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How many of you have been bullied during school? If you're from the US, it's highly probable that you experienced it: Nearly 80% of American students report being harassed by their classmates. However, today's bullying has evolved far beyond simple pranks and is now entering much darker and more unsettling realms.
10. It Can Ruin Your Career Prospects
The traditional belief suggests that bullying is just a part of growing up, something we leave behind once we enter the workforce. However, studies reveal that this is not only false, but being a victim of bullying could prevent us from even securing a job in the first place.
In 2013, a team of researchers revisited a group of young adults who had been part of a bullying study fifteen years earlier. Now in their mid-twenties, the participants had seemingly moved on with their lives. However, a deeper dive revealed startling findings. Those who had been bullied in middle school were nearly twice as likely to be unemployed compared to their peers who hadn't experienced bullying.
Predictably, this had a ripple effect on the financial well-being of the victims. Those who had been bullied were much more likely to live in poverty and make poor financial decisions. To top it all off, they also faced health issues, which resulted in overwhelming medical expenses.
9. It Harms Your Mental Health
How many of you can still recall the most humiliating moments from your childhood? That time you embarrassed yourself by wetting your pants well past the acceptable age, or when a pompous teacher completely humiliated you? Now, imagine feeling that way about your entire childhood. It would be crushing, wouldn't it?
Recent studies suggest the answer is a definitive 'yes.' In a follow-up to the previous research, scientists explored the long-term effects of childhood bullying on mental health. Adults who had been bullied during their school years experienced debilitating anxiety and agoraphobia, as well as frequent panic attacks. On the other hand, those who had turned to bullying others as a response were often plagued by severe depression and panic. In essence, cruelty endured up to 15 years earlier continued to wreak havoc in their lives.
8. It Can Lead to Legal Trouble
It’s well-known that sometimes bullying escalates to the point where law enforcement gets involved. While we may expect bullies to end up on the wrong side of the law, it's surprising that victims of bullying also often face similar legal troubles.
Research has shown that enduring long-term bullying as a child increases the likelihood of being arrested later in life. And it’s not a small chance—one study found that nearly 25% of kids who were bullied will eventually find themselves behind bars.
The problem lies in the fact that late childhood and early adolescence are crucial years for learning social skills and how to integrate into society. If these formative years are spent being attacked and belittled, becoming a part of society no longer feels like an attractive goal. Children who are bullied long-term often shut down. They detach from the world around them, becoming resentful, angry, and bitter. As they reach adulthood, all that pent-up frustration tends to explode in the form of fights, minor crimes, and, often, imprisonment.
7. It Impacts the Entire Economy
But the consequences of bullying don’t stop with the victims themselves. Research shows that its effects ripple out to affect all of us, whether or not we were directly involved. Youth violence costs the U.S. economy a staggering $158 billion every year.
This massive cost figure comes from Plan International, a charity focused on children's rights. They reached this number by calculating the public funds lost due to children skipping school out of fear and the future earnings lost when students drop out to escape their tormentors. It's important to note that this is just an estimate; the true number is likely much higher. If accurate, this means the U.S. loses nearly double the federal education budget annually to bullying.
6. It Contributes to Sexual Violence
Many of us would think of childhood bullying and teenage sexual violence as completely separate issues. However, a joint study by the Center for Disease Control and Illinois University reveals a connection. Their findings support the existence of a 'bully–sexual violence pathway.'
In this context, 'sexual violence' includes actions such as pulling down clothing or groping. Fortunately, only a small number of children seem to cross the line from bullying to these behaviors. However, the researchers noted that as these children grow older, the issues often escalate, leading to more severe outcomes. Some bullies project their sexual impulses onto their victims, while others engage in sexual harassment to prove their heterosexuality, driven by fear of being perceived as gay.
5. It Increases the Risk of Suicide
Research suggests that adolescents who are bullied are about 2.5 times more likely to attempt suicide. What’s less known is that this risk persists throughout life. A 2007 study in the UK found that adults who were bullied during their school years were twice as likely to try to take their own lives later on.
The study followed more than 7,000 individuals, ranging from young adulthood to old age. It accounted for other factors like childhood sexual abuse, violent parents, and teenage runaway experiences. Even after controlling for these variables, the researchers found that bullying alone significantly increased the risk of suicide in adulthood. Essentially, bullying leaves a lasting impact. What might seem like innocent teasing at school can, in reality, become a lifelong burden with deadly consequences.
4. It Affects Everyone Involved
Up to this point, we've mainly focused on the lasting impact bullying has on its victims, but bullies themselves aren't immune to the consequences either.
On nearly every measure that matters, bullies fare as poorly as or worse than their victims. They're more prone to risky behaviors, experience worse financial outcomes, and struggle with social issues as adults. The only area where they perform better than their victims is health, and even then, they're still in worse shape compared to those who were never involved in bullying.
So, what’s the explanation? Is this just a case of the classic bullied-child-turned-bully story, where aggression stems from inner turmoil? Perhaps in some instances. But research shows that many well-adjusted, popular kids also engage in bullying. Shockingly, it seems the act of bullying may harm the bully just as much as it harms the victim.
3. It’s Part of Human Nature
Every society throughout history has had bullies in some form. If you're looking for someone to blame, you might want to look at evolution.
Bullying can be observed across the animal kingdom, and in primates, it plays a very specific role. Chimps or apes that fail to fit into the social group can pose a threat to everyone or at least make the group less effective at survival. So, a little bullying can help keep those outliers in check.
Humans no longer rely on strict conformity and absolute cooperation for survival, yet the impulse to bully remains. It’s simply a leftover instinct, like an appendix, poisoning the entire fabric of humanity. And we’re stuck with it.
2. Kids Actively Encourage It
If we, as adults, feel powerless to help kids who are bullied, it’s easy to think that maybe the students themselves can make a difference. But don’t get your hopes up: A recent study from UCLA showed that middle schoolers actually become more popular the more they engage in bullying.
This presents a major challenge for anti-bullying advocates. If children equate bullying with being the most popular kid in class, while standing up against bullying means risking your lunch money or getting beaten, they’re going to side with the bullies. In fact, the UCLA study found that only the top 2 percent of universally liked kids and the bottom 2 percent of universally despised kids are immune to the lure of bullying. For everyone else, acting like a bully is the fastest way to climb the social hierarchy.
1. We Can’t Solve It
By now, you might be feeling somewhat disheartened. But maybe there’s still hope? If we just invest enough in anti-bullying programs, everything will be fixed, right? Well, unfortunately, Arlington University suggests otherwise.
A study published in the Journal of Criminology analyzed over 7,000 students across 195 schools, both with and without anti-bullying initiatives. Surprisingly, schools that implemented anti-bullying programs had higher rates of bullying than those that didn’t. According to the authors of the study, events like “anti-bullying week” not only raise awareness about bullying but also unintentionally teach kids how to avoid getting caught after bullying someone.
While things aren’t entirely bleak, the researchers propose that more advanced programs could help uncover the complex dynamics between bullies and victims, allowing for customized prevention strategies. However, unless significant funding is invested, these initiatives are unlikely to get off the ground.
