Bullies and Their Victims

Bullying -- and Victims Summary of Important Facts on Page 502 of the Text About 10 to 20% of today's children are bullies and up to 30% of children are victimized over and over. About a third to a half of victims are also aggressive and they do fight back. There are interventions available for victims and the best way to reduce bullying is to promote sports and other recreational activities, and basically to change the school environment.

how do children become bullies and how do bullies develop aggressive behaviors toward others? Bullies show very little "anxiety" and rarely are insecure, and they have a "strong desire" to be a dominant force over others -- notably their peers (Carter, 2011, 99). In fact those children who become bullies "derive entertainment" from their aggressive acts against others, and they rarely experience "remorse and empathy" for those unfortunate children who have been picked on (Carter, 99).

How do they become bullies? Many bullies come from families where aggression is "modeled and valued" -- in other words, parents that are aggressive become role models for their children, who follow in their footsteps. Children who have higher levels of "callous and unemotional traits" and children who generally have disorders in their daily conduct tend to become bullies, Carter explains (99). Those children who become bullies can be identified as having "elevated risks" in peer relationships, and in parent domains, Carter mentions.

But according to the article "Bullies and Their Victims" some bullies are "high-status youngsters" who may be good in sports and develop strategies of aggression off the playing field (502). TWO: What traits do children who are targeted by bullies share? Why do they allow themselves to be victims? In the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry the authors describe a study that involved 345 children between the ages of 5 and 7 in which victims were described as "more submissive" with fewer leadership skills than others (Perren, 2006, 45).

Also, victims of bullying tend to be "more withdrawn, more isolated, less cooperative, less sociable, and frequently had no playmates" (Perren, 45). Also, and this seems rather obvious, bullying victims in the research used by these authors have "problems defending themselves" and are short on leadership behavior, Perren continues (46). The trait that victims demonstrate consistently is being withdrawn and internalizing their behavior problems -- which may include anxiety and depression (Perren, 46).

It is also true (based on the findings from the study of 345 children) that victims are not always passive and submissive, but in fact they have skills "…that are usually considered central to peer relationships" (Perren, 52). According to page 502 of the text (Infants, Children, and Adolescents), victims of bullies tend to "give in, cry, and assume defensive postures"; and victims tend to have been subjected to "overly controlling child rearing, and maternal over-protection" (502).

The kind of parenting that tends to produce victims "prompts anxiety, low self-esteem, and dependency," and this style of parenting can result in a child that is vulnerable to bullying (502). Trying to adjust to being the target of a bully, a child will tend to avoid school, have trouble making adjustments, and even display "disruptive behavior" (502). THREE: Propose appropriate interventions for stopping bullying behavior in schools and homes.

Susan Carter writes in the peer-reviewed Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing that first of all, the research she has reviewed indicates that children who bully may require "…more intense intervention than schools are currently staffed to support" (Carter, 2011, 97). In fact most schools that attempt interventions are not successful at stopping bullying, notwithstanding the "…gradual and continuing trend" in the school aged population (Carter, 98). Schools need to come up with protocols to deal with bullies, and certain strategies that have not worked in the past should be avoided, Carter continues (100).

The strategies tend to fail include "conflict intervention and peer mediation," Carter explains, because those strategies give bullies "opportunities to exert more power over their peers" (100). Moreover, in terms of identifying bullies (which must be done prior to interventions) it is pointless to expect bullies to "self-report" their aggression towards others; the best way to identify bullies is to give all students questionnaires (without requiring that students supply their names on the questionnaire, only the names of the bullies) (Carter, 100). This suggestion results from a study of 386 middle school students.

Carter says the focus has been on "programs" that are supposed to identify the bully; but more focus should be put on "…convincing the child who bullies that the risks of being caught outweigh the potential for personal gain" (100). The consequences for bullies should be "strong enough" and should "vary" in order to avoid giving the bully "…the opportunity to weight their behavior against its consequence, thus becoming immune" (Carter, 101).

In the Journal of Counseling & Development, the authors suggest the quality of the relationship between the teacher and the child has "great significance" in fighting the bullying trend in a school (Newman-Carlson, et.