If there are people who consider bullying to be harmless child’s play, they are sorely mistaken. Victims of bullying may suffer from the consequences of this maltreatment throughout their lives. Bullying is “aggressive behavior or intentional harmdoing by peers that is carried out repeatedly and involves an imbalance of power, either actual or perceived, between the victim and the bully” (Wolke & Lereya, 2015, p. 879).
It is not confined to a particular country since cases of bullying have been reported worldwide (Chervonsky & Hunt, 2018). While bullies usually experience no health or psychological effects of their aggressive behavior, their victims have problems with “health, self-harm and suicide, schooling, employment, and social relationships” (Wolke & Lereya, 2015, p. 879). Neglecting the cases of bullying is a detrimental strategy since it condemns bullying victims to lifelong sufferings.
When children are subject to bullying by their peers, it affects their feelings and evokes negative emotions in the first place. It seems that the way people deal with oppression determines the severity of bullying outcomes. Studies show that victims of bullying often suppress their emotions (Chervonsky & Hunt, 2018). It encourages a perpetrator to keep on with his or her aggressive behavior because the victim does not let him or her feel empathy (Chervonsky & Hunt, 2018).
Consequently, a person subject to bullying is, in some way, stuck in the position of a victim. Since suppression is a common way of regulating emotions in victims, exposure to a large number of negative experiences aggravates adverse effects. According to Chervonsky and Hunt (2018), individuals suppressing their emotions are prone to have less social support and feel isolated from others. Thus, bullying frequently affects those having difficulties with handling their emotions properly and makes the matter even worse. Since victims often cannot cope with the maltreatment that they are exposed to, they develop various psychological problems. Sometimes, they believe that they deserve being bullied or lack the feeling of belonging (Stephens, Cook-Fasano, & Sibbaluca, 2018). Such thoughts may lead them to harm themselves or even to try to commit suicide (Stephens et al., 2018).
Bullied children have difficulties making friends and maintaining good relationships with other people, and in adulthood, they are prone to have no partner (Wolke & Lereya, 2015). They often feel insecure, so they may carry weapons in the hope of protecting themselves (Stephens et al., 2018). Some victims become bullies in response to teasing and subsequently may demonstrate illegal behavior (Klomek, Sourander, & Elonheimo, 2015). Thus, bullying affects victims’ mental state and prevents them from building strong relationships with others.