Bullying and Its Influence on Suicidal Behavior

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. (Gov) Suicidal behavior among adolescents mostly originates from bullying. Bullying comes in many forms such as cyber, verbal, physical, and relational bullying. Cyber bullying is the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. (Oxford)

Social bullying involves spreading rumors about another person, purposely leaving someone out of an activity or group, or embarrassing a person in public. (Nobullying). Physical bullying includes hitting, kicking, tripping, pinching, and pushing or damaging property. Physical bullying causes both short-term and long-term damage. (Ncab) In the United States, bullying is the most common type of violence in schools. The United States' study of elementary students found that 19% were bullied. (Dake 1) Also, it is reported that bullying behavior declines as students progress through the grades

This research is important because bullying is a real issue in our society today. Many people, whether they know it or not, have either been a victim to bullying and or the perpetrator. I am asking myself these questions about bullying and suicidal intentions to gain further knowledge on the causes and effects of bullying. Bullying leads to trauma and has short and long-term effects. As an adolescent in this society, I have witnessed bullying first hand more often than I would like.

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Bullying like racism, is an elephant in the room that is often not talked about because of the uneasiness of the topics, I ask myself this question because I want to understand the statistics behind bullying in the United States in comparison to a world view. It is important to talk about bullying because it affects my community, peers, family, and friends. I cannot stress the fact that I can no longer be silent or a bystander. I will not make my community the victim to my crimes.

Eliminating bullying, would be difficult but researching the causes and effects helps me better understand bullying itself. Understanding how bullying leads youth to commit suicide is knowledge I was eager to obtain. I cannot wrap my mind around the vulnerability one must feel in order to take his or her own life. We tell ourselves every time when unfortunate events like these happen, "What could've been done to avoid this issue?".

Preservice Teachers' Responses to Bullying Scenarios: Comparing Physical, Verbal, and Relational Bullying written by Sheri Bauman and Adrienne Del Rio, talks about the difference between physical and relational bullying. Physical bullying gets more attention by teachers and adults because it is something that is easily recognizable, rather than relational bullying. "Victims of bullying have indicated that social exclusion was the worst form of bullying. although teachers tend to treat this as the least serious form. Although physical bullying tends to decrease with age, relational bullying does not".

This mentions how easy it is to make one form of bullying more significant than the other. We should be able to weigh both equally. Hence, physical bullying does have a long-term effect like relational, but both need to be addressed. It may be difficult to change relational bullying in regards to the fact that the victim may be accustomed to the social exclusion. I chose this quote because I feel it's necessary to mention the facts and evidence that can be easily overlooked. Social exclusion is severe and should gather as much awareness as physical bullying.

The Nature and Extent of Bullying at School, written by Joseph A Dake, James H, Price Susan k explains different causes and effects of school bullying. In the article, they talk about attitudes and perceptions when it comes to bullying.

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