9781422288290

Getting Sick Some young people who are bullied fake getting sick so they don’t have to go to school. But they might actually be sick, too! Bullying causes stress and worry. People who are stressed and worried tend to get sicker more often. They start to not feel very well. Plus, their bodies can’t handle germs and can’t fight off sickness as well as people who are not stressed and worried. Real headaches and stomachaches, along with colds and other illnesses, are common complaints from people who are being bullied.

Bullying is involved in some of the scariest violence at school—school shootings. Although school shootings are rare, they do happen once in a while. Sometimes, the shooters are students who were bullied. They are angry and hurt, and they take it out on people with violence. In a more caring and bully-free world, there just might be a lot less violence in school. SUICIDE One of the most common consequences of bullying is suicide. Sometimes being bullied is just too much, and the person can’t take it anymore. The only way out she sees is killing herself. She gives up and misses out on the rest of her life. Some scientists who study bullying have found young people who are bullied are a lot more likely to think about committing suicide. Many of those people actually try to commit suicide. And some of them succeed. The cruelest bullies tell their victims they should kill themselves, because no one likes them. Their victims believe them and think suicide is a good idea. If you ever hear anyone say something like this to you or anyone else, tell an adult immediately. Most of the time, young people who are bullied become depressed before committing suicide. Their depression gets so bad they lose any hope that life will get better. They believe the answer is suicide, even though lots of people love and care about them. Every story about someone who committed suicide is sad. But they are important to hear, so other suicides can be prevented. That’s what one mother hopes. Corinne Wilson’s mother submit- ted a story to Jaredstory.com, a website dedicated to victims of “bullycide,” which is the name for suicide caused by bullying. Corinne’s mother says that when her daughter was young, the family moved to a new town. Corinne had trouble fitting in at her new school. Her mother says, “She had trouble from the first day, she missed her old school and friends and didn’t feel as if she fit in here.” Her mother thought the answer might be sports. “I thought that if she played a sport that would help her to meet people, [but] unfortunately, it made it worse. It was Corinne’s first year playing

What Makes Bullying Dangerous?

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