Elementary Students Being Bullied

The Effects of Bullying on Elementary Students

Robert Romoff HDF 414

University of Rhode Island

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Abstract

Elementary school bullying can lead to a rough life filled with mental damage on kids as the

grow older and develop. The long-term impacts that it can cause is low self-esteem values and

low self-worth of individuals own self. In a survey that I conduct I ask college students and high

schoolers to recall the times they were bullied and to reflect on the effects of it. In the results

from the college students I expect the results to be that of more mentally stable persons and those

still in high school to be suffering more mentally being closer still to the event that happened.

After gathering the data, I will discuss how bullying negatively affects people into their

adulthood and how it can hold people back from their own potential.

Keywords: Bullying, Long-term

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The Effects of Bullying on Elementary Students

Everyday across the United States thousands of students are bullied inside of the

schools and classrooms they go to. This includes here in our own state of Rhode Island.

Bullying is not just a threat that the student faces only as it is happening, “it can have

lasting, dangerous effects” (Biviano, 2018). There are many different forms that bullying

takes the face of and students are constantly challenged with coming face to face with it

in all parts of the school. The playground during recess is were most bullying occurs

(Biviano, 2018) followed with other places of high incident rates consisting of the

cafeteria, hallways, school buses, classrooms, and bathrooms (G. & H., 2011).

With all these incidents happening it begs the question of why is the school not

doing anything about the issue? Most of the time when bullying happens it occurs in the

absence of a school faculty or any adult with authority rendering the school completely

unaware of any altercation that may have taken place (Biviano, 2018). With this being the

case it really becomes dependent on attempting to lower the cases of bullying and to

trying to abolish it from occurring. A survey conducted will show how many people in

the communities around have been and are still being affected from bullying that

occurred back in elementary school. A post survey will then occur after they have been

educated more on the effects that bullying had and determine if they will take any action

on preventing the continuation of bullying, this could be as simple as educating their

younger siblings, cousins, and/or offspring of their own.

Method

A survey will be conducted through willing participants from the Rhode Island

community. There will be two different surveys conducted in the exact same fashion to record
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the exact same information. One survey will be collecting data based on students in the high

school grade levels, and the corresponding survey will be collecting data from students at the

college level. The survey will cover how they were bullied, the styles of bullying that they

endured, the frequency of the bullying, how frequently they feared that they were going to be

bullied, does it still negatively affect them and their mental state. After they complete the first

part of the survey, they will they be given an information card that contains information about

bullying including the different forms of bullying and the effects that it has on kids. A follow up

survey will then be conducted after the reading. It will consist of questions of what form of affect

do they still exhibit from being bullied, what do they do to combat against bullying, will they

work to help dispose of this ugly trend with the future generations that are coming up. The

surveys will be completed through google forms with an attachment of the reading handout

included in it. They will be distributed to school districts and colleges/universities across Rhode

Island. The schools can then distribute the survey to their students to gather data.

Results

Based on the survey conducted I expect that there will be many participants who have

been bullied. I believe that in the high school survey there will be a larger yield of cases that

involved the use of the internet than that of those taking the survey while a college student. The

number of cases that happened while on school grounds though will be lower for those in high

school as they grew up in a school system that carried a more “zero tolerance” policy than those

who are now in college. The results will be shown through pie charts depicting what percentage

and total number of cases people experienced each question and a pie chart comparing the two

different surveys.
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Discussion

Based on the results that were collected through the survey that was conducted the

original hypothesis that there is still a high percentage of students being bullied in elementary

school. This study will pertain to the Rhode Island area and focuses on students from around

2006-2012. One flaw that this survey presents is that it is outdated with current data that is being

created in 2018 at the expense of achieving accurate data on the effects after bullying. With this

gap and the age of the participants, it can create a more accurate study of bullying with the

reflection of people who have experienced it and have grown from it. Elementary students would

not be able to provide as accurate data of the affects that they experience, or a true understanding

of the long term affects that can be produced from these events. As young adults the participants

can maturely reflect and respond to what occurred while they were in elementary school. This

data can be used to create a new understanding of the affects that are now forming in the current

generation after coming out of grade school as a result of being bullied.

Appendix.
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Presentation.

Bullying in Elementary Schools

What is bullying? The term bullying is used 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.” Being made fun of or called names and being the subject of rumors are the two most
common forms of bullying experienced by children and youth in the U.S.

Target group affected: Elementary school children being bullied

Target group educating: Teachers, children, family, and community

Different forms of bullying:

1- Physical
2- Verbally
3- Indirectly
4- Cyberbullying
5- Happy Slapping
6- Impersonation

What you can do:

- Treat everyone with respect
- Learn about what to do if you are bullied
- Get involved- Stand up for others
- Protect yourself from cyberbullying
- Youth involved in bullying can experience higher rates of mental health problems,
aggression, suicide, drug use, school absence, physical health problems, and deficits in
- cognitive functioning during childhood and adolescence as well as into adulthood.
Bullying incidents among students create a climate of fear and disrespect that can
negatively impact student learning.
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References

B., H. (2011, September 5). Halston B. Rebel with a Cause. Retrieved December 1, 2018, from
http://halstonbrwac.blogspot.com/2011/10/graph-or-chart-about-my-cause.html

Biviano, A. (2018, October 26). Bullying Prevention Month: The bullied, how schools respond
and tips for parents. Retrieved November 5, 2018, from
https://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/education/2018/10/25/bullying-southern-tier-new-
york-schools-dasa-cyberbullying/1598508002/

Buckfire, D. L. (n.d.). Student Bullying in United States Facts. Retrieved December 5, 2018,
from https://www.buckfirelaw.com/library/student-bullying-in-united-states-statistics-and-
facts.cfm

G., & H. (2011, January). Playgrounds and Prejudice: Elementary School Climate in the United
States. Retrieved November 5, 2018, from https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/Playgrounds
& Prejudice.pdf

Owego Apalachin Central School District. (2018). Retrieved November 5, 2018, from
http://www.oacsd.org/Default.aspx

StopBullying.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved October 20, 2018, from https://www.stopbullying.gov/