Bullying is one of the major concerns of modern society. Following the statistics, about 40% of all individuals have experienced being bullied at least once during their studying or work (Bowes et al., 2014). Moreover, regardless of multiple attempts to improve the situation, there are no signs of significant improvements. One of the factors preconditioning the complexity of the problem is the existence of numerous factors that should be considered to achieve success, and the environment is one of them. The existing research states that socio-environmental factors are linked to children’s risk of being involved in bullying activities (Bowes et al., 2014). Children from poor regions with a lack of infrastructure and problematic families are more likely to acquire undesired and aggressive behaviors, and they can be both victims and initiators of bullying (Blake et al., 2016).
Analyzing the impact on the environment, it is also vital to admit that people with disabilities belong to the risk group, especially if they are not provided with the needed care (Hodgins & McNamara, 2019). For this reason, victimization can also be linked to social factors as it differs in regions characterized by various living conditions (Blake et al., 2016). In such a way, analyzing the problem of bullying in different areas, it is possible to state that workplace or school bullying critically depends on environmental health (Connolly & Beaver, 2016). It means that trying to improve living conditions such as the infrastructure, the quality of life, and access to care, it is also possible to attain a significant reduction of aggressive behaviors among individuals and eliminate existing victimization patterns presupposing that people different from the majority can become victims and suffer from aggression and inappropriate behavioral patterns (Blake et al., 2016). It is possible to conclude that the existing body of literature evidences the correlation between environmental health factors and bullying.
References
Blake, J. J., Zhou, Q., Kwok, O.-M., & Benz, M. R. (2016). Predictors of bullying behavior, Victimization, and bully-victim risk among high school students with disabilities. Remedial and Special Education, 37(5), 285–295. Web.
Bowes, L., Arseneault, L., Maughan, B., Taylor, A., Caspi, A., & Moffit, M. (2014). School, neighborhood, and family factors are associated with children’s bullying involvement: A nationally representative longitudinal study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 48(5), 545-553. Web.
Connolly, E. J., & Beaver, K. M. (2016). Considering the genetic and environmental overlap between bullying victimization, delinquency, and symptoms of depression/anxiety. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 31(7), 1230–1256. Web.
Hodgins, M., & McNamara, P. M. (2019). An enlightened environment? Workplace bullying and incivility in Irish higher education. SAGE Open. Web.