Currently, at least 70% of all high school graduates confess that they were once bullied while in school. Bullying is considered as an act of aggressive behavior on a harmless individual (Hile, 2013). Fundamentally, bullying can be sexual, verbal, disability-based and physical. Vitally, most students have suffered from physical and verbal abuse. Due to its impact in many educational institutions, bullying is a critical issue that cannot be overlooked. This essay will describe the causes and the effects of bullying. The main causes of bullying are peer pressure, desire for power and lack of parental guidance, while its effects include emotional problems, negative effect on the victim’s personality and influencing a victim to become a bully.
The main cause of bullying is peer pressure. There are many cases where individuals are encouraged by bullies to bully others. This situation is mainly replicated in cases where a student wants to join a particular group of famed students at the school. In order to be accepted as part of that group, he is to act like one of them. This requires him to bully other students at the school. Furthermore, one can become a bully because of peer pressure from friends. If an individual has friends who are bullies at school, he may want to become like them. Essentially, such an individual sees what his friends are doing as ‘cool’ and pleasurable; thus, he would also want to bully other students and enjoy the feeling. Clearly, both of these examples depict how peer pressure can cause bullying.
Another cause of bullying is the desire for power. Most bullies are very interested in obtaining power through various means. Primarily, bullies have a great desire to exert their dominance over other students in their schools. According to Berry (2010), bullies are dominant in nature and are very aggressive. Besides, they want to feel powerful and fearful. When they focus on achieving something, they can do whatever it takes to achieve that objective. For example, if a bully want to control a group of other students, he will bully some of them in order to instill fear in them. This may cause other students to fear him and follow all his commands.
Lack of parental guidance and supervision is another cause of bullying. Children who have been brought up without parental guidance are very likely to feel insecure. This is primarily because their parents were not there to inspire them, and assure them of security when they have a problem. The feeling of insecurity makes such children not to feel comfortable when they are around their peers at school. As a result, such children will bully other students in order to attract attention from their unmindful parents. If a parent is informed by the school administration that his child is bullying other students, he will mostly likely pay more close attention to the child.
The main effect of bullying is the emotional problems. Most of the victims experience emotional breakdown after being bullied. Essentially, they do not see any worth in themselves and become depressed. Some of the most common emotional problems experienced by bullied individuals include rage, sleep disorders, abnormal fears and suicidal thoughts (Mackay, 2013). For example, there have been many cases whereby students who have been bullied at school have attempted to commit suicide. Such students are already weary of being humiliated on a daily basis and perceive suicide as the only solution to their predicaments.
Furthermore, bullying can considerably affect the personality of a victim. An individual who has been bullied can lose confidence and become shy. This mainly happens whereby the victim was ridiculed by a group of bullies at school. It was worthwhile to note that most victims were previously happy and confident people. However, after being bullied, such individuals lose confidence completely. For example, a student who was excellent in public speaking will experience a lack of confidence as a result of bullying. Notably, there are many cases whereby victims of bullying withdraw from communicating with their friends. It is evidently clear that bullying can have a negative effect on the victim’s personality.
Another effect of bullying is that it can lead to a victim becoming himself a bully. Some of the victims of bullying will try to regain their self-esteem through bullying other students (Kuykendall, 2012). Even though, they already know the emotional effects of bullying, they believe it is only rational if they bully other students. Primarily, such victims who resort to bullying other students are highly likely to become manipulative individuals when they grow old.
References
Berry, J. W. (2010). Bullying. New York: Joy Berry Books.
Hile, L. (2013). Bullying. Chicago, Ill: Heinemann Library.
Kuykendall, S. (2012). Bullying. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood.
MacKay, J. (2013). Bullying. Detroit: Lucent Books.
