Bullying At School: Does It Affect Academic Achievement?

Many individuals can recall being bullied at some point whilst at school. The essential components of bullying tend to be intention to harm, harmful outcome, direct or indirect acts, repetition and unequal power. Bullying can also take many forms such as direct physical action, indirect action, verbal bullying, cyber bullying, social bullying, sexual bullying, as well as religious or racial bullying (James 2010). The occurrence of bullying can be as high as 27% (Stassen Berger 2007; cited in James 2010). However James (2010) argues this can vary greatly. BullyingUK states that some signs that victims display can include lack of sleep, changes in eating habits, anxiety about school and change in behaviour.

I decided to conduct a brief search on databases such as ScienceDirect and WileyOnline for research focusing on the relationship between victimisation and academic achievement.

The following is a summary of some of the research articles I found:

• Ponzo (2013) found that being a victim of bullying has a significant impact on academic performance with greater significant impact occurring with 13 year olds than 9 year olds.
  
• Kowalski and Limber (2013) assessed 931 students and also found that academic performance decreased along with psychological and physical health. They also state that there can be an overlap between traditional and cyberbullying.
  
• Strom, Thoresen, Wentzel-Larsen and Dyb (2013) assessed academic achievement amongst adolescents exposed to violence, sexual abuse and bullying. They also found that there was a relationship between bullying and lower grades amongst victims. Additionally they also state that many students within schools that have high levels of bullying tend to have poorer grades.
  
• Holt, Finkelhor and Kaufman Kantor (2007) found that, from studying 689 fifth grade students, children could be placed into three broad profiles: those with minimal victimisation, those victimised by their peers, and those with multiple victimisations. They found that those with multiple victimisations tend to suffer not only with psychological distress but also poorer grades than their peers.

It is evident that, even from a few studies, that bullying significantly affects academic achievement.

BullyingUK provides fantastic advice, support and information. If you are a parent or teacher concerned about bullying then please do visit their website.

References:


Holt MK, Finkelhor D, & Kantor GK (2007). Multiple victimization experiences of urban elementary school students: associations with psychosocial functioning and academic performance. Child abuse & neglect, 31 (5), 503-15 PMID: 17537507



James, A. (2010). School Bullying [pdf] NSPCC. Available at: <http://www.nspcc.org.uk/inform/research/briefings/school_bullying_pdf_wdf73502.pdf> [Accessed 19 January 2014].


Kowalski RM, & Limber SP (2013). Psychological, physical, and academic correlates of cyberbullying and traditional bullying. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 53 (1 Suppl) PMID: 23790195



Ponzo, M. (2013). Does bullying reduce educational achievement? An evaluation using matching estimators Journal of Policy Modeling, 35 (6), 1057-1078 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpolmod.2013.06.002



Strøm IF, Thoresen S, Wentzel-Larsen T, & Dyb G (2013). Violence, bullying and academic achievement: a study of 15-year-old adolescents and their school environment. Child abuse & neglect, 37 (4), 243-51 PMID: 23298822