Bullying: the New Epidemic for Teenagers

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Bullying: The New Epidemic for Adolescents/Teenagers One of the major topics that have affected adolescents and teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18 is bullying. Bullying can be defined as “the ongoing physical or emotional victimization of a person by another person or group”. Many people believe that bullying is only physical, however it can also come in the form verbal, emotional and the newest addition is cyber. Either way it is wrong and cause severe damages to a person ego, self esteem and self worth and can sometimes lead to suicide. When we think of the forms of bullying we need to understand that verbal bullying consist of name calling, teasing, and spreading rumors usually, while physical bullying consist of hitting, spitting, and even kicking someone, locking someone in their locker or even cornering them in the hallway, emotional bullying is more subtle than verbal bullying, the purpose of this type of bullying is to make a person feel isolated and alone in order for them to feel ostracized. All of these types of bullying can lead to serious problems amongst teens, it is hard enough for adolescent to make friends and build a sense of security while in school especially since this is a place where most of there is spent. Most adolescents that have experienced bullying are the top of their class and have taken their education seriously, however this behaviors can deter a person from even wanting to come to school. There is no specific gender that gets bullied, however girls gets bullied more than boys. Some other targets are those who are physically different in race, body size, socioeconomic status, the way they dress, students with disabilities like Down syndrome, or having physical limited abilities. Targets of bullying may also have low self esteem and gay, lesbians or adolescents and teenagers that are still questioning their sexuality.

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