By C. Stark
Real World Issue: Bullycide Collapse Psychological Perspectives on Real-World Issues
Describing the issue chosen for this discussion is bullycide. Bullycide has become an epidemic in our society, where a child is victimized, hazed, threatened, and/or humiliated by another child for their amusement, jealousy, anger, or not liking the victim (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). Bullying involves direct and indirect aggressive behavior that contributes to physical and verbal violence. Some researchers have hypothesized bullies have previously been victims themselves; hence, they suffer from psychological and psychosomatic issues escorting suicidal factors (Van der Wal, deWit, & Hirasing, 2003). Bullies cause depression and depression is the number on cause of suicide. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2007) has research studies that confirm a child commits suicide every 2 minutes and 3 seconds each day. This topic was chosen, due to being effected greatly by our children taking their lives, while feeling they have nowhere to turn and there is no way out of their situation. Many programs are starting to arise in our educational system, yet so much more must be done. A child should never feel that depressed or isolated to even consider taking their own life.
Conventional bullying felonious and victimization have been connected to isolation, peer denunciation, subdued self-esteem, deficient mental health, and other psychological and physiological conditions among our young populations (Crick & Bigbee, 1998; Forero, McLellan, Rissel et al., 1999; Hershberger & D’Augelli, 1995; Mills, Guerin, Lynch et al., 2004). When bullying is explained with psychological concepts it depends on the variety of bullying behaviors and from how mild to severe it is when causing harm to the victim. To explain the psychological concept of bullycide, it involves the self-defeat, depression, and humiliation of being under control of another child or group of children (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). Mentally, this will cause a child to start searching for a way out of their circumstance without running away from it. They find that suicide is the easiest, quickest way to escape their torment (CDC, 2007).
Most parents do not have a clue an incident or reoccurring situation during school has become such a troubling, psychological depression until it is too late to save their child by doing something to stop the harassment. Bully offending and victimization are both causes for suicidal ideation, yet being explained in the article; victimization scored 10% higher when statistical analyses were given to a large school, which was asked to take part (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). When offending another student, 34.1% reported they took part in or bullied a classmate by teasing, calling names, hit/kicked/pushed or shoved, spread false rumors, took money, destroyed their property, or threaten another student to do something they did not want to do; many confessed to having participated in more than one instance for two or more times (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). Victimization had the same questions asked, yet ended with a score of 44.3% due to the harsher treatment the victims were tormented. Bullycide needs resolution in our schools and our children need to be protected and saved from taking their lives.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2007). Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 56(35), 905–908. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5635a2.htm
Crick, N. R., & Bigbee, M. A. (1998). Relational and overt forms of peer victimization: A multiinformant approach. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 337–347.
Forero, R., McLellan, L., Rissel, C., et al. (1999). Bullying behavior and psychosocial health among school students in New South Wales, Australia: Cross sectional survey. British Medical Journal, 319, 344–348.
Hershberger, S. L., & D’Augelli, A. R. (1995). The impact of victimization on the mental health and suicidality of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths. Developmental Psychology, 31, 65–74.
Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2010). Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Suicide. Archives of Suicide Research, 14, 206-221. doi: 10.1080/13811118.2010.494133
Mills, C., Guerin, S., Lynch, F., et al. (2004). The relationship between bullying, depression and suicidal thoughts=behavior in Irish adolescents. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 21(4), 112–116.
Van der Wal, M. F., de Wit, C. A. M., & Hirasing, R. A. (2003). Psychosocial health among young victims and offenders of direct and indirect bullying. Pediatrics, 111, 1312–1317.
1 comment
The kids who suffer the most tend to be psychologically weaker, more anxious and less sociable. Humans are followers which is why in any context in life you will always find a leader who becomes dominant in that particular field. Anyone can be trained to deal with bullying. The problem is that parents and teachers don’t know how to teach the kids to deal with it.