Effects Of Bullying

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Effects of Bullying Our nation has reached a point of crisis. Over the past decade, concerns about bullying and its role in school violence, depression, and health concerns have grown. Bullying is a broad construct that covers a wide variety of behaviors from name calling to physical abuse, and it is associated with serious negative health outcomes (Fredland, 2008). Besag (1989) also described bullying as being “The repeated attack – physical, psychological, social or verbal – by those in a position of power, which is formally or situationally defined, on those who are powerless to resist, with the intention of causing distress for their own gain or gratification” (Fleisher, 2009). Millions of youth in the United States are involved in some aspect of bullying behavior. Studies show that between 15-25% of U.S. students are bullied with some frequency, while 15-20% report they bully others with some frequency (Nansel, 2001). Increasing rates of youth violence, including horrific violent school events, have brought national attention upon the phenomenon. In my paper, I am going to attempt to explain: What are some of the factors that influence bullying? What are some of the health risks of being bullied? And, what are some of the potential avenues for change? There are several factors that influence bullying. Bullies tend to pick on the people they don’t think fit in, maybe because of how they look, how they act, their race or religion, or because the bullies think their target may be gay or lesbian. Another factor that may influence bullying is that bullies tend to have difficulty making friends, and they do gain a certain level of popularity and peer status for their actions. It is possible that bullies may be enjoying more respect and admiration from their peers, and bullying behavior, especially among boys, can often be considered normal behavior (Dehaan,

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