An Introduction to Adult Bullying
A note on terminology:
Throughout the world, the terms mobbing and bullying are sometimes used interchangeably with victimization or harassment. In the United States, researchers use the term mobbing to describe workplace harassment. Meanwhile, the term bullying is often used in reference to young students and children. For the purpose of consistency, I will use the term bullying despite the fact this article is about adults in general.
Before exploring the subject, we need to know the definition of bullying. This violent and harmful behavior, while it occurs in all spheres of life, isn’t commonly studied outside of its occurrence in grade school and high school. After a substantial amount of searching, I found several studies focusing on or including the adult experience of bullying. Some studies on child bullies also proved insightful, as the behavior is similar to adult bullies. From my research, I was able to compile a list of qualifiers. It is both a definition and a tool for recognizing behavior as bullying.
The definition is as follows:
· is usually deliberate and causes physical or psychological harm
· a real or perceived power imbalance exists between the parties involved
· involves repeated, direct or indirect attempts to undermine or invalidate a person
· generally involves lack of an escape on the part of the victim
· the behavior can be physical, verbal, or psychological
Those last three are the categories of bullying. Drawing from several articles, I’ve outlined specific behaviors within each category, as seen below.
Physical: violent harm of any kind, blocking someone’s path, hiding objects, damaging possessions, inappropriate touching, being disturbingly close.
Verbal: name-calling, interrupting, teasing, taunting, threatening,
gossiping.
Psychological: social exclusion, intrusion into privacy, gaslighting, and gossiping if paired with other tactics. It is also referred to as social or relationship bullying, and sometimes social manipulation.
Cyberbullying
Some studies also categorize cyberbullying as a type of bullying. According to current definitions, the cyber category is essentially verbal and/or psychological bullying enacted through technology.
Cyber: uses modern cell phone or internet technologies to inflict harm on a person. This can take any form listed in the verbal and psychological categories. The perpetrator can be someone you physically interact with, or a person/people you have never seen or met before.
Cyberbullying has ramped up in recent years. As technology evolves, so do the ways in which bullies can attack. This type of bullying can randomly happen to anyone with or without motive.
According to author and computer scientist Jaron Lanier,
“The culture of sadism online has its own vocabulary and has gone mainstream. The common term ‘lulz’, for instance, refers to the gratification of watching others suffer over the cloud… ‘Troll’ is a term for an anonymous person who is abusive in an online environment. It would be nice to believe that there is only a minute troll population living among us. But in fact, a great many people have experienced being drawn into nasty exchanges online (7).”
Due to the scale and novelty of cyberbullying, its effects have not been researched extensively. However, exposure to any type of bullying can damage a person’s well-being. It may have a negative impact on the victim’s job, schoolwork, or other areas of life.
Health Effects
The negative effects of bullying, at the very least, can cause isolation and lack of motivation. More severe ramifications are also common. A study on PTSD symptoms among victims of workplace bullying observed that,
“Victimisation, such as exposure to intense bullying at work, may change the individual’s perceptions of their work-environment and life in general to one of threat, danger, insecurity and self-questioning, which may result in pervasive emotional, psychosomatic and psychiatric problems (5).”
In addition to psychological issues, bullying can cause increased risk for chronic diseases. According to a German study, this finding applied to both the victims and the perpetrators of workplace bullying (1). While my focus is mainly on the victims, that’s a detail worth noting. Read: people expose themselves to greater health risks when they engage in bullying.
Getting back to the victims, the same study not only analyzed occurrences of disease after bullying occurred but accounted for those diagnosed in the year prior to being bullied. Compared to a control group, they found a high rate of disease in patients who eventually became victims of workplace bullying (1). So, according to their study, already having a disease or condition puts one at a higher risk of being bullied.
While it’s not possible to predict who will be targeted, studies like this hone in on situations where bullying is more likely to occur. We know, for example, people with health issues are at higher risk of being bullied. With that knowledge, it could be possible for a workplace, school, or organization to apprehend a volatile situation, and take certain measures to mitigate it. Mitigating bullying should be a priority, considering how drastic an impact it can have on a person’s physical and mental health.
There’s clearly much to be done about bullying. I sincerely hope my research makes this behavior more comprehendible. I also hope more research is conducted on bullying in all spheres of life. It’s a serious and violent set of behaviors that occurs in childhood and beyond.
We need to be studying it and discussing its impact on our lives.
Only then can a change start to occur.
Photo Credit: Original Image by Shaina E.
References
- “Risk of psychiatric and neurological diseases in patients with workplace mobbing experience in Germany: a retrospective database analysis”, Karel Kostev, Juliana Rex, Lilia Waehlert, and Daniela Hog, GMS German Medical Science, 2014
- “Bullies and victims in higher education: a mixed-methods approach”, Amelia D. Perry and Sarai Blincoe, Longwood University, 2015
- “Bullying at a university: students’ experiences of bullying”, Hanna-Maija Sinkkonnen, Helena Puhakka, and Matti Merilainen, University of Eastern Finland, 2012
- “Bullying: a source of chronic post traumatic stress?”, Noreen Tehrani, British Journal of Guidance and Counseling, 2004
- “An overview of cyberbullying in higher education”, Edwina Thomas Washington, University of Memphis, 2014
- “Psychiatric distress and symptoms of PTSD among victims of bullying at work”, Stig Berge Matthiesen and Stale Einarsen, University of Bergen, 2004
- “You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto”, Jaron Lanier, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010
