6 Traits of Bullies-in-Training

In May, a 12-year-old boy in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City hanged himself, reportedly after relentless bullying and cruel taunts about being short and brainy. It’s a heartbreaking story. And sadly, it’s only one of several recent suicides in young people that have been linked to bullying.

Helping the victims of bullying is a top priority. But finding ways to keep kids from becoming victims in the first place is even better. A new study, published in the July issue of Psychology of Popular Media Culture, may be a step in that direction.

The study, led by psychologist Douglas Gentile at Iowa State University, looked at the seeds of aggressive behavior in 430 third- and fourth-graders. The hope is that, by identifying youngsters at risk for becoming bullies, it may be possible to reach out and help them before lasting harm is done.

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Risk Factors for Getting Into Fights

In Gentile’s study, these six risk factors did a good job of predicting which students were most likely to get into a physical fight later in the school year:

• Spending a lot of time watching violent TV shows or movies or playing violent videogames
• Not having their media use monitored by parents
• Having a tendency to think that other people’s actions are motivated by hostility
• Being the victim of bullying or physical abuse
• Having a history of past physical fights
• Being male

Most past research focused on just one or a few risk factors. This study was among the first to look at how all these pieces of the puzzle fit together.

It turns out that having only one or two risk factors isn’t such a big deal. But the chance of getting into a fight within the next six months rises to 50% once there are three risk factors together. And the likelihood of a fight just keeps rising as more risk factors are piled on, reaching 67% for four factors, 84% for five factors, and 94% when all six factors are present.

Stopping Bullying Before It Starts

For parents, the study highlights the importance of keeping tabs on kids’ media use. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), more than 2,000 scientific studies and reviews have now shown that being exposed to a lot of media violence increases the risk of aggressive behavior in some children and teens. It may also also numb them to the pain of others and lead them to conclude that the world is a darker, scarier place than it really is.

The AAP advises limiting what kids are allowed to watch; for example, by not letting children and preteens watch movies rated PG-13 or R. With children and teens of any age, parents can also start a conversation about what’s happening on the screen and how it relates to real life.

Gentile’s study also emphasizes the need to take bullying seriously. Of course, many kids with risk factors never become either a bully or a victim. But if you suspect that your child might be involved in bullying, experts recommend taking action before the situation gets worse.

Stopbullying.gov, a federal government website devoted to the subject, suggests a number of ways for parents to handle bullying behavior. Among the tips:

• Clearly spell out what the problem behavior is.
• Calmly tell your child that it won’t be tolerated.
• Have your child make amends (for example, by writing an apology letter or volunteering to help others).
• Look for underlying causes (for example, is your child also a victim or trying to fit it?)
• Offer a positive alternative (for example, by signing up your child for a sports team or afterschool club).

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