Bullying has been going on for years and it has serious effects on the bullied individual later in life.
Being involved in bullying can be either beneficial or harmful, depending on how victims recover from the situation. A few celebrities have made a living after being the victims of bullying as a child. However, children being bullied and the ones who are the bullies have been proven to have a higher chance of growing up to be poor, unhealthy adults than the next Academy Award winner.
“These kids are continuing to have significant problems in their lives, years after the bullying has stopped,” said William Copeland, an associate professor at Duke University School of Medicine. “To my surprise at least, there were some very strong long-term effects on their risk for depression, anxiety, suicidality, a whole host of outcomes that we know just wreak havoc on adult lives.”
A study conducted in 1993 tested the health of 1,273 children ranging from the age of 9 to 13. This study was conducted annually for about 8 years, until the children were teens and young adults. The results of this experiment showed that about a quarter of the children were bullied, another 8% were the bullies, and about 6% had been both bullied and the bully.
Based on a survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 20% of high school students from 9th grade to 12th were bullied back in 2011.
Victims of bullying have a higher probability of growing up to have more problems physically and emotionally than the average adult. According to NPR (National Public Radio), they are most likely to be in poor health due to smoking, drinking, job issues, and poor relationships with family and friends.
However, based on studies, the ones causing the pain suffer as well.
Bullies are most likely from unstable, unsustainable families with financial problems. This creates an unbalanced atmosphere for them to grow up in. Bullies are more likely to drop out of school and end up being less educated than their classmates. This lifestyle could create more problems for the bully as an adult.
An initiative to stop bullying is to join together and be mindful of what you say to others. Whether it’s through a text message or Twitter, it is still considered bullying.
