At some point in everyone’s life, it’s seems as though we’ve all experienced either getting bullied or being the bully. Bullying has become a rising phenomenon which has lead to many injuries, mental illness, and in some cases, even death. The article written by Dorothy L. Espelage titled “Bullying in Early Adolescence: The Role of the Peer Group”, dissects the definition of bullying and explores the importance of the peer group throughout the youth’s progression within the school system with regards to bullying. Studies have taken notice that this form of aggressive behaviour towards a specific person or group is seen mostly in schools. According to a study conducted by childtrends.org, children ages 12-18, who reported being bullied in the …show more content…
I previously had come to a personal conclusion that middle school was the peak of bullying, as the youth are learning about what it means to be social and how to choose their friends group. This article definitely solidified this opinion of mine and will allow me to better understand the youth who who are in middle school that may need help. This article is important to me on a personal level as I experienced many of the things which are spoken of throughout the article myself when I was in middle school. For example, the following fact inputted by the author resonated with me quite strongly: “Adolescents, seeking autonomy from their parents, turn to their peers to discuss problems, feelings, fears, and doubts, thereby increasing the salience of time spent with friends”. I definitely noticed this change with myself and also among my peers. I learned that bullying does decrease as adolescents move on to high school, and is peaked during middle school years. I had the presumption that high school bullying was just as prevalent, although looking back I think that is because the extent of the bullying in high school is more extreme, but less prevalent. As I finished reading the article I began to wonder what the solution was to this issue, and how we can educate and bring awareness to the adolescents who are just entering the middle school phase of their life. Since the social environment is changing constantly which may cause the adolescent to experience more stress than ever before, how can we limit that. The last question which came to my mind, was that whether or not there is a positive twist to the social chaos found in middle schools. Should kids go through this experience in order to