When it comes to bullying, the focal point is often on the victims. Bullying is not a black and white topic with the bullies as the essential "bad guys." This article is going to focus more on the bullies and the possibilities that could have led them to become bullies.
Let's not forget, bullies are children as well. Children, who may perhaps be having struggles of their own. There are multiple risk factors that can work together or individually that can cause a child to have bully tendencies.
Peers:
- Kids may bully solely because their friends do.
- Peers support peers, especially if they correspond with the same views. In this case peers may have positive views about violence, or may feel pressured to fit in with their group of friends and bully as well.
- TIME Magazine reported on a study that found that popularity can cause bullying. What they found was that only one-third of the students engaged in any bullying at all — physical force, taunts or gossip-spreading — but those who were moving up the school popularity chain bullied more as they went higher.
- Parents may be models of bullying behavior.
- Kids may be getting bullied by older siblings.
- Lack of parent-supervison or too much harsh physical punishment.
- According to bullystatistics.org, Children who do not come from warm and loving homes and.or who experience inconsistent discipline are more likely to bully.
Internally:
- Bullies tend to hold a negative view of themselves, suggesting they pick on others to feel better about themselves, and they may especially single out those who have trouble fitting in for other reasons as a way to alleviate the focus on their flaws.
- Feelings of inadequacy
- A sense of power.
It's important to remember that bullies are children as well. The person who is the bully today could very well be the victim tomorrow. That's why its important for parents to talk to their children about bullying, why it is wrong, and other ways to reflect their emotions.
I think this is a great way of analyzing bullies. People tend to just think bullies are mean, evil people. Only looking at the surface doesn't help address the issue. I like that this shows the other side of the problem, of bullies being the product of their environment or struggles who are sometimes victims themselves of factors that we don't always consider.
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