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Bullying In America

Bullying is a major problem in America as well as across the world. You, with your words like knives/And swords and weapons that you use against me/You have knocked me off my feet again /Got me feeling like I'm nothing / You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard/Calling me out when I'm wounded/You picking on the weaker man(Swift). World known, pop artist, Taylor Swift uses her idolized voice to reach people, so that this issue can be dimmed if not solved completely. Bullying is when someone or strength forces another person to do what he or she wants them to do. The focus of this paper is bullying in America. As a result of bullying students tend to go through mental illnesses suicidal thoughts and physical pains. Bullying is a problem in America because not only does it cause numerous issues with the victim but it also can lead to death in some cases.

Bullying is a broad topic but can be broken down into various subtopics. These topics are physical bullying, verbal bullying, social/emotional bullying, and cyber bullying. The first form of bulling that a victim will go through is never physical bullying. Sometimes it starts of differently and then

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it will escalate into physical bullying. The weapon a bully uses in this form of bullying is the body. An example of this type of physical bullying is when a bully uses his fist to hit the victim to make them do what he/she wants them to do. The next type of bullying is verbal bullying. A persons mouth or voice is the primary weapon. Making fun of the victim, name calling, spreading rumors and threatening the victim is involved in this type of bullying. This form is one of the most used types. The Next type of bullying is social and emotional bullying. It involves someone hurting someones popularity. This form of bullying usually happens with schoolmates who dislike each other. This usually happens when a person is un-loyal or does something to make the other person mad. In social bullying the bully spreads the friends secrets all over school to stop them from having friends so that they can feel unwanted. Mean girls, the movie, is a prime example of this form of social bullying. Social bullying is most commonly found amongst females. Social bullying always targets relationships and use them as the weapon. The final bullying is cyber bullying. This is any type of bullying done over technology. This includes anything that is technology like a cell phone or a computer. Cyber bullying is the trickiest form of bullying only because it is very contemporary. Most parents arent recognizable with cell phones and things so they don't know how to react to cyber

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bullying. The weapon the bully uses is technology.

Bullying pays its toll on the bully but mostly on the victim. One of the main health issues with bullying is depression. The victim usually gets bullied to this state or is already depressed which makes them a target. Many Reports from NICHD say that People who bully and anyone that was bullied will soon become depressed or have depression like symptoms (Taking a stand against bullying.) Children that bully and who are bullied will be at risk of being involved in many bad problems and situations. Bullying can cause the victim to heave headaches, stomachaches, panic attacks and insomnia. Suicidal thought or maybe even suicide. Bullying also makes its hard for a student to learn because of stress related issues like anxiety.

It causes issues in concentration areas which affects a students productivity and work ethic. As a result of, this can cause students to get held back in school. Bullies often were once bullied before. Bullying is a widely studied behavior, and there are many reasons that a bully bullies they see it as a way to increase their own self esteem. They are sometimes even jealous of the victim so they tend to bully them in order to

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make themselves feel better. Many bullies have the need to full powerful and lust the control felling. They also do it to get popularity. Also they do not understand what they are doing at times and may not think it is hurtful. They may even be being still getting bullied by a parent.

Bullying has two types of environments, in schools and in a workplace. In schools there are often a victim, a bully and a bystander. Each person or persons are involved in bully in a certain way. The victim is the person getting bullied. Victim can be older or younger than the bully. Most of the time a victim would be someone who is already an outcast or a person who has no popularity in school. Sometimes a victim can suffer from depression already before bullying which makes them an even bigger target for the bully. The bully on the other hand, is the person or student who controls the victim to make them do what they want them to do. The bully usually is a person of authority or popularity. Bullies may have been bullied once themselves. Bystander is the people who see the bullying happened. Bystanders can either report the bullying or stand there and give the bully attention with would make do the bully do more because the bully feeds on attention. The bystander is the most important role in the bully circle. It is important because they

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ultimately can stop bullying. Most of the time bystanders do not try to stop bullying because they do not know how to stop it. Researchers study how much affect the bystanders can have on preventing bullying (Wilde, Marian).

They are many ways teachers, students and parents can stop bullying in fact, there are programs being set up in schools for this matter. Back off Bully, SAVE, and Bullies and Victims SATI are a few programs that were set up to prevent bullying. Since 22.5% of high schools bullying victims are likely to consider suicide, 40.9% of middle school bullying victims are likely to intentionally harm themselves and 20.4% of high school bullying victims are likely to be physically hurt by a family member; these programs teach steps that help for students to know how to get rid of bullies. Some steps are to pay attention, dont ignore it , when you see something do something, remain calm, deal with students individually, dont make the students involved apologize and/or shake hands on the spot, hold

bystanders accountable, listen and dont pre-judge and get appropriate professional help. If everyone follows these steps bullying will be an easy thing to prevent.

There are many cases in which bullying have led to

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suicide. Students are humiliated so badly to a point where they decide to take their own life because they can't take being picked on no more. Teens try to hang themselves, slit their wrist and even overdose on pills. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year, according to the CDC. For every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts. Over 14 percent of high school students have considered suicide, and almost 7 percent have attempted it. Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims, according to studies by Yale University. Research in Britain shows that at least half of the suicides amongst teens are related to bullying. The Britain study also says that 10-14 year old girls are at an even higher risk to suicide. Bully related suicides are connected to every type of bullying. Signs that show a student is attempting suicide are showing signs of depression, like ongoing sadness, withdrawal from others, losing interest in favorite activities, or trouble sleeping or eating. Suicidal people do things like give away things of personal value, say comments like things would be better without them and also have a change in behavior like turning to drugs and doing reckless things. If a person is showing any of these things try to make them feel wanted or u can even talk to them about your concerns and get them help right away, such as from a counselor,

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doctor, or at the emergency room. You should take all thoughts of suicide seriously and never tell them that they are wrong. Remove all weapons and medications so that they won't be able to hurt themselves. Bullying is a real broad topic. Many things can impact A bully and the victim. Bullying in America is a bad thing and should be put to a stop all total.

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Works cited

British Columbia Department of Education (n.d.). ERASE Bullying. Retrieved from http://www.erasebullying.ca Bully Free Alberta. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bullyfreealberta.ca/teens_bullying.htm Bullying Definitions. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.respect2all.org/students/bullying-definitions Great Schools (n.d.). The bully and the bystander - Bullying | GreatSchools. Retrieved from http://www.greatschools.org/parenting/bullying/593-the-bullyand-the-bystander.gs Taking a Stand Against Bullying. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/resources/spotlight/pages/092110taking-stand-against-bullying.aspx Smokowski P. R., & Kopasz K. H. (2005). Bullying in school: An overview of types, effects, family characteristics, and intervention strategies. Children and Schools, 27, 101109. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2010). Taking a stand against bullying. Retrieved August 7, 2012,