CAPE Caribbean Studies IA

1. TOPIC: BULLYING AMONG
STUDENTS IN PRINCES TOWN
WEST SECONDARY
NAME: SHARANAMOHAMMED
SCHOOL: PRINCES TOWN WEST SECONDARY
SUBJECT: CARIBBEAN STUDIES
YEAR: 2015 - 2016

2. Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction and Purpose of Research........................................................................................ 2
Problem Statement.................................................................................................................. 2
Statement of Problem.............................................................................................................. 2
Research Questions................................................................................................................. 2
Purpose of Study..................................................................................................................... 2
Educational Value................................................................................................................... 3
Technical Terms ..................................................................................................................... 3
Literature Review....................................................................................................................... 4
Data Collection Sources.............................................................................................................. 7
Presentation and Analysis of Data .............................................................................................. 9
Presentation of Data................................................................................................................ 9
Analysis of Data.................................................................................................................... 18
Discussion of Findings............................................................................................................... 21
Conclusions, Limitations and Recommendations...................................................................... 24
Conclusions........................................................................................................................... 24
Limitations............................................................................................................................ 24
Recommendations................................................................................................................. 25
Bibliography............................................................................................................................. 26
Appendix .................................................................................................................................. 27

4. 1
Acknowledgements
Completing this IA gave me a sense of fulfilment and I would like to thank the following
people for their contributions. Firstly, I would like to thank God for giving me wisdom and
the serenity needed in completing this project. My gratitude goes to my Caribbean Studies
teachers for their guidance and assistance in completing this project diligently. Lastly, I pay
gratitude to the authors of the various websites via the internet services which allowed me to
obtain vital information needed for this Internal Assessment.

5. 2
Introduction and Purpose of Research
Problem Statement
The effects of bullying on the self-esteem of students in Princes Town West Secondary.
Statement of Problem
Recent Studies have shown that over 3.2 million students fall victim to bullying worldwide
each year and approximately 90% of teens who have seen social media bullying are reported
to have ignored it. According to the UNESCO website, “a person is bullied when he/she is
exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other
persons, and he/she has difficulty defending himself/herself”. Bullying occurs in two major
forms, physical and psychological, both of which have a severe impact on children. As such,
this study serves to examine the effects of bullying on the self-esteem of students in Princes
Town West Secondary.
ResearchQuestions
1. What are the causes of bullying among students?
2. What are the consequences of bullying when left unattended by those in authority?
3. What are the effects of bullying on the self-esteem of students?
4. What are the strategies that can be implemented to prevent bullying at schools?
Purpose of Study
Bullying gravely affects students, not only physically, but mentally as well. In the school,
Princes Town West Secondary, I observed that there has been an escalation of students
complaining about being bullied in various forms. The lower form students complain that
they are being taxed by students of the upper forms, some stay away from school due to fear
of verbal abuse. Others lament that there are cliques in different classes who tend to victimize
students outside the clique. As such, this research aims at investigating the impact of bullying
on the self-esteem of students in Princes Town West Secondary, so that the reader will have a
better idea of the situation plagued by these unfortunate students.

6. 3
EducationalValue
This study will assist students in learning to interact with one another with mutual respect. In
addition, this research will sensitize teachers on the negative impact of bullying and assist
them in identifying the signs of students being bullied/bullying others and as such they will
be able to help curb bullying problems at school. Parents will also be able to use the
information in this research to have a better understanding of the likeliness of their child
falling victims of bullying or bullying others so that they may educate their children on the
importance of caring for and respecting one another.
TechnicalTerms
1. Bully – to frighten, hurt, or threaten someone.
2. Self-esteem – a feeling of satisfaction that someone has in himself or herself and his
or her own abilities.
3. Fear – an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of
danger.
4. Victim - a person who is cheated, fooled, or hurt by another.
5. Mind-set - a particular way of thinking; a person's attitude or set of opinions about
something.
6. Depression – a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless,
and unimportant and often is unable to live in a normal way
7. Suicide attempt – a non-fatal, self-directed, potentially injurious behaviour with an
intent to die as a result of the behaviour; might not result in injury.

7. 4
Literature Review
According to Dr. Dan Olweus, in his book, Bullying At School, “a person is bullied when
he/she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more
other persons, and he/she has difficulty defending himself/herself”. This source is relevant to
my study because Dr. Dan Olweus, is a renowned Sweden psychologist and is known as “the
father of anti-bullying programs”. He has been involved in research and intervention work in
the area of bullying among schoolchildren and youth for over 40 years.
In August 2014, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) released a paper entitled
“Bullying Victimization Profile in the Caribbean”. Data in this paper indicated that the
average prevalence of bullying in the Caribbean is 29%. It was also revealed that 21% of
students are bullied at schools in Trinidad. Furthermore, it identified that Caribbean teenagers
who are victims of bullying displayed symptoms of loneliness, sleeping less, having fewer
friends, having a low self-esteem and being more sexually active than their non-bullied peers.
The information provided relates to my study because the IDB is the largest source of
development financing in the Caribbean and one of its key roles is sensitizing the general
areas hindering a child’s education, such as bullying.
The website of the National Centre for Biotechnology Information, highlights a study
entitled, “The Causes of Bullying”. This study utilized data from The National Survey of
School Health, conducted in 2012, in which a total of 109,104 9th grade students from private
and public schools in Brazil participated. Data was collected through a self-applied
questionnaire. In regard to the causes of bullying, 51.2% did not specify; 18.6% of
victimization was related to body appearance; followed by facial appearance (16.2%);
race/colour (6.8%); sexual orientation (2.9%); religion (2.5%); and region of origin (1.7%).
This study is applicable to my research topic because the NCBI is part of the US National
Institutes of Health and one of its roles is providing biomedical information pertaining to the
predicaments of children, such as bullying.
Furthermore, in an article entitled, “He was bullied”, published in the Trinidad and Tobago
Guardian on June 20th 2015, a mother claimed that her son retaliated against his bullies after
reports of him being a victim of bullying were neglected by the police. For several months,
her son came home battered and bruised due to physical bullying. This gravely impacted on
his level of self-esteem as he was uncomfortable with his appearance due to the bruise marks.

8. 5
He grew frustrated and eventually stabbed the bully. Data was collected for this article via an
interview with the mother, Mrs Avianne Huyghew, who relayed information leading up to the
altercation with her son and the alleged bully. The Trinidad and Tobago Guardian is one of
the most popular newspapers of Trinidad and Tobago, and this article pertains to my study
because it highlights an extreme case of bullying and the outcome of it when left unattended
by those in authority.
The Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, another local newspaper, highlighted an article entitled,
“Pastor Dottin: Stop bullying in schools”, published on June 18th 2015. Here, the pastor cited
that depression and suicide attempts were among the harmful effects of school bullying. He
highlighted the story of 18-year-old Danielle Alfonso, winner of the Love Until Foundation
school competition. She was a victim of bullying for many years, was depressed and even
contemplated suicide. For years, her mother raised concerns with the authorities at her school,
but no action was ever taken to address the problem. The Trinidad and Tobago Newsday is
another popular newspaper of Trinidad and Tobago which also highlights many articles on
bullying both in and out of school, thus making this article relevant to my study.
An article from “The Journal of School Health” was also assessed. The article, entitled
“Cyberbullying and Self-Esteem”, examined the relationship between the experience of
middle school students with cyberbullying and the impact it had on their self-esteem.
Between the months of March and April 2007, the researchers of this article selected a
random sample of 1963 middle school students from 30 schools in one of the largest school
districts in the United States and allowed them to complete a self-report survey of Internet
use and cyberbullying experiences. Findings showed that students who experienced
cyberbullying, both as a victim and an offender, had significantly lower self-esteem than
those who had little or no experience with cyberbullying. This source is applicable to my
study because the journal’s main purpose is to provide relevant data on various topics which
can be used to improve the life of school children.
A book, entitled “A Public Health Approach to Bullying Prevention”, written by Matthew G.
Masiello and Diana Schroeder was also evaluated. The strategies for bullying prevention
were examined by various experts. Some of these strategies included creating bullying
awareness programs for students, educating students about the necessary actions to take when
they are faced with bullying and the authorization of teachers to attend workshops pertaining
to bullying so that they would have an essential knowledge of appropriately dealing with

9. 6
bullying at schools. The information relayed in this book is pertinent to my research topic
because it incorporates the views of psychologists, a physician, educators, nurses, social
workers, public health program experts, an economist, and a foundation program coordinator,
as they all have years of experience in addressing bullying.

10. 7
Data Collection Sources
To investigate the impact of bullying on the self-esteem of students in Princes Town West
Secondary, both primary and secondary sources were used. A questionnaire was used as the
source of primary data collection whilst articles were assessed as the secondary source of data
collection.
Firstly, I decided to use a questionnaire as the main data collecting tool because it was easy to
construct and is an instrument that is familiar to most people, thereby posing little or no
difficulty in completing. The instrument consisted of both close and open ended questions in
order to restrict participants’ responses to what was required for the study, while allowing
them to give their views/experiences on bullying. Furthermore, I used this method of data
collection because I believed that the questionnaire enabled the collection of a relatively large
amount of data from a fairly large sample population in a short time frame. In addition, the
data collected was easy to analyze and represented graphically.
Questionnaires were administered to students of all forms of Princes Town West Secondary,
through a process of random sampling. I gave 24 students per class a number and all odd
numbers were selected to complete the questionnaire. Overall, 72 persons were selected to
participate in the study. Questionnaires were distributed and collected within the 24th – 29th
January 2016.
Furthermore, secondary sources were also used in the study as they were essential to the
overall understanding of the topic under investigation. They were also beneficial in the
completion of the Literature Review and in the development of the Research Questions which
guided the entire study.
The book written by Dr Dan Olweus clearly defined “bullying”, which was of great
assistance to my study as it allowed me to gain a deeper knowledge of the definition, from the
views of an expertise in the field of bullying. Similarly, the other book assessed was useful to
my study because it relayed the views, of many professionals who deal with bullies and their
victims, in preventing bullying. As such, I was able to incorporate these methods in
attempting to curb bullying at my school, Prince Town West Secondary.
Also, both newspaper articles were taken from two major newspapers of Trinidad and
Tobago. This was beneficial considering my study focuses on a secondary school in Trinidad

11. 8
and as such, I was able to make much needed comparisons. In addition to this, the website of
the National Centre for Biotechnology Information highlighted in depth information on the
causes of bullying which thus allowed me to compare the causes to those in my school and
determine the general causes.
Since the article from the Journal depicted information pertaining to the effect of cyber-
bullying on the self-esteem of students, I was able to make links to my study, which focuses
on the effect of bullying on the students of my school, which also allowed me to create
generalizations based on these comparisons.
Lastly, the paper released by the Inter-American Development Bank, provided statistics on
the amount of children being bullied in the Caribbean and more specifically, in Trinidad. It
also provided data on the impact of bullying on children; it was indicated that self-esteem
was impacted. Therefore, this contributed to my study as it allowed me to gain knowledge of
how serious bullying is in Trinidad and how it impacts children, especially their self-esteem.
Thus I was able to link and compare this information to my school to greater assess the issue
of bullying.

12. 9
Presentation and Analysis of Data
Presentationof Data
Percentage
95%
3%
2%
Table 1 shows how students define bullying
Figure 1 shows the various forms of bullying
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
Percentage of Students
FormsofBullying
Bar Graph Showing The Various Forms Of Bullying
Gender
Racial
Cyber
Social
Verbal
Physical
Table Showing The Definitions Of Bullying
Percentage of
Students
Definition
95% Repeated verbal, physical, social or psychological behavior that is
harmful and involves the misuse of power by an individual or group
towards one or more persons
3% When a person is kind to someone but the other person isn’t kind in return
2% When parents discipline their children

13. 10
Tally Chart Showing Reasons For Bullying
Gender discrimination
|
To gain popularity/the person thinks it’s
cool to be a bully
|||| ||
Jealousy
|||| ||||
Physical appearance
|||
| = 5% of students
Figure 2 shows the reasons students believe that bullying occurs

14. 11
Figure 3 shows the percentage of students who are and aren’t victims of bullying
Figure 4 shows the percentage of students and their self-esteem levels before they were
victims of bullying
Yes No
30%
40%
30%
Doughnut Showing Students' Self-Esteem Before They Were
Bullied
I always thought positively
about myself and was proud of
my inner and outward
appearance
I felt as though I barely had
things to be proud of however I
strived to keep a positive attitude
towards myself
I was never proud of myself and
often felt like a failure
Picture Chart Showing The Percentage Of Bullied Students

15. 12
Figure 5 shows the ways by which bullying affected the self-esteem of students
Percentage
95%
3%
2%
Table 2 shows the reasons students allow bullying to affect their self-esteem
85%
10%
5%
Pie Chart Showing The Ways By Which Bullying Affected
Students' Self-Esteem
My self-esteem decreased as I felt less of an individual and less accepted by my peers
It made me realize the importance of valuing my self worth
It did not affect my self-esteem
Table Showing The Reasons Students Allow Bullying To Affect Their Self-Esteem
Percentage of
Students
Reason
45% I believed that the way I was treated determined my worth i.e. I felt as
though whatever my bullies said about me was true and I deserved to be
bullied
20% My peers laughed when I got bullied and I felt less than the other students
due my personality and physical appearance
25% Before being bullied I had a low self-esteem and after being bullied, my
self-esteem became lower
10% I am self-confident and don’t allow bullying to affect my self-esteem

16. 13
Figure 6 shows how bullying impacts the self-esteem of students
Figure 7 shows the percentage of students who believe/don’t believe that bullies have a low
self-esteem
25%
45%
20%
10%
Doughnut Showing The Impact Of Bullying On Self-Esteem Of Students
I am unable to make
friends/socialize with people
because I feel as though I am
beneath them
I perform poorly academically
because I spend most of my time
feeling depressed
I feel as though I am a failure and
will never achieve my goals
I do not have a low self-esteem
90%
10%
Pie Chart Showing The Percentage of Students Who Believe That
Bullies Have A Low Self-Esteem
Yes
No

17. 14
Figure 8 shows the percentage of students who believe that bullies bully students due to low
self-esteem
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Bullies try to make
themselves feel
better/increase their
self-esteem by picking
on other
students/making other
students feel bad
about themselves
Bullies will forget
their self-esteem
issues by targeting
other students
Bullies do not bully
students because of
their low self-esteem;
they bully them for
personal entertainment
I don’t know
PercentageofStudents
Reasons Students Believe Bullies Bully
Column Graph Showing The Percentage Of Students Who Believe
That Bullies Bully Students Due To Low Self-Esteem

18. 15
Figure 9 shows the percentage of students who reported the issue of bullying to someone in
authority and whether or not action was taken by that person to rectify it
35%
40%
25%
Pie Chart Showing The Percentage Of Students Who Reported
Bullying and Whether Or Not Action Was Taken When Reported
Yes, I reported it and action was
taken
Yes, I reported it but no action
was taken
No, I did not report it

19. 16
Figure 10 shows the ways in which students tried to resolve bullying after it was left
unattended by persons in authority
11%
14%
10%65%
Pie Chart Showing The Ways In Which Students ResolvedBullying
Decided to confront my bully/bullies and
kindly ask them to stop bullying me
Resorted to bullying my bully/bullies to
get them to stop bullying me or I got
someone to bully my bully/bullies to get
them to stop bullying me
Fought with my bullies and peers so they
would fear me instead of bully me
Didn’t do anything to resolve the issue

20. 17
Figure 11 shows the ways in which students believe bullying can be prevented in school
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
PercentageofStudents
Ways By Which BullyingCan Be Prevented
Column Chart Showing The Ways In Which Bullying Can Be
Prevented
Introduce an anti-bullying program
in school
Provide counselling for bullies and
victims of bullying
Suspend the reported bullies
Bullying cannot be prevented in
school

21. 18
Analysis of Data
Firstly, from the information gathered, it was evident that the majority of students had a
similar idea of the definition of bullying (See Table 1). 95% of them viewed bullying as an
act of repeated verbal, physical, social and psychological abuse by one person or a group of
persons unto others. A reason for this could be due to the rise in school violence and social
misconduct among the students. It was also evident that the minority, 5% of students, had
different views on the definition of bullying.
Bullying occurs in all the forms, the most blatant being verbal, 35%, and physical, 30%. A
reason for this could be due to some students wanting to have power and control over others.
Whereas, gender bullying was the least prevalent in the school, 3% (See Figure 1).
Furthermore, the results showed that 45% of the students surveyed thought the main reason
for bullying was jealousy. This was followed very closely by bullies attempting to gain
popularity by bullying i.e. they think that it’s cool to be a bully. (See Figure 2). A reason for
this trend may be because many teenagers aspire to be “cool” and “popular”, therefore, in an
attempt to increase their social status, they bully others. Also, the minority of the student
population (5%) believed that bullying occurs due to gender discrimination and the physical
appearance of students.
It was quite alarming to learn, from the information obtained that 85% of those surveyed
were victims of bullying (See Figure 3). With respect to their self-esteem before they were
victims of bullying, 40% of students maintained a somewhat high level of self-esteem (See
Figure 4). However, an overwhelming 85% of students experienced a decline in their self-
esteem after being bullied (See Figure 5). The main reason students gave for this decline was
because bullying made them feel less of an individual and less accepted by their peers. They
felt as though no one wanted to have anything to do with them for fear of they themselves
falling victim to bullying. The greatest percentage of students (45%) indicated that they
allowed bullying to affect their self-esteem, because they believed that the way they were
treated determined their worth i.e. they felt as though whatever their bullies said about them
was true and they deserved to be bullied (See Table 2). This may be because some teenagers
are easily influenced by their peers and as such tend to believe the views of their peers. Many
teenagers also suffer with self-esteem issues, therefore when bullied, they tend to tolerate it
and adapt to the situation, which as a result, lowers their self-esteem.

22. 19
Bullying negatively affects the self-esteem of students. The most significant impact of
bullying was that it affected the academic performance of students as they spent most of their
time being depressed. A simple explanation for this is that, when students are bullied, it
lowers their self-esteem and they often spend most of their time depressed as they wonder
why they are bullied. Therefore, they spend less time studying and more time focusing on
their bullying situation hence their academic performance lowers. Also, some students may
be in pain due to physical bullying, this could affect their ability to focus on their studies,
thus resulting in poor academic performance. Furthermore, only a minority of students (10%)
specified that bullying didn’t affect their self-esteem (See Figure 6).
Furthermore, most of the students (90%) indicated that bullying is linked to bullies having a
low self-esteem. Sixty percent of those surveyed believed that bullies try to make themselves
feel better/increase their self-esteem by picking on other students/making other students feel
bad about themselves. In addition to this, 20% of students believed that by bullying, bullies
will forget their self-esteem issues and 10% of students believed that bullies bully students
for their personal entertainment (See Figure 8).
It was quite evident that most of the students (75%) reported the issue of bullying to a person
in authority. From this figure, 35% of the cases reported were rectified by someone in
authority, while 40% of the cases were left unattended (See Figure 9). A reason for this may
be that those in authority would have different reactions when they receive a bullying
complaint. Some may think of it as a serious issue and intervene to rectify it, whereas others
may believe that it isn’t serious and leave it for the students to solve. Furthermore, a reason
for which the minority of the students (25%) didn’t report the bullying issue may be because
they were scared of being further bullied if they reported it and as such, they chose to stay
silent about the situation.
With respect to the reported bullying being left unattended by those in authority, 24% of the
students resorted to bullying/fighting with their bullies and peers in order to resolve their
bullying situation. This may be because students thought that by bullying/fighting, their peers
would see them as superior and as such, they won’t get bullied. However, it was obvious that
the majority of the students (65%) did nothing about the situation, which may have been
because they felt hopeless and believed that nothing could rectify the situation. (See Figure
10).

23. 20
Lastly, students were asked their view on prevention of bullying. Forty percent of the
students believed that bullying cannot be prevented, a reason for this may be because students
fear their bullies to the extent that they believe nothing would prevent them from bullying.
Thirty-five percent (35%) of students indicated that it can be prevented by suspending the
bullies. This may be because students believe that if the bullies aren’t in school, bullying
won’t occur or that out of fear of being suspended again, they will stop bullying. The
minority of the population (25%) indicated that bullying can be prevented either by providing
counselling for the bullies or by the introduction of an anti-bullying program in the school. A
reason for this could be that these students believe that bullies are humans too and with
proper counselling they could change and stop bullying (See Figure 11).

24. 21
Discussion of Findings
From the data collected, 95% of students defined bullying as “repeated verbal, physical,
social or psychological behaviour that is harmful and involves the misuse of power by an
individual or group towards one or more persons”. Therefore, a link can be made with the
study done by “Dr. Dan Olweus”. As described in the Literature Review, Dr. Olweus defined
bullying as, “a person is bullied when he/she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to
negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he/she has difficulty defending
himself/herself”. This definition is quite similar to the way by which students of Princes
Town Secondary defined bullying. Considering Dr. Olweus is experienced in the field of
bullying, the similarity in the students’ definition to his, justifies that the students have a
satisfactory knowledge on the issue of bullying.
Additionally, it was obvious from the data collected that the major forms of bullying were
“physical” (30%) and “verbal” (35%). Following this, a total of 80% of students indicated
that bullying occurred mainly due to jealousy and because bullies try to gain popularity by
bullying/they think it’s cool to be a bully. This can be compared to the study, “The Causes of
Bullying”, done by the NCBI, where a survey was taken at various private and public schools
in Brazil on the causes of bullying. Although 51.2% of those surveyed did not give a specific
cause for bullying, 18.6% of the students attributed it to body appearance, 16.2% to facial
appearance and 2.9% to sexual orientation. These reasons are similar to some of those given
by the students of Princes Town West Secondary School where 15% of the students attributed
bullying to physical appearance and 5% to gender discrimination. These statistics indicate
that schools in different territories have similar views on the reasons for bullying.
Furthermore, my research indicated that 85% of the students from Princes Town West
Secondary School were victims of bullying. Hence, we can justify the data revealed by the
IDB, which stated that 21% of students are bullied in schools in Trinidad. This is because
Princes Town West Secondary School forms part of the overall number of schools in
Trinidad and the 21% of students bullied at schools in Trinidad as quoted by the IDB would
include the students bullied at Princes Town West Secondary School. In addition to this, 30%
of students indicated that before they were bullied, they had a low self-esteem whereas 70%
strived to keep a high self-esteem. However, after bullying, it was evident that the self-esteem
of the majority (91%) of students decreased. Again, a link can be made to the data revealed

25. 22
by the IDB, where they indicated that Caribbean teenagers who are victims of bullying had a
low self-esteem.
Ironically, 90% of the participants of my study believed that bullies have a low self-esteem.
Again, the majority of the students stated that the reason for this was because “bullies try to
make themselves feel better/increase their self-esteem by picking on other students/making
other students feel bad about themselves.” A comparison can be made to the article from
“The Journal of School Health”, entitled “Cyberbullying and Self-Esteem”. The data in this
article showed that students who experienced cyberbullying, had significantly lower self-
esteem than those who had little or no experience with cyberbullying.
In contrast, the article dealt only with cyberbullying whereas my study focused on all forms
on bullying. Furthermore, the target group for the article was middle school students whereas
my study focused on students of all forms in Princes Town West Secondary.
Additionally, the majority of students in my study revealed that they allowed bullying to
affect their self-esteem because they previously suffered with having a low self-esteem and
they felt as though they deserved to be bullied. Following this, 90% of students indicated that
being bullied affected their daily lives as their academic performance declined, their self-
confidence decreased and they were unable to socialize with others. Here, a correlation to the
paper released by the IDB can be made, where the similarity was such that the IDB identified
that, bullied victims displayed symptoms of loneliness, sleeping less, having fewer friends
and having a low self-esteem as compared to their non-bullied peers.
In addition, 40% of the student population indicated that they reported the issue of bullying to
persons in authority however, no action was taken by that person to rectify it. As a result of
this, despite the majority (65%) of the student population, not doing anything on their own to
resolve the issue, 24% of the population indicated that they resorted to methods such as
bullying their peers/bullies and violence, in attempts to stop being bullied. Here, a link is
established between bullying neglected by persons in authority and rebellion. The article, “He
was bullied”, found in the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, justifies this. In the article, the
bullied victim resorted to fighting his bullies, after the situation was left unattended by the
police. A link was also made between bullying and low self-esteem since the child claimed
that his self-esteem was affected because he was uncomfortable with his appearance due to
the bruise marks from being bullied.

26. 23
A connection to this portion of my study could also be made to the article, “Pastor Dottin:
Stop bullying in schools”, found in the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. It highlighted the
story of an 18-year-old student who was a victim of bullying for many years, she was
depressed and even contemplated suicide. The issue of bullying was brought to the attention
to those in authority at the school, however, no action was taken to rectify it.
Unlike the data depicted in my study, the article linked neglect of bullying to long-term
serious impacts such as depression and suicide attempts. Again, a link to the bullying on a
child’s life is established by these impacts.
Lastly, the majority of the school population indicated that they don’t believe bullying can be
prevented in Princes Town West Secondary. The remainder of students suggested measures
such as suspension of the bullies, providing counselling for bullies and their victims and the
introduction of an anti-bullying program to the school. The book, “A Public Health Approach
to Bullying Prevention”, also suggested similar means of bullying prevention.
In addition, one of the main strategies suggested in the book was “creating bullying
awareness programs in schools”. However, the students in my study indicated that this would
be ineffective as only 10% of students believed that introducing an anti-bullying program into
the school would help curb bullying.
Overall, the comparison of bullying in my study to those in the aforementioned studies
indicate that bullying is a grave situation. Both the similarities and differences in the research
help to make the issue of bullying easier to analyze, and it also shows that stringent policies
need to be implemented in Princes Town West Secondary to deal with this issue. However,
more research is required on this issue as it is one of great severity which impacts not only
Princes Town West Secondary but all schools throughout Trinidad and Toabago.

27. 24
Conclusions, Limitations and Recommendations
Conclusions
The study was conducted to ascertain the effects of bullying on the self-esteem of students in
Princes Town West Secondary. Based on the findings it can be concluded that bullying is a
major issue in the school, with 85% of the student population falling victims of bullying. It
was also identified that the most prominent forms of bullying were “physical” and “verbal”.
In addition to this, it was deduced that bullying gravely impacted on the self-esteem of both
bullies and their victims, in the aforementioned school. Furthermore, the study indicated that
the major consequences of bullying were violence, depression, inability to socialize and a
decreased academic performance. All of which impacts on a person both mentally and
physically thus negatively affecting his/her self-esteem. Lastly, the data of this study
specified, from the views of the students of the school that the most efficient method of
curbing bullying in the school would be to suspend the bullies.
Limitations
There were a few limitations faced whilst conducting this study. These were –
- The sample size was small and the findings applied only to Princes Town West
Secondary, and cannot and should not be generalized to all schools of Trinidad and
Tobago since the social dynamics of all schools are not constant throughout the
country.
- The number of studies and research projects carried out concerning the effect of
bullying on the self-esteem of students were limited, especially in the Caribbean,
therefore there was not a large amount of sources to be used.
- When the questionnaires were distributed some were not returned or completed, or in
some cases some of the questions were misunderstood by respondents therefore the
results may have been inaccurate in some cases
- Out of fear that their responses may have been leaked, not all questions were
answered justly by students.

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Recommendations
This study was conducted to determine the effects of bullying on the self-esteem of students
of Princes Town West Secondary. The following are some recommendations, after reviewing
the data collected in the study:
- Persons in authority, such as teachers, vice-principal, principal and other staff
personnel should take immediate action when bullying is observed. They should talk
to the students involved individually and try to resolve the problem expeditiously,
according to the discipline plans of the school.
- Teachers should hold class meetings during which students can talk openly about
bullying and peer relations. By doing this, students can discuss how bullying affects
them and try to find solutions among themselves to try to prevent and stop bullying.
- Parents should be more observant/pay more attention to the lives of their children.
They should be more aware of bullying and understand that it could affect their child.
They should familiarize themselves with the signs and symptoms of bullying by doing
research on the topic. This would help them to easily identify if their child is
displaying any of these sings and take necessary steps to prevent and stop it.
- Schools should introduce anti-bullying policies whereby warnings followed by
penalties for bullying would be implemented, thereby discouraging bullies from
bullying, as they would not want to be punished for their deeds.

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Bibliography
Masiello, M.G.M & Schroeder, D.S. (2014) A Public Health Approach to Bullying
Prevention: American Public Health Association.
Olewus, D. (1993) Bullying At School: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Oliveira, W.A.O, Silva, M.A.S., Mello, F.C.M, Porto, D.L.P, Yoshinaga, A.C.Y. & Malta,
D.C.M., (author). (2015, April, 14th). The Causes of Bullying. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25885363
Patchin, J.W.P. & Hinduja, S.H. (2010) Cyberbullying and Self-Esteem. The Journal of
School Health, volume 80 (issue 12), pages 614 – 621. DOI: 10.1111/j.1746-
1561.2010.00548.x
Ruprah, I.J. (2014). Bullying least prevalent in Trinidad and Tobago, IDB says. The Inter-
American Development Bank.
The Trinidad and Tobago Guardian Research Team, (2015, June, 20th). He was bullied. The
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian.
The Trinidad and Tobago Newsday Research Team, (2015, June, 18th). Pastor Dottin: Stop
bullying in schools. The Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

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Appendix
1. What is your gender?
☐ Male ☐ Female
2. To which age group do you belong?
☐ 11 – 13 ☐ 14 – 16
☐ 17 – 19
3. To which religious group do you belong?
☐ Christianity ☐ Islam
☐ Hinduism
☐ Other (Please specify)
_____________________________________________________________________
4. To which ethnic group do you belong?
☐ African ☐ East Indian
☐ Other (Please specify)
_____________________________________________________________________
5. How would you define bullying?
☐ Repeated verbal, physical, social or psychological behavior that is harmful and
involves the misuse of power by an individual or group towards one or more persons
☐ When a person is kind to someone but the other person isn’t kind in return
☐ When parents discipline their children
6. Where does bullying occur?

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☐ Classrooms/labs ☐ School entrances and exits
☐ School library ☐ School field
☐ School washrooms ☐ School hall/cafeteria
7. What form of bullying is most prevalent in Princes Town West Secondary?
☐ Physical (e.g. hit, pushed, shoved, slapped, kicked, spit at, or beaten up, had
property stolen)
☐ Verbal (e.g. called names, teased hurtfully, insulted, humiliated, threatened)
☐ Social (e.g. excluded from a group, made to look dumb by someone, gossiped
about; rumours spread)
☐ Cyber (e.g. threatened, embarrassed, singled out, had your feelings hurt, been
gossiped about, or had secrets about you revealed through e-mail or phone text
messages or pictures)
☐ Racial (e.g. treated differently or badly because of your race, culture, ethnicity)
☐ Gender (e.g. left out or treated badly because you are a boy or a girl; heard sexist)
8. For what reasons do you believe bullying occurs in Princes Town West Secondary?
☐ Gender discrimination ☐ Physical appearance
☐ To gain popularity/the person thinks it’s cool to be a bully
☐ Jealousy
☐ Other (please specify)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
9. Are you a victim of bullying?

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☐ Yes ☐ No
10. If yes, how was your self-esteem before you were a victim of bullying?
☐ I always thought positively about myself and was proud of my inner and outward
appearance
☐ I felt as though I barely had things to be proud of however I strived to keep a
positive attitude towards myself
☐ I was never proud of myself and often felt like a failure
11. In what way did bullying affect your self-esteem?
☐ My self-esteem decreased as I felt less of an individual and less accepted by my
peers
☐ I felt happy and more confident about myself
☐ It did not affect my self-esteem
12. Why did you allow bullying to affect your self-esteem?
☐ I believed that the way I was treated determined my worth i.e. I felt as though
whatever my bullies said about me was true and I deserved to be bullied
☐ My peers laughed when I got bullied and I felt less than the other students due my
personality and physical appearance
☐ Before being bullied I had a low self-esteem and after being bullied, my self-
esteem became lower
☐ I am self-confident and don’t allow bullying to affect my self-esteem
☐ Other (please specify)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
13. Do your bullies intentionally target you to make you feel less of a person?
☐ Yes, my bullies make fun of my physical appearance

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☐ Yes, my bullies constantly tell me that I am a useless person/bully me due to my
weight/size
☐ I don’t know
14. How does having a low self-esteem impact your life?
☐ I am unable to make friends/socialize with people because I feel as though I am
beneath them
☐ I perform poorly academically because I spend most of my time feeling depressed
☐ I feel as though I am a failure and will never achieve my goals
☐ I do not have a low self-esteem
15. Do you believe that bullies have a low self-esteem?
☐ Yes ☐ No
16. If yes, do you think that bullies bully students because of their low self-esteem?
☐ Bullies try to make themselves feel better/increase their self-esteem by picking on
other students/making other students feel bad about themselves
☐ Bullies will forget their self-esteem issues by targeting other students
☐ Bullies do not bully students because of their low self-esteem; they bully them for
personal entertainment
☐ I don’t know
17. Have you ever reported the issue of bullying to someone in authority (teacher, parent
etc.), and was any action taken by that person to rectify the bullying situation?
☐ Yes, I reported it and action was taken
☐ Yes, I reported it but no action was taken
☐ No, I did not report it
18. If no action was taken, have you decided to resolve the issue on your own?
☐ Yes, I decided to confront my bully/bullies and kindly ask them to stop bullying

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me
☐ Yes, I resorted to bullying my bully/bullies to get them to stop bullying me or I got
someone to bully my bully/bullies to get them to stop bullying me
☐ Yes, I fought with my bullies and peers so they would fear me instead of bully me
☐ No, I didn’t do anything to resolve the issue
☐ Other (please specify)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
19. Do you think that bullying is a major issue in Princes Town West Secondary?
☐ Yes ☐ No
20. How do you think bullying can be prevented in Princes Town West Secondary?
☐ Introduce an anti-bullying program in school
☐ Provide counselling for bullies and victims of bullying
☐ Suspend the reported bullies
☐ Bullying cannot be prevented in school
☐ Other (please specify)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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