Bullying And Suicide

Bullying and suicide, colloquially referred to as “bullycide“, are considered together when the cause of suicide is attributable to the victim having been bullied, either in person or via social media. Writers Neil Marr and Tim Field wrote about it in their 2001 book Bullycide: Death at Playtime.

Legal analysts criticise the term bullycide because it links a cause with an effect under someone else’s control. Research shows those who are bullied have a higher probability of considering or performing suicide than those who are not. However, there are victims of bullying who do not end up committing suicide, and some of them share their experiences in order to send a positive message to bullying victims that suicide is not the only option.

Pink Rose

In 2010, the suicides of teenagers in the United States who were bullied because they were gay or perceived to be led to the establishment of the It Gets Better project by Dan Savage, The online event, Spirit Day, was created in which participants were asked to wear purple as a symbol of respect for the deceased victims of bullying, particularly cyberbullying, and to signify opposition to the bullying of the LGBT community.

Statistics

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) states that almost 45,000 deaths occur from suicide each year. There are about 100 attempts of suicide to every 1 successful suicide. A little over 14% of students in high school consider suicide and approximately 7% of them attempt suicide. Students that are bullied are around 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims. A study in Britain found that at least half of suicides among young people are related to bullying. 10 to 14 year old teen girls are most likely to commit suicide based on this study. According to ABC News, nearly 30% of students are either victims of bullies or bullies themselves and 160,000 kids stay home from school every day because they are scared of being bullied.

Circumstances that can affect a person’s vulnerability

Emotional Distress
Exposure to Violence
Family Problems
Problems within a relationship
Lack of being connected to school
Lack of a supportive school environment
Alcohol and drug use
Lack of access to support

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBTQ+) youth

Suicide attempts are 2-4 times higher than heterosexual peers. Young adults of the LGBT community “must cope with developing sexual minority identity along with negative comments, jokes, and threats of violence. A research identified that 19 studies were linked to suicidal behavior in lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students to bullying at school. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender students experience more bullying than heterosexual students.

Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia