Bullying has become one of the most serious issues when talking about adolescent health. It is the fourth concern is the Top US Children’s Health Concern in 2013, but what exactly does bullying mean. Bullying is “defined in most school, state and federal legislation as intent to cause harm, repetition, and an imbalance of power” (Mansbacher P.24). Bullying can be portrayed in many different forms such as physical harm, name-calling, character assassinations, isolating victims from their peers, threats, spreading of rumors, taunting, use of technology to harass, embarrass or ridicule, continued exclusion from a group, and teasing
(Mansbacher P.24). According to the 2008-2009 School Crime Supplement, they report that during the school year …show more content…
There aren’t any specific factors as to why adolescents are victims of bullying. There is however an environmental aspect that will increase the chances of adolescents to be victims of bullying. These are adolescents who do not fulfill society’s perception of normal, such as, lesbian youth, gay youth, bisexual youth, transgender youth, disabled youth, and socially isolated youth. Approximately 6% of adolescents in grades 6-12 are victims of cyber bullying, 16% of high school students in grades 9-12 are victims of cyber bullying, and an astonishing 55.2% of LGBT youth in grades 6-12 are victims of cyber …show more content…
The psychology department of the University of Texas-Arlington conducted a study on teenagers that reported having experienced being bullied and as a result felt that they had become depressed. The study used questionnaires that asked questions in regards to how the subjects felt in general and then went on to measure the serotonin levels of the subjects to see if serotonin levels correlated with the answers projected by the subjects. Serotonin was focused on in this study because serotonin levels have long been associated with having something to do with moods in human beings. The study revealed that victims that reported having been bullied did indeed have higher levels of serotonin. Interestingly enough out of both genders females were shown to be more susceptible to the effects of depression in response to bullying than their male counterparts. The study also pointed out that for females any amount of bullying would lead to feelings of depression whereas for makes symptoms of depression only occurred after frequent episodes of bullying (Kolmek, 2011) Although there is many studies that demonstrate the correlation between bullying and later depression, there is not enough evidence to fully prove that bullying directly causes depression in victims much of the evidence that we have today is due to self-reported levels of depression in relation to bullying
(Mansbacher P.24). According to the 2008-2009 School Crime Supplement, they report that during the school year …show more content…
There aren’t any specific factors as to why adolescents are victims of bullying. There is however an environmental aspect that will increase the chances of adolescents to be victims of bullying. These are adolescents who do not fulfill society’s perception of normal, such as, lesbian youth, gay youth, bisexual youth, transgender youth, disabled youth, and socially isolated youth. Approximately 6% of adolescents in grades 6-12 are victims of cyber bullying, 16% of high school students in grades 9-12 are victims of cyber bullying, and an astonishing 55.2% of LGBT youth in grades 6-12 are victims of cyber …show more content…
The psychology department of the University of Texas-Arlington conducted a study on teenagers that reported having experienced being bullied and as a result felt that they had become depressed. The study used questionnaires that asked questions in regards to how the subjects felt in general and then went on to measure the serotonin levels of the subjects to see if serotonin levels correlated with the answers projected by the subjects. Serotonin was focused on in this study because serotonin levels have long been associated with having something to do with moods in human beings. The study revealed that victims that reported having been bullied did indeed have higher levels of serotonin. Interestingly enough out of both genders females were shown to be more susceptible to the effects of depression in response to bullying than their male counterparts. The study also pointed out that for females any amount of bullying would lead to feelings of depression whereas for makes symptoms of depression only occurred after frequent episodes of bullying (Kolmek, 2011) Although there is many studies that demonstrate the correlation between bullying and later depression, there is not enough evidence to fully prove that bullying directly causes depression in victims much of the evidence that we have today is due to self-reported levels of depression in relation to bullying