Long term effects from bullying on a victim and the differences between the victim's self-perception and the victim's perception of other victim

Abstract

This study has the following two aims. First, it is aimed at investigating the effect of a victim's coping style with bullying with regard to resolving bullying problems. Second, it is aimed at exploring long term effects of bullying on a victim. The main results of the first part of this study were as follows: 1. The active reaction of victim's to the assailant increased the rate of improvement or complete resolution of the bullying problem. When a victim asked somebody (for example, his/her school mates, family, teacher, or all of the above) to help, the results indicated improvement or complete resolution. However, no resistance by a victim increased the possibility of continuing bullying. 2. Bullied experiences have long term influences on a victim in various ways such as physical, active, social, and psychological. In the second study, the victim's self-perception and his/her perception of other victims concerning the long term influence of bullying were compared. The victim's self-evaluation was significantly smaller than his/her evaluation of other victims. These results were analysed from victim's defensive attitude, and differences in perception between actor and observer.