Pathways Between Bullying Victimization, Depression, Academic Achievement, and Problematic Drinking in Adolescence

Introduction

Teenagers and young people are the society's pillar of the years to come, and thus their way of living is very important. Society continues to change dramatically in which teenagers have more freedom than they can handle. At their age, young people need monitoring and counseling to help society come up with good leaders in the future. Nonetheless, there have been challenges facing younger people at schools leading them to depression, substance abuse among others. This paper focuses on the examination of pathways between bully victimization, academic achievement, depression and problematic drinking among adolescents. These issues remain relevant to the community since there have been observations that high school children indulge in substance use which affects their academic performance. Additionally, the upcoming generation consists of leaders that people will look up to in the years to come. Consequently, failure to monitor, give attention and guide the young people will leave behind an inexperienced, unfruitful and dysfunctional society.

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Background

Teenagers in the society, especially in high school are facing challenges such as bully victimization which leads them to problematic drinking, depression and poor performance in their studies. Most young people try to fit into the school by engaging in substance abuse as a way of relieving stress which adversely affects their poor performances and sometimes causes them suicide. Bully victimization is the main reason why young people are performing poorly at school due to depression. It is the role of the teachers to ensure that bullies presented to them are punished and even evicted from the school to help students feel safe and secure studying in the Institution.

Young people in the society today engage themselves in too much drinking raising the issue as an as a main public health concern. Bullying is a notable contributor to the introduction and acceleration of alcohol consumption among teens. At least 15% of teenagers who consume alcohol have reported cases in which they have experienced bully victimization (Davis et al., 2018). The drinking rate of victimized individuals appears to be much higher as compared to non-victimized individuals. Additionally, bully victimization leads students to perform poorly at school and experience mental health issues, which are associated with alcohol and substance abuse (Davis et al., 2018). An individual's contextual risk factors which are related to substance use and bully victimization have an association with a person's characteristics and with their social and interpersonal environment.

Bully victimization is defined by the CDC and WHO as intentionally using psychological or physical power to threaten an individual, community or group, which has a high likelihood of resulting in death, injury or physical harm. Individuals who are bullied by their peers are three times more likely to report their alcohol use as compared to those who have not faced victimization. Additionally, incidences of early child bullying increase the chances of problematic drinking in teenage and early adulthood. It shows a sign of the "long term effects of bullying on the behavioral health results" (Davis et al., 2018. 613). Nonetheless, there is also a close association between increased substance use and mental health with bullying victimization. About the article by Davis 2018, the link between academic functioning and bully victimization is, "not as straightforward as that of victimization and mental health outcomes" (610). Also, the transactional theory holds that bully victimization experiences and the prevalence of excessive alcohol use are directly related and thus other association which emerges other than the two at exploratory.

Discussion

There has been a notable problem with young people especially teenagers in high school who are associating themselves with drug use. Drug use among young people is a drawback and thus important to work on handling these problems with the next generation. There is a relationship between bully victimization, depression, educational performance and substance use (Davis et al., 2018). When young people are filled with stress and a lack of self-esteem due to bully victimization, it gets difficult for them to manage their lives appropriately. This is because they feel that they lack self-worth which can even result in death and physical injuries (Lacey, Cornell & Konold, 2017). Bully victimization is one main problem today in schools which leads individuals to problematic drinking.

In some cases, students are even coerced into substance abuse by their victimizers. Such a student ends up taking alcohol frequently, and in the end, the drinking problem becomes long term. A society with a large number of young people with the problem of substance use poses a threat to the provision of labor in the country's industries (Hyland, Hyland & Comiskey, 2016).

Consequently, the country's overall economy is adversely affected. Bully victimization also affects an individual's mental health resulting in depression. For Instance, if a student is harassed at school either physically or mentally, they might feel inferior, and lose their self-esteem.

Consequently, they might end up developing fear which adversely affects their social life. Depression can lead a young person to develop suicidal thoughts or to even harm their oppressors (Hyland, Hyland & Comiskey, 2016). Therefore, it, in turn, affects their families and the society which loses a person who would have been an important community member. Bully victimization also affects educational performance where an individual might engage in substance use or becomes depressed and in the end perform poorly in their exams (Lacey, Cornell & Konold, 2017).

In most cases, individuals whose educational performance gets affected have other risk factors such as problematic drinking (Davis et al., 2018).

Nonetheless, the relationship which is portrayed from studies is bully victimization and substance abuse. The other risk factors come with substance abuse. For instance, a victim of bullying is likely to indulge in substance use which is likely to lead them to poor performance as they spend less time studying.

Teenagers in society today are adversely affected by bully victimization in high schools. Young people who face bullying in some cases end up using drugs, depression and sometimes poor performances. Recommendations will be based on taking serious measures to students who victimize others. There should be more monitoring of students during their free time at school which can help notice in case some students are having problems. Additionally, teachers should provide counseling sessions for students on bullying and guide them on how to handle bullying at school and even at home. It will help them cope with depression and other personal mental and emotional problems. Also, teachers and parents should create a close relationship with teenagers who will help them feel free to communicate in case they are facing problems at school or at home. If teachers act tough on students, they are unlikely to report their problems to avoid further victimization. Additionally, if no action is taken against bullies, students might find reporting hard to avoid facing heightened victimization by fellow students.

References

Davis, J. P., Dumas, T. M., Merrin, G. J., Espelage, D. L., Tan, K., Madden, D., & Hong, J. S. (2018). Examining the pathways between bully victimization, depression, academic achievement, and problematic drinking in adolescence. Psychology of addictive behaviors, 32(6), 605.

Hyland, J., Hyland, P., & Comiskey, C. (2016). Bullying victimization and association with health-related quality of life, depression and social support in urban disadvantaged primary schoolchildren.

Lacey, A., Cornell, D., & Konold, T. (2017). The relations between teasing and bullying and middle school standardized exam performance. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 37(2), 192-221.