Bullying can impact self-esteem, with victims often having lower levels of self-worth. While conventional belief suggests bullies have low self-esteem, some studies challenge this. Adult bullies also exist, with coercion in the workplace sometimes being difficult to distinguish from bullying. Seeking counseling can help victims of adult bullies.
Self-esteem is the belief in one’s own worth and the ability to face life every day. There are a number of connections between bullying and self-esteem, and not surprisingly, victims of bullies are more likely to have low self-esteem. Conventional belief suggests that bullies themselves suffer from low self-esteem, but some studies have challenged this thinking. Childhood bullying incidents get a lot of attention from mental health professionals and educators, but there are also adult bullies. Adult bullies also impact self-esteem.
Bullying is defined as any form of intimidation, physical, verbal or mental, of a weaker person. The victim’s weakness could be psychological or physical. Studies have shown that victims of bullying usually have lower levels of self-esteem. Experts aren’t sure whether bullying victims are targeted because of their low self-esteem, whether bullying causes low self-esteem, or both. The effects of bullying and self-esteem can be long-lasting. Bullied children suffer both psychological and physical problems as a result of the abuse and may retain their perception of themselves as victims as they grow up to be adults.
Some psychological theories of bullying and self-esteem suggest that a bully’s need to intimidate is evidence of a lack of self-esteem. According to other studies, however, bullies may have too much self-esteem. Their inflated self-esteem often has little basis in reality, but it comes in handy when bullies justify their antisocial behavior to themselves and others. Theories of bullying and self-esteem suggest that while bullies do not suffer from low self-esteem, they are particularly sensitive to shame and do not want their flaws and inadequacies visible to other people.
Most often, bullying and its victims are thought of in relation to childhood. Physical and mental bullying is prevalent in schools and gets a lot of attention. Bullies grow up, however, and can still be bullies as adults. Some people who weren’t bullies as children decide to become bullies in adulthood. In fact, some of them could become business leaders. Coercion, or the use of power to gain compliance, can be a common business tactic, making it difficult to draw the line between bullying and management style. Low company morale can be an indicator of this.
Adults may be less inclined to talk about bullying or even acknowledge it when it occurs. Going with the flow and avoiding confrontation sometimes seems easier than confronting a bully, but these incidents take a toll on self-esteem. For those who are victims of adult bullies, it may be worth seeking counseling to learn how to deal with bullying.
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