Bullying is prevalent in one’s daily life, whether the individual directly or indirectly experiences it. Sometimes, it is even quite common nationally or internationally, which makes it mortifying. Consequently, this has been shown to have positive and negative effects on an individual. Therefore, this is the reason why it is crucial to understand the causes and effects of bullying.
Several reasons influence a child’s perspective in becoming a bully to include social environment and bystander factors. Under the social factors is a family problem or problem with parents, which is the leading cause of bullying. There might be built-in aggression in correlation to the family problems that they vent through unhealthy ways, including beating up others or teasing relentlessly. This predisposes the child to become an aggressor three times than the others. A person with a poor sense of worth tends to bring others down secondary to insecurities, low self-esteem, and resentment. They seek higher grounds to uplift their spirit and stand by teasing one’s insecurities to hide their own. Next, environmental factors where the child is subjected to a violent and aggressive surrounding. The child may adopt these behaviors and inflict these on their peers. Last, the bystander factors are instances where children witness harassment or oppression. Studies have shown that only 19% of the 88% of children who witnessed bullying in playgrounds intervened with a bullying incident (Counselling Connection, 2011; Stopbullying.gov, 2020).
Aside from these, bullying can also be a result of personal, developmental, and socio-cultural differences. Bullies, who also become victims of bullying, often seek revenge on innocent people they think are lower