What is Peer Bullying?
Peer bullying is a more common problem in childhood and adolescence, but it also occurs among adults. Aggressive behavior that usually involves intentionally hurting a person physically, verbally, socially or emotionally by their peers. This type of aggression can be repetitive and persistent and can cause significant harm to the person being bullied. Peer bullying can occur in face-to-face communication, as well as with the spread of today's technology, it has emerged with new forms such as cyber bullying. This type of bullying includes malicious behavior on messaging, social media, email or other online platforms. (Gürhan, 2017).
Effects
Emotional and Psychological Effects: Low self-confidence, lack of self-esteem and negative self-perception can be seen in people who are exposed to bullying. Psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts may develop.
Social Isolation: Those who are bullied may tend to withdraw from their social environment. They may feel insecure in friendships and avoid social interaction. This may prevent them from forming harmonious and healthy relationships with the society. Bullying can cause attention deficit, difficulty concentrating, and decreased motivation to learn.
Behavioral Problems: Individuals who are bullied may exhibit various behavioral problems such as anger, aggression or introversion. People who try to tolerate bullying may experience violent behavior in later ages.
Trust Problems: Individuals who are bullied tend to develop distrust of other people and society. This lack of confidence can negatively affect social relationships and personal success in their future lives.
Physical Effects: People who experience physical bullying may experience physical effects such as injury, pain or even permanent disability. Such traumas damage the self-confidence of the individual.
Loss of Self-Confidence: Individuals exposed to bullying may lose their self-confidence by thinking that they are constantly criticized. This may cause them to have difficulties in reaching their personal goals.
Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors: Unfortunately, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts may be seen in people who are exposed to long-term and severe peer bullying. For this reason, quick and effective interventions against bullying are vital.
Peer bullying not only affects the individuals who are bullied, but also those who do the bullying. Because bullies do not learn important values such as empathy and respect, they may have difficulties in social relations in their future lives and may be prone to commit crimes (Doğan,2010)
Reasons
Peer The causes of bullying are quite complex and multifaceted. It can arise from a combination of multiple factors and is often associated with individual, family, societal, and school-related factors.
Family Problems: If the families of bullied children experience problems such as violence, neglect, divorce, this may trigger bullying behaviors of children. Children who grow up in an environment where domestic violence is normalized may think that using violence is acceptable.
Parental Attitudes: The attitudes of families towards their children play an important role in the formation of bullying. For example, parents who tolerate or approve of children's aggressive behavior, rather than reacting to them, may pave the way for bullying to continue. . Bullyers may be under the influence of others around them and exhibit aggressive behaviors to comply with them.
Intolerance and Prejudice: Bullying can occur as a result of prejudice and intolerance against people of different cultures, ethnicities, or genders.
Monitoring and Imitation: Children, adults or They may exhibit bullying behaviors by watching and imitating the aggressive behaviors of the media. Understanding the causes is important to combat and prevent this problem. By focusing on the causes of bullying, educational institutions, families and all segments of society can create a more empathetic, understanding and loving environment and develop effective strategies to prevent bullying. (Doğan and Keleş, 2022).
Proposals for Struggle and Solution
All segments of society need to work together in order to combat peer bullying and find a solution.
Awareness and Education: It is important to raise awareness about the effects and harms of bullying in schools, families and society. Education programs should be organized on the harms of bullying and the society should be informed about this.
Playing an Active Role in Schools: Educational institutions should play an active role in the prevention and struggle of bullying. Students should be taught the importance of values such as empathy, respect and tolerance, and policies and programs to prevent bullying should be developed. Families should strive to understand their children's emotional needs and provide them with a safe environment.
Creating Social Support Networks: Children and youth who are exposed to bullying should have social support networks that they can trust. A friendly and loving environment can make them feel safe and supported.
Reporting and Responding to Bullying: Children who are being bullied should be able to safely report bullying to adults or education staff. Educational institutions, bullying case They should intervene quickly and effectively. >Promoting Empathy and Tolerance: Empathy and tolerance are powerful tools to prevent bullying. Educational institutions and families should provide opportunities for students to develop their empathy and tolerance skills.
Being a Role Model: Adults should be positive role models for children and young people. We should show empathy, respect and tolerance with our behaviors and teach children the importance of being a good person.
Not Accepting Bullying: Every part of the society should refuse to tolerate bullying and support those who face bullying. It is important to not accept and fight bullying in order to create a safer society.
As a result, it is the common responsibility of the society to fight against peer bullying and find a solution. We must work together to build a society built on empathy, respect and tolerance and ensure that our children and youth grow up in a safe and happy environment.
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