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Bogart and the Bogart Team are interested in the cumulative effects that bullying has on a person. The second part of the current research consisted of reviewing NCPC-sponsored projects addressing school-based bullying. Both parts of the present study will inform future NCPC funding and knowledge-building efforts in the field. The 87 school-based anti-bullying projects included in this study received funding from June 1, 1998, to March 31, 2003.
The reports were followed by reports of bullying at middle schools , combined schools , and elementary schools . Perhaps not surprisingly, children at the middle schools reported the highest levels of bullying . Among 7th-grade students with poorer health status, 6.4 percent were not bullied, 14.8 percent were only bullied in the past, 23.9 percent were only bullied in the present, and almost one-third were both bullied in the past and present.
The physical health effects of bullying may be immediate, such as injury, or may include longer-term effects, such as headaches, disrupted sleep, or somatization.1 However, the longer-term physical effects of bullying may be harder to identify and to relate with the past bullying behaviors, as opposed to being a result of other causes, such as anxiety or other negative childhood events, which may also produce physical effects into adulthood . The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that children who are bullied may experience lasting effects that stem from physical, social, emotional, and academic problems. Being bullied can cause kids to feel really bad, and the stress from dealing with it can leave them feeling sick.
The good news is, kids who are bullied can learn how to change the way they behave. Bullying makes schools a scary place, which leads to violence and increased stress for everyone. It can be severe no matter how old or where bullying occurs. In addition to its immediate harmful effects, a peril with racialized bullying is that it may result in a hate crime.
Other bullies might not actually realize just how harmful their actions could be. When most bullies pick on another person, it makes them feel bigger and more powerful.
Getting a bigger response from someone can make the bully feel they have the power that they want. A bully may say mean things to someone, pick up the childs belongings, mock someone, or intentionally exclude the child from a group. Kids also can advocate for one another, telling a bully to stop making fun of someone, or frightening the other person, then walking away together.
If you see bullying happening at school, take action: Tell an adult, advocate for the child being bullied, and tell the bully to stop. Who to Contact If Your Child Is Bullied in School When your child tells you they are being bullied, stand by them. Consider taking your child to see a family therapist, so you can equip them with tools for dealing with going to school while bullying is not resolved. Check in with school regularly to see how the school is handling the bullying.
Teachers, principals, parents, and school lunchroom attendants all have the power to prevent bullying. Across all age groups, school-based anti-bullying programs should include a definition of bullying, discussions about how bullying affects everyone, and steps students can take to address bullying at their schools .
Pepler and Craig stressed the importance of engaging students in the intervention at an early stage in developing an entire schools anti-bullying policy. Policy 5.9 was developed by the district working group, which included district personnel, school personnel, as well as community and parent partners. The School Board of Broward County has one of the nations most comprehensive policies on anti-bullying.
This evidence may provide further motivation for continuation of an anti-bullying policy past its initial period of implementation, or for expansion of its enforcement in other schools. In this section, the Committee reviews the research regarding the physical, psychosocial, and academic outcomes of those children and youth targeted by bullying. In addition, students emphasize the importance of addressing root causes of abusive behavior, and they propose potential solutions including peer mediation, after-school programs, and anti-bullying training.
Communication and information technologies make it possible for bullying to happen everywhere -- whether young people are at school, home, or the community. Targets of cyberbullying never have a safe space, as bullies are able to access them anytime, anywhere. Make it a point to walk to school, to recess, to lunch, or anywhere else where you think you may encounter the bully.
Potential Long-Term Effects of Bullying If your teen has been bullied, or witnessed bullying, he will not forget about it easily. Some kids who were bullied might think bullying will make them popular, but they will quickly learn other kids only see them as trouble-making losers. When fans told Madelaine Petsch on Riverdale they were being bullied, I reminded them that what they were being bullied about at that moment was what made them unique.