At the beginning of 2019 the study Bullying, an open door to ant-social adult conduct by Pedro García Sanmartín was published. This study considers that the deficit in social values and a deficient education among children have become risk factors underlying the school bullying phenomenon. This conduct would involve an open door to anti-social conduct among adolescents and adults.
Unfortunately, the study considers that an increase in the number of cases of bullying or cyberbullying is taking place, involving both boys and girls at younger and younger ages with disorders such as depression, anxiety and suicide. Moreover, other associated problems are detected at school like dropping out of school and low marks, etc. As well as other anti-social conduct like the consumption of alcohol and drugs at an early age, vandalism and theft.
The study also focuses on the times we are living in and considers that both the procrastination and the desire to obtain information related to anything immediately without bearing in mind the consequences this could have in the future, is resulting in children not having the necessary social skills to address problems that will crop up in the future.
One of the most important effects of childhood experiences, which lasts through to maturity and affects personal development, is the Pygmalion effect, meaning discrediting remarks and labels acquired during childhood, leaving a mark on one’s personality, and in some cases leading to low self-esteem, insecurity and other cognitive disorders.
The author considers that school bullying is a multi-faceted problem, but it is a phenomenon that everyone, to varying degrees, has helped to cause and, therefore, society as a whole must make a commitment to eliminate. Especially given the fact that it is often the step prior to future deviant behaviour.
The causes of bullying are also multifactorial. The lack of normalised skills and values means that these children seek refuge in anti-social conduct, which they consider to be justified, being reinforced by witnesses, who to some point also have a deficit regarding some essential social values, as well as a lack of security.
The report includes the following among its conclusions:
- The need to call for a change in the educational system, improving the provision of resources and tools for education-related services as well as care services.
- It stresses the importance of education that both teachers, and mothers and fathers, assume the responsibility of helping children to discover, bring out and exhibit hidden faculties so that they can achieve security, self-esteem, self-awareness, and be able to address problems that crop up in the future.
- The author stresses that old inter-generational educational habits that do not help with the current development of boys and girls must change. As we live in a complex world, values such as tolerance, respect, equality, justice and solidarity must be addressed.
In Catalonia, according to the results of the School Violence Survey in 2016, about 40% of pupils were victims of an act of mistreatment on the part of peers. Of these, 24% suffered more than one incident that year and 10.4% suffered bullying, meaning that they suffered negative actions once or twice a week.
Of all the victims of bullying, 40% were cases of cyberbullying, with the percentage of female victims being higher than male victims (25.4% as opposed to 15%).
http://www.fepsu.es/file/BULLYING.pdf
http://interior.gencat.cat/ca/el_departament/publicacions/seguretat/estudis_i_enquestes/
_____
Aquest apunt en català / Esta entrada en español / Post en français