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The Effects of Teasing in Middle School

Teasing is harmless when children give and take it in a good-natured manner. However, when it is malicious and perpetrated by those whose intent is to inflict emotional harm, it becomes an issue that schools and parents need to confront for the emotional stability of the child. The negative effects of teasing in childhood can create negative consequences in adulthood.

  1. Self-esteem

    • Children who are teased about being overweight, for example, have a much higher dissatisfaction with their body image as adults. According to a 2010 study completed by the University of Melbourne, "teasing can potentially cause children long-term damage." Awareness and intervention at an early age can often deter teasers and helps to give those being teased a higher level of self-esteem, making them less vulnerable to these emotional attacks.

    Identity

    • Adolescence is the time when children form a sense of who they are, and teasing at that time is especially counter-productive because it manifests itself in social awkwardness, depression or self-deprecation. Social interactions among peers help children define their identity, and when that is stymied, it is often difficult to positively construct personality traits as they relate to their feelings of self-worth.

    Psychological Distress

    • The fear, shame and anxiety caused by malevolent teasing at an early age can create a fractured personality that prevents a person from fulfilling his full potential. That kind of teasing should not be taken lightly. It is poison to an adolescent; it gnaws at a person, and he may not know until well into adulthood, if ever, that his self-worth is not measured by the taunts of peers from years ago. Anxiety and depression in adults may be directly related to being bullied or teased as a child. One potentially harmful long-term effect of teasing is eating disorders, where "body dissatisfaction and eating disturbance in adulthood" have been a focus of research completed in a 2003 study from the University of Florida.

    Victimization

    • Children who are victims of spiteful childhood teasing may have trouble with self-perception. They may see themselves as less than they are, resulting in unhealthy personality traits. Unless something happens to intervene, they may become potential bullies, or even criminals, in adulthood to assuage the impotence they felt as adolescents. Early intervention by schools and family can make the difference between a healthy self-image and a destructive one.

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