteem?

Culture and Social Issues Cause & Effect Essay Topics

• What are some of the reasons for substance abuse in young people?
• What are some of the effects of bullying?
• How does economic status affect the quality of health care?
• What are some of the causes of homelessness?
• Explain the effects of ignorance on discrimination.
• What are the impacts of death sentences on social justice?

• How does financial success affect societal privilege?
• What effects does growing up poor have on children?
• In what ways does religion influence society?
• What are the effects of immigration on a host country?
• What are the effects of ageism on job opportunities?
• What is the impact of LGBTQ+ representation in TV and movies?
• What are the effects of school shootings on politics?
• How do school uniforms affect students?
• What are the impacts of high student debt?
• What are the impacts of body shaming on people?
• What were the lasting impacts of the AIDS epidemic on society?

• What impact does banning abortion have in the United States?
• What has been the impact of marriage equality in the United States?
• What are the causes and effects of noise pollution?
• What are the causes and effects of inflation on the economy?
• What are the effects of TV shows on our behavior?

Sports Cause & Effect Essay Topics

• Examine the effects of exercise on mental health.
• What led to baseball being an iconic American sport?
• What drives people to participate in extreme sports?
• In what ways did globalization affect modern sports?
• What were the effects of doping on amateur and professional sports?
• Select a sport and write about the historical factors that led to the popularization of that sport.

• Describe the ways in which youth sports influence a child’s development.
• What were the driving forces behind the first Olympics?
• How can team sports help develop social skills?
• How have e-sports changed the sporting landscape?
• In what ways do race biases influence sports?

• What are the effects of regular workouts on immunity?
• How does participating in sports affect leadership skills?
• In what ways can sports lead to character development?
• What effect does famous athletes’ social commentary have on their fans?

History Cause & Effect Essay Topics

• What are the effects of the war in Syria on the United States?
• What have been the lasting effects of the Civil Rights Movement?
• What were the causes and effects of the attack on Pearl Harbor?
• What led up to the Berlin Wall being torn down and what effects did that have?

• What lasting impact did 9/11 have on modern American society?
• What were the causes of the Salem Witch Trials?
• What was the cultural impact of the Spanish-American War?
• How has globalization led to modern-day slavery?
• What events led to the fall of the Roman Empire?
• What were the impacts of the Great Depression on women’s employment?
• How did cartels come into existence? What effect have they had on the United States and Mexico?
• What were the causes and effects of the Women’s Liberation Movement?
• Give an example of colonialism in history and name the resulting impact to the affected society.

• What led to the rise of ISIS and what has the impact been on international security?
• What factors led to the Titanic’s sinking?
• What were the causes and effects of the Vietnam War?
• Choose an American president. What led him to become president and what were the effects of his presidency?

Mental Health Cause & Effect Essay Topics

• How can stress affect the immune system?
• How does social anxiety affect young people?
• How can high academic expectations lead to depression?
• What are the effects of divorce on young people?
• How does service in the armed forces lead to post-traumatic stress disorder?

• What are the effects of mindfulness on mental health?
• Describe the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted mental health.
• How does childhood trauma impact childhood development?
• What impact does witnessing violence have on mental health?
• What is behind increasingly high levels of anxiety in modern American society?

• What are the causes and effects of panic attacks?
• What are the causes and consequences of high stress in the workplace?
• What are some of the causes of insomnia and in what ways does it affect mental health?
• What is the impact of staying home for an extended period of time?

Current Events Cause & Effect Essay Topics

• Choose a local public education campaign. What are the effects of that campaign?
• What are the causes and effects of migration?
• What are the causes and effects of terrorist attacks?

• What are the effects of legalizing genetic engineering research?
• How do low voting rates impact elections and government?
• What is the effect of raising the minimum wage?
• What are the effects of globalization on society?
• How does gerrymandering affect election outcomes?
• What are the causes and effects of police brutality?
• What are the causes and effects of political polarization?

• What are the causes and effects of fake news?
• What are the effects of global war on citizens?
• What is the effect of international aid on poverty or health?
• Why do some countries have nuclear weapons, and what does this mean for other countries?

Education Cause & Effect Essay Topics

• What are the effects of teacher quality on student success?
• What are the causes and effects of student loan debt?
• What are the causes and effects of low graduation rates?

• What are the effects of assigning homework?
• What are the causes and effects of school funding disparities?
• What are the causes and effects of the digital divide in education?
• What is the effect of AI on education?
• What are the causes and effects of student burnout?
• Should students be required to study a foreign language in school, and what are the effects of learning a foreign language?

• What effect has the COVID pandemic had on education?
• What are the effects of same-sex classrooms or schools?

What are your best cause-and-effect essay topics for students? Come exchange ideas in the We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus, check out our list of interesting persuasive essay topics for kids and teens..

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Essay on Effects Of Bullying On The Victim

Students are often asked to write an essay on Effects Of Bullying On The Victim in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Effects Of Bullying On The Victim

Introduction.

Bullying is a harmful action that can cause severe damage to a person. It’s a behavior where one person tries to control or hurt another through force or threats. The person who gets bullied is known as the victim. The effects of bullying on the victim can be very serious.

Physical Effects

Emotional effects.

Bullying can hurt a person’s feelings. The victim might feel sad, scared, or angry. They may lose interest in things they used to enjoy. This can lead to depression or anxiety.

Social Effects

Bullying can make a person feel lonely. The victim might lose friends or avoid social situations. They may feel left out or not liked by others. This can lead to problems in forming relationships.

Academic Effects

In conclusion, bullying has serious effects on the victim. It can harm their physical health, emotions, social life, and academic performance. It’s important to stop bullying and support victims to help them recover.

250 Words Essay on Effects Of Bullying On The Victim

Bullying is a hurtful action that some people do to others. It can happen in many places like school, online, or even at home. People who are bullied can feel very sad and scared. This essay will talk about how bullying affects the person who is being bullied.

Bullying can make a person feel very bad about themselves. They may feel lonely, scared and sad all the time. This can lead to problems like depression and anxiety. These are serious mental health conditions that can make it hard for a person to live a happy life.

Sometimes, bullying can also hurt a person’s body. They may get hit, pushed, or kicked by the bully. This can cause injuries and can make a person scared to go to places where they might see the bully.

Bullying can make it hard for a person to make friends. They might feel too scared or sad to talk to other people. This can make them feel even more lonely and upset.

Bullying can hurt a person in many ways. It can make them feel sad, scared, lonely, and can even hurt their body. It can also make it hard for them to make friends and do well in school. It’s important to stop bullying so that everyone can feel safe and happy.

500 Words Essay on Effects Of Bullying On The Victim

Bullying is a harmful action that many kids and teens face in school and other places. It can happen in many ways, such as name-calling, physical harm, or through the internet. It is important to understand what happens to the person who is bullied. This essay will talk about the effects of bullying on the victim.

Emotional Impact

One of the biggest effects of bullying is the emotional harm it causes. The person who is bullied may feel sad, scared, or angry. They may lose interest in things they used to enjoy. They may also feel lonely, as they might think that no one understands their pain. This can lead to feelings of being left out or not fitting in.

Impact on Self-esteem

Effects on school performance.

Bullying can also affect how well a person does in school. If a student is worried about being bullied, they might find it hard to focus on their studies. They might skip school to avoid the bully. This can lead to poor grades, and they might fall behind in their studies.

Physical Health Problems

Long-term effects.

The effects of bullying can last a long time, even after the bullying stops. People who were bullied as kids might have trouble trusting others when they are adults. They might also have problems with their mental health, like anxiety or depression. This shows how serious bullying can be.

In conclusion, bullying can hurt a person in many ways. It can make them feel bad about themselves, affect their school work, and lead to health problems. These effects can last a long time. It is important to stop bullying and to support those who have been bullied. This will help them to heal and to feel better about themselves. Remember, everyone deserves to be treated with kindness and respect.

This essay is not just words; it is a call to action. Let’s stand against bullying and create a safe and healthy environment for everyone.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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• Homework Questions

Week 4 Expository Essay

• American parents want their children to have phones in schools

But phones in the classroom are disruptive. What should schools do?

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“I t’s like they don’t trust us,” says Eva King, a 14-year-old pupil at Alice Deal Middle School in Washington, DC . She is standing outside the school during dismissal with two others who nod their heads and laugh in agreement. Deal’s administration has banned mobile phones during the entire school day. Pupils must store their devices inside Yondr pouches, grey padded cases that supposedly can be opened only with a special tool. The adults unlock the pouches with special magnets as pupils leave for the day.

Unsurprisingly, pupils have hacked the system. (“What do you expect?” Eva says. “We’re middle-schoolers.”) The girls recite a list of workarounds. Those magnets have become hot commodities, and a few have gone missing. Pupils have been seen banging pouches open in the toilets. Other pupils have faulty cases that no longer lock but have kept that information to themselves. The girls say that since phones have become a forbidden fruit, pupils only crave them more. They hope their school will reverse course after the summer break.

Debates about teenagers’ access to phones and their use in schools have heated up lately. Some state legislatures in America are passing laws to stop phones from being used in classrooms, without removing them from schools altogether. A popular book published in March, “The Anxious Generation”, by Jonathan Haidt, has called fresh attention to evidence that social media, mostly accessed through smartphones, may be to blame for a sharp rise in anxiety, depression and self-harm among young people today.

Some researchers are unconvinced that phones are causing mental illness. Although America and Britain have reported a rise in problems as social-media use has surged, not all rich countries have had similarly correlated increases. “Adolescence is influenced by multiple things,” says Margarita Panayiotou, a researcher at the University of Manchester. “It would be unrealistic to expect that one thing—social media—is driving adolescent mental health.”

Most parents want their children to have phones available at school. In February the National Parents Union, an advocacy group, polled 1,506 public-school parents and found that a majority think that pupils should be allowed to use phones during free time. Larry McEwen, a parent at Deal and the school’s basketball coach, agrees. He thinks pupils should have phones for emergencies. He and Eva King cited a lockdown last year at a nearby school because of a gun scare. That was when having phones came in handy.

The devices are plainly disruptive. Pupils can receive more than 50 notifications during a school day, according to a study of 203 children by Common Sense Media, a non-profit group based in San Francisco. Teachers complain that pupils watch YouTube and use other apps in class. Phones can be instruments of bullying, and pupils have been secretly recorded while using the toilets or undressing in locker rooms. These days, the notorious schoolyard fight can be organised by phone.

It is also clear that mobile phones can undermine learning. Several studies have found that their use decreases concentration in school, and the phones do not only affect the user. “There’s a second-hand-smoke effect,” says Sabine Polak, a founder of the Phone-Free Schools Movement, another advocacy group. Even if a child does not have a phone, they are still affected by others using them. The devices are stressful for teachers, too. They must police their use, ensuring that pupils are not sneakily using phones under their desks or during long toilet-and-Netflix breaks.

An all-day ban is one way to avoid this, but as Deal’s pupils can testify, it is also difficult to enforce. Teachers must ensure that each child on arrival has placed the phone in the pouch and secured it. That adds one more task to a teacher’s day that does not involve instruction. Alternatives must be found for those pupils who forget their pouches, a predictable problem at any school full of teenagers.

New state laws seek to enforce phone-free classrooms while also keeping pupils and parents connected. Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, signed a law last year that bans the use of mobile phones by pupils in class, and a similar law in Indiana is due to go into effect in July. Other states are considering bills along the same lines. These moves are distinct from the more ubiquitous push for legislation aimed at protecting children from social media (according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 30 states and Puerto Rico are debating laws designed to protect children on the internet).

Beyond America, complete mobile-phone bans are more common in Asian countries, says a report by UNESCO , the UN ’s education and culture agency. France has banned phones in school for most pupils since 2018, though this has been hard to enforce. Several countries, including the Netherlands, restrict phone use to times when teaching is not taking place.

The answer for parents in America is to agree to delay giving their children a smartphone and for schools to support them, argues Kim Whitman of the Phone-Free Schools Movement. For communication and keeping tabs on their children, parents could use simpler devices, such as flip phones, smart watches or tracking devices. Overall Ms Whitman wishes that parents who want instant communication with their children would relax. “We all survived for a very long time and functioned absolutely fine without having a phone and without being able to have instant access to our parents,” she notes. ■

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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Hey, teacher, leave them phones alone!”

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