Bullying Scars - Rambling Readers

304 pages

English language

Published July 29, 2016 by Oxford University Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-19-023367-9
OCLC Number:: 921864636

(1 review)

An explosion of research on bullying has raised our collective awareness of the serious impacts it can have on children. No longer do we accept it as an innocuous rite of passage, just a part of growing up that we grin and bear and grow out of later. But do we grow out of it, or are there lingering effects that last well beyond the school playgrounds and lunchrooms? Is bullying traumatic and, if so, does it last into adult life? Are there life-long consequences or are the effects pretty much shed as people grow? Are some of us more resilient than others? Are there any positive or unexpected outcomes as a result of being bullied (or having been a bully) as a child? In an effort to answer these questions, Bullying Scars describes childhood bullying from the vantage point of those victims, bullies, and bystanders who are now adults; …

An explosion of research on bullying has raised our collective awareness of the serious impacts it can have on children. No longer do we accept it as an innocuous rite of passage, just a part of growing up that we grin and bear and grow out of later. But do we grow out of it, or are there lingering effects that last well beyond the school playgrounds and lunchrooms? Is bullying traumatic and, if so, does it last into adult life? Are there life-long consequences or are the effects pretty much shed as people grow? Are some of us more resilient than others? Are there any positive or unexpected outcomes as a result of being bullied (or having been a bully) as a child? In an effort to answer these questions, Bullying Scars describes childhood bullying from the vantage point of those victims, bullies, and bystanders who are now adults; the book discusses how lives have been changed, and explores the range of reactions adults exhibit.The research gathered for this book, through interviews with over 800 people, points out that even adult decision-making is often altered by the victimization they experience as children at the hands of peers, siblings, parents, or educators.

Written in an engaging and accessible style that draws heavily from the rich interview data that deLara has collected, this book will be of interest to anyone struggling with the lingering effects of being bullied. Additionally, it is highly relevant to mental health professionals -- counselors, therapists, social workers, clinical psychologists -- working with clients who are dealing with these issues.

1 edition

metascribe reviewed Bullying Scars by Ellen Walser deLara

a good overview of the impact and possible causes of bullying

5 stars

I think this is a good overview of the impacts of bullying, including not only quantitative data about those impacts into adulthood, but also interesting qualitative case studies regarding that impact. It's useful as a starting point for understanding some of the factors that have been found in the research to be relevant to victimization or perpetration in bullying as well as how such experiences affect relationships and social behavior in later life. I left the book interested in a more specific angle on bullying, relevant to myself as well, as some of the qualitative studies involved shifts from homosociality to heterosociality in bullying victims depending on the gendering and gendered experience of the bullying. Given that bullying occurs in childhood, it may coincide with critical periods in the formation of a gendered sense of self and engagement in sexual interest and exploration. It would be interesting to see how …

I think this is a good overview of the impacts of bullying, including not only quantitative data about those impacts into adulthood, but also interesting qualitative case studies regarding that impact. It's useful as a starting point for understanding some of the factors that have been found in the research to be relevant to victimization or perpetration in bullying as well as how such experiences affect relationships and social behavior in later life. I left the book interested in a more specific angle on bullying, relevant to myself as well, as some of the qualitative studies involved shifts from homosociality to heterosociality in bullying victims depending on the gendering and gendered experience of the bullying. Given that bullying occurs in childhood, it may coincide with critical periods in the formation of a gendered sense of self and engagement in sexual interest and exploration. It would be interesting to see how the bullying experience interacts with burgeoning psychic forces and drives during this period to influence developmental trajectory in these areas.

Subjects

Bullying
Psychology
Social Psychology
Trauma
APBS
CPTSD