The Long-Term Consequences of Being Bullied or Bullying Others in Childhood

The Long-Term Consequences of Being Bullied or Bullying Others in Childhood

Victims

Victims of bullying are affected by various consequences beyond embarrassment and social isolation, with the harassment affecting their mental and physical health. Some victims experience serious and permanent distress, preventing them from effectively concentrating on schoolwork. Research generally indicates that the key trait of bullying consequences for the victims is its’ prolonged effect, with bullying altering a victim’s self-esteem in a formative age (Datchev et al., 2019).

It is not uncommon for children to skip school to avoid an encounter with bullies, thus interfering with the natural development. Pupils who have been consistently targeted by have on average more frequently attempted suicide, and suffered from a variety of mental disorders, with most prevalent ones being depression and social anxiety (Tsuang & Tohen, 2011). Furthermore, it was claimed that victimization remains on a multi-generational level, with former victims having children who become victims.

When discussing the proportions and scales of harm, however difficult it may be, it is evident that chronic victims of bullying bare the biggest burden. The term refers to a subset of school bullying victims who remain such even after changing their direct environment (Cicchetti & Cohen, 2016). Such social role is generally allocated to children in primary school, but, if prevalent in secondary school, it alters personal development of a pupil on physical and mental levels alike. Several studies suggest that some chronic victims are “irritating” or “provocative” because they react to the bullying aggressively, which is one of their coping strategies.

These strategies are subconscious, largely irrational and often involve socially unacceptable behaviours, such as lashing out with physical aggression. In these instances in particular, potential for auto aggression or self-harm becomes one of the prevalent health-related consequences for aggressive chronic victims (Smith, 2016). Furthermore, a child might engage in deliberately risky behaviour or seek out damaging restrictive substances, like alcohol or drugs.

Unfortunately, the aforementioned prevalence of anxiety and depression in the victims of bullying often contributes to their perception as easy targets. They are on average significantly more socially withdrawn and have trouble with controlling their emotions (Gillberg, Harrington & Steinhausen, 2009). Furthermore, impact on mental health and self-esteem often traps the victims in a form of abusive social relationships with their bullies, preventing them from changing their situation (Elliott, Fitz-Gibbon & Maher, 2020). Consecutively, large-scale consequences of school bullying can go far beyond the classroom environment and distinct period of time. For example, on a physical level being a victim of bullying can lead to a range of chronic disorders on all levels.

Various health-specific consequences of victimization in school include insomnia, prevalent nightmares, somatic pains, headache & migraines, gastrointestinal symptoms, nausea, and back pain. There is also an established link between being a bullying victim in high school and experiencing abnormal weight gain or loss or developing an eating disorder (Lever at al., 2019). Most of these findings are linked to the voluntary questionnaire responses rather than official medical diagnosis. Some, however, examine the direct and established connections between the aforementioned symptoms and the victimization at school.