Parenting is the most enjoyable and rewarding job that starts when two people decide to have a child. However, as parents, we quickly learn that children do not come with reference manual and that every child is an individual with their own personality. Therefore, many parents, besides experiencing joy they also experience fear, which lurks at every corner, and is not uncommon feeling. Unfortunately, for the parents of Brandy Vela this fear, an unimaginable and shocking nightmare, came true after begging their daughter not pull the trigger of a gun. Most people do not know Brandy Vela, and for others she is just another gun statistic plaguing our country, but the fact is, she is another victim of a disturbing trend—cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying is the main point of this discussion and the ability to understand how different factors play a role in this new trend and what healthcare professionals can do to support, educate, and decrease the numbers of attempts in teenagers and adolescence.
Brandy Vela, was 18 years old, “a promising senior student at Texas City High School in Houston, hoping to pursue a career in veterinary medicine who died in her home on Tuesday, November 29, 2016 from a single gunshot wound to her chest, which was self-inflicted following cyber-bullying on a fake dating website” (Katula P. 2016)—something that has become all too common in today’s cyber world. In recent years, cyber-bullying has increased because of an easy and unlimited access to electronic devices. It has become more of an issue in teens since they are under more pressure from school requirements, peer pressure, and family demands while trying to define themselves and they have an easy escape into virtual worlds right in front of them—without leaving home. Kids are no longer pinned against their locker in exchange of their lunch money—all it takes is a dare, a computer, a virtual world, and cyber-bullying is born. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) proposes that cyber-bullying is in fact a risk for suicide because “it can only be reduced but not eliminated” (Shain B. 2016). That said, nurses in partnership with pediatricians play major role by appropriate assessment of the teenagers for signs of depression, isolation, withdrawal, or limiting contact with their peers so they can communicate the appropriate findings to the pediatrician and to the parents.
In order to examine factors that are influencing this issue, the nurse first needs to understand what is bullying? Bullying is defined as “an in-person relational problem between peers that involves a power imbalance using size, strength, age, and/or social status and it is presented by peer victimization, relational aggression, harassment, and maltreatment. Some examples of bullying include physical (e.g., assault, theft), verbal (e.g., threats, insults, name-calling), social or relational (e.g., exclusion from groups, talking behind one’s back)” (Williams, S. G., Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., Wornell, C., & Finnegan, H 2017) and, most recently, the new trend—cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying is not uniformly clear; however, it has been described as electronic harassment through social networking, cell phone texting, e-mail, instant messages, chat rooms, blogs, or website postings harmful words or photographs—everything that is defining today’s generation. Once nurses understand what bullying is, then they can ask a question: Why do teenagers and adolescent bully one another, and how can nurses stop or decrease this unwanted behavior?
In order to decrease or stop this behavior nurses needs to learn the family dynamics of the teenager/adolescence as some scholars suggest because family dysfunction is a leading factor in cyber-bullying and family dynamics play an essential role at the core of behavioral development and bullying in teens. A theory proposed by researchers of Archives of Suicide; Greene-Palmer, F. N., Wagner, B. M., Neely, L. L., Cox, D. W., Kochanski, K. M., Perera, K. U., & Ghahramanlou-Holloway, M suggests that “poor family communication, problem solving, low levels of warmth and support, responsiveness, high levels of conflict, emotional invalidation, and disturbed patterns of parent-child attachment” (2015) potentially lead to dysfunctional development in teenagers and adolescent. These children then frequently report to school nurses with increased episodes of anxiety, depression, psychosomatic symptoms, poor self-esteem, low self-efficacy, higher stress, and poor locus of control. Some psychologist proposes that certain adolescents and teenagers attempt suicide to bring up anger emotions or guilt, while other teenagers use suicidal threats to gain something in return, such as attention, sympathy, fame, money, or popularity. Therefore, it is imperative for nurses to examine family dynamics as a factor influencing cyber-bullying in teenagers and adolescents to see if further assessments are warranted for other factors such as gender, class, and race that can exacerbate the severity of cyber-bullying as well.
When health care provider finds that the family dynamics are disturbed, they need to investigate furthermore factors like gender, class, and race because they usually play role in who is the bully and who is the victim. These factors will always be interconnected, and in many cases, interchangeable, since gender, according to the recently reviewed evidence-based articles states that boys experience bullying in different ways than girls, and it also suggest that boys are expressing ultimately more violence while bullying others, such as physically attacking in pack mentality vulnerable boys who perhaps are little different. A good example would be kids wearing glasses or seen as smart, just to make them feel worthless and self-conscious. While, in girls, the bullying tends to be verbal, with focus on the body image and the feeling of belonging rather than physical; therefore, it is more of a psychological way of abuse and it forces the victims to run away and/or use illicit drug. In terms of class, a study by Pagès, F., Arvers, P., Hassler, C., & Choquet, M suggests there is a “higher rate of hospitalization in suicide attempters attending private schools” (2004). This theory brings an interesting viewpoint as to why private schools have an increased ratio in suicide attempters compared to public schools. For parents who have children in private school it means a lot because they are investing in the child’s future, and with classes relatively small compared to public schools everything seems exponentially magnified. It would not be easy to get lost in the crowd. Furthermore, some scholars argue that this phenomenon is caused by the fact that parents have more money, which can potentially turn into a power game for the children, once again seeking attention, control, and/or physical gain. Whatever the underlying factors behind the results of private school attempters versus public school, the main focus of nurses is on the “youngest and the newest in a school setting (Williams, S. G., Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., Wornell, C., & Finnegan, H 2017) to help them with adaptation to new environment and creating relationships. Nurses and especially school nurses can provide guidance by developing a plan with the teachers for those who show difficulty in making or changing friends and social group relationships, or behavioral, developmental, cognitive, social, physical, and psychological transformations.
Culture, race, and religion for many centuries have always been seen as the center of mistreatment among, not only teenagers and adolescents, but in adults as well. Therefore, nurses should learn about the teenagers’ background and practices as they could provide clues on how to help the victim of cyber-bullying. Moreover, the awareness is necessary for nurses as they encounter teenagers with different types of backgrounds and each requires different approaches. More awareness is also noticed by lawmakers who are taking actions—not with the sense of urgency it deserves, but its making its way.
Therefore, in terms of legal and ethical factors on cyber-bullying, lawmakers have acknowledged and included cyber-bullying in their laws, thus, making harassment of any kind illegal in many states and making them prosecutable. The punishments could range anywhere from school counseling to suspensions, expulsion from school or jail time for misdemeanor and even felonies. However, the state laws left the health care providers and schools in challenging positions having to impose the sanctions from cyber-bullying without any or very little assistance—or guidance at least. It leaves local levels asking: who is the right person to decide the different levels of sanctions and the type of correlating punishment? Is it the school principal, the nurses, or the police? Ethically, teenagers and adolescent have not fully developed the sense of ability to deal with moral principles; therefore, it would seem appropriate that professionally trained staff members, such as school nurses, should provide guidance at school level and make recommendations.
In conclusion, prior to the omnipresent cyber environment of today, bullying was perceived as power imposed on others to gain something–and bullies were not popular for it. Bullying was mainly in schools; therefore, when a child went home they were worry-free until the next day. Occasionally bullying was found at playgrounds, but the children could leave the hostile environment and move elsewhere were they would not feel threatened. Now, at the digital age, where children own cell phones, computers, tablets, and other means of electronic devices at early age, the bullying is infiltrating the teenager’s homes at the rate of beyond imaginable–twenty-four hours, seven days a week. The teenagers/adolescent do not get a break from the electronics, which “increases concern for devastating consequences now extending beyond the teens’ immediate social networks. Furthermore, there is a growing trend for teens to retaliate against cyber-bullies using social media by live video streaming of their suicide attempts” (Pinto, M. D 2017) and this escalates matters to dangerous levels. Therefore, nurses “are ideally positioned to enhance school-based mental health promotion efforts, especially school nurses who are important in the reduction of ‘relational aggression’ through their involvement in ‘peer review’ programs and other ‘safe environment’ policies” (Greene-Palmer, F. N., Wagner, B. M., Neely, L. L., Cox, D. W., Kochanski, K. M., Perera, K. U., & Ghahramanlou-Holloway, M. 2015). The promotion concentrates on developing healthy interactions among peers, teaching programs to youth on how to treat one another with respect and dignity. Empower victims of bullying to seek support as needed. Lastly, evidence based article written by Taylor and his colleges Wamser, Welch, & Nanney, encourage “interventions that are aimed at helping youth remain self-confident in the face of some social rejection; this intervention may serve adolescents well, particularly since behaviors associated with bullying victimization may also reflect underdeveloped social skills, which may be common among younger students” ( 2012). Hence, nurses needs to encourage healthy connections with peers, family, and community which may also foster a sense of belonging and bolster resilience to depression and suicide. Also some regulations should be implemented in schools on electronic devices allowance on the school premises as well as at home.
