Different Ethnicities and Suicide

We now have 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 one 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 have students have 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 was that Filipinos are experience the highest amount of depression, and unsurprisingly Filipinos highest the highest rate for attempted suicide.

This shows the different effects on different teens, and the severity of attempted suicide, a common result of bullying. To add on to the research on ethnicity and its relationship to bullying I looked into the research of Aubrey Spriggs. According to Spriggs black students are less likely to interact with their parents about what is happening in their everyday lives then white children. She also says that black victims of bullying are more likely to have been socially outcasts. The exact ratio of of black children to white children that were bullied is 1.89 (Spriggs). This means that the amount 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 because many times they are social outcasts. This helps me conclude my point that ethnic...are being mentally destroyed and attempting suicide. In conclusion, bullying needs to controlled and awareness needs to spread. The negative impact that it is having on the mental health of teenagers is increasing everyday that we allow it grow. Research shows that bullies are not the only ones to blame because many times schools or parents have not told 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. Also, bullying has different effects on different people, which increases the difficulty to identify when a student is being bullied. Different genders and different ethnicities react to bullying in different ways. To say the least, bullying is a growing problem and it is severely impacting the mental health of teenagers.

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