The Bullying Problem

The Bullying Problem

Martin Blancas Zarate
Feliciano Arrieta
April 10, 2016

The Bullying Problem

Abstract
The bullying problem has been around since the start of the schooling system. Knowing
all the things that contribute to bullying, people can reduce the problem with bullying in schools.
Teachers, parents, and other students look the other way when it comes to bullying. If these same
people know the effects it can have on the victims more people would intervene in the bullying
problem. There is many ways to stop bullying some are simple and some are hard, but if
everyone does their part they could reduce the problem.

The Bullying Problem

Introduction
National Bullying Prevention Center state that, one out of every four students
report being bullied during 2015. Although the number of bullying reports has decreased in the
las ten years the number of victims is still a big number. Teachers, parents, and other students
should try their best to try and prevent bullying from happening. To lower the bullying incidents
it is important to know the definition and types of bullying, who are the people the bullies and
the victims, why they bully or why they get bullied, the effects it has on people and the many
different ways to stop bullying.
The Bullies and the Victims
Bullying is, when an individual or a group of people with more power, repeatedly and
intentionally cause hurt or harm to another person or group of people who feel helpless to
respond, as defined by the National Center Against Bullying. Bullying can be found in many
different ways, such as, physical, verbal, social and cyber. Physical bulling involves punching,
shoving, tripping others, and damage of property to the victims. Using insults, intimidation and
name calling are some examples of verbal bullying. Cyber and social bullying go hand in hand,
both are used to ruin someones reputation by spreading rumors, playing pranks on the victims to
make them feel humiliated and by excluding them from groups or social events. The main
difference between cyber and social bullying is that cyber bullying is done behind a computer or
cellphone where they post things about a person in social media without consequences for their
actions. All of these types of bullying are used to make the victim feel unprotected and alone.
The victims are vulnerable people for the bullies. Stokowski and Holland authors of
Bulling in Schools say that victims are, quiet, cautious, anxious, insecure, and sensitive than

The Bullying Problem

most other children and have rather poor communication and problem-solving skills. These
characteristic make the victims have very little friends or a lot of the time being alone. Bullies
will victimize these kids because most of the time they will not talk to anyone about their
problems, meaning that the bully will not be punished the bully for their actions. These types of
victims will not stand up for themselves because they dont know how to or they are too scared.
Ching-Tsai Wong, Ying-Yao Cheng & Li-Ming Chen have a different views of victims, they say
that victims are atypical students, whose background or behavior sets them apart from others.
Some examples of atypical students are, people with different ethnicities, wealth, intelligence,
sexual orientation. These types of victims will be bullies because they think or do things that
seem abnormal in the type of community they are in. Physically, victims are almost always
smaller and weaker compared to the bullies, being unable to defend themselves. Victims will also
get bullied because they are not liked by many people or because they are bossed around easily.
Bullies have certain characteristics that might be the cause for the bullying. Smokowski
and Holland state that, bullies are overly aggressive, destructive and enjoy dominating other
children. Bullies also tend to be short tempered and frustrated easily. This means bullies will do
things to get over their frustration or anger in ways of harming other people. Parents also play an
important role in the bullys character. Holland says that the parents of the bullies are often
hostile, rejecting, and indifferent to their children. Parent like this do not care what the kid
does or where he is, meaning that if the bully gets in trouble little to no punishment will take
place, meaning bullies will continue bullying without a stop to it. When these parents do punish
the bully it is in the form of physical punishment, like hitting the kid. The bully learns that it is
okay to hurt others people to have things their way, causing bullying problems. Bullying happens
because students want to show other that they are superior to everyone else. Other people bully

The Bullying Problem

because it is fun for them. Playing pranks on people is a way of entertainment for bullies, they
embarrassed others to have a laugh and to look cool in front of other kids.
Effects on Bulling
Bullying has short and long term effects on both the victims and the bully. For victims the
most common type of short term effect are physical injuries that have made by the bully. Missing
school happens a lot because of bulling. Victims dont want to go to school because of fear that
they will get bullied. Missing school causes for the victim to have bad grades and being unable to
archive their maximum academic potential. Bullying also has long terms effects,
Stopbullying.gov states Depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness,
changes in sleep and eating patterns, and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. are just
some of the many effects that may happen. Anxiety happens because victims are always scared
that they will find the bully and that they will be harmed, this can be why they dont get enough
rest or why they stop eating. The extreme effect of bullying is suicide, frequent depression and
sadness can increase the attempt for victims to commit suicide. According to Bullying Statistics,
over 14 percent of high school students have considered suicide, and almost 7 percent have
attempted it.
Bullies also are affected because they bully others. One of the effects that, bullies tend to
engage in frequent excessive drinking and other substance use, according to Smokowski and
Holland. Bullies also underperform in their academics and will have trouble when trying to find
a job in later years. Bullies are also more likely to have a criminal record, about 50 percent of
bullies have a criminal record.
How to Stop Bullying

The Bullying Problem

Although Kelly Wallace from CNN has reported that, about 22% of students ages 12 to 18
reported they were bullied at school during the school year in 2013. That's down from a range of
28% to 32% from 2005. 22 percent is still a large number of students being bullied. There are
many methods to prevent bullying, the most popular being to stand up for yourself. Most people
will say that this is the easiest way, but not for many of the victims. Victims might think that by
standing up for the bully is worse than the bullying already, the bully can think that as a loss of
power and will try and gain it back by harsher bullying. Signe Whitson form Reclaiming
Children and Youth thinks that, a small change that makes a big difference is to increase the
presence of watchful adults in common areas. This means that schools should increase teacher
supervision where bullying happens the most often like, locker rooms, hallways, lunch cafeterias,
and restrooms. Building relationships with victims that might be prone to bullying can be a big
change in decreasing bullying. When someone feels comfortable with someone else they will
talk about their problems, if teachers can gain the trust of a victim, they can learn about bullying
incidents and put a stop to it. Whitson also thinks that by, integrating social and emotional skills
training into standard school curricula, from a child's earliest years through high school
graduation, fortifies students with the skills they need to cope with bullying. By doing this kids
will learn to handle bullying more effectively, become more assertive, and build relationships
with other students.
Conclusion
If everyone would do something about bullying every time they saw it, the number of
bullying problems will decrease dramatically. By knowing all the types of bullying,
characteristics of victims and bullies, people could help the victims reduce the short and long

The Bullying Problem

effects caused by bullying. There are many ways to intervene in a bullying situation, being
assertive does not always work, but there are a lot more ways to help out

The Bullying Problem

References
Whitson, S. (2015). Bringing an End to Bullying. Reclaiming Children & Youth, 24(1), 50-54.
Wong, C., Cheng, Y., & Chen, L. (2013). Multiple perspectives on the targets and causes of
school bullying. Educational Psychology In Practice, 29(3), 278-292.
Smokowski, P. R., & Kopasz, K. H. (2005). Bullying in School: An Overview of Types, Effects,
Family Characteristics, and Intervention Strategies. Children & Schools, 27(2), 101-110.
National Centre Against Bullying. (n.d.). Retrieved April 03, 2016, from
http://www.ncab.org.au/parents/typesofbullying/.
Effects of Bullying. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://www.stopbullying.gov/atrisk/effects/index.html.
Frequency and Types of Bullying. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2016, from
https://www.episd.org/bullying/frequency_and_types.php
Wallace, K. (n.d.). Bullying at school on the decline, says new report. Retrieved April 10, 2016,
from http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/17/living/feat-bullying-schools-decline-40-yearsresearch/
Bullying statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2016, from
http://www.pacer.org/bullying/about/media-kit/stats.asp
Bullying and Suicide - Bullying Statistics. (2015). Retrieved April 10, 2016, from
http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/bullying-and-suicide.htm

The Bullying Problem