The impact of bullying on the adolescent’s sense of self

Abstract

The goal of this study was to investigate the impact of physical, verbal and social bullying in high school on the adolescent’s sense of self, thereby improving the knowledge base and insight of counsellors who work with victims of bullying. The objectives of this study were: <ul><li>To build a knowledge base on the problem of bullying using existing literature. The knowledge base was used to form a holistic picture of the problem.</li> <li>To empirically investigate the impact that bullying in the school has on the adolescent’s sense of self.</li> <li>To provide conclusions and recommendations for teachers of school A as well as counsellors who, in the counselling setting, work with bullied children. </li></ul> This quantitative study endeavoured to answer the following research question: “What is the impact of bullying on the adolescent’s sense of self.” The researcher aimed to use the statistical analysis of the empirical study to improve the helping profession’s understanding of the phenomenon. This may lead to more successful intervention strategies on behalf of these adolescents. The study was feasible, as it was within the financial and practical means of the researcher. She had access to the school as she was employed there and obtained permission from the school, Department of Education, parents of participants, the participants themselves and The Ethical Committee of the University of Pretoria. The following themes emerged from the data analysis (when the male and female adolescents’ results were separated) namely: <ul><li>Physical bullying does not affect any parts of the sense of self of the female adolescent but does affect the physical and creative self of the male.</li> <li>Social bullying impacts every part of the female adolescent self but only affects the emotional, behavioural and creative sense of self of the male.</li> <li>Verbal bullying has an impact on every part of the female adolescents sense of self and affects all parts of the male sense of self except the physical and intellectual sense of self.</li></ul> From the research findings, recommendations were made on a micro, macro and exo- level. On a micro-level, this included improved intervention and prevention programmes in schools. On macro-level the researcher is of the opinion that the Department of Education of various districts need to ensure that policies are put in place as well as to support individual schools in their endeavours to stop bullying. On a meso-level, legislation changes and enforcement of the Bill of Human rights in schools are recommended. Copyright