Many of the horrific school shootings can be traced back to students or teens who have faced some form of bullying.
In a report that examined 37 school shootings, it was found that many attackers felt persecuted and bullied and had been injured by others before the attack.
Bullying is also one of the main reasons why teens think about suicide as a means of escape.
Bullying is not just kids being kids, or light teasing. It has become something even worse now with teens not being able to escape when they are home due to social media and the internet.
Suicide is one of the top three causes of death in teens in fact.
An important part of violence and suicide prevention needs to be a way to better handle bullying.
What is bullying?
The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention states that bullying is a combination of acts physical, psychological and verbal that happen over a period of time.
A more powerful youth or group of youths attack someone or many someones who they perceive to have less power than them.
Physical might be kicking, spitting, pushing, damaging or taking belongs, verbal can be attacking in person or online, teasing, making threats and then psychological is extortion, manipulation, spreading rumours, excluding and so on.
An important part of finding suicide prevention resources is to understand the forms bullying comes in. In general, men are more likely to be bullied as well as bully than females.
Males are more likely to use physical bullying and females are more likely to use verbal and psychological bullying. It is not just a teen thing.
It starts in elementary school and then carries on all through high school. Victims of bullies are often devastated, they feel isolated, have low self-esteem and can be suicidal.
They can also choose to lash out with violent acts with school shootings which many then follow with suicide.
What can be done?
States and schools need to take bullying more seriously and act rather than ignore incidents. Some states have anti-bullying laws which help with suicide prevention but some have none.
Some boards are required to develop policies to address the issue but if those policies are not enforced it is not enough.
Students need to be able to report it and trust that the system will help them. Parents or guardians need to be able to report their own suspicions too.
Records should be kept and the focus should not be on just the victim but on consequences and helping the bully become a better person.
If you are a teen being bullied here is some advice,
- Document incidents when they happen to you, date, names, place, time – you might video it, record it, or record it in a diary
- Tell them to stop but avoid using violence as that inflames the incident
- Walk away and keep trying to walk away
- Go to someone in authority
Look for resources on bullying and also suicide prevention resources.