I-What about bullying?
School is the major territory of socialization for children, and as far of adult middle, this is the perfect terrain for the birth and development of hostility and judgment. This can lead to bullying, who define as a repeated physical, mental, psychological, or sexual aggression between students, and more specifically a student or a group of students against another student (or his group). These aggressions are regular and include actions like threat, insults, name-called, exclusion of someone in a group, hitting or take someone’s things. This list is not exhaustive, via new technologies who transport bullying from school to home.
For a lot of people, school bullying is always a game between children and an exaggeration from the victim. But in 2019, UNICEF organization esteems 700 000 students are victimized in France, with different percentage in function of grade: 12% of bullied students are in primary, 10% in middle school and 4% in high school. Another study talks about the reduction of school bullying, with 5,6% in 2018 for 7% in 2015. But it is important to consider the part of children whose do not know they are bullied or whose do not want to say they are, even if in an anonymous study.
There is no profile type for the author or the victim, anybody can belong to one of these groups. However, some element of psychological profile can be determinant to the appurtenance of the victim’s group. A psychological fragility, a lack of self-esteem or self-confidence, a victim who became an author, are some example of factors whose predict the situation. The age of children is not a determinant factor. In fact, bullying can begin at the littler age, it is just in the form it changes.
So, if we do not deny the existence of school bullying and consider this situation like traumatic for victims, we need to understand the repercussions on victims, author, and environment (family, school…).
II-Psychological and social repercussions
Bullying have repercussions on the victim whose are invisible to the naked eye, but they exist and cannot be relayed to the closet, on pretext this is past. Troubles can appear at short-term, at medium-term and long-term. Nature’s troubles are various: physical, social, and psychological.
In short-term, these troubles can appear on behaviours (fading, vomiting, headaches, growth arrest…), or by relational isolment. In this second case, the child closes in on him, he does not share his feeling (distress, misunderstanding, feeling of abandonment…) and what he lives. At middle-term, these troubles can take the form of anxiety-depressive disorders with guilt-feeling about the situation, renouncement to have help. They can also take the form of scholar failure with frequent absenteeism, memory’s troubles, etc. The fear to came at school is frequent and can lead to scholar phobia whose is a real disability for a child. Violent and suicide behaviours can appear too at this time of the situation and can lead to severe consequences. At long term, when the child is a teenager and an adult, socialization’s troubles (bad self-esteem, depression, relational vulnerability…) and psychic troubles (suicide, social phobia, addiction…) can be the result of school bullying.
If school bullying is a terrible situation for the victim, it is important to not avoid the author and the reason of his behaviour. Indeed, author and victim are similar in their psychical fragility, so school bullying have also impact on the author.
In short-term, a lack of empathy, a dependence to the violence and the need to have a good self-esteem are the most consequences for the author. More he will bully; more he does not understand the gravity of his act. Moreover, the violence he demonstrates help him to have a good self-esteem and keep him in a psychic security. Sanction against him violate his self-esteem, so he needs to repeat violent behaviour and feel good again. At middle-term, the relation with adult and other children and scholar success become difficult because of sanction and exclusion, and his behaviour will be strengthened to make him strong again. At long-term, delinquency, social troubles (difficulty to make relationship, trend to use violence on their companion and their child) and depression (because of the lack of self-esteem who is graduate by strong behaviour against someone).
Author and victim are not the only character on the scene of school bullying. Indeed, witnesses are always present. They can be other child or even family and school organization. In fact, the situation has also consequences on them like feeling to practice violence in impunity, the fear to become the victim, the feeling of cowardice and guilt.
III-How prevent it?
This problematic situation needs the intervention of adults and specialist of this kind of situation. We sew before the fragility of victim, author, and witnesses, in fact, the intervention against school bullying need to be in the knowledge of possible consequences.
The government has established a prevention plan in 2018, in free access. This plan explains some points to fight the school bullying phenomenon, like the necessity to integrate this problematic in the pedagogical program, sensitize children and the pedagogical team to this problem and assure the right for everyone to the scholar justice. Family are not outside this plan, so they must be formed to recognize sign and talk about the situation…
In another point of the education, it is necessary for students to learn about emotion and empathy, to reinforce self-esteem. Indeed, the lack of empathy and a bad self-esteem is a big criterion for a child to become a bully. Education are not the only point of action. A psychological follow-up is necessary for everyone and notably for the victim and the author to understand the situation and help each to go out of this situation.
Also, it is necessary to fight representations of school bullying in the adult psychic. Like we said earlier, school bullying is often seeing like a game, a joke, between students. But it is not that and most of non-intervention came from this offset reality: they do not realize the gravity of the situation and do not understand the consequences, at short-term as well as long-term.
In conclusion, school bullying needs an intervention on multiple points, which should not be neglected. Students, school, and family are all victim and author if they do not act against this phenomenon.