“Bullying is when someone (or a group of people) with more power than you, repeatedly and intentionally use negative words and/or actions against you, which causes you distress and risks your well-being” (Nicholson). Physical, verbal, social, and psychological bullying affects the bully, the victim, and their peers in different ways, This can be long term and short term, emotionally, physically, mentally and in life threating ways. “A child is bullied every seven minutes” (Allen). Although many people like to think bullying is just apart of growing up, bullying is serious and is affecting students’ life every day.
“Bullying is portrayed in many different ways; there is more than just one type of bullying, there are actually a lot of different types. Bullying may be physical, verbal, social, or psychological” (Nicholson). The different types of bullying can affect the victims of bullying in different ways. Physical bullying leaves visual proof and scars. It is when aggressive contact has occurred between the bully and his or her peers. Physical bullying can be hitting, punching, kicking, pushing, scratching, wrestling, or biting. Physical bullying can injure the victim. Verbal bullying is when the bully uses language to hurt feelings and make his or her peers feel bad about their self. Although verbal bullying leaves no visual scars, it can leave deep emotional scars for the victim. Verbal bullying can include name calling, insulting, and teasing. Verbal bullying is nonphysical, so many don’t think it’s very serious, but verbal bullying is very cruel and can also leave deep emotional scars that the victim has to deal with. Another nonphysical type of bullying is social bullying. Social bullying is when the bully is intentionally hurting others over and over, for example, gossip, spreading rumors, making fun of the way your peer speaks or dresses, laughing at him or her, talking bad about anyone, or hurting someone’s feelings purposely to be cruel. Social bullying is very common. Social bullying often is seen between teenaged girls. Another dangerous and devastating form of bullying is psychological bullying. Psychological bullying is when the bully’s intimidation changes into mental abuse. This may put the victims’ life in danger. Psychological abuse may include stalking, sending threats, or abusing the victim. If the victim feels his or her life is in danger it’s considered psychological because it may cause mental health problems to the victim. Psychological bullying can be very common with girls who are in a relationship with an abusive boyfriend. The different types of bullying help others to see how serious bullying is and how far it’s being taken. Every type of bullying is dangerous and cruel. Bullying can get very serious but bullying is not considered a serious issue, even though it most certainly is. Many think bullying is no big deal, no threat and that it is just a part of growing up. They are wrong. “Students who were involved in school bullying have significantly higher risk for suicide ideation and suicidal behavior when compared with individuals who were not involved in school bullying” (Young, Kims). Bullying can affect the victims’ physical health, emotions, self-esteem, and mental health but bullying can affect the victim in other ways. Bullying is bullying; it is hurtful and wrong no matter what type and the victim isn’t the only one being affected. Bullying affects the victim, the bully and the students who witness the bullying.
Most think bullying only affects the student who is being bullied, which is not correct. Bullying affects’ the victim, the one being bullied, and also affects the one who is responsible for the bullying, the bully. “Students who are bullied have trouble paying attention in in school. They suffer from low self-esteem, they often become very sad” (Feltes). Being bullied effects how well the student does in class during