Teenage years are fulfilled with life changing events and considered by many as a significant phase. During adolescence there are co-occurring changes, and experiences, that impact the social, emotional, and physical domains; making adolescence a vulnerable time for a phenomenon, such as bullying, to occur. Several causes, processes involved, and consequences of bullying among adolescents in United States have been studied by sociologists. Jenson et al (2013) define bullying as, “an act of physical or relational aggression in which an adolescent exerts power or influence in a negative manner over another student”. Additionally, Litwiller and Brausch (2013) explain that bullying behavior generally takes one of four forms: physical, verbal, relational, and cyber.
Certainly there are several issues world wide than can be considered as social problems. However, there are a set of criteria for an issue to constitute as a social problem to sociologists. These criteria are explained by Lang (2016) as, “people engage in lawful behavior that inflicts physical harm, mental distress or emotional suffering on others… people experience mental distress, including fear and intimidation, from being called names…” (p 1). Thus, by definition, bullying is considered a social
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As researches indicate, being a victim of bullying is associated with general psychological distress as well as specific indicators such as heightened anxiety, depressive symptoms, and a lower sense of self-worth (Fox 2011; Totura et al 2013; Ladder et al 2016; Pabian & Vandebosch). Educational facilities are often settings where bullying is likely to occur. Therefore, students may perceive school as an unsafe environment and are less likely to exhibit their full potential. Thus, students who are bullied are denied the right to learn in a safe environment and the opportunity to reach their full