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What Makes Bullying Dangerous?
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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
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.