Bullying is harassment of other people causing harm or discomfort for some time. There are many types of bullying. It includes physical injury or damage of individual property; verbal bullying that involves insults and discrimination from activities such as playing games. Bullying causes harm to the people involved, this makes them have fear, and they may not be able to perform their responsibilities well with the fear created in them. This research paper will evaluate the causes and effects of bullying (Cloud, 116).
One of the reasons why people bully others is to have control and dominate the others. Those who bully feel powerful and respected by the others. They are able to command other to do things easily. The ability to control the others makes these people feel powerful, famous and respected by the others. This encourages these people to continue bullying others. Most of such people are individuals who have certain weaknesses. For example, if it is in school, such people may be poor performers academically (Koehler, 251). Since they feel unrecognized in academics by others in terms of good performance, these people find a means to dominate and control others. Other people are born with a feeling of superiority and urge to control others. This is why they do all they can to create fear so that their presence can be recognized.
Those who bully usually receive rewards for their actions. After they have created fear among the lonely individuals, they receive gifts from these lone people as a way of seeking favor so that they cannot be bullied in future. They can get lunch or other tangible benefits from the people they bully and this encourages them to continue bullying so that they can continue receiving the favors. The major intention of those who bully is to be respected by the others. When they know they are feared and recognized, they can demand for any tangible favors they wish to (Zande, 4).
Some people get pleased when they see others suffering from pain. Those who bully lack empathy and studies have shown that these people are happy and find pleasure by bullying others so that they can enjoy when the others are suffering (Cloud, 113).
Those who bully have been found to be unable to control their emotions. Inability to control emotions such as anger makes one to react to causing harm to others. The inability to control emotions is a major cause of bullying since people react out of hunger to intimidate others.
The family background of an individual influences the behavior of an individual and can make one to be a bully. An individual who comes from a family where the parents are so strict and antisocial is more likely to be bully others when at an advanced age. The people an individual grows up with influences the behaviors of an individual (Koehler, 342).
The peer group of an individual can make one engage in bullying. When the friends of an individual are people, who bully others, this person will find the act attractive and as a result, he/she will start practicing the behavior. Therefore, influence by others is a factor that can make one engage in bullying. Bullying is therefore a behavior that is learnt from other people.
People who have ever been bullied are more likely to bully others also. When people are bullied, they feel that they also have to do the same to others as a way of avenging. Therefore, whether one has ever been bullied or not determines whether he/she will ever practice bullying. These people have ever been hurt and they usually intent to direct this to other people so that the new people can feel how they also felt (Adams, 53).
Some television programmes induce some students to bully others. Programmes that demonstrate violence makes children to try what they have seen from these programmes. By practicing what they have seen, these students create fear in others and this is a form of bullying.
Bullying can lead to suicide among the children. These children feel disliked when bullied and this mental disturbance can make them decide to do anything to avoid the people bullying them. Study has shown that the disturbance that the children face when bullied can make them decide to commit suicide (Adams, 76).
The students who are bullied may find ways of revenging after they have adopted the new environment. Specifically, the students become familiar with the school environment after sometime, when new students join school, the students who have ever been bullied find a chance to revenge. These students end up causing harm to others.
The students who are bullied feel depressed even at class. When in class, they feel mentally disturbed such that they are not able to listen to what their teachers are saying. During the studies, these students also are disturbed such that they cannot concentrate in their reading activities. The effects are that these students end up performing very poorly in class. In case of employees, it becomes difficult to work together with others. They are not able to carry their activities at work well due to the disturbance they are facing at the work. These people end up performing poorly in the working environment (Dosani, 120). Those who bully also waste a lot of their time bullying. They even fail to sleep so that they can just attack the others when asleep. This affects their studies negatively and they may end up performing poorly.
The health of the students who are bullied can be adversely affected. These people find it difficult to eat and specifically, their eating patterns are altered. Since in most cases students and employees eat at the same place, the affected individuals find it difficult to eat comfortably eat with the people bullying them (Adams, 86). The mental disturbance of these people leads to health problems such as headaches and stomach aches. Medical attention may be sought by these people even though this illness is not natural.
The sleep of the people bullied is affected. Among the students, they fail to sleep for the longer part of their night due to fear of being attacked physically. These students also prefer to be not on bed to ensure that they are not attacked. When asleep, these people tend to have nightmares that wake them up. Bullying therefore affects the sleeping patterns of people, which can in turn affect the health of these people (Zande, 3).
Bullying can lead to fights in schools and work place. If the people being bullied react when attacked by the others, this may end up causing a fight between the people. These violent acts may lead to suspension from school and the employees may lose their jobs due to indispline. Student may therefore fail to pursue their education completely due to bullying activities.
Those who bully end up affecting the families they later make with the behaviors they have adopted. They use abusive language to their children and marriage partners. They may sometimes cause harm to their family members due to the same. This makes their family members fear them and they can therefore not socialize with them. Such things can make the children ran away from their homes. The marriage partners can also decide to go far away from their partners to avoid these violent acts.
Those who are bullied may find no interest in socializing. This is because they will always have negative attitudes towards new people they meet and this makes it difficult to make new friends. Engaging in social activities such as games may be difficult. These people may end up living a lonely life in the rest of their lives (Zande, 2).
Bullying can lead to dangerous behaviors in the society during adulthood. These children may engage in drug use at early ages and even during their adulthood. They also start sexual behaviors at very early stages. When old enough, these people may engage in criminal activities such as violence and stealing. This can lead to legal consequences that may see these people to jail. Drug use and sexual behaviors may increase the risks of health problems among these people.
It can be concluded that bullying is a bad habit that has negative effects to both the people being bullied and those bullying. It has also life time consequences on the two parties involved in the activity. It affects performance of duties, socialization, and the ethical conduct of individuals and the health of people. It also affects the relationships among the family members. It can be seen that bullying is a dangerous activity even though those who bully enjoy the suffering of others. It is important to put in place measures to stop the activity both in work place and in schools.
Annotated Bibliography
1. Adams, Beth. Confessions of a former bully. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
In this book, Adams Beth has interviewed various reformed bullies, particularly in elementary and high schools. Through these interviews, Beth Adams seeks to understand the reasons behind this bullying, from the bully’s perspective. From this perspective, it is easier to assist the specialists in in identifying ways through which the problem of bullying in schools can be addressed.
2. Cloud, John. “When bullying turns deadly: Can it be stopped?” Time Magazine. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2024210,00.html. Web. 29. Oct. 2012.
In this article, John Cloud critically analyzes bullying both in and out of school. However, he focuses more on bullying in schools, and the impacts they have had on students. At the same time, focusing on the schools in New York City, California and research from the US Department of Education, he has also analyzed the extreme cases that can result from bullying, and these include recorded suicidal cases, and the bullying reasons behind these suicidal cases.
3. Dosani, Sabrina. Bullying. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. Print.
In this book, Sabrina Dosani has identified bullying as one of the key challenges that various students in many schools have been facing in their education, Sabrina Dosani has not only addressed bullying in the United States’ schools, but also across other regions across the world. In order to have a good understanding of bullying in various regions across the world. Bullying by Sabrina Dosani is an ideal book to read.
4. Koehler, Kip. Aggression and bullying: it’s not just our wiring. New York: Wiley, 2012. Print.
This is a brief, 400-paged book in which Kip Koehler sees to explain bullying and aggression, especially among the youth. In this book, Kip Koehler explains that bullying is not a genetic condition, but a behavioral move that can be adopted and dropped at the same time, depending with the bully’s environmental setting. This book is ideal for psychiatrists, as they seek to guide reforming or reformed bullies
5. Zande, Irene. “Bullying in schools: seven solutions for parents.” KidPower (2012). Retrieved from http://174.120.29.12/library/article/bullying-in-schools/. Web. 29 Oct 2012.
Having identified bullying as one of the causative reasons that lead to over 60% of the suicidal deaths among students between the ages of 12 and 19 years, Kidpower has analyzed a seven-step solution that parents and teachers should adopt in ensuring that the vice is contained. At the same time, it advises students on what measures to take and observe, in order to repel and contain any chances of exposure to bullying.
