By Pamela Cruz with information from Raúl Ayrala. Peninsula 360 Press.
Clarisse Céspedes knows first-hand what school bullying is, she experienced it through her son, who was verbally attacked several times at school until her husband raised his voice and made the matter take action without the case it reaches a more serious situation. However, for many who suffer this harassment, the story is very different and has even cost lives.
"Bullying in some way is a form of violence, and violence can be physical, emotional, or psychological," said Dr. Guillermina Mejía, a Mexican pediatrician specializing in adolescents, in an interview for Peninsula 360 Press.
The American Psychological Association (APA) details that bullying is a form of aggressive behavior in which someone intentionally and repeatedly causes harm or discomfort to another person, and this may take the form of physical contact, words or more subtle actions.
The harassed person usually has trouble defending themselves and does nothing to ?cause? harassment.
The organization highlights that harassment can also be carried out cybernetically, where electronic technology such as cell phones, email, social networks or text messages is used.
?I was wondering, is it okay for people to tell me things at school? I wondered if it was normal to be called fat. But it's good right? I don't have to worry, he told me, and I told him: well no, it's not right, who told you that and how did it make you feel bad? Or were you joking and fooling around and you were saying things to him? And he told me: no, it's just that I went to the bathroom and they didn't want to let me out because they were telling me things, I asked him who was telling him that and he didn't want to tell me? Clarisse said.
?Then one day I mentioned it to his father, and he wasn't as patient as me and he went to the school and wanted to talk to the principal, so the principal told him: ?this is something that will be solved immediately,? He wanted to call my son and the boy was embarrassed not to answer him and he told him what was happening and who they were, so he called them there in the office with my son's father present and then he called the parents (of the golden boys ). That's where the issue really ended, those children didn't bother my son again?, he said.
In bullying "generally there is a bullied person, a bully and the public that surrounds them," said Guillermina Mejía. ?Even if one is the one who bothers and the other is the one being bullied, sometimes there is a family pattern; On the one hand, one who is the one who allows himself to be bothered and the other who is the one who is probably harassed at home or witnesses harassment or violence?
Mejía explained that California is the number one state in the United States for bullying, and that, he said, it is worthy of attention, because, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center, approximately 56 percent of The boys had suffered some type of harassment and 71 percent acknowledged that they had seen or been victims of this harassment.
On the other hand, the specialist explained that "in some way, both the bullied and the bully are children who in the future in their adult lives can really have consequences such as anxiety disorders, they can be children with depressive processes or have low performance." academic when they move towards their adult life or have many failures in terms of their professional work?
But what can you do about bullying?
?I think we have to ask for help. I was very quiet, and sometimes you do it because in some way you think that it can't be happening to you, that this is going to fix itself? Clarisse pointed out.
Dr. Guillermina Mejía stressed that everything begins at home, and that it is necessary to observe if, in a certain way, violence is not exercised at home, which children and young people absorb and then take it to school and other areas.
"We have to raise awareness as families, as guardians or parents, if we are not exercising these types of harassment or violence that, later, the children take it from home," he said.
A study conducted by WalletHub, examining 47 states and the District of Columbia based on 20 key metrics ranging from rates of bullying incidents to truancy costs for schools, to the proportion of high school students bullied in online, revealed that “approximately 20 percent of students ages 12 to 18 experience bullying, whether in person, online, or both.”
The states with the worst bullying problems according to the study are California, Alaska, Nevada, New Jersey, and Louisiana.
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the CaliFornia State Library.
You may be interested in: LGBTQ+ community is 9 times more likely to be victims of violent hate crimes
