EFFECT OF BULLYING ON KIDS AND ADULTS
Bullying is the recurrent misuse of power in relationships through verbal, physical, and/or social behaviour with the intent of causing physical, social, and/or psychological harm. It can entail one person or a group abusing their authority or perceived power over one or more others who cannot stop it.
Over time, bullying behaviour is repeated or has the potential to be repeated (for example, through sharing of digital records). Bullying can have immediate, medium, and long-term consequences for individuals engaged, including bystanders, in any form or for any reason. Bullying is not characterized as a single incident, quarrel, or confrontation between rivals, whether in person or online.
Bullied kids might suffer from physical, social, emotional, academic, and mental health problems. Bullied children are more likely to experience these:
- Depression and anxiety,
- feelings of melancholy and loneliness,
- changes in sleep and eating patterns,
- and a loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities are all symptoms of depression and anxiety.
These problems may last well into adulthood.
The repercussions of bullying on adults and children are very serious, both physically and psychologically, and some people can have mental scars for the rest of their life. Perhaps if officials, schools, and parents had a better understanding of bullying, they would take more proactive measures to prevent and resolve it. The issue is that while some children know how to defend themselves and refuse to be bullied, others do not, either because of their personality or because of other things working against them (culture, social support, economic capabilities, etc.). Also, some people are “mentally strong” and recover quickly, while others do not. Bullying can be motivated by a person’s color, weight, or gender, among other factors. It can take the form of verbal or physical abuse and involve things like spreading rumors, intimidation, threatening behaviour, and more, bullying’s impacts on children have been thoroughly documented.
Bullying can lead to despair, anxiety, weight loss, a loss of interest in pleasure activities, and sleep deprivation. It has the potential to be catastrophic in the long run.
Bullying’s impacts can continue far into adulthood, according to research, even if youngsters are resilient at the time of the bullying, the reprisal effect of such childhood experience in adulthood is almost inevitable.
The effects of bullying in kids, as well as adults, include:
- BULLIED PEOPLE ARE MORE LIKELY TO LACK EDUCATIONAL SKILLS, BE UNEMPLOYED, AND EARN LESS
Even after 40 years, the effects of bullying were found to have far-reaching ramifications, according to one startling study. According to the study, individuals who were bullied as children had lower educational levels. Women are frequently viewed as the weaker sex, yet men fared the poorest in this study. They were more likely to make less money and be out of work for longer periods. They also said they had less social support and were less satisfied with their lives.
- BULLYING CAUSES ‘TOXIC’ STRESS IN CHILDREN, WHICH IS HARMFUL IN ADULTHOOD
Our bodies can handle a certain amount of stress, but chronic, intense, and frequent stress in childhood has long-term consequences in adulthood. Our bodies secrete hormones called cortisol when we are stressed. This helps us cope in the near term by sharpening our memory and motor functions. Long-term cortisol levels, on the other hand, have a different effect on the body. Too much cortisol, according to studies, blunts the body’s response to stressful conditions. Not only that, but there’s evidence that too much cortisol alters the genes that control serotonin release (our happy hormone). The absence of this hormone is linked to depression.
- ISOLATION FROM OTHERS
When children are abused in school, they become more isolated as adults. According to studies, sufferers are less likely to be married, have a partner, have friends and family, and have a social life in general around the age of 50. Victims frequently encounter social issues, feel pessimistic about the future, and are less cooperative.
- SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
Although it is not the most common, it is a possibility and has been provided occasionally. Most harassed children or adolescents, on the other hand, do not consider suicide or engage in suicidal conduct. Harassment is rarely the sole cause, and other risk factors such as depression, family troubles, or traumatic past may play a role.
In general, the less social support a young person has, the higher his or her danger.
- BULLYING HAS THE POTENTIAL TO ALTER YOUR BRAIN STRUCTURE
Is it possible for early childhood bullying to alter the form of your brain? There is compelling evidence that it does, according to research. In one research, children who had been bullied exhibited significant variations in the size of their amygdalae. The amygdala is in charge of stress reactions, emotion processing, self-preservation, and memory processes.
The volume was higher in boys than in girls. Adulthood anxiety has been connected to large amygdalae. Another difference was that both boys’ and girls’ temporal and prefrontal cortexes were slimmer. These are critical areas for cognitive and information processing and behaviour regulation. Thinner temporal and prefrontal cortexes have been related to impulsive and risky behaviour, which is concerning.
- DEVELOPMENT OF PSYCHOSOMATIC ILLNESS
When a youngster or adolescent doesn’t know how to deal with his emotions, he may develop psychosomatic symptoms. Headaches, abdominal pain, bedwetting, and sleep difficulties have all been linked to mistreated children in studies conducted in Finland and the United States.
Sleep issues, particularly, are concerning because a youngster who comes to school tired will have difficulty learning. Furthermore, parents may begin medicating their child, believing it to be a medical issue when it is actually a psychosocial issue.
CONCLUSION
Bullied children are more prone to suffer from depression and anxiety, heightened feelings of melancholy and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns, and a loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities. These problems may last well into adulthood.
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