Increased Passivity or Withdrawal

• Children and adolescents who experience teasing may withdraw from peers and parents. They may feel ashamed or embarrassed. The teasing may also cause the child to fear others who are not a threat to them. Teasing behavior may reduce the youth's self-esteem, making her feel worthless, helpless or unimportant. Relationships may suffer because they feel they are not worthy of friends or family.
  
  

Hostility

• Hostility and anger are also potential psychological effects of teasing. Children and adolescents who have been teased may feel angry toward those who tease them and toward themselves for not being able to stop the teasing. They may also feel angry toward parents and teachers for not helping them, even if the adults do not know the teasing is occurring. The youth may display the hostility by frequently making negative statements about himself, peers, teachers and parents. He may also engage in physical fighting and arguments.
  
  

Apathy

• In order to cope with teasing, children and adolescents may teach themselves to not care. By not caring, they do not have to experience the negative emotions that result from teasing. However, sometimes this turns into general apathy that affects everything in their lives. They may not care about how they look, how others see them or school performance. This is different from withdrawal due to shame or embarrassment because rather than feeling negative emotions, the youth feels no emotion at all.
  
  

Inability to Concentrate

• Frequent teasing may lead to an inability to concentrate. A child who is teased at school may feel on guard, and have difficulty listening to the teacher or focusing on classwork. He may also have difficulty concentrating outside of school due to thinking about the teasing throughout the day. This may lead to lower grades. He may also get in trouble in class due to not paying attention.