Relationship between Bullying and Social Anxiety and Withdrawal

among Adolescents

Lisa Ardiavanti

, Ferry Efendi

, Iqlima Dwi Kurnia

and Pei-Lun Hsieh

Faculty of Nursing Universitas Airlangga, Kampus C Mulyorejo, Surabaya, Indonesia'

College of Medicine and Life Science, Chung Hwa University of Medical Technology

Keywords: Bullying, Social Anxiety, Social Withdrawal.

Abstract: Studies looking at the relationship between bullying and social anxiety have been mainly conducted in

developed countries, and little is known about relationships and social withdrawal. The purpose of this study

was to analyze the relationship between bullying, social anxiety, and social withdrawal among adolescents.

This study used a quantitative method with a cross-sectional study design. Data were obtained from simple

random sampling of 157 adolescents. All participants completed measures of bullying, social anxiety and

social withdrawal. Data were analyzed using the Spearman rho correlation test with a level of significance

<0.05. Results from this research found a strong relationship between bullying and social anxiety in

adolescents (r = 0.628). The same result was identified between bullying and social withdrawal among

adolescents (r = 0.538). It can be concluded that bullying has a negative impact on the social lives of the

participants. The government and public should be aware of this issue and create a campaign to minimize the

negative impact of bullying in today’s society.

1 BACKGROUND

Violent acts often occur in the school environment

and can be experienced by students, teachers, and

other members of school staff (Alia, 2009). One

example of these acts of violence is bullying. The

psychological impact experienced by victims are an

unwillingness to meet with the perpetrators who have

carried out the bullying, an unwillingness to follow

learning activities together, feelings of fear and anger,

and a wish to avenge the experience. Teens who

experience bullying tend to be anxious or uneasy

because of the offender who has bullied them. The

anxiety they experience makes it uncomfortable to

participate in the classroom, outside the classroom, or

outside the school environment. Bullied teens want to

spend more time in the classroom and their desire to

follow activities outside the classroom decreases,

along with their confidence (Novalia, 2016). Bullying

leads to loss of security and comfort, making victims

fearful, depressed, threatened, unwilling to

communicate or socialize within the environment,

reluctant to go to school, achieve lower academic

grades, anxious socially, lonely, experience low self-

esteem, suffer physical health complaints, run away

from home, use alcohol and drugs, and even commit

suicide. However, previous studies have not yet

addressed social anxiety and social withdrawal in

depth.

The occurrences of bullying in the United States

are reported to affect 2,027,254 adolescents

“moderately”, and 1,681,030 teenagers “frequently”.

Bullying behavior in school-age adolescents in the

United States is classified as the highest ranking as

number one from the top ten health problems that

often occur in adolescents (Dewi, 2014). Data from

the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI)

mentioned that, from 2012 to 2015, of 2,000 children

across Indonesia, as many as 87% experienced cases

of violence, including bullying (Setyawan, 2015).

Preliminary study data conducted by researchers

using written and oral interviews on April 15, 2017,

found that 80% of 10 students in grades VII and VIII

often experienced bullying. Teenagers are often

verbally bullying through calling their parents

nicknames, abusive calls and being called names that

make them feel hurt and angry. Victims of bullying

also feel the physical actions of people such as being

hit, or having their head pushed forward. They

experience feelings of fear and become afraid of the

social environment. As many as 70% of victims

146

Ardiavianti, L., Efendi, F., Kurnia, I. and Hsieh, P.

Relationship between Bullying and Social Anxiety and Withdrawal among Adolescents.

DOI: 10.5220/0008321801460149

In Proceedings of the 9th International Nursing Conference (INC 2018), pages 146-149

ISBN: 978-989-758-336-0

prefer not to leave the classroom or withdraw from

their friends.

According to Eriksen and Einarsen (2004), in their

psychosocial development, adolescents must solve

crises that occur during adolescence. During

adolescence, this is called a crisis between identity

and identity vagueness. If an adolescent fails to cope

with a crisis, they will become unsure of themselves,

and become separated from social relationships, or

may develop exaggerated behavior regarding their

own self-importance, thus becoming extreme. The

impact of bullying can be psychological, social, and

physical. The social impact that arises in victims of

bullying cause a lack of confidence a reluctance to

socialize with friends. Victims often withdraw from

the social environment because of bullying (Sejiwa,

2008). Research conducted by Novalia (2016) states

that victims of bullying tend to isolate themselves

from the social environment, causing them to become

anti-social. Victims often want to move schools due

to the discomfort in socializing with friends. Bullied

adolescents feel lonely, have no friends, and become

isolated. Adolescents feel that no friend wants to play

with them. Teenagers who have experienced bullying

tend to hide their problems and do not talk about the

problems they are experiencing with their parents or

other people who care close to them. Victims of

bullying have characteristics of fear, tend to dislike

themselves, and tend to stay at home after school.

Teenagers who are victims of bullying will spend a

lot of time thinking about how to avoid distractions in

school (Wiyani, 2012).

Research by Davis (2005) mentions that bullying

behavior can cause depression in the perpetrators and

victims of bullying. The most extreme psychological

impact of bullying is the emergence of psychological

disorders such as social anxiety, fear, depression, the

desire to commit suicide, and symptoms of post-

traumatic stress disorder. Feelings of social anxiety

arise in the victim by thinking about what the

perpetrator did to them. This condition makes the

victim hesitant, nervous, anxious, suspicious, or

unsure with activities and are surrounded by feelings

of helplessness (Princess, Laking, & Treasaden,

2012). Psychologically, victims of bullying

experience trauma and worry in social environments.

They fear that they will experience bullying again

(Novalia, 2016). Social anxiety can lead to anger,

stress, and depression. Adolescents who experience

social anxiety can develop feelings of hatred towards

themselves and others. Social anxiety can also hinder

what one wants to do. Therefore, over time it will

affect social relationships, friendships, achievement

at school, among other things (Suryaningrum, 2008).

The purpose of this study was to analyze the

relationship between bullying, social anxiety, and

social withdrawal among adolescents.

2 METHODS

This research used a correlational design with a cross

sectional approach. The total population in this study

were 247 students. The number of samples used were

from 157 students. A simple random sampling

technique was used by the researchers. The

instrument used in this study was a modified bullying

questionnaire from the measuring bullying

victimization book, and perpetration and bystander

experiences were written by the national center for

disease control and prevention (2011). The social

anxiety instrument was modified from research by

Riskadina (2016) with the title “The Relationship

Between Body Image and Social Anxiety Trends in

Early Youth” and for social withdrawal instrument

was modified from research Kirani (2016) with the

title “Relationship of Peer Group with Social

Withdrawal in Early Adolescence”. The data were

collected and analyzed using Spearman Rho test.

3 RESULT

Table 1 describe the characteristics of respondents in

this study, are as follows: the majority (100) of

respondents were aged 14 years (63.7%). The

population comprised of 104 male students (66.3%)

and 53 female students (33.7%).

The results showed that most of the bullying that was

experienced by students in grades VII and VIII was

mild or moderate, amounting to 64 people (40.8%).

Regarding social anxiety, the number of respondents

that claimed to frequently experience moderate levels

of social anxiety was 74 (47.1%). Most respondents

Table 1: Relationship between of bullying and social

withdrawal.

Respondent Characteristics

Age

12 years old

13 years old

14 years old

Total

100

157

2.5

33.8

63.7

100

Sex

Male

Female

Total

104

157

66.3

33.7

100

Relationship between Bullying and Social Anxiety and Withdrawal among Adolescents

147

acknowledged that they felt worried and anxious in

the social environment after being bullied, hence their

lack of confidence. Furthermore, there were 80

students (51%) who experienced social withdrawal.

Table 2 showed the results of the statistical

analysis using the Spearman rho correlation test

showed a significance level <0.05 gained the result p

= 0.000. This suggests that there is a significant

relationship between bullying and social anxiety in

adolescents. The value of the coefficient correlation

(r) = 0.628 indicates there is a strong relationship

between bullying and social anxiety in adolescents.

Table 3 showed the results of the statistical analysis

using the spearman rho correlation test showed a

significance level <0.05 gained the result p = 0.000.

This suggests that there is a significant relationship

between bullying and social withdrawal in

adolescents. The value of the correlation coefficient

(r) = 0.538 indicates there is a moderate relationship

between bullying and social withdrawal in

adolescents.

4 DISCUSSION

The relationship between bullying and social anxiety

in adolescence suggests that the more severe the act

of bullying, the more severe the social anxiety is,

experienced by adolescents. Therefore, according to

Erik Erikson's psychosocial development theory,

which states that when there is bullying, emotion

changes and emotional crises occur impacting on self-

adjustment. Therefore, this causes psychological

impact, which is social anxiety. Social anxiety can

arise because adolescents feel embarrassed and lack

confidence. This is because adolescence is a process

of transition from childhood to adulthood. New

periods for adolescents require new adjustments.

Three teenagers experienced mild bullying but

suffered severe social anxiety. One of the respondents

admitted being frequently ridiculed by peers; this can

be defined as verbal bullying. For adolescents there is

a process of adjustment in building social

relationships; adolescents are required to mature

within social interaction based on the principle of

mutual acceptance and giving. If one principle cannot

be sustained, it has an impact on the adolescent's

development. Hence, adolescents are required to

adjust themselves in social relationships.

Respondents who experienced mild bullying but

experienced social anxiety in the medium category as

many as 33 respondents. Based on the parameters of

social avoidance and distress-general (social pressure

in the form of discomfort and stress experienced by

individuals against common social situations).

Respondents admitted to being worried about being

teased by their schoolmates, so when they were in

school they were uncomfortable. This greatly affects

adolescents when in the school environment, among

others, the impact of learning activities and problems

in social relationships.

Adolescents who experience moderate bullying

also experience mild social anxiety. Those

adolescents, when being bullied, can overcome the

bullying by reporting to a counselor teacher or other

staff. In a school environment, the counselor teacher

is capable of protecting students from threats and

problems. In line with this is research conducted by

Ndoily, Pratiwi, and Nurwanti (2014) who state that

Table 2: The relationship between bullying and social anxiety.

Bullying

Social Anxiety

Total

Mild

Moderate

Severe

Mild

17.8

1.9

0.7

Moderate

6.4

25.5

8.9

40.8

Severe

0.7

17.8

18.5

24.2

47.2

28.6

157

100

Spearmen Rho r = 0.628 p = 0.000

Table 3: The relationship beetwen of bullying and social withdrawal.

Bullying

Social withdrawal

Total

negative

positive

Mild

28.7

12.7

41.4

Moderate

15.9

24.2

40.1

Severe

4.5

18.5

Total

49.1

50.9

157

100

Spearman Rho r = 0.538 p=0.000

INC 2018 - The 9th International Nursing Conference: Nurses at The Forefront Transforming Care, Science and Research

148

victims of bullying with a moderate level of social

anxiety are capable of interacting with others. In daily

life, they tend to be aware when they are going to

interact with others. Furthermore, they will also

frequently give negative judgments about themselves

because they feel incapable or fearful if what they

demonstrate is not matched with what others think of

them.

The relationship between bullying and social

withdrawal in adolescents suggests that the more

severe the bullying is, the more severe the social

withdrawal experienced by adolescents. This is in

accordance with Erikson's psychosocial development

theory, which states that bullying causes emotional

changes, emotional crises, and ego imperfections,

which lead to unsettled self-adjustment. This impacts

on social interaction and causes social withdrawal.

Previous research by (Novalia, 2016) states that

victims of bullying are reluctant to go to school so

they can avoid the perpetrators who have committed

bullying. In addition, there are victims who want to

move schools because of the discomfort in the school

environment. Bullying causes adolescents to become

anti-social within the environment.

Some adolescents experience mild bullying yet

belong to the positive social withdrawal category.

Twenty (12.7%) of respondents experiences this. In

adolescents experiencing bullying, an adaptation

process with the surrounding environment and for

coping are needed so they can adjust. A total of 20

respondents said they have not been able to adapt

because of the bullying they have experienced by

their peers or seniors.

adapt to the impact after being bullied. They tried

to remain friends with their other peers and

wereconfident that they would not hurt them.

However, some respondents experienced bullying

and experienced social withdrawal. This is because

when they experienced bullying, they coped

negatively by self-blaming and blaming others.

In contrast, as many as seven respondents (4.5%)

said that they have experienced severe bullying yet

did not experience social withdrawal. Counselor

teachers said if adolescents experienced bullying

immediate adjustments were made by reporting to the

counselor teacher so action could be taken

immediately.

5 CONCLUSIONS

From the research results it can be concluded that

bullying experienced by adolescents is moderate and

mild. Bullying inflicted on the victim is verbal.

Bullying can be caused by poor peer environments

and school environments. Adolescents experience

moderate social anxiety. Social anxiety can arise

because adolescents feel embarrassed or humiliated.

For those experiencing social withdrawal,

adolescents avoid meeting friends who have bullied

them. The more severe the bullying experienced by

adolescents, the more severe the social anxiety they

experience. The more severe the bullying experienced

by adolescents, the more likely it is that adolescents

will experience social withdrawal.

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