Ethnicity and Relationship

We have now seen many causes for bullying, but another major cause for bullying is ethnicity. Research has also shown that different ethnicities are affected in different ways mentally. Research conducted among a variety of high school students showed that more than half of the students had been bullied within the past year. Results showed that Hawaiians were the most likely to binge drink or use marijuana due to bullying. Also, Samoans were the most likely to feel bad about themselves when cyberbullied (Goebert).

This sample of students has shown us that, depending on your ethnicity, you will react to bullying in a different way.

Another piece of important data that was collected from this experiment showed that Filipinos experience the highest amount of depression, and unsurprisingly, Filipinos have the highest rate of attempted suicide. This highlights the different effects on different teens, and the severity of attempted suicide, a common result of bullying. To add to the research on ethnicity and its relationship to bullying, I delved into the research of Aubrey Spriggs. According to Spriggs, black students are less likely to share details of their everyday lives with their parents than white children. She also says that black victims of bullying are more likely to have been socially outcast. The exact ratio of black children to white children that were bullied is 1.89 (Spriggs). This means that the number of black children being bullied, compared to white children, is nearly double. This research by Spriggs and her team shows that black children are more susceptible to bullying because of their skin color, and often because they are social outcasts.

This information helps me conclude my point that individuals of different ethnicities are experiencing profound mental anguish and attempting suicide as a result of bullying. In conclusion, bullying needs to be controlled, and awareness needs to spread. The negative impact it is having on the mental health of teenagers is increasing every day that we allow it to grow. Research shows that bullies are not the only ones to blame because many times schools or parents have not taught them what is right or wrong. Many people are not aware of the mental consequences it has. These consequences include depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, sleep deprivation, and even gun violence. Moreover, bullying has different effects on different people, which increases the difficulty of identifying when a student is being bullied. Different genders and different ethnicities react to bullying in unique ways. To say the least, bullying is a growing problem that is severely impacting the mental health of teenagers.

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