Self-esteem and bullying: an integrative review

Abstract

School bullying is a form of aggression that has a negative impact on students' lives, both in the learning process and in the psycho-emotional aspects. These attitudes can damage the self-esteem of those involved with the aggressions and make it difficult to face them. However, positive self-worth has the potential to contribute to the individual's attitudes, beliefs and social skills, favoring to formulate strategies to combat this type of school violence. For this reason, this article presents an integrative literature review in order to describe how research has studied the influence of self-esteem on the behaviors of authors and targets of bullying. The data survey was carried out in four bases: Lilacs, Scielo, PsycArticles and Scopus, using the descriptors "bullying", "school violence" and "self-esteem", in Portuguese, English and Spanish. The results of the selection process elected 11 studies, which were categorized into three main themes: Gender perspective; School, family and community participation; and the student's mental health. It was noted that both the authors and the targets of bullying suffer from the consequences on mental health and their behaviors are related to the variables of loneliness, depressed mood, family conflicts, isolation and suicide. In the end, it is concluded that interventions with the school and the family can raise the student's self-esteem and contribute to the psycho-emotional well-being of those involved in bullying episodes and a peaceful coexistence between peers.