Bully and Harassment
Although bullying is commonly dismissed as "part of growing up" or "kids being kids," consider the child who is bullied on a daily basis, whether physically, socially, or online. Consider Rebecca Sedwick, a 12-year-old who committed suicide in Florida after being bullied by two young girls for a year. Rebecca took her own life because the bullying was so severe and unpleasant to her. Consider the 8-year-old boy who writes to Santa Claus to complain about his twin sister being tormented because of her weight: "Greetings, Santa... I used to want a (remote control) automobile and a helicopter, but I no longer do. My sister is still being picked on at school, and it's not fair... I begged that they would cease, and she is in desperate need of your assistance." Bullying is a common kind of youth violence, especially in school environments. It is defined by aggressive behavior (i.e., intentional and mean behavior) that occurs regularly over time and in the setting of a power imbalance, as seen in the examples above. Although both are destructive to children, there is a distinction to be made between bullying and aggression: if two children of comparable strength, size, and social position have an occasional quarrel or fight, this is aggression, not bullying. Due to the unequal balance of power and influence that is so widespread in teenage relationships and peer groups, most school-aged children are exposed to bullying in some way. According to studies, bullying and harassment in schools rises in late childhood and peaks in early adolescence, particularly during middle school, and occurs in unstructured settings such as the cafeteria, hallways, and playground during recess. Students require a safe and positive environment at school. This minimizes their tension and potential violence, allowing them to concentrate on the learning that will help them succeed in life. Fortunately, students and school personnel may take steps to minimize bullying and harassment in the classroom and to improve the school climate. Working with bullies and victims alone will not change the culture of school violence. Everyone — students, teachers, administrators, and parents — must take persistent and coordinated action. There has been a greater focus on youth who have been bullied because of their sexual orientation. According to a nationwide survey of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) students conducted in 2014, 84.6 percent of LGBT students have been verbally harassed, 65 percent have heard homophobic remarks, and 40.1 percent have been physically assaulted at school in the previous year because of their perceived or assumed non-heterosexual sexual orientation. This could be attributed in part to a school culture that tolerates bullying. According to research, homophobic taunting and insults account for a high percentage of bullying among kids, and a nationwide school climate survey found that teachers intervene less when homophobic statements are made than when racist or sexist remarks are made. LGBT students and their straight peers need to attend school in an environment that fosters acceptance and prohibits the use of derogatory language. If LGBT youth are victims of violence, they will require help from their families, schools, and communities in order for the violence to stop. To better understand the sentiments and reactions of LGBT youth who have been victims of violence, school workers and therapists should use a trauma-informed approach to care for them. Bullying is common among overweight and obese children, who accounted for more than one-third of all children in 2010. According to a meta-analysis, overweight children have a 20% higher chance of being victimized by their peers, whereas obese kids have a 50% higher chance of being victimized by their peers when compared to their average-weight peers. Victimized youth who are fat or overweight have a higher risk of internalizing symptoms than victims who are of normal weight. According to another study, socioeconomic characteristics had no bearing on whether or not an obese child was bullied; they were just more likely to be bullied than their non-fat or overweight classmates. Bullying isn't only confined to their classmates. According to research, instructors and even parents may discriminate against overweight and obese children. Because of their young age, the effects of bullying based on physical appearance can have a wide range of social, emotional, and academic ramifications, in addition to the health risks that overweight and obese children already experience. Cyberbullying is on the rise among adolescents as a result of more technology availability and less adult oversight. Cyberbullying is defined as the use of technology such as telephones and the internet to engage in repetitive, intentional aggressive acts, both verbal and relational, toward a targeted peer. Because, unlike conventional in-person bullying, parents, teachers, and other trusted people are unlikely to witness or overhear cyberbullying, it is more difficult to detect. Adults also underreport cyberbullying because they are afraid of losing their technological device or social media access. The following are the most common forms of cyberbullying: Texting on Social Media
Messaging through the internet
Gaming on the internet
Individuals are often humiliated, harassed, or threatened as part of cyberbullying conduct. Sending nasty text messages, embarrassing posts on social media, and sharing hurtful videos on platforms like TikTok and Snapchat are all examples of this.
Because the emotional impacts on the adolescent being tormented are just as devastating as traditional in-person bullying (relational, verbal, and physical), cyberbullying is just as dangerous as traditional in-person bullying. Victims of cyberbullying may experience worry, depression, stress, low self-esteem, and behavioral issues during and after their victimization. Many children and teens who are cyberbullied are also bullied in person, according to research. Bullying then occurs at school or in other in-person social settings, and it spreads into the home via electronic devices, making the problem all-encompassing. Because the emotional impacts on the adolescent being tormented are just as devastating as traditional in-person bullying (relational, verbal, and physical), cyberbullying is just as dangerous as traditional in-person bullying. Victims of cyberbullying may experience worry, depression, stress, low self-esteem, and behavioral issues during and after their victimization. Many children and teens who are cyberbullied are also bullied in person, according to research. Bullying then occurs at school or in other in-person social settings, and it spreads into the home via electronic devices, making the problem all-encompassing.
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Mental Health
According to the current State of the World's Children report, issued this week by the United Nations children's organization UNICEF, at least 13% of people between the ages of 10 and 19 have a diagnosed mental-health disorder. This flagship study is the first in the organization's history to address the difficulties and opportunities for preventing and treating mental health problems among young people. It illustrates how complicated, understudied, and underfunded adolescent mental health is. A series of review articles released this week in a variety of Springer Nature journals echoes these conclusions.Anxiety and sadness account for more than 40% of mental-health issues in children and adolescents (ages 10–19). Suicide is the fourth most prevalent cause of mortality among adolescents (ages 15–19) worldwide, according to UNICEF (after traffic injuries, TB, and interpersonal violence). Suicide is the biggest cause of death for young people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and it is the second-highest cause in Western Europe and North America. Unfortunately, psychological suffering among young people appears to be on the rise. Depression rates among a nationally representative sample of US adolescents (aged 12 to 17) increased from 8.5 percent to 13.2 percent between 2005 and 2017, according to one study1. In several nations, there is also preliminary evidence that the coronavirus pandemic is worsening this trend. Adolescents (ages 13–18) reported significantly greater symptoms of mental ill health during the pandemic than their peers before it, according to a statewide study2 from Iceland. Girls were more likely than males to experience these symptoms. Despite the fact that the majority of mental-health illnesses begin during adolescence, UNICEF estimates that only one-third of mental-health research funding goes to young people. Furthermore, the research is fragmented – scientists participating tend to work within a few major fields, such as psychiatry, paediatrics, psychology, and epidemiology, and linkages between research and health-care services are sometimes strained. This means that effective preventative and treatment options are limited, and there is a lack of understanding of what works, when, and why. This week's roundup of review papers delves into the current state of knowledge about interventions for preventing and treating anxiety and depression in young people aged 14 to 24 - both those that work and those that don't. Young people with lived experience of anxiety and depression were co-investigators in some of the studies, helping to design and implement the reviews as well as analyze the results. Selected serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which increase serotonin levels in the brain and are meant to improve emotion and mood, are the most popular treatment for anxiety and depression around the world. However, their limited efficacy and significant side effects3 have prompted researchers to investigate alternative physiological processes that may be involved in juvenile depression and anxiety in order to create new treatments. Researchers have been looking into the possible links between depression and inflammatory illnesses like asthma, cardiovascular disease, and inflammatory bowel disease, for example. This is because many adults with depression also suffer from anxiety disorders. Furthermore, there is evidence that altering the gut microbiota during development in mice reduces behaviors linked to anxiety and depression in humans4. This shows that focusing on the gut microbiota throughout adolescence could be a potential way to help young people cope with anxiety. Kathrin Cohen Kadosh and colleagues from the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK, analyzed current evidence of therapies that changed diets to target the gut microbiome. These were found to have a negligible effect on the anxiety of young people5. However, the authors advise caution before drawing such a conclusion, citing methodological flaws (such as small sample sizes) in the research they examined. They believe that the next round of research will require larger-scale clinical trials. Researchers, on the other hand, have discovered that, under certain conditions, boosting young people's cognitive and interpersonal abilities can be more helpful in avoiding and treating anxiety and depression - though the explanation for this is unknown. According to Marc Bennett of the University of Cambridge, UK, and colleagues6, a concept known as 'decentring' or 'psychological distancing' (that is, encouraging a person to adopt an objective perspective on negative thoughts and feelings) can help both prevent and alleviate depression and anxiety, though the underlying neurobiological mechanisms are unknown. Furthermore, Alexander Daros and colleagues from the Campbell Family Mental Health Institute in Toronto, Canada, present a meta-analysis of 90 randomized controlled studies. They discovered that assisting young people in improving their emotion-regulation abilities, which are required to moderate emotional responses in challenging situations, helps them cope better with anxiety and depression7. However, it is still unclear whether these changes are the result of greater emotion management or the cause of them.
By rayden n fincher4 years ago in Education
📢 Raise Your Voice Thread: 01/08/2026
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By Raise Your Voice by Vocal7 days ago in Resources
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