The psychological effects of bullying on students

Abstract

Bullying is a significant problem because of its prevalent and its serious psychological effects on victims (Hertz et al., 2013). Bullying is an action of repetitive, unwanted, aggressive behaviour that includes physical actions such as hitting, kicking, or spitting, and verbal actions such as threatening, name-calling, teasing, or spreading rumors (Gan et al., 2014). This paper focuses on traditional bullying rather than on cyberbullying. Because bullying is common among school- age children and has serious effects, it is a public health concern and needs the attention of educators, policy makers, and health care providers (Bradley, 2013). Annually, 20–56% of young people are involved in bullying either as a victim, a perpetrator, or both (Hertz et al., 2013). A World Health Organization study places Canada sixth out of 38 countries for high rates of bullying, while the Canadian Institutes of Health Research report that one in three adolescents is bullied (Bradley, 2013). This paper concludes that victims of traditional bullying in schools are more likely to experience psychological issues such as social anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, and suicidal ideation than those who are not bullied.