Bullying: Causes and effects of

bullying in schools
By, Joseph Spitz
January 17, 2017

Bullying in Schools
Bullying occurrences have been a perpetual problem in schools and among teenagers. As
Meyer-Adams & Conner (2008) assert, “Bullying is continued harassment though acts of
domination towards another person, either through physical or emotional abuse.” With the
recent technological developments, bullying can be done online and through social media
platforms. As a result of its advance effects on the victims, bullying has attracted universal
attraction from the media, school authorities, parents, and researchers. Many studies have
been done in different schools situated in different locations all over the world examining
the prevalence of harassment among the teenagers in schools and other places. In light of
these studies, it has been established that bullying has some clear-cut causes and effects and
some recommended effective precautions to curb its occurrence.

Causes of Bullying
The first cause of bullying is revenge for being victims of bullying. Some people may feel
that their parents or their older sibling are bullying them. As a result of this feeling, these
victims bully others as a way of seeking to be equal. According to Mark & Ratliffe (2011)
“getting bullied by any of these people may tempt some to claim a sort of authority for
themselves through bullying, rather than reaching out for help in dealing with their own
issues in a more productive way.” The same case happens with cyber bullying occasions.
Often, cyber bullying happens as a result of offline bullying of the perpetrators in their lives
by others. However, cyber bullies do not have the courage to bully their victims in person
and thus use the tools at their disposal to perpetrate intimidation to others. Additionally,
“cyber bullying can be an extension of real world bullying too, for example, hacking into a
social media account in order to display negative rumors about another person” (Hoff &
Mitchell, 2009).

The second cause of bullying is jealousy or frustration toward the victim by the perpetrator.
When an individual becomes the smart one in class or other places such as getting good
grades always or becoming the centre of attention, they may become the target of bullying.
According to Meyer-Adams & Conner (2008) “some of the things that make people different
are generally neutral characteristics, but some, like being smart, focused, or creative often
representing attributes that the bully wishes they shared with their victim.” As bullies
become jealous and thus target their victims with an aim of undermining these outstanding
attributes. The third cause of bullying is inadequate understanding and lack empathy. The
lack of empathy or understanding as a result of personality adequacy is a predicting factor
for bullying. As a result, suck kind of people develop prejudice toward a given sexual
orientation, race or religion. They thus use their prejudice as a justification for bullying
those who possess such personalities that they do not agree with or that they hate.

The fourth cause of bullying is the urge for attention. Some perpetrators do not construe
themselves as bullies. As Mishna (2004) asserts “they think that all they are doing is teasing
a bit, and may even be trying to communicate or even befriend the person they are
bullying.” They underlining intention is to get the attention of their victims. As such, they
result to use of physical violence or insults to communicate since they are unable to
communicate through decent ways of communication. When the instances of victimization
increase, the bullied are forced to become friends with the perpetrators to continued
bullying. This way, the perpetrators achieve the intended purpose by getting the attention
of their victims. The fifth cause of bullying is dysfunctional families. The presence of a
dysfunctional family does not guarantee that children from such families will be bullies.
However, Peguero (2012) holds that “a large number of bullies come from homes where
there is little affection and openness.” Such individuals observe their parents or significant
ones being violent toward other family members, friends, or siblings and thus become
violent too.
The sixth cause of bullying is the urge to be in control. When individuals bully others, they
instill fear in them and thus achieve control over them. This gives them power and an urge
for more power leads to increased instances of bullying. Such occasions become a routine in
a way that the perpetrator assumes the role a serial bully and enjoys doing it for more
power. The seventh cause of is the reward attached to bullying. In most cases, individuals
bully others to gain acceptance from their peers or to belong into a group. As such, they
perpetrate bullying, even though it might seem morally wrong to them, to maintain
recognition or membership to the peer group.

Effects of Bullying
Bullying has effects for both the bully and the victim. The first effect of bullying is that the
perpetrator has a high likelihood of becoming a delinquent and finally a serious criminal.
This tendency emanates from the repeated pattern of bullying that graduates the
perpetrator from a bully to a hardcore delinquency. The second effect is that bullying puts
the bully at risk of abusing drugs and thus become a school dropout. The third effect is that
bullying puts the victim and the perpetrator at the risk of experiencing depression. As
Mishna (2004) asserts “bullies and victims tend to experience depression more than their
peers who have not been involved in bullying, which can lead to academic problems,
frequent absences from school, loneliness, and social isolation.”

The fourth effect of bullying is increased risk of self-destruction behaviors for both the
perpetrators and their victims. Such self-destruction behaviors include suicidal thoughts and
risky behaviors such as excessive engagement in harmful drugs. As Mark & Ratliffe (2011)
state, “research indicates that the risk of both thoughts and attempts at suicide seem to be
higher for girl victims and girl bullies no matter how infrequent the bullying occurs.” The
fifth effect of bullying is development of nervous habits by the victims. Bullying is a bad
experience on the victims. As such, they live in fear since they do not know when next they
will encounter a bully. The result of this is that they develop nervous habit for the fear of
repeated bullying experience. The sixth effect of bullying is poor appetite and sleeping
disorders. People react differently when exposed to demeaning experiences such as bullying.
As such, some develop poor appetite while others develop sleep disorders or both.

Precautionary Measures for Bullying

The first precaution for addressing bullying is setting clear rules and expected code of
conduct that is enforceable. As such, the rules must be positively stated, minimum in
number, easily enforceable, enforced consistently, and applied evenly among the subjects. As
Peguero (2012) asserts “the rules and the consequences for breaking the rule should be
clearly stated and students need to know what will happen if they engage in a certain
behavior.” The second precaution against bullying is rewarding positive behavior. When an
individual engages in bad behavior, it becomes easier to point it out than it is to point out
good conduct. As such, it is vital to recognize individuals when they engage in good
behavior so as to guarantee the willingness to uphold it.

The third precaution is putting in place a mechanism for open communication. Such
communication mechanisms may include classroom meetings and the use of suggestion
boxes to report such incidences. When the communication becomes open, the involved
parties are able to understand each other and thus combat the problem when detected than
when it is too late. The fourth precaution is frequent monitoring of suspicious tendencies
that may point toward bullying incidences. Monitoring some places such as playgrounds,
bathrooms, and hallways is vital for combating bullying occurrences. As Mishna (2004)
asserts “Statistics show that 47.2 percent of bullying occurs in a hallway or stairwell, 33.6
percent of bullying happens in the classroom, and 20 percent of bullying situations occur on
school grounds, on playgrounds and on school busses.” As such, monitoring these places
frequently is very effective in curbing bullying.

Conclusion
In conclusion, there are several causes of bullying such as revenge against bullying, jealousy
or frustration toward the victim, inadequate understanding and lack empathy, and the urge
to be in control. On the other hand, bullying has several effects such as increased risk of
self-destruction behaviors, development of nervous habits, and risk of depression. There are
a number of precautions that might be implemented against bullying such as setting clear
rules and expected code of conduct and putting in place a mechanism for open
communication.
References

Hoff, D. & Mitchell, S. (2009). Cyber-bullying: causes, effects, and remedies. Journal Of
Educational Administration, 47(5), 652-665. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09578230910981107

Mark, L. & Ratliffe, K. (2011). Cyber Worlds: New Playgrounds for Bullying. Computers In
The Schools, 28(2), 92-116. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07380569.2011.575753

Meyer-Adams, N. & Conner, B. (2008). School Violence: Bullying Behaviors and the
Psychosocial School Environment in Middle Schools. Children & Schools, 30(4), 211-221.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cs/30.4.211

Mishna, F. (2004). A Qualitative Study of Bullying from Multiple Perspectives. Children &
Schools, 26(4), 234-247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cs/26.4.234

Peguero, A. (2012). Schools, Bullying, and Inequality: Intersecting Factors and

Complexities with the Stratification of Youth Victimization at School. Sociology
Compass, 6(5), 402-412. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00459.x