Bullying is an aggressive behavior directed towards someone who is not part of a social group and get away with it using force, threat, intimidation, coercion or aggressively dominating others. The behavior is often habitual and repeated, rising due to power imbalance where a bully uses popularity, physical strength or aces to information in harming others. Although many people believe that school bullying has decreased, statistics have shown that the vice has increased incredibly, enhanced by technology that has facilitated the online form of harassment. The purpose of this essay is to bring more awareness on bullying while informing on the damaging effects of both verbal and cyberbullying. The article will also discuss the risk factors of bullying victims and its effects on teenagers. I am sure every one of you has experienced harassment on at least one occasion or dealt with this social problem. Whatever form of bullying, it is wrong and has to stop as it has real adverse effects on the victim’s life.
Why do students bully others in school? Many reasons explain why individuals decide to harass and harm other students either verbally or through the internet. Ignorance of the consequences is one of the top causes for cyberbullying where individuals fail to realize the damage caused by their games on a victim. Such bullies lack empathy on the victims and hide behind creating fear and intimidation on victims. Secondly, a lack of understanding from bullies is a reason behind rampant cases of school bullying, shown when an individual shows hatred and prejudice against the race, religion or sexual orientation of another person ( Wilton & Campbell, 2011) . They may believe bullying is one way of excluding wrong behavior, especially when they do not agree with someone’s personality.
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Bullying can be categorized into offline that involves verbal or physical harassment in the school environment and online through cyberbullying. Verbal bullying occurs regularly in many schools across the country, usually involving ringleaders and a few followers ( Menesini, Calussi & Nocentini, 2012) . On the other hand, cyberbullying has grown into a rampant social problem in schools that has spread due to technology. Cyberbullying is presented as merely an online version of verbal harassment using technology since online bullying is a direct extension of the intimidation happening in school grounds ( Smith et al., 2008). However, both forms of bullying target the cognitive and mental state of a person and often affects their psychological health. Studies have shown that cyberbullying has surpassed the amount of offline verbal bullying with over 80 percent of adolescents experiencing harassment in one way or another ( Smith et al., 2008) . This is a worrying trend considering the effects that bullying can have on an individual.
Furthermore, prejudicial bullying has gained prominence in recent years, where teenagers are targeted because of their religious practices, the color of the skin and sexual orientation. Such forms of bullying often arise from stereotypes that a person develops towards people who are different from them after feeding on misguided information ( Minton, 2014) . Therefore, individuals are picked on whenever they don’t fit in a social group, maybe because of their appearance, behavior or other demographic characteristics. Victims of prejudicial bullying experience both verbal and cyberbullying in schools affecting their academic performance.
Girls are more likely to be targets of bullying in schools than boys, presenting a situation of the bullying gender gap with the social vice. Women are often of a weaker gender and may not stand out for themselves. Studies have shown that females are particularly vulnerable to bullying, especially from other women or from men ( Minton, 2014) . For example, cyberbullying us much more common among women as shown when more girls report being targeted by cyberbullying as opposed to boys. The bullying can be in the form of objectification or sexual harassment as well as body shaming from bullies suffering from personality issues. Another report showed that girls are twice as likely as boys to be victims of bullying in primary school, with verbal bullying taking a significant role through malicious gossip from other females. This bullying can take a toll on the psychological health of a child among other risky consequences.
Members of the LGBTQ are also targets for bullies in schools. Studies have shown that the most brutal bullying incidences have involved children harassed due to their sexual orientation. Such individuals rarely get substantial support from the community and are therefore highly vulnerable to bullies. They experience both verbal and cyberbullying due to their sexual orientation that may entail name-calling and humiliation, affecting such teenagers and may contribute to depression or suicide ideation. Sometimes this bullying goes to extreme measures when a person is taunted because of their mode of dressing or how they act. There have been reports of children being bullied because of being lesbians, homosexuals or transgender, often treated as outcasts and ostracized from peer and social groups ( Minton, 2014) .
Disability is also a factor for bullying where children with special needs such as ADHD and learning disabilities experience bullying more than their typically developing peers. These children usually have problems concentrating in class or doing normal things and may be on the receiving end of bullies. The children with autism are also three times more likely to be victims of bullying than non-disabled peers, and this behavior is usually persistent and typically associated with their disability ( Scherr & Larson, 2009) . Bullying on kids with a disability has more negative implications than other cases of harassment since they struggle with self-esteem and self-confidence issues. As a result, such children are more likely to develop depression or suicidal thoughts. At the same time, children with disability are less likely to stand for themselves, which makes them more vulnerable to bullying than their developed peers in school. Studies have also shown that children with disability are bullied more frequently than their peers due to having a low tolerance for frustration ( Scherr & Larson, 2009) . As such, any form of bullying can have adverse effects on their social skills and psychological lives due to disabilities.
The race is other major risk factors of bullying victimization seen when a teenager is targeted because they are of a different race. In the United States, there have been reports of white students singing out and bullying black children due to their race. While it happens to all races, the most disadvantaged individual are those from minority racial groups such as blacks and Asians. A survey on school bullying reported that over 50 percent of young black students claim to have been bullied in one form or another due to unprecedented prejudice arising from misguided or learned belief ( Menesini, Calussi & Nocentini, 2012) . Such students studying in a white-dominated neighborhood have to deal with constant hate for no other reason other than being different. Some bullies have been made to believe that a particular group of people deserve to be treated differently and will show their prejudice through bullying. Racism is still a significant factor in the United States and has been enhanced with racial bullying in schools, where individuals are singled out and bullied because of their race, ethnicity or skin color ( Scherr & Larson, 2009). Most victims have been African Americans, Chinese and even Italian children in US schools.
Another risk factor of bullying victimization is the religious and cultural beliefs of a person. It is common for teenagers to be bullied for their religious beliefs in the United States, especially targeting Muslims and Jews. There have been many cases of children ridiculed for their religious beliefs and practices, often receiving hatred for their identity rather than what they do. This usually arises from a lack of understanding about the views of different faiths, where they are taunted and teased about their religious beliefs. Muslims, in particular, have been vulnerable since the 9/11 terrorist incidence under the assumption that they are all terrorists ( Scherr & Larson, 2009) .
Ok, let us discuss the impact of verbal and online bullying on students and the psychological implications on a child. Bullying is associated with affecting the mental health of students and capable of altering their adult lives. It is a significant cause of depressive disorder among teenagers in schools, with studies showing how bullying victims have conditions that qualify to meet the criteria of mental disorder. Teenagers are in a stage where their brains are developing, and any negative energy directed to them has the potential of affecting their adult lives. At the same time, bullying has been reported to affect the school environment, especially for the minorities substantially. Studies have shown that 15 percent of children have been absent from school out of fear of being bullied while others have been forced to change schools as the only way to get away from the harassment. At the same time, the bullying affects self-esteem and self-confidence of victims, making them feel like losers and contributing to a low quality of life.
In conclusion, this paper has addressed both verbal and cyberbullying that has become prevalent in schools and the risk factors. The implications of bullying in schools can be devastating to students affecting both their health and academic achievement. It has direct impacts on school engagements and may harm the school learning environment affecting overall performances. This issue needs urgent interventions that entail developing anti-bullying initiatives to put the problem to an end. In this regard, this problem should be addressed as early as possible before it may get out of hand to create a favorable learning environment. There are several ways that institutions can play a part in dealing with the social vice of bullying. For example, the institution can have students sign a social contract is agreeing not to participate in any form of harassment or risk getting an expulsion. Students can be involved in making a positive change to stop bullying in schools by conducting an anti-bullying campaign to raise awareness on the issue. The awareness campaign can include showing the impacts of bullying on a school environment and how it can affect the lives of students ( Menesini, Nocentini & Palladino, 2012) . Inviting counselors specialized in anti-social behavior to speak to the students about the effects of bullying can be another initiative to bring the vice down. At the same time, since most students are afraid to report incidences of bullying experience by fearing to become targets, an initiative to create an anonymous email system for reporting can help take down the bullying vice.
References
Menesini, E., Calussi, P., & Nocentini, A. (2012). Cyberbullying and traditional bullying. Cyberbullying in the global playground: Research from international perspectives , 245-262.
Minton, S. J. (2014). Prejudice and effective anti-bullying intervention: Evidence from the bullying of “minorities”. Nordic Psychology , 66 (2), 108-120.
Scherr, T., & Larson, J. (2009). Bullying dynamics associated with race, ethnicity, and immigration status. Handbook of bullying in schools: An international perspective, Routledge, New York , 223-34.
Smith, P. K., Mahdavi, J., Carvalho, M., Fisher, S., Russell, S., & Tippett, N. (2008). Cyberbullying: Its nature and impact in secondary school pupils. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry , 49 (4), 376-385.
Wilton, C., & Campbell, M. A. (2011). An exploration of the reasons why adolescents engage in traditional and cyber bullying. Journal of Educational Sciences & Psychology , 1 (2), 101-109.
