Bullying In Us Schools
...and High Schools into sharp relief. Incidents of violence seem to be more and more frequent in our schools. Columbine is of course the most memorable of these media sensations to be witnessed by the public, but there have certainly been others over the past decade. This has inspired a great many investigations into bullies,' their methods, and the effects on their victims. One study defined bullies as "youngsters who repeatedly use negative actions, such as physical or verbal aggression, against victims." (I. Pellegrini & Bartini M, 1999) What follows is an examination of some of these studies, and a pooling of their research and conclusions. It is the hope of many researchers, including this amateur, that a better understanding of bullying and it's causes can help to prevent some of the violent events of past years.
Reasons
There may be as many reasons for one child to bully another as there are bullies, but a review of several studies has found certain common themes, and many shared attributes between various bullies and various victims. The first and most easily understandable cause of bullying can be linked to the age of the subjects in question. The teenage years are difficult ones for most teens, partly due to biological reasons. Hormonal instabilities, initiated by the body to ready it for procreation, tend to play havoc with a teen's emotions. The overly reactionary teen who declares his or her parent is ruining his life' has become a stereotype over the years. Most of us can remember intoning those very words to our parents, and being very sincere at the time. Time and perspective helps us place incidents experienced during the teen years in a more realistic light, but often teens are incapable of this. They are children playing at being adults, but they lack the experience to view their lives in an even-tempered and reasonable way....
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