The Effects of Bullying During Adolescence

Bullying is an issue that is especially prevalent during the middle and high school years. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 32 percent of students ages 12-18 reported being bullied during the school year in 2007. Many times, bullying incidents go unreported and therefore unnoticed by teachers, school administrators, and even family and friends of the victims. As students’ access to cell phones and the internet increases, cases of cyberbullying are also on the rise. In the past, bullied students could escape the taunts of their peers when the school day ended but today, bullied students are going home only to be bombarded with malicious comments via social media, email, and text messages. Although educators and school officials work to create an environment where students feel safe and welcome, bullying continues to occur. The question remains: what can be done about bullying?

The texts included in the following bibliography all deal with bullying in different ways, providing multiple perspectives on the topic. Texts include fiction and nonfiction titles, a 48 Hours Mystery special report on bullying, and an online anti-bullying organization developed by teens for teens. The text set is designed to provide students with the voice of those who have been bullied; many of the texts describe the devastating effects of bullying, from the viewpoint of the victim, as well as those close to the victim. The texts also touch upon the notion of being a bystander to bullying and the importance of standing up for those in need. The materials in this text set were put together to show students that if they or someone they know are being bullied, they are not alone.

This text set is intended for 8^th grade students, though many of the texts would be appropriate for any secondary teacher to use to teach students to think critically about the topic. However, due to the graphic content in several of the texts, such as Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and the 48 Hours Mystery special report, some of the materials in this text set are generally not recommended for students younger than 8^th grade. Overall, teachers could potentially use these texts to encourage students to analyze cause and effect, discuss personal choices relating to the topic, and make connections to their own personal experiences. Essential questions to consider through exploration of these texts include the following: 

• What constitutes as bullying?
• What are the effects of bullying?
• How can we respond to bullying?

Through incorporating these texts in the classroom, teachers can empower students by taking a stand against bullying.



Pixley, M. (2007). Freak. New York, NY:Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Freak by Marcella Pixley presents Miriam Fisher, a seventh grader who has always marched to the beat of her own drum. She recites poetry at the dinner table, spends hours writing in her journal named Clyde, and reads the dictionary for fun. Miriam knows that she is different from other kids her age. She reflects, “They like parties. I like poetry. They like brushing their hair. I like looking at my hair under a microscope. You get the picture” (p. 18). Miriam is an outsider at home and at school, taunted by her peers for being different and rejected by her sister, and former best friend, who has recently been accepted into the high school in-crowd. As she struggles to remain true to herself, Miriam feels continuously misunderstood by everyone around her.

Freak exposes the malicious actions and words of school bullies, uncovering the lasting impact that often haunts victims of such cruelty. Anyone who has ever felt as though they do not quite fit in will be able to identify with Miriam throughout the novel. The novel also demonstrates the danger of being a bystander, represented through the isolation Miriam feels when her sister and long-time crush do nothing to stand up for her when she is bullied.

Teachers could use this text in a variety of ways, as it is an excellent addition to any classroom or school library, as well as being appropriate for inclusion in any middle school ELA curriculum. The story intertwines humor with heartbreak while revealing how bullying can push someone toward his or her breaking point. Freak can be used as a transition into a bullying unit, as a way to get students thinking and talking about bullying. Activities coinciding with the reading of the novel could include students writing essays about tolerance, taking into consideration the overall message about how we should treat those who are different from us.

Ellis, D. (2010).We want you to know: Kids talk about bullying. Ontario, Canada:Coteau Books.

Through an anti-bullying community program, Deborah Ellis interviewed students ages 9-19, asking them candid questions about their personal experiences with bullying. In her book, We Want You to Know: Kids Talk about Bullying, students raise significant questions about the ways in which parents, teachers, and administrators deal with bullies. Reflecting on successful methods, as well as those that did not work, students describe how they were able to overcome these experiences to become advocates for the rights of others. In the final section of the book, Ellis encourages students to find redemption by replacing “the negative messages [of] bullying…with messages of courage and joy” (p. 97).

We Want You to Know: Kids Talk about Bullying includes the true stories of male and female elementary, middle, and high school students, all bullied throughout their experiences as adolescents. Through their personal narratives, these students describe how it felt to be excluded for being different, told they are not good enough, and pursued relentlessly for no reason. Young adult readers will be able to connect with the realistic accounts of students of varying ages, backgrounds, and walks of life.

Teachers could use the entire text, or selected stories, to teach students about the effects of bullying. Along with each of the stories, Ellis poses questions to her readers promoting critical thinking by asking, “What do you think?” Teachers could use these questions as a guide for a four corners activity where students take a stance on an issue relating to each situation. Incorporating these stories can enable teachers to foster discussions where students speak openly about bullying, including possible responses to the problem at individual, school, and community levels.

Asher, J. (2007). Thirteenreasons why. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why introduces Clay Jensen as he struggles to come to terms with the suicide of his classmate and crush, Hannah Baker. Two weeks after her death, he receives a package of thirteen tapes containing Hannah’s recorded words explaining the events leading up to her death. Each tape represents a different person, telling the story of how they affected her and ultimately became one of the thirteen reasons why she ended her life. The novel reveals the power of words, through Hannah’s voice lingering long after her suicide exposing how “everything…affects everything” (p. 202).

Thirteen Reasons Why demonstrates the psychological toll that bullying can have on someone during their adolescence. As Hannah’s story unfolds, she reflects, “When you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re messing with their entire life” (p. 201). Although the novel deals with many topics of a sensitive nature, such as sexual assault and suicide, it portrays teenage life in a brutally honest manner that is sure to reach readers who may be experiencing a similar situation in their own lives. Many adolescent readers will be able to relate Hannah’s experiences with rumors, gossip, rejection, and depression. The story acts as a warning of sorts, bringing to light the snowball effect that often happens as a result of bullying.

Although this novel may be tricky to teach in 8^th grade due to varying maturity level of thirteen-year-old students, it is an important book to have available to students in a classroom or school library. For teachers ready to address the difficult, yet extremely relevant, issues presented throughout the novel, Thirteen Reasons Why could be incorporated in a classroom unit on bullying. This novel presents teachers with the opportunity to encourage reflection about the topic of bullying when taking into account the essential questions. Students can explore the way in which Hannah’s life was impacted by those around her, while considering their own lives in connection with the novel.

Grau, D. &Rybak, J. (2011). Bullying: Words can kill. 48 Hours Mystery. Los Angelos, CA: CBS Studio Center.

The 48 Hours Mystery special report, “Bullying: Words Can Kill,” investigates the horrifying reality and deadly consequences of bullying. 48 Hours spent six months at a middle school in East Providence, Rhode Island, collecting footage in an attempt to document an accurate representation of bullying and the impact on students’ day to day lives. The report interweaves national statistics and stories that made headlines coast to coast with the personal accounts of six middle school students, all dealing with bullying on a regular basis.

Teachers can incorporate “Bullying: Words Can Kill” into a bullying curriculum in order to provide students with interviews of students who would be their peers at a middle school much like any other in the United States. While some of the material is shocking, showing this video to students will enable them to see, firsthand, the emotional trauma that comes along with being bullied. In the video, middle school student Johnny Cagno reflects, “You can be bullied for anything nowadays. You’re judged constantly, whether it’s your orientation, your clothing, how you look.” This text could be discussed in combination with current news stories relating to the topic, enabling students to consider bullying as an epidemic that is affecting the lives of students all across our country every day.

Preller, J. (2009). Bystander. New York, NY:Feiwel and Friends.

In Bystander by James Preller, Eric Hayes is having trouble fitting in as the new kid at school. When Griffin takes Eric under his wing and welcomes him into his group of friends, Eric finally feels as though he is starting to fit in. Griffin appears to be cool, confident, and popular – just the type of friend that Eric has been waiting for. However, as Eric spends more time with Griffin, the truth about his new friend is exposed; he is a thief, a liar, and a bully. Once Eric realizes who Griffin really is, he is faced with a dilemma. Eric must decide whether he should he stand up to the bully and risk becoming the target.

Eric’s relationship with Griffin exposes the tension that comes along with being a bystander of bullying. Bystander demonstrates how being a witness to bullying and not standing up for the victim can be just as damaging as being a bully. When Eric starts to realize the error in his ways, he ponders, “Bullies…why do we stand around and let it happen? “ (p. 127). Adolescent readers will be able to connect with Eric as he comes to understand that fitting in cannot be more important than standing up for what he believes in. As many middle school students are just beginning to figure out who they are and where they fit in, the message behind the novel is sure to get through to many young readers. 

This text is ideal for inclusion in a classroom or school library but could also part of any middle school ELA curriculum. Unlike many of the other texts included in this text set, Bystander is unique because the story is told from the perspective of the witness to bullying instead of the victim. It provides students with an alternative perspective that will get them thinking and talking about how they should react if they see someone being bullied.

Hall, M.K. &Jones, C. (2011). Dear bully: Seventy authors tell their stories. New York, NY: HarperTeen.

Inspired to take a stand against bullying, authors Carrie Jones and Megan Kelly Hall developed Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories, in which over seventy YA authors come together to share their stories as victims, perpetrators, and wordless onlookers to bullying. The result is a collection of powerful personal essays from authors such as Ellen Hopkins, Alyson Noel, R.L. Stine, Rachel Vail, Lisa Yee, and many more. Of Dear Bully, Jones writes on her blog, "There are truths in every single story that resonate...that pain is real, that actions and words can shatter us, and that it’s hard to remember how awesome you are when people are telling you that you aren’t." Every story in Dear Bully is unique; each author had a distinctive experience with bullying with one thing in common: they never forgot how it made them feel.

  

Adolescents will be able to relate to the painfully honest memories relayed throughout the book from some of their favorite authors. In her essay, “Love Letter to My Bully,” Tonya Hurley addresses her bully, “No matter how hard I tried to block you out, some of your insults, your criticism, stuck with me, eating at me, making me doubt myself, until I have no choice but to persevere and succeed” (p. 18). Dear Bully is an influential book for young adults to read because it provides various points of view about bullying, thus allowing readers to consider how bullying changed the lives of all of those involved, from the victim, to the bully, to the bystander.  

This text could be incorporated in any middle or high school English class, as teachers could introduce the stories to generate dialogue about what it is like to be bullied, to be a bully, or to witness bullying. The essays could also be used as writing prompts in which students are encouraged to write a letter to a bully or about bullying. Students could also write letters to the author of the story with which they identified the most. The website www.dearbully.com offers resources, such as a discussion guide for educators looking to use this book in their classrooms, as well as additional essays that were not included in the anthology.

Rigal, E.A. (2011). Hi, we’re westophate. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Westophate&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_454091&src_vid=bKF3Od2m-GY 

 

 

WeStopHate.org is an organization developed for teens by teens, acting as an outlet for those who have been bullied or know someone who has been bullied. Through their website, YouTube channel, and social media presence, WeStopHate is a movement that aspires to stop bullying through raising teen self-esteem. Those involved with WeStopHate “won’t put others down because they love themselves.”

By introducing adolescents to the WeStopHate organization, teachers can present their students with a network of teens around the world who have come together and made a pledge to stop hate. In the words of WeStopHate founder, Emily-Anne Rigal, “Stop hating on yourself, stop hating on others, stop letting others hate on you.” Teachers could incorporate WeStopHate in the classroom by participating in the LoveYourself blog, in which teens are encouraged to write a letter to themselves without saying anything negative. Through promoting self-esteem in the classroom, teachers are encouraging students to embrace the differences that make them unique.

Additional References

  

National Center for Education Statistics. (2010). Indicators of school crime and safety: 2010. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/crimeindicators/crimeindicators2010/ind_11.asp

 

Jones, C. (2011). Bullying: We all have stories. We all should listen. Retrieved from http://carriejones.livejournal.com/273900.html