Bullying among adolescents hurts both the victims and the perpetrators

Posted on June 25, 2019

About a tenth of adolescents across the globe has been the victim of psychological or physical violence from classmates at least once in their lives. New study by researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) has shown that victims and their perpetrators both suffer because of these attacks.

Researchers have found that victims and their perpetrators will both be inclined to consume alcohol and tobacco, more likely to complain of psychosomatic problems and an increase in their chances of having problems with their social environment.

Findings revealed that adolescents’ behaviour and problems are similar in all 3 countries of the USA, Greece and Germany. Approximately 9% of boys and girls had repeatedly experienced physical or physiological attacks from other students. Researchers were also interested to find out the connection between bullying from students and various other factors. They focused on the adolescents’ risk behaviour, especially their alcohol and tobacco consumption, and if they had suffered or were still suffering from psychosomatic complaints like stomach-aches, headaches, back pain or depression. Scientists further analysed how perpetrators and victims interacted with their social environment.

Results showed that boys and girls are just as likely as each other to consume alcohol and smoke cigarettes when they have been the victim of verbal or physical attacks. They have also realised that girls are slightly more inclined to internalise problems and therefore have more stomach aches or headaches.

Findings have shown that perpetrators and victims both mentioned similar problems with their environments. Both groups found it difficult to have a conversation with their friends and both that they have little support from their environment. These findings could be sued to devise new prevention strategies – focusing more on the communication between adolescents to improve the atmosphere in classrooms and increase mutual support so as to reduce bullying among adolescents.


Category(s):Child Development

Source material from Science Daily