Problems of Well-BeingBy: Alyvia Sipidias and Ashley Brown

BULLYING

WHAT IS BULLYING?

As outlined on the Ontario’s Government website, bullying isdefined as, “a form of repeated, persistent and aggressivebehaviour directed at an individual or individuals that isintended to cause fear and distress and/or harm to anotherperson's body, feelings, self-esteem or reputation (ONTARIOGOV).

TYPES OF BULLYING

•Hitting, kicking, tripping, pinching, and pushing. Physical

•Also called "relational bullying". Includes behavioral actions designed to harm a child’s reputation or cause humiliation, like lying and spreading rumors, negative facial gestures, playing mean jokes to embarrass or humiliate, mimicking in a mean way, encouraging social exclusion, etc.

Social/ Emotional

•Using words to hurt someone. Includes name-calling, insults, teasing, intimidation, homophobic or racist remarks, or verbal abuse.

Verbal

•Includes taunting or humiliation through social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) or the Internet, cruel websites targeting specific youth, humiliating others while playing online games, verbal or emotional bullying through chat rooms, instant message or texting, posting photos of other youth on rating websites, etc.

Cyber

•making jokes about a persons race or making fun of the way that they dress or the foods they eat. Racial

•making fun of the sexual orientation of a person (LGBTQ)Homophobic

STATISTICS OF BULLYING IN CANADA

75% of people say that they have been affected by bullying

47% of Canadian parents report having a child victim of bullying

The rate of discrimination experienced among students who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans-identified, Two-Spirited, Queer or Questions (LGBTQ) is three times higher than heterosexual youth.

60% of males who bully in school have criminal records by 24

Girls are more likely to be bullied on the Internet that boys

Peers are present in 90% of bullying incidences.

When peers intervene, most incidents stop within 10 seconds.

40% of Canadian workers experience bullying on a weekly basis.

78% of Canadians believe that not enough is being done to stop bullying in their community.

SIGNS OF BULLYING

• Unexplained physical markings on the individual

• Individual starts missing personal items

• Hesitant to go to school and engage in school activities. (pretends to be sick)

• Fear of being left alone

• Change in mood, personality, and eating habits

• Difficulty sleeping, nightmares, cry self to sleep, and bed wetting

• Frequent visits to the doctors office

EFFECTS OF BULLYING

High absenteeism in school (skipping/tardiness)

Poor homework completion

Lower grades

Loss of interest in participation of school activities

Increase risk of depression and anxiety

With extreme cases high risk of suicide

Increase in substance abuse

WAYS TO PREVENT BULLYING

1.Talk about it. Talking about it to parents, school staff, friends, adults, etc. play a huge role in preventing bullying. They can help understand bullying, keep the lines of communication open, encourage people to do what they love, and model how to treat others with kindness and respect.

2.Prevention at school. Bullying can threaten students’ physical and emotional safety at school and can negatively impact their ability to learn. The best way to address bullying is to stop it before it starts. There are a number of things school staff can do to make schools safer and prevent bullying. This would include having assembly to talk about bullying, have teachers and parents watching the interaction with each other at schools, having a place to go that is comfortable that students can come to for guidance.

WAYS TO PREVENT BULLYING CONTINUED…

3. Working in the community. Bullying can be prevented, especially when the power of a community is brought together. Community-wide strategies can help identify and support children who are bullied, redirect the behavior of children who bully, and change the attitudes of adults and youth who tolerate bullying behaviors in peer groups, schools, and communities.

4. Raising awareness. Having national days that everyone across the globe can participate in to help raise awareness of the issues along with bullying. This includes International Day of Pink, Ontario’s Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week (3rd week of November) and many others.

THE WELL-BEING OF THE INDIVIDUAL

• Is the state of being healthy, comfortable and/or happy.

• Bullying affects an individuals well being because they inquire a fear from their surrounding environment. Bullying takes a toll on their health with the increase of stressand changes to their diet. This creates ongoing depression which takes someone's happiness away, effecting their well-being.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PINK

The Day of Pink is an annual world wide recognized event against bullying, discrimination, homophobia, transphobia, and trans misogyny. On this day everyone is invited to wear a pink shirt to help get the word out.

ONTARIOS BULLYING AWARENESS AND PREVENTION WEEK

In Ontario, the week of the third Sunday in November is designated as Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week. During this time students can learn what the effects of bullying is on individuals well-being.

BULLYING IN THE MEDIA

Musicians and Entertainment tools can be used to promote anti-bullying.

Two songs that I have found best represent artists who use their music to transfer meaning are: You are Beautiful – Cristina Aguilera

Mean – Taylor Swift

Another source that anti-bullying is being promoted is through documentaries on Netflix. A powerful documentary that is currently on Netflix is Bully. It goes into detail about what bullying is and shows how it affects students. While I have seen plenty of anti-bullying videos throughout my years of school, I found this documentary to be very modern making it easily relatable with individuals.

SOCIAL THEORY

The sociological theory, Symbolic Interactionism describes human interaction or communication through the use of words, expression, body language and actions. Individuals behave based on what they believe to be true but it may not be true in fact. In relation to bullying, bullies often disrupt the individual based on what they believe to be true when in actually they are disrupting this individual on facts that are not true.

VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWJut7KQhI4

This is a great video that brings awareness to bullying because the video is short and to the point that gets the message across. It keeps the audiences attention and since it doesn’t have many words, its attracts the audience eye to continuing watching. This video is also a great video because it shows that it only takes one person to stand up and make a change. It promotes people to not be a by-standers and to help put a stop to bullying.

ReferencesDay of Pink. (2015). Retrieved from http://dayofpink.org/

E.R.A.S.E Bullying. (2012, January 1). Retrieved from http://www.erasebullying.ca/bullying/bullying-types.php

Kids Help Phone. (2015). Bullying. Retrieved from http://org.kidshelpphone.ca/resources/bullying/

Ontario Ministry of Education. (October 13, 2013). Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/safeschools/prevention.html

PREVNet. (n.d). Bullying. The Facts. Retrieved from http://www.prevnet.ca/research/bullying-statistics/bullying-the-facts

Prevent Bullying. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.stopbullying.gov/prevention/

Red Cross Canada. (n.d.). Bullying and Harassment Facts from the Canadian Red Cross. Retrieved from http://www.redcross.ca/what-we-do/violence-bullying-and-abuse-prevention/educators/bullying-and-harassment-prevention/facts-on-bullying-and-harassment

Statistics Canada. (September 28, 2012). Canadian Bullying Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/45838.html