Bullying is common at school across all age groups. Not only is bullying a distressing experience, but it also makes it more likely that young people will develop mental health issues – both at the time and in the future.
Teenage girls in year nine are often navigating many challenges. They might be exploring their identities, changing friendship groups, or dealing with stress related to academic work. In the year before their GCSEs, some adolescents may think about what they’d like to do and which subjects they’ll choose next year.
In a time of change, the psychological stress of bullying can be even harder to handle. Department of Education research in UK secondary schools found that around 40% of year 9 students were bullied in the past year. The short-term and long-term effects of these experiences can be far-reaching.
This blog outlines the types of bullying experienced by year 9 students and its effects on their mental well-being. It also touches on the other challenges faced by 13-14-year-old girls.
What Is Bullying?
Bullying involves deliberate harmful actions from one person or group of people to another, where there is a power imbalance between those bullying and those being bullied. This power imbalance may be physical or social, based on characteristics like popularity, social group, or age.
Bullying can take place in real life, by text and phone call, or online. It may include verbal or physical aggression, spreading lies and rumours, exclusion from friendship groups, and withdrawing affection.
How Common is Bullying Among Year 9 Students?
Research by the UK Department of Education (2014) found among year 9 students:
- 40% had experienced bullying at least once in the past year
- 8% had experienced daily bullying in the past year
The most common form of bullying reported was name-calling (including incidents over text, message, and email), reported by 26% of year 9 students. The second most common was exclusion from activities and social groups, experienced by 18% of students. 16% had received threats of violence and 12% had experienced violence.
Are There Gender Differences in Experiences of Bullying?
Experiences of bullying are common among secondary students of all gender identities. Non-binary young people are more likely than cis-gender students to be bullied.
Typically, patterns of bullying between boys are slightly different than patterns of bullying between girls. An Australian study among secondary students found that the most common form of bullying among school children aged 14-17 was relational bullying, engaged in by 72% of boys and 65% of girls. It also found that:
- Traditional bullying of others and relational aggression were higher in boys than in girls
- Experiences of being bullied (traditional and cyberbullying) were higher among girls than boys aged 14-15
- Traditional bullying increased among boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 17, while relational bullying decreased
- Over time, gender differences in bullying reduced
Understanding Relational Bullying Among Teenage Girls
Relational bullying is one of the most common forms of bullying among teenage girls. While experts used to think that relational bullying was relatively unusual among boys, more recent research (including the above study) suggests that it may be common among boys, too.
Relational bullying (also known as social bullying) involves trying to change a person’s standing within a friend group or social status. Those who engage in relational aggression aim to gain power, control, and social standing among peers at the expense of the bully-target. Relational bullying is often more difficult to notice than other forms of bullying, and a teenager may not even recognise it when it happens to them.
It’s important to look for signs of relational bullying to identify and prevent harmful behaviours. Relational bullying may involve:
- spreading false rumours about someone to try and harm their reputation
- making fun of another person for their personality or aspects of their identity
- posting negative information about a person online
- manipulating another person by refusing to speak to them (often known as ‘silent treatment’)
- telling another person that they will not be their friend unless they do what they want
How Does Bullying Affect the Well-Being of Year 9 Students?
Bullying is a profoundly distressing experience for young people that can have a big impact on their mental health and well-being. Young people who are bullied may experience anxiety, stress, nightmares, sadness, isolation, and fear.
Unsurprisingly, bullying makes the development of mental health disorders and symptoms more likely. Young people who are bullied are more likely to experience symptoms of:
- anxiety
- depression
- social isolation
- self-harm behaviours
- suicidal ideation
- psychotic symptoms such as delusions and auditory or visual hallucinations
Bullying can also affect the way that teenagers behave towards others, making it more likely they’ll engage in aggressive behaviours or bully others themselves.
Like other forms of bullying, relational bullying also harms young people’s mental health. Research suggests that relational aggression is associated with problems in social problem-solving and emotion regulation, friendship difficulties, and mental health symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and loneliness.
How Does Bullying Affect Young People’s Well-Being in the Future?
Bullying not only affects teenagers’ well-being during school but can cause changes that persist into adult life. Young adults who were bullied as teenagers may have difficulties trusting others and forming healthy friendships and relationships. Experiencing any kind of bullying – not only bullying about appearance or weight – is associated with an increased risk of eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia nervosa.
Bullying is also linked to experiences of psychosis. Experiences of bullying may affect a young person’s ability to identify and understand the mental states and emotions of themselves and others, a trait that’s associated with the development of psychosis.
Bullying – especially relational bullying – also often results in exclusion from friendship groups and social isolation. Social isolation is part of the prodromal phase of schizophrenia that usually precedes the onset of the disorder and makes it more likely that those with a high risk of psychosis will develop a psychotic disorder.
How Can Bullying Among Teenage Girls be Prevented?
Bullying causes severe distress and harm to young people that may have lasting consequences for their mental health and well-being. However, identifying, preventing, and supporting targets of bullying can help prevent further harm and support young people to heal.
If you think that a young person is being bullied, it’s essential to speak with their school. Some schools have an anti-bullying policy that explains who to contact and how to proceed. You could also speak to a teacher, year group leader, or another staff member.
After you’ve spoken with the school, they should plan how to resolve the situation. You should expect them to follow up with you about their steps and tell you what has happened. If you feel like a school isn’t responding adequately, you may want to speak to a senior staff member.
It’s also important for teenage girls who have experienced bullying to receive the support they need to recover from the harm caused and prevent long-term damage to their well-being. They may want to speak about their experiences, thoughts, and emotions with a mental health professional. Psychologists, therapists, and others work with a young person to identify harmful thought and behavioural patterns or mental health symptoms that may have been caused by bullying and explore ways to overcome them.
This may involve different types of therapy, including cognitive-behavioural therapy, mentalisation-based treatment, and trauma therapy.
How Can Anti-Bullying Programs in Schools Help?
Anti-bullying programs in schools are interventions that aim to reduce bullying among schoolchildren. They may include educational approaches and practices that establish a zero-tolerance approach to bullying, alongside reporting systems and effective communication with families.
Anti-bullying programs can also involve life-skill and social-emotional learning modules that help young people manage and understand emotions and maintain positive and empathetic relationships.
What Other Challenges Do Year 9 Girls Experience?
In year 9, young people experience many changes. Some of this is biological: as teenagers begin puberty, they experience changes in their hormones and bodies. At the same time, their relationships with adults and other young people and roles and responsibilities adapt as they grow older.
These changes can cause uncertainty and instability among teenage girls. As they explore and develop their identities, they may struggle with questions about who they are and who they want to be. This can be especially difficult if their identity is oppressed by parts of society, as LGBTQI+ young people may experience.
This uncertainty and change can be hard to navigate. It may also cause tensions between young people move friendship groups to try and find a sense of belonging or, in some cases, harm others in an attempt to establish a sense of security. This can contribute to bullying and make its effects even worse.
Social media use is common among year 9 girls and can play a role in the development of mental health disorders. Year 9 girls may be exposed to social media accounts that glamorise and promote disordered eating behaviours, self-harm, and other harmful attitudes and behaviours.
Around half of lifetime mental health disorders begin by age 14. This means that in year 9, many teenage girls are living with mental health disorders. However, these disorders are often unnoticed or overlooked, and many adolescents don’t receive the professional support they need to recover.
Adolescence is a particularly vulnerable time for mental health disorders. To help young people stay safe and well, it’s important to be aware of the signs of mental health conditions and support young people to access effective support.
The Wave Clinic: Specialist Recovery Programs for Young People
The Wave Clinic offers specialist mental health support for children, teenagers, and young adults. We provide residential and outpatient care to young people from our treatment spaces in Malaysia, specialising in eating disorders, borderline personality, and trauma therapy.
Our residential programs aim to build life advantage for teenagers and young adults, combining exceptional clinical care with education, enriching experiences, and community responsibility. We support young people to grow in self-confidence, develop life skills, and begin fulfilling futures.
Our outpatient centre offers a diverse selection of individual, group, and family evidence-based treatment approaches designed and delivered by experts in child and adolescent psychiatry from all over the world. Our team work with care and sensitivity, taking a trauma-focused approach that connects past and present experiences.
If you’re interested in finding out more about our programs, get in touch today. We’re here to make a difference.
