The Effects of "Bias Based Bullying" (BBB) on Health, Education, and Cognitive-Social-Emotional Outcomes in Children with Minority Backgrounds: Proposed Comprehensive Public Health Intervention Solutions.

Abstract

“Bias Based Bullying” is defined as physical, verbal, social, or cyber-based threats directed toward a minority population based upon race, ethnicity, religious belief, gender, or sexual orientation and includes a “systematic abuse of power that is characterized by intentionality, frequency, and imbalance of power. Implicit and explicit Bias Based Bullying are associated with several negative health outcomes for adolescents and adults from minority backgrounds including: (1) depressive symptoms, (2) decreased quality of life, (3) anxiety, (4) low self-esteem, and (5) conduct disorders. Children who experience bullying report significantly more negative externalization and internalization of problems with some indication of links to poor academic functioning (Vaillancourt, et al, 2013). The extreme economic cost to the public for Bias Based Bullying (BBB) can be measured by considering the long term health and education effects of BBB, which reached over $2 trillion dollars in 2015, according to one large scale estimate from cumulative academic studies across the nation. Overall, an early intervention, public health, Bias Based Bullying program with comprehensive investment from all levels of stakeholders in public and private platforms should be explored further through research intensive programs that identify the specific needs of vulnerable subgroup populations, with intention to positively affect child health, cognitive-social-emotional wellbeing, and academic performance for children subjected to BBB and to reduce the overall culture and tolerance of those who perpetrate BBB.