The family, especially parents, play a significant role in building the attitude and behaviour of a child. The different parenting styles applied by parents influence the child’s behaviour. The ability of parents to create time and openly talk to their children about stressful events affects their children’s attitude towards bullying. Children raised by loving and caring parents are less likely to become bullies, whereas parents who neglect their children risk the development of bullying behaviour. Further, domestic violence is another family factor that can lead to bullying behaviour (Bowman, 2018). Children raised in an environment with domestic violence copy the violent behaviour from their parents and are angry and aggressive towards their peers. However, children from physically violent families can also become victims of bullying since they can develop fear and resentment from the poor living conditions in their homes. Parents should understand their impacts on their children’s lives since they absorb any positive and negative behaviours.
Individual factors
Individual factors play a critical role in bullying. The urge to acquire more power and exert it on weaker individuals significantly contributes to bullying. The desire to elevate the status quo results in bullying. Adolescents and teenagers are mostly affected by this factor since they develop self-identity and shape their lives (Bowman, 2018). Further, the hormonal imbalances and physical changes associated with the adolescent stage develop bullying behaviour to gain popularity among their friends. Individuals who develop shyness at this stage are often bullied since they cannot fight back. Further, the inability of individuals to cope with social stressors can lead to bullying as a way to release stress.
Race and religious minority
Despite laws to protect racial and religious minorities, they are still bullied and discriminated against; bullies target the weak and the vulnerable in society. Therefore, racially and religiously marginalized communities fall victim. Members of the mainstream community disregard marginalized groups as they feel superior to them. The black race is mostly affected by bullying (Bowman, 2018).
Black children in school are segregated and are given fewer opportunities to further their studies compared to whites. Additionally, the whites give the black people insulting names lowering their self-esteem.
The stereotypes about certain marginalized religions and some races further lower their social capital and make it difficult to access social amenities. These marginalized races also face harassment from the people in authority. In the United States, most black people are profiled and followed around by security guards in stores since they assume that all black people are thieves. This discrimination crosses over to the criminal justice system (Bowman, 2018). The police handle black people brutally when they suspect them of crime. Similarly, the justice system passes the verdict without enough evidence as many black people are stereotyped as criminals.
The financial status and background
The financial well-being of individuals also affects the social capital of an individual. Wealthy people are less likely to be bullied since they have high social capital. In schools, students from low-income families are often predisposed to bullying since they have less social capital. Studies have shown that most bullies and their victims come from low economic backgrounds (Tippet & Wolke, 2014). However, some other students from wealthy backgrounds mistreat the poor students and exploit them to do their assignments since they are accustomed to having everything done for them. Additionally, most poverty-stricken neighbourhoods have high crime levels, and people living in such areas develop bullying attitudes to protect themselves from criminals.
The media
The media in our world today has greatly influenced the direction of bullying. Bullying has shifted from face-to-face modes of bullying to the use of social media to bully others. In the United States, most students have embraced social media, and they use the media to embarrass and humiliate their peers. The media has proven to be an effective way to spread rumours due to its speed in reaching many people. This bullying mode has led to very serious consequences, and many young people have committed suicide due to social media bullying.
The media has also contributed to bullying through the airing of violent movies and films aired on TV stations. Such films do not seem to encourage bullying on the surface, yet they promote bullying in subtle ways. Some movies aired to promote the formation of social groups and manipulation of the weaker to remain loyal to the group. Some
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