The Association of Different Types of Bullying With the Mental Health of Children and Teens From the United States, France, and Canada

Christina Fisher

OAI: oai:digitalcommons.ursinus.edu:media_com_sum-1003

Bullying continues to trouble youths around the world, sometimes with devastating effects for victims' mental health. This suggests an ongoing need for awareness, intervention and tolerance for everyone involved. This study, a literature review, explored the extent of these mental health effects found in 50 studies of victims, bullies, and bully-victims, those who are victims of bullying and who also bully others, in the United States, France, and Canada (Willard, 2007). Particular attention was paid to the impact that gender, age, ethnicity, and the LGBTQ community had on researchers' findings. Findings show that 25.9% to 33% of students in these countries reported being victims of traditional bullying; 22.9% of teenagers in Quebec experienced cyberbullying in the past year (Cénat et al., 2014, 2015; Price et al., 2013; Schneider et al., 2012). Boys were twice as likely as girls to be classified as bullies, three times as likely to be classified as bully-victims, and almost twice as likely to be classified as victims (Juvonen et al., 2003). Researchers also indicate that LGBTQ youth are at an increased risk for bullying. Victims, bullies, and bully-victims are at a high risk for mental health issues, like depression, low self-esteem, poor school performance, and suicide attempts (Cénat et al., 2015; Mueller et al., 2015). Students, who were bullies, were at a significantly higher risk for depression, serious suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts compared with students who were never bullies (Klomek et al., 2007). Lastly bully-victims were by far the most socially ostracized by their peers, most likely to display conduct problems, and least engaged in school (Juvonen et al., 2003; Nansel et al., 2001).

Bullying Mental Health Youth U.S. France Canada violence bias bullying cyberbullying Risk Factors School climate minorities GSAs interventions child psychology communication Mental and Social Health Social and Behavioral Sciences