Bullying has become a national problem. Parents, schools and community leaders have addressed this epidemic by enforcing stricter standards to protect children and adolescents.
The effects of bullying behavior have negative long-term consequences for both the aggressor and the victim. Understanding the effects of bullying can protect adolescents and children while avoiding the creation of additional victims.
Parents expect schools to provide a safe and educational environment for their children to learn and excel academically. However, when a child or adolescent faces the threat of bullying, it can have a detrimental effect on academic performance.
According to Stop Bullying, students who suffer from harassment risk getting bad grades, as they often miss school to avoid physical or verbal aggression. Students who encounter bullying lose significant cognitive resources such as attention, concentration, and language skills.
Bullying children and adolescents become more likely to engage in antisocial behavior, engage in vandalism, and experiment with drugs as well as alcohol. Aggression starts building up among these kids and this aggression, if not stopped, can worsen as a child or adolescent matures.
Bullying teens are four times more likely than non-thugs to be convicted of a felony at age 24. In addition, bullying teens and children are more likely to develop antisocial personality disorders.
According to a BBC report, the effects of bullying can cause significant neurological problems for children and adolescents. Bullying can be psychologically harmful to teenagers and children - so harmful that it can cause a child to develop a mental illness.
Children and adolescent victims often report headaches, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. Children suffering from bullying may have reduced the connectivity of neurons in the brain, which may disrupt the growth of new neurons. Young adults who reported being bullied by their peers had abnormalities in the brain that affect visual processing and memory.
