Correlating the Effect of Bullying behavior on Self-Esteem among Higher Secondary School Students in selected school, Salem

Introduction: Bullying at school is a global issue that impacts a considerable number of children and teenagers. An estimated 246 million of them are victims of bullying and acts of violence in schools each year. Psychiatric nurses are crucial in emphasizing the gravity of bullying actions and how they affect students' self-esteem. Objectives: 1. to assess the bullying behavior among higher secondary school students. 2.to assess the self-esteem among higher secondary school students.3. to assess the correlation between bullying and self-esteem among higher secondary school students. Methods: A descriptive evaluative research technique, correlational research design was used. The number of samples was 250 students had been selected via the use of non-probability purposive sampling method from selected school in Salem. Tools: 1) Socio-demographic variables, 2) Bullying scale, and 3) Self-esteem scale. Results: This study represented that 56% of the studied students had poor knowledge about bullying with 67.2% of all the studied students were exposed to bullying, out of this percentage 97.1%, 91.7%, and 72.1% were exposed to bulling by hitting, calling bad names, and threatening, respectively. As well, the majority of studied groups suffered from effect of bullying; (64.8%, 63.2%, 54.8% and 54%) of them suffered of sleep disturbances, abdominal pain, low self-confidence and aggression, respectively. there was a highly statistical significant relation between prevalence of bullying among the studied group and total level of students’ attitude, along with the total level of their self-esteem. There was a highly statistical significant relation between the students’ socio-demographic characteristics and total level of their self-esteem. Conclusion: Current study concluded that, majority of studied students were exposing to and participating in different types of bulling. The majority of the studied group suffered from low self-confidence and aggression with physical and psychological consequences of bullying. Recommendation: Designate instructional module in Arabic booklet to be readily accessible for nurses, school staff and student with the strongest knowledge base about bullying and the process of dealing with or controlling them.