The Invisible Effects of Bullying

Every administrator everywhere has said it. "We do everything we can." But families know better. What exists behind an ideal mission statement, anti-bullying posters and channels of communication that get buried after the first report of an incident is a longstanding and rampant occurrence, continuously framed as “kids being kids”, that ruins lives. All it takes are a few whispers in a locker, a dozen more comments online, and an embarrassing incident or two to compile in a lifetime to yield fatal consequences. 

With increasingly reliable access to substantiated findings, what families have known for years is proven. Bullying is unhealthy, it's not a phase and it's certainly not something children are meant to experience to build character. Victims are more vulnerable to adverse health consequences. “Among many different factors affecting young people's mental health, exposure to bullying and its dynamic is one risk factor” (Hästbacka et al., 2025). 

But exposure to bullying and risk factors do not make school officials think differently about responsibility they get the same playbook every single time 24 hours maximum suspension, guidance referral, press release about zero tolerance and a resignation to move on. While children literally die at the hands of bullying, ultimately succumbing to anxiety, depression and self injury. "There is convincing evidence of causal relationship between bullying victimization in children and adolescents and adverse health outcomes including anxiety, depression, poor general and mental health non suicidal self injury, suicide attempts and suicide ideation” (Moore et al., 2017). 

Causal. Not correlated. Not associated. Causal. Systems should be in place acknowledging this to keep children safe. Yet the overwhelming conclusion presents a nation of failures through institutions that claim they have a hold on everything. They do not. Lengthy episodes of bullying and cyberbullying are effective in diminishing children socially and emotionally. “Bullying and cyberbullying are strongly associated with loneliness” (Hästbacka et al., 2025), yet loneliness is not a useless emotion it’s life or death. 

Victimized students are “approximately twice as likely to report loneliness (OR = 1.89; 95% CI: 1.39-2.57) and poor life satisfaction (OR = 2.26; 95% CI: 1.41-3.60)” (Moore et al., 2017). This is what it costs to live in a society that believes bullying is a temporary disciplinary bump in the road instead of the red flag that it is. 

But that's not enough for bullying to come to an end. For the same meta analysis finds that “those exposed to bullying victimization had an increased risk of depression (OR = 2.21; 95% CI: 1.34-3.65)” (Moore et al., 2017). Two times more. But school systems think that giving temporary suspensions solves a temporary problem. 

It's no wonder parents believe the entrusted adults are not paying attention to what's going on around them - because researchers recognize it, too. The Finnish study addresses need for further assessment by stating that “further studies could investigate prevention interventions in school bullying situations especially related to how bullying prevention programs are implemented and how staff and parents perceive and intervene with bullying situations” (Hästbacka et al., 2025). Meaning, there could be better programming to assess intervention for bullying - or implementation by adults is at least partially inadequate. 

Which is why communities need real transparency, better reporting systems, and admins willing to be blamed for wrongdoing instead of relying upon PR statements to cover up the reality of what's been done. Parents need to know when their children are being failed. Lawmakers need to stop recycling programs that have been proven lackluster at best for nothing more than stickers. 

This is not a child problem. This is a leadership problem. This is a policy problem. This is an accountability problem. 

Children should not have to suffer in silence and families should not have to bury children because those in charge do not recognize life or death concerns. The evidence is there. The warnings are clear. The only thing missing is the willingness from institutions to prove that children's lives matter and back it up with something more than mere slogans. 

If anything, these studies show that prevention is not impossible. It's just been neglected.