Abstract
The adverse psychosocial effects of bullying victimization on school aged youth have and continue to be a concern since the concepts establishment in the mid 1970s. Perpetuated by the lack of effective interventions, bullying victimization is viewed as both a maladaptive and damaging behavior, detrimental to the fabric of youth in the United States and abroad. Over the last several years, its unfavorable effects have captured national attention despite attempts to eradicate the problem through anti-bullying school programs. As a result, in 2010 the United States Department of Education issued a letter of guidance to colleagues in K-12 as well as higher education, clarifying when student bullying may violate federal education and anti-discrimination law. However, even with this effort the findings within this study highlight the fact that bullying victimization continues to exist and in many cases overlooked within the school setting, significantly impacting those targeted and victimized. In fact, of the 72 published articles examined in this study, the researchers found several studies meeting the inclusion criteria for the variables of inquiry, which include depression, anxiety, suicide and suicidal behaviors, self-esteem, and social stigmatization. Among these published articles, sixteen included suicidal ideations, fifteen include depression, twelve included suicidal behaviors, twelve included anxiety, twelve included low self-esteem, and eight included social stigmatization. Further content analysis confirmed a common agreement on the severity of bullying, its consequences, and its multi-dimensional impacts on youth, their families, and the society. In all it was found that, school bullying and its subsequent effects continue to be prevalent amongst school aged youth, with findings indicating inadequate and ineffective anti-bullying measures to date.