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Research paper on bullying and suicide
Cause of bullying
How are schools preventing bullying
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Being a child isn’t always as innocent and stress-free as one would think. Children, from the time they start school, are plagued with emotional stress induced by bullying. More often than not, victims entertain the thought of or attempt suicide to escape from having to endure more anguish. It’s imperative that adults recognize bullying as being a real danger to the children that they care for and love. Child bullying and youth suicide is on the rise; however, providing children and parents with resources to identify such incidents will not only help curb this troubling trend but would teach victims how to cope.
As a unified body, tragic endings could be minimized by understanding and educating our youth on child bullying and its dangers.
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The KidsHealth (2013) website reports that children reluctant to discuss bullying incidents may portray warning signs, such as abnormal sleeping or eating habits, changes in mood, suddenly anxious, or possibly avoiding certain situations. Alternatively, a child may be a bully if they continue to act unpleasant to play with certain children, or are extremely concerned about their status or popularity among other children (Wood, n.d.). Victims of bullying, as well as those implementing the bullying, can suffer from mental and emotional trauma in their adult lives. Additionally, these behaviors do not just affect those directly involved but also students that are witnesses to such behavior. These impacts are more immediate and classified as non-fatal and fatal. Non-fatal impacts are considered to be free of violence; such as when children miss school to avoid being bullied or perhaps when a child becomes depressed. Fatal impacts are considered to be violent. Two examples of this would be when a child is beaten up or when a child inflicts harm upon themselves. Alarmingly, in 2013, an estimated 2,134 children between the ages of 10 and 19 committed suicide (Drapeau, C. W., & McIntosh, J. L.,
Suicide due to bullying has been given the name of bullycide. One example of bullycide would be Jon Carmichael from Texas who was bullied so harshly that “one day they stripped him naked, tied him up, and stuck him in a trash can, and they taped it with their cell phones and put it all on You Tube” per his mother’s account (Texas Monthly, Hollandsworth). A few days later Jon was found hanging by a rafter from their barn after committing suicide. The perpetrators of this abuse were his fellow classmates and it is reported that “60% of boys who bullied others in middle school had at least one criminal conviction by the age of 24; 40% had three or more convictions” (van der Valk, 41). Bullying behavior not only negatively affects the victims that are singled out and tormented, but from a legal perspective can lead to long term criminal
Bullying has become a major problem facing the United States today. The American Psychological Association reports that roughly 40% to 80% of children are involved in bullying on some level during their time in school. (APA, 2014) The magnitude of the problem can be observed in the statistics. In the United States, a total of 4,080,879 children between the ages of five and 18 have been the victims of bullying compared to 3,892,199 who have reported that they have engaged in bullying someone else. Additionally, 851,755 said that they have been both the victim and the bully. That's a whopping 8,824,833 people in the United States that have been involved in bullying behavior on one level or another. (High, B., 2000 Census)
Bullying has become associated with depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. It has been found that victims of bullying are often left in a depressed state, causing suicidal thoughts and potential actions. Teens see that the pain they are feeling can go away with suicide, and the idea remains in their head (Litwiller & Brausch). According to the Center For Disease Control, victims of bullying have sleep difficulties, causing them to have problems in school. These kids are also more vulnerable to stomach aches and headaches due to the anxiety that comes from bullying ("Bullying Suicide
In school you probably remember the “odd-balls” being picked on by the “cool kids”. Maybe they were being called offensive names or were being laughed at because of something they liked, if they looked or acted a certain way. Or possibly it was because of their religion. The truth of the matter is, people will use just about any reason to bully and use different methods when bullying. Questions that rise is what kind of bullying is there? How does it affect the person being targeted? How can we take a stand to stop bullying and ultimately, how can we help those who are being bullied? This essay will consider and answer these questions.
Phoebe Prince is a name some of us might not know or remember, but in 2010 her name and picture were everywhere. Phoebe Prince was an Irish immigrant who moved to South Hadley, Massachusetts. In her new high school she was the subject of malicious bullying by her classmates, both at school and online. This bullying would eventually drive Phoebe to hang herself. Bullying in schools and online has become a serious problem in our country. . According to cyberbullyinghotline.com, 20 percent of those cyberbullied think about committing suicide, while 1 in 10 victims attempt it. With rates like this, the question left to be answered is, when is bullying “just kids being kids “,
...h make take their life. Bullying of any sort erodes one’s self-confidence and an individual may become depressed as a result. This depression may then affect their relationships and academics, furthering the problem as the demands of society weigh hard on children and teenagers. As a result, safe havens for at-risk children would be one of the best ways to rebuild their self-confidence and let them know that there are other people out there being bullied and understand what they are going through. The success with similar programs for youths who have been sexually abused, shows that there are group programs out there that have been able to help those who are most at-risk. Through the understanding of Merton’s strain theory, focusing the attention on the feelings of the children affected and by comforting them, the risk of youth suicide in North America will decrease.
“A young man committed suicides because of all the people that bullied him… his parents are devastated,” is what you hear on your news channel. Parents are losing teens every day because of bullying. Bullying is an unwanted aggressive behavior that is repeated over time (www.stopbullying.gov ). Just imagine feeling left out and depressed because of someone’s attitude towards you. Bullying is so serious that teens feel unwanted and get suicidal thoughts. At their age they should be enjoying themselves and getting ready for the future. When they get bullied it brings negative effects on their lives. Most of us think bullying isn’t a big deal unless it affects us or someone around us that we know. We should take it very serious because it can happen to anyone; but we can all help prevent bullying if we help each other. Parents, teachers, staff members, and students can all get involved and help stop bullying .We all have a role to play towards bullying and how it affects our teenagers.
As a society, we often underestimate the damages that bullying cause on children, not just America but all over, and the ones who suffer are the victims themselves. Victims are damaged with the stigma that they are weak, yet somehow have to fend for themselves against something that they have little to no control over. Whether it is for funding, a reputation or any other reason schools sweep their bullying problem under the rug or turn a blind eye, however they have more potential to end this growing issue. To the schools that think bullying is not their problem, they should know that according to heyugly.org, an anti-bullying campaign, “Approximately, 160,000 children a day stay home from school in fear of being bullied.”They also point out
Bullying is a growing concern in a society where status and exercising power over another human being are increasingly important in developing one’s social circles. Dan Olweus (Norwegian researcher and founder of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program) defines it as an “aggressive behaviour that is intentional and that involves an imbalance of power. Most often, it is repeated over time” (Violencepreventionworks.org). School victimization is an especially delicate matter that has only really been in the public eye for the past half century, as more and more researchers and psychologists pointed out its short- and long-term negative effects on targeted individuals. It has since been widely investigated and numerous programs have been developed in an effort to address and prevent the many forms of bullying that exist today. The negative effects of such an abusive behaviour are various and can greatly differ from individual to individual. However, there are three main consequences that can be associated with school bullying, which are: school avoidance, depression/anxiety and even suicidal attempts.
Throughout the years, many adolescents have gone through bullying in school. A child starting at the age of five to about eighteen has either been bullied or was the bully. Schools should have a bullying awareness program to prevent dangerous acts upon themselves and the other humans surrounding them. Victims in these situations often belittle themselves and do not want to attend school. While these targets work together in the program they will create a bond between each other as a community. All schools should have bullying awareness programs because it would decrease teenage suicide rates; bring unity between students, help the bully overcome their reasons of bullying and let adolescents feel comfortable in a school environment.
Bullying is a devastating issue that threatens the well-being of today’s youth. Those who are most likely at risk are those who; have a learning or physical disability i.g., autism or ADHD, are underweight or overweight, are gay/lesbian/transgendered, or speak a different language. Of course, there are no specific guidelines of who will become victims of bullying. Children who are bullied experience lower self-esteem, greater loneliness, greater anxiety, and more depression in addition to the already stressful adolescent years. The longer the bullying occurs the more profound the symptoms can become. As a low-level, subtle form of violence, bullying creates an unsafe school environment and can lead to more serious types of violence among students (Whitted & Dupper, 2005).
Bullying against teens is still happening even though there are various awareness programs to try to prevent it. I want to create awareness of bullying against teens of all religions, race, and sexual orientation. Even with the various attention to bullying, the problem still persists despite the school providing awareness, students are still afraid to say anything. Societal patterns today make bullying a difficult issue to eliminate. Starting in 2007, a total of 35 states made laws to go against bullying at school. These laws consisted of a clear definition of bullying, and how schools will be required to enforce uniform standards of conduct. The reason bullying comes as such an issue to me is because I actually know friends that have been suicidal and have caused themselves harm due to being bullied every day, in school and at home.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” These words have been repeated countless times, but they are not accurate. In truth, words can kill. Bullying has become a highlighted problem within our society, and bullying in the school systems is even more prominent. According to the news, there are countless cases of bullying, many of which do not have happy endings. The rates of suicide due to bullying are currently higher than they have ever been before. Suicide is the third top causes of death in young people within the United States, averaging at 4,400 deaths a year, with over 50% of these deaths as a result of some sort of bullying. Studies also show that there are 100 suicide attempts for every one successful suicide performed (“Bullying and Suicide”). These numbers are disturbingly high. Bullying is affecting more kids in ways that some adults may never understand. The fact that words and actions can lead to cutting and suicides is still a distant concept to some and needs to be brought to immediate attention. Laws are now being put into place to prevent these tragedies, but what is really being done to prevent them within the schools or even within the students’ homes? There is a lot of finger pointing when it comes to this topic. But we all want to know what the cause is behind this nationwide crisis and who is responsible for it.
Problems usually have solutions. Solutions could be extremely easy to find, or the process of finding one could be problematic. One worldly issue that does not have a solution yet is bullying. Bullying is present in schools world-wide, and it has been this way since there have been schools. This horrible act is accepted as part of life. People are used to bullying, that it almost seems normal. This should not be the case. Bullying is a horrific act that needs to be stopped, but is that possible? Three specific ways people have proposed to stop bullying is to criminalize bully in an attempt to deter any further bullying, to assign bullies student mentors in order to have someone guide them, or to force school or parental figures to be more active in trying to prevent bullying. Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages, but which is the best method to effectively stop bullying?
Bullying has become a serious problem in public schools systems. Being a victim of bullying is a daily struggle for some students. The issue continues to grow, but the question is how to stop bullying from occurring. Many ways have been attempted to stop bullying, but some are more effective than others. Having the students get involved seems to have the most positive effect on the bullying issue in public school systems.