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Abstract
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Bullying remains a pervasive issue that affects many children worldwide, with devastating consequences that ripple through their lives and communities. The effects and consequences of bullying continue to evolve. There is a gap in the research that addresses the impact of bullying on the victim, the bully, and their families. This demands urgent attention and concerted efforts from parents, educators, policymakers, and society. This Special Issue focuses on school bullying during childhood and adolescence. The manuscripts referenced in this Special Issue address several aspects of bullying and its influence on children's lives.
The first manuscript emphasizes the importance of peer relationships and their capacity to prevent bullying. Peer relationships are essential for a healthy environment. The presence of school bullying can have profound effects on children's peer cooperation. Negative peer interaction can result in a hostile peer environment where students focus more on asserting dominance or avoiding victimization than cooperating. Cooperative learning demonstrated significant positive effects [1]. It also resulted in a positive change in peer relations and affective empathy [2]. Negative effects were reduced with increased support from teachers and parents. Effective support systems at school and home can mediate the impact of school bullying on peer cooperation.
The second manuscript assesses the association between bullying victimization and psychological distress. Although there is an association between bullying victimization and psychological distress, the underlying mechanism of this link is not clear. This manuscript assesses the impact of bullying on mental health, specifically depression, anxiety, and stress. There is a multidirectional relationship between bullying victimization and mental health issues. Bullying victimization not only leads to mental health issues, but children who already suffer from these issues (e.g., depression, anxiety, or stress) may also be more vulnerable to being targeted by bullies. Also, this co-occurrence of depression and anxiety leads to a worse prognosis [3]. Furthermore, it also explores whether cognitive emotion regulation (CER) strategies could be a potential mediator. This study supports the concept that while dysfunctional CER strategies may be mediated by the impact of bullying victimization on depression, anxiety, and stress, bullying victimization did not significantly influence functional CER strategies.
The third manuscript examines the role of physical activity in preventing bullying. The relationship between bullying and types of physical activity is important in understanding the dynamics of bullying and potential mitigating possibilities. Physical inactivity is a serious public health concern among children and is related to other psycho-social variables [4]. Physical activity may be a protective factor against bullying victimization. In general, physical activities that involve competition can help in developing a defense mechanism [5]. This could help develop and implement effective prevention and intervention strategies. The promotion of physical activity can be an important component in bullying prevention. ...
Language: en |