Teoría de la calidad total: Edwards Deming

As noted above, chronic bullying has been linked to the majority of the publicized school shootings of the late 1990’s. However, when victims do become violent, it is most often directed at themselves, not classmates: “for every adolescent who opened fire at schools from West Paducah, KY, to Springfield, OR, in the past few years, thousands more shot themselves, slit their wrists, or gulped down pills in suicides” (Portner, 2000, p.1). A message board poster on a bullying support website said:

Two of the worst bullies I had to contend with committed suicide…I have been battling suicidal tendencies myself since that time (thirty-odd years ago.) Knowing personally what it’s like to want to die, I can only say their torture was well-merited and I’m glad they suffered. And I’m glad they’re dead.

--posted on www.bullying.org).

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers, is significantly

underreported, and is on the rise (Portner, 2000). Being victimized by bullies is significantly positively related to suicidal ideation (Rigby and Slee, 1999, Kaltiala-Heino et al., 1999; Carney, 2000; Owens et al., 2000). Additionally, being bullied may have an indirect effect on suicidal thoughts by increasing social isolation (Nansel et al., 2001) which in turn has also been found to be significantly related to suicidality, particularly among girls (Bearman and Moody, 2004).

Aside from such dire consequences, more often victims of bullying experience feelings of isolation, anxiety and depression, and these feelings can last well into adulthood (Schafer et al., 2004; Olweus, 1993). To the author’s knowledge, every study of victimization and depression has supported the link between them (e.g., Callagan and Joseph, 1995; Neary and Joseph, 1994; Baldry, 2004; Dill et al., 2004). Similarly, every study of victimization and self-esteem has found that victims of bullying experience lower levels of self-esteem than bullies or other students (e.g., Olweus, 1993; O’Moore and Kirkham, 2001; Karatzias et al., 2002). Victims of bullying, particularly those who experience frequent and enduring bullying, also have elevated levels of stress and anxiety (Sharp et al., 2000; Baldry, 2004).

In addition to psychological damage, bullying can also lead to health problems. A nationally representative study of US adolescent females found a relationship between bullying and a variety of health indicators. Compared to girls who were not bullied frequently, girls who were bullied at least once a week were 40 percent more likely to experience headaches, 20 percent more likely to experience stomachaches, 30 percent more likely to experience backaches, and 30 percent more likely to feel fatigued in the morning (Ghandour et al., 2004). At least one other study has found similar results for these

outcomes, while also finding that victimization is related to sleep problems and bedwetting (Rigby, 1999).

Not surprisingly, victimization by bullies is associated with other social problems. Victims of bullying can fall into a vicious cycle of peer withdrawal followed by victimization followed by further peer withdrawal (Hay et al., 2004; Hodges and Perry, 1999). One study

found that victimization by peers was significantly related to loneliness one year later (Boivin et al., 1995, cited in Dill et al., 2004). Another longitudinal study that followed up on victims one year later also found lasting negative effects on victims’ self-perceptions of popularity (Khatri et al., 2000). A retrospective study of the adults found that those who had been victimized by peers during adolescence were significantly more likely to feel lonely and have difficulty maintaining friendships (Schafer et al., 2004).

These findings are not limited to any particular national context: a recent cross- national study including 25 countries found that victims had significantly greater problems with social adjustment than their peers (Nansel et al., 2004). Another cross-national study (including data from seven countries) conducted by Eslea et al. (2003) found that compared to bullies and uninvolved students, victims enjoy playtime less, are more often isolated during playtime, have fewer friends, and feel less well-liked.

Bullying has academic consequences as well. Victims of bullying are significantly more likely to want to stay home from school, attitudes that can impede academic

performance (Berthold and Hoover, 2000). Victims were less likely to feel that “people at this school care about me”, and more likely to feel that school is difficult and to feel afraid at school (Bertold and Hoover, 2000). Again, these findings are general: a cross-national study involving 25 countries found that, for every country studied, victims of bullying have

significantly more problems adjusting to school than do uninvolved students (Nansel et al., 2004).

The academic consequences of bullying are not only attitudinal, however, as surveys by the National Education Association found that approximately 160,000 children in the U.S. miss school each day out of fear of being attacked or intimidated by other students, and about 7% of eighth-graders in the U.S. stay home at least once a month because of bullies (NEA, 1995). In terms of actual academic performance, a longitudinal study found that victims of relational bullying (bullying designed to isolate and ostracize, using behind-the-back tactics such as rumors) had significantly lower academic performance than other students after two years (Woods and Wolke, 2004). A large study of middle and high school students in an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse city in the Midwest found that peer harassment was negatively related to both enjoying school and academic performance (Eisenberg et al., 2003).

Again, it is not only the victims of bullying that suffer negative consequences from bullying. Most studies distinguish between bullies, victims, and bully-victims (those who bully but are also victimized). For most of the outcomes studied, bully-victims are at least as likely to suffer negative consequences as pure victims, and are often worse off, as Olweus found in his pioneering work (Olweus, 1978; Olweus, 1993a). The aforementioned cross- national study of friendlessness conducted by Elsea et al. (2002) found that bully-victims had roughly the same levels of isolation and friendlessness as pure victims. Another cross- national study, including data from 25 countries, found that bully-victims were significantly worse off than victims with respect to alcohol use (23 countries), school adjustment (16 countries), and health problems (10 countries) (Nansel et al., 2004). A study conducted in a low socioeconomic status urban community found that bully-victims were the most troubled

group, with high levels of school misconduct, academic problems, and trouble relating positively to peers (Juvonen et al., 2003).

Finally, there is evidence, albeit mixed, that bullies themselves experience

maladjustment as a result of their own aggressive behavior. The large, 25-country cross- national study mentioned above found that bullies were worse off than uninvolved students with respect to health problems (25 countries), school adjustment (24 countries), emotional problems (21 countries), and relationships with classmates (15 countries) (Nansel et al., 2004). A study of Italian adolescents found that indirect (or relational) bullying was

significantly related to higher levels of stress and depression (Baldry, 2004). These findings are echoed by other studies of American, Australian, and European adolescents, which concluded that bullies are significantly more likely to experience symptoms of clinical depression (Saluja et al., 2004; Austin and Joseph, 1996; Slee, 1995; Swearer et al. 2001). Like their victims, bullies are significantly more likely to perform poorly in school (Nansel et al., 2001).

However, bullying others may not be entirely without benefit for the bully. Some studies have found that bullying enhances self-esteem (e.g., Trautwein et al., 2004). Others find that bullies enjoy high degrees of popularity (e.g., Espelage and Holt, 2001; Pelligrini et al., 1999), or at the very least, are active members of peer groups consisting of like-minded adolescents (e.g., Bagwell et al., 2000; Xie et al, 1999).

Ultimately, however, bullies are significantly more likely than others to have difficulty maintaining positive relations with others as adults (Rigby, 2001). They also face increased risk of engaging in more serious criminal activity later in young adulthood (Olweus, 1978, 1999). In the teen years, this predisposition is perhaps reflected in higher levels of disruptive behavior disorders, such as Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder (Kokkinos and Panayiotou, 2003).