Contemporary Issues Teenagers Face Today: Bullying

Adolescence: Contemporary Issues and Resources
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Adolescence: Contemporary Issues and Resources - Bullying
Introduction
Bullying continues to be one of the major issues that greatly impact students’ well-being. The effects of bullying are extensive and are beyond what can be perceived physically. Bullying affects both the physical and psychological well-being of victims. It is a vice that seeks to break down a victim and leave them at the mercy of their perpetrators. Some of the effects of bullying include fear, depression, and the development of suicidal tendencies. Further, Al-Raqqad et al. (2017) note that victims of bullying also end up performing poorly in their academics. The researchers note that the psychological effects of bullying often end up negatively impacting the grades of a victim. Also, bullying is seen as a major stressor for adolescent boys and girls (Ostberg et al., 2018). The researchers note that bullying is “a source of substantial stress” for teenagers mainly because they end up maligned and cast as outsiders in a period when peer relations are quite crucial in life. These effects are quite substantial and necessitate action to help protect more students from falling victim to bullying.
It is crucial to understand that bullying as a vice is greatly influenced by external stressors that subject victims to increased levels of bullying. Examples are factors like coming from a low-income family, coming from a broken family (divorced parents), one’s sexual orientation, one’s race, one’s physical vulnerabilities, among other factors. These greatly influence how one relates with others as well as whether they end up becoming victims of bullying in school.
Assessment Strategies and Questions
In a school environment, it is possible for bullying to pervade without the teachers’ knowledge. Therefore, there is a need to have assessment strategies that will help uncover it as well as the external stressors that could be used as the basis for the same. One assessment strategy entails behavioral observation. Behavioral observation means that the school partners with parents to identify any unusual behaviors in the suspected victims of bullying. These could involve the development of new habits or behaviors. For example, a victim could become moody, withdrawn, or start engaging in delinquent behavior like alcohol abuse.
Aside from behavioral observation, physical examination is also an assessment strategy. Bullying is either verbal or physical. Physical bullying involves imposing injury to the body of a victim. When the behaviors of the suspected victim are deemed unusual, the next step should entail physical...