Bullying in Adolescents

Abstract

Adolescence is a transitional period of development between childhood and adulthood, which involves changes in self entering adulthood. Which is marked by major changes in physical, cognitive, and psychosocial aspects. Many adolescences experienced psychological problems, such as anxieties, social challenges, negative views of the self, substance abuse, juvenile delinquency, depression, suicide ideation, suicide attempt, and others. Various psychological problems can occur due to various factors, from internal and external or environmental factors. One of the external factors that often occurs during adolescence is bullying. Bullying is systematic abuse of power as a deliberate detrimental act and repeatedly. The aim of this study is to find a picture of bullying experienced by adolescents in one of the state high schools in the South Tangerang area. The study was conducted by distributing a questionnaire and interviews with high school students. Questionnaires were given to adolescents aged 13-19 years (N = 178). The results showed that 102 participants (57%) had experienced bully, 52 participants (51%) of whom were female. There were 38 participants (21%) have experienced cyberbully, 122 participants (69%) have experienced verbal bully, and 74 participants (42%) have experienced physical bully. Interviews were conducted on 3 students who have been bullied. Interviews showed that those bullying victims obtained a negative impact. Some negative impacts are difficulties in socializing, feeling useless, lack of confidence, academic decline, and others. However, some participants chose to oppose, ignored, change for the better, find more friends so they don’t experience bully again, and still be able to focus, know their goals and steps needed. The results of this study are preliminary studies that are useful for the development of psychological science in the future.