Indonesia
The Dangers of Bullying on Children's Mental Health
Many cases of bullying that occur in school and home environments involve perpetrators and underage victims. According to the results of a study by the National Consortium for School Character Development in 2014, acts of bullying occur in almost every school in Indonesia. However, only a few cases of bullying are reported to the education sector. Of course this is very disturbing for parents, teachers and teaching staff. Bullying is a very detrimental action. Both victims and perpetrators of bullying are at risk of experiencing the negative effects of bullying. Indeed, what are the impacts?
Types of bullying
Bullying is any physical or mental violent behavior carried out by one or more people by attacking or intimidating other people. This violent behavior usually affects children and teenagers who are physically weaker than their peers.
Bullying itself can be grouped into 6 categories, namely:
- Direct physical contact. Examples include hitting, pushing, biting, grabbing, kicking, slapping, locking someone in a room, pinching, scratching, squeezing and destroying other people's things.
- Direct verbal contact. For example, threatening, embarrassing, degrading, disturbing, name-calling, sarcasm, put-downs, mocking, intimidating, cursing, spreading gossip.
- Direct nonverbal behavior. This includes looking sarcastically, sticking out your tongue, showing condescending, mocking or threatening facial expressions. Generally, this type of bullying is accompanied by physical or verbal contact.
- Indirect nonverbal behavior. The act of silencing someone, manipulating a friendship so that it breaks, deliberately isolating or ignoring someone, and sending anonymous letters.
- Cyberbullying. Technological progress turns out to have a negative side. Hurting other people using electronic media, such as sending intimidating video recordings and writing malicious comments on social media, is classified as cyberbullying.
- Sexual harassment. Sometimes, acts of harassment are categorized as physical or verbal aggressive behavior.
The impact of bullying cases on victims
The bullying behavior above can cause various negative effects for the victim, including:
- Mental disorders, ranging from sensitivity, overwhelming anger, depression, low self-esteem, anxiety, decreased sleep quality, desire to hurt oneself, to suicide.
- Using illegal drugs.
- Not enthusiastic about going to school.
- Learning achievement decreases.
- Withdrawing from the social environment so that you cannot interact with other people.
- Become a bully too (bully-victim) or take revenge.
Bullying victims often feel unsafe, especially when they are in an environment that allows bullying to occur. The impacts above will most likely carry over into adulthood.
“Repeated bullying can cause decreased self-confidence and depression, and even the risk of suicide in children. "Other problems such as mental health disorders or substance abuse, the impact can even last into adulthood," said Dr. Irma Lidia, Jovee team doctor.
Not only psychological health, the negative effects of bullying can also be seen from physical complaints, for example headaches, stomach aches, muscle tension, palpitations or fast heartbeat, chronic pain.
Changes in behavior as signs that a child is being bullied
Children who are bullied will generally lie and hide the facts. Therefore, as a parent, you must be astute in observing changes in your child's behavior, such as:
- Decreased appetite
- Suddenly having no friends or avoiding social interactions
- His belongings are often lost or destroyed
- Insomnia
- Ran away from home
- He looks stressed when he comes home from school or after checking his cell phone
- Wounds appeared on his body
If your child shows these characteristics, try talking to him privately. Start the conversation in a gentle way so that they want to express their feelings. Emphasize that they do not deserve to be treated that way. Also explain that you will always be there for them.
Tell your child how to respond to bullies, for example avoiding them when they meet them. Dr. Irma also suggested that children tell their teachers or parents. As much as possible, don't teach your child to retaliate against the perpetrator for harsh treatment.
Even so, you need to encourage your child so that he remains tough, confident and continues to socialize with his other friends.
The impact of bullying cases on the perpetrator
It turns out that not only the victim, this action also has a negative impact on the bully. Teenage bullies are at risk of experiencing long-term psychological problems. This disorder can carry over into adulthood if not treated properly.
Bullies can grow into unhappy individuals. They also tend not to be able to control their emotions, so they will have difficulty building social and romantic relationships.
In general, bullies are divided into two groups, namely pure bullies and bully-victims. Pure bullies are bullies who have no experience of being bullied. They have high self-confidence with high self-esteem too. Pure bullies tend to be aggressive, have a strong character, are impulsive, have no empathy, have low frustration tolerance, and have a strong need to dominate others.
By bullying, pure bullies will think that they are in power. If left untreated and untreated, bullying can turn into violence against children and criminal behavior.
Meanwhile, a bully-victim is a bully who was previously bullied. It is likely that they will feel depressed, anxious, restless, lonely, and impulsive until adulthood. They are also known to bully more often than pure bullies.
Just like victims of bullying cases, bully-victims are also at risk of having thoughts of self-harm, suicide, depression, anxiety and antisocial personality disorders.
Bullying is a very detrimental action. Not only for the victim, but also the perpetrator. If the victim experiences more effects on psychological health, the impact of bullying on bullies is classified as criminal behavior. Apart from that, the perpetrator can grow up to be an aggressive, temperamental person and be rude towards other people.