Introduction
Despite the intention to create a positive environment for children’s growth, people cannot ignore certain challenges. Bullying is one of such problems characterized by undesirable and aggressive behavior when injury or discomfort is continually and deliberately provoked. People face different bullying situations: physical (hitting or tripping), verbal (teasing or intimidation), and cyberbullying (offensive content online) (Winding et al.). Parents, educators, administrators, and children are interested in understanding bullying causes to foresee negative outcomes. The significance of this problem is closely related to emotional and physical development, like depression. Research importance in this topic may be explained by the desire to study bullying and depression characteristics and define expected solutions. At this moment, various prevention programs are developed, addressing organizational changes, human behaviors, and awareness. It is not enough to take some steps and find the connection between bullying and depression but to use available resources and knowledge and decide which approach is the best option for modern people. This essay examines several interventions to prove that the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program is the most effective solution for predicting depression provoked by bullying.
Research Interest Reasons
Bullying is one of the major reasons that can cause depression in individuals at any age, therefore, it is crucial to study and address this problem. Depression is a serious mood disorder, resulting in persistent feelings of sadness and lack of interest and negatively impacting how an individual thinks or behaves. Bullying victims commonly display severe depression symptoms, including low mood, hopelessness, low self-esteem, and changes in sleep and eating behaviors. Students aged 15 to 19 years who encountered bullying within the past 30 days are more likely to experience depressive effects (Setiadi et al. 6). As a result, bullying during adolescence is regularly associated with developing depression in adulthood and the inability to participate in interpersonal relationships properly (Winding et al.). Most researchers agree that it is vital to identify bullying at school as a serious problem for consideration and search for professional ways to solve it and support children at different levels.
Not many children find it necessary to report bullying because of poor knowledge, lack of experience, or unwillingness to participate in additional discussions and proceedings. However, social help is obligatory for young people to understand what they can do to change such situations, achieve better outcomes, and strengthen their communication skills. Cooperation with family members, friends, and experts allows bullying victims to cope with loneliness and predict depression. Unfortunately, children prefer to address social media to stay anonymous and find some solutions to their problems. In this way, most individuals neglect the explanatory and educational stages but begin to act with minimal knowledge and understanding of the matter. The modern population needs the implementation of bullying prevention programs that can be easily and freely accessible to all children.
Prevention Programs as Solutions for Bullying and Depression
Bullying prevention is an important element in human education to reduce depression and create a safe environment for children and adults to enhance their emotional and social development. At this moment, there are many programs that could be defined as working solutions to bullying-related depression in children (Setiadi et al. 6). In this essay, the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP), Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS), Viennese Social Competence (ViSC), and Kiusaamista Vastaan (KiVa) are the programs for examination in terms of preventing bullying behaviors and depression.
The first solution to analyze bullying and predict depression in young populations is to implement the OBPP. This program focuses on developing valuable relationships and recognizing bullying at three levels – individual, classroom, and school. The participants establish certain rules, share some common definitions, and initiate meetings to discuss their problems, concerns, and recommendations. Bullying has different forms, and it is not always easy to identify the moment when professional help is required. This program is a unique chance to use the environment where bullying emerges and shows how depression may be developed if it is unreported or ignored. The decrease in bullying behaviors and depression symptoms is observed due to the OBPP in about 3% of American students in grades 3 to 15 (Limber et al. 69). This evidence proves the importance of intervention to emphasize the creation associating policies and ensure that the school and community members respond in reliable ways to bullying instances. In other words, communication with students is necessary, and it is not enough to talk to them personally but organize group meetings and open discussions where a free exchange of experience occurs.
The PBIS is another solution that includes organizational changes and the promotion of decision-making in an attempt to improve learning and behavioral results for students. The program addresses student achievement and underlines several research-based instructional and behavioral principles. Modeling desired student behaviors helps community members, students, and teachers to choose a means to develop and strengthen these behaviors (Setiadi et al. 4). Being properly followed, the PBIS greatly impacts bullying and aggressive behaviors, prosocial behavior, and emotional regulation defined at three different tiers. Additionally, the PBIS program can have significant improvements in students’ views of assertiveness and support from bystanders. It means that students learn how to help their peers and support others when they witness bullying within the environment. If a person is not involved in bullying activities directly, observations and no actions can provoke emotional damage and depression. Thus, young people should understand the worth of their cooperation and communication at school to predict bullying outcomes and promote positive relationships by following good examples, which is a part of the chosen program.
The third solution for consideration is the KiVa program based on the theoretical standpoint about bullying behaviors as a group phenomenon. It consists of two important components, indicated and universal actions. The universal actions include student lessons and themes to prevent bullying, including creating awareness of the responsibility peer groups take in maintaining bullying. Additionally, these actions encourage empathy and support toward victims of bullying. Indicated actions, in their turn, embrace discussions with bullying victims and perpetrators and the invitation of a few students with high status to support the victims. During regular follow-up meetings, students analyze bullying from multiple perspectives, namely its common causes, negative impacts, and mental health challenges. Most researcher consider depression as one of possible disorders to be diagnosed in bullying victims, and children should know to which behavioral and emotional changes they might be predisposed (Winding et al.). The KiVa program is curbing bullying problems at school and reducing depression caused by such negative behaviors. Antibullying programs should not address only some scientific terms and statistics but real-life examples and real support, which is the core aspect of the KiVa for many European students.
The final solution to predict depression provoked by uncontrolled bullying behaviors at schools is the ViSC program. It aims to promote antibullying practices and empower all students to initiate actions against bullying behaviors. The program is effective for students from secondary schools because many bullying reports are noticed at this stage of education and affect adolescent behaviors. Researchers agree that decreasing bullying and aggressive behaviors by encouraging intercultural and social skills such as cooperation in learning institutions predict depression (Winding et al.). Moreover, the ViSC program shows how fostering behavioral changes among students and teachers helps implement strategies and gain control at the school level. The offered program is effective because cooperation and support foster positive relationships and trust, improve self-esteem, and enable victims to find additional defense sources against aggressive behaviors. Traditional aggression is a common problem in many academic facilities across the globe, but children usually need the same portion of professional support to deal with their gender, age, or racial differences. The ViSC is a solid step for identifying bullying as an activity that causes depression and other mental health changes in young people.
Action Plan for the Best Option
Taking into consideration interpersonal problems and the sources of bullying and depression in young populations, the OBPP turns out to be the best solution to restrain bullying and achieve positive outcomes in predicting depression. First, the teacher guide and the school-wide guide should be promoted within the chosen environment to highlight the roles of every participant in the program. The establishment of a friendly social climate enhances excellent peer interaction and increases discipline, thereby reducing bullying behaviors. Therefore, researchers and other stakeholders continue gathering information about students and their experiences. The Olweus Bullying Questionnaire is another significant element of the program to be distributed among all students in grades 3-12. When students understand the importance of their participation, they are eager to share real information and ask for help.
The final aspect of this program implementation is the identification of four levels of work: individual, classroom, school, and community. At the classroom level, the action plan includes regular class meetings to discuss peer relations, examine school-wide rules, and underline the role of parents and teachers in student life. At the school level, student activities should be controlled by a specially created coordinating committee. Several experts examine the environment and introduce several antibullying rules to be followed by all students and teachers. The community-level components of the OBPP action plan are developing partnerships within the school and promoting antibullying messages and campaigns. Staff members should intercede at the individual level if they suspect, witness, or receive reports on bullying. The individual level is critical for identifying mental health problems and behavioral changes in children. It is the moment when depression or other emotional disorders are diagnosed and managed under professional guidance.
Conclusion
The choice of prevention programs against bullying and depression plays an important role in the modern education system. Students need to feel support and protection when they go to school and cooperate with peers. In this paper, bullying and depression concepts were addressed to prove the importance of the chosen research problem and underline the interest in finding the most effective solution. Among a variety of existing programs, the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program was defined as the best option to examine bullying behaviors and offer professional help at four levels. Community members, teachers, policymakers, parents, and students themselves define the success of this program. Students should learn what provokes bullying, how to report offensive behaviors, and how to deal with depression that may be caused by bullying. However, bullying behaviors remain the choice of every student, and the solution’s success depends on how well students recognize their roles and responsibilities at school.
Works Cited
Limber, Susan P. et al. “Evaluation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program: A Large Scale Study of U.S. Students in Grades 3–11.” Journal of School Psychology, vol. 69, 2018, pp. 56-72.
Setiadi, Rizky et al. “Bullying as a Risk Factor of Depression on Undergraduate Health Students.” Global Pediatric Health, vol. 8, 2021, pp. 1-8. SAGE Publications, doi:10.1177/2333794×211023711.
Winding, Trine Nøhr, et al. “Is Bullying in Adolescence Associated with the Development of Depressive Symptoms in Adulthood?: A Longitudinal Cohort Study.” BMC Psychology, vol. 8, no. 1, 2020. SAGE Publications, doi:10.1186/s40359-020-00491-5.