Question

Discuss how bullying effects emotional and personality development in middle and late childhood. Identify changes in peer relationships in middle and late childhood and how bullying affects them. Consider Cyber Bulling, Bullying related to Race or Sexual Orientation, Bullying related to physical appearance, and Bullying that takes the form of social isolation or exclusion.

Answer 1

Bullying can be defined as mistreatment of victims by perpetrators that may cause either emotional or physical harm. It is a persistent pattern and unwelcome by the one being bullied. Bullying has become common and an almost a regular part of childhood. It becomes a legal issue, when it transforms into harassment, (based on ethnicity, race, gender, disability, origin, sexual orientation, privacy, etc.). Bullying comes in four forms:

1. Social - Lying, spreading rumors, nasty jokes, rude comments, damaging reputation, social isolation or group exclusion, etc. are categorized in this form of bullying.
2. Cyber - This has become 2nd most common form of bullying with the advancement of technology. This includes messaging, texting, posting, etc. of rumors, negative comments, social isolation or group exclusion, stalking, etc.
3. Physical - This type of bullying is very common during childhood (elementary schools). This type of bullying includes pulling hair, kicking, beating, flipping skirts, etc. This form of bullying has physical impact and is physically hurtful.
4. Verbal - This is the 1st most common form of bullying. This bullying is seen everywhere, in every stage of life. This includes hurling remarks (based on appearance, origin, race, etc.), intimidating, teasing, inappropriate comments, insults, etc.

Causes of bullying are many. The common factors are:

1. lack of empathy,
2. imitating of their culture (some cultures promote bullying),
3. due to wrong idea (real men should show strength),
4. feeling of jealousy (when someone is more favored, or someone stands out)
5. frustration (due to pressure of studies, family, or peer pressure)
6. Peer pressure and no following punishment working as reinforcer to such behavior
7. attention seeking

EFFECTS

Bullying has a wide range of effects on physical, emotional and development of kids. It affects both victims as well as the perpetrators.

Psychological effects

The victims may become emotionally withdrawn both from society and peers. They will have trouble interacting and trusting their peers. Other than trust issues, chances of anxiety, stress and depression are also there. This can be seen through their academic performance, sleep issues, appetite, mood swings, avoidance, health issues, and displeasure in activities (dysphoria). These unresolved issues can lead them to either developing a hostile personality or a inferior personality. If they end up becoming hostile, they will become delinquents, rebels or even someone who becomes a terrorist (shooters, child recruits of rebel groups or terrorist groups). Developing an inferior personality leads to them being a loser, giving up easily, a poor performer, and someone with low self-esteem. When it becomes unbearable they will end up committing suicide.

Bullies will also have problems all their lives. They will be dominating, violent and disrespectful. This will cause them to have trouble with having friends. They may end up being delinquents, drop out and they usually have legal issues later on in life. They also end up having similar effects on personality depending upon how they get associated with their peers. If they become isolated they will end up having an inferior personality, while having peers who encourage their acts will lead them to having hostile, cruel and manipulative personality. They are at greater risk of having an antisocial personality disorder.

Relationships and adulthood

For victims, relationships become hard as they are unable to trust and form relations. They will always view themselves as weak, and inferior in everything, unable to view self as capable or confident. This makes it hard for them to win friends or get a partner later on in life. They will have unsuccessful relations and adult life due to inferiority complex. Their complex will also lead them to have unsatisfactory performance at work and in situations where perseverance is needed. They will be loners and have less of a positive attitude which will be one of the factors for forming relations (nobody likes someone who is always negative and acts like a incapable and dependent person) the other being trust.

For bullies, life will be just as unsuccessful and hard as it is for the victims. They will find that in life violence, aggression and manipulation will not get them everything they want. Bullies will try to dominate in relationships causing others to move away from them. If they feel they cannot get what they want by domination, they will resort to manipulation, and violence. This will lead to people isolating them. All these actions will come in the way of having a stable job, relationships and even friends. Bullies have a tendency of dropping out, engaging in early sex, and adopting other mal-behaviors that is generally shunned by society. And getting into legal troubles will make it harder for them.