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Many people have been bullied in school; some of them even remember the name of the boy who bullied them at school. Studies have shown that those people, who were frequently bullied during their schooling, face a lot of problem in the latter part of their lives. Many studies regarding this have been undertaken at various well-known institutes and report that adults who were bullied during their schooling days will face problems.
One of such studies was undertaken in 1958 where children between the age of seven and 11 years were assessed. These children were subject to frequent bullying at their school. The research team conducting this study then followed up with them when they turned 23 years old, again at 45 years of age and then finally at 55 years.
Based on their studies, they found out that people who were bullied at school faced mental and physical health issues. These people also had problems in making friends later in their life. The report also put light to the fact that bullied people also had issues with their physical and cognitive health. The team also found that bullied people would not be able to keep jobs or remain unemployed for long periods.
Another study in this area also had the same indications. The study showed that bullied children also known as bully victims were low in self esteem and could be easily aggravated. These people also had problems maintaining a social circle and were not popular among the peer group. Majority of them had a six times increased chance of contracting a serious ailment. Most of them also used to regularly smoke and even developed psychological disorders.
Many of the people who were bullied during school time also did not finish their education and dropped out of school early and were always drifting through jobs and were earning less and in some cases even below poverty.
These two and many other studies done in this area point to the same thing that bullying is not a harmless thing, it can affect people in a lot of way and while it may seem a fun activity, it has wide repercussions in the later stages of life.
What about Bullies?
While bully victim faces problems afterwards in their lives, the one who is bullying may also face problems. Although they don’t face the same problems that bully victims face, there may be mental effects that could happen to them also. These people mostly develop an aggressive behavior if things don’t go their way. They are also manipulative and try to bend situations according to their preference.
During their later stages of life bullies can take the illegal route and commit offenses, they are more probable to get fired from their jobs, abuse substances and get into fights easily.
The New Age
Some of these studies undertaken on this matter were done some time back, some even before the age of the Internet started. Nowadays another trend of bullying has caught up and that is ‘cyber bullying’. It is using information technology to harass or bully people. Today social networking is on its peek now and even teenagers are connected to the whole world. This being a boon has also ill effects on the mental health of the child.
Bullies these days often use cyber bullying as a medium to harass other children. These normally happen via tests, e-mail, posting to blogs and websites etc. A study on the subject cyber bullying found out that suicidal tendencies were high among the bully victims and some high-profile suicide cases were also reported related to cyber bullying.
What role do the parents play?
As stated bullying is not harmless and can lead to various mental issues to the bullied victim which would cause them problems for the rest of their lifetime. Parents should always talk about these issues with their children and tell them not to lose self esteem and report to the school authorities if they are being bullied. Various states have passed laws and policies related to cyber bullying.
If proper steps are not taking during the childhood, the effects of bullying will haunt a person for their whole life and cause many issues. Parents should talk and encourage their children not to indulge in bullying as the effects of it are on victim as well as the bully.
