Psychological, Physical and Social Effects of Bullying on Teenagers
Due to widespread bullying, teenagers are experiencing physical, social and
psychological crisis as an effect of teenage depression. Furthermore, teenagers who are in a
constant state of social and psychological crisis can eventually suffer from chronic depression,
which is categorized by medical professionals as a mental health disorder. Bullying is defined as
the act of consistently demonstrating unwanted and negatively dominant behaviors towards a
weaker -or perceived to be weaker- individual. Usually, bullies are assisted by others either
through direct participation by egging on the perpetrators, or indirectly via failure to intervene.
Very few teenagers are motivated and courageous enough to defend their peers who are being
bullied. Interestingly, many studies demonstrate that many teenagers who bully, do so to act out
personal frustrations and negative behaviors in a social environment. Many educators and
healthcare workers are cognizant of the impact bullying has on teenagers. In addition to
psychological deterioration and depression, bullied teenage victims easily fall prey to negative
long-term consequences which includes but is not limited to social and physical harm.
Although bullying has existed in the American society almost since inception, the advent
of technology and the sophistication of well- developed and easily accessible social media sites
has promoted a new aspect of bullying that has heightened to dangerous levels and remains a
challenge to contain. Due to the inability to control teenage bullying, the incidence of bullied
teenagers experiencing depression is increasing at alarming rates. Literature regarding online
bullying, known as cyberbullying, has demonstrated increased negative impact on teenage
victims’ psychological, social, and physical outcomes. (Schnieder, O’ Donnell, Stueve & Coutler
2010) conducted a study on cyberbullying which revealed that teenagers with low school
performance and school attachments had a higher likelihood of being victims of cyberbullying.
