Bullying – A Gateway for Problems

On this blog I will finish my analysis on bullies as discussed within the journal article “Bullying in School: An Overview of Types, Effects, Family Characteristics, and Intervention Strategies”, by Paul R. Smokowski and Kelly Holland Kopasz.

On this occasion I will discuss the effects of bullying, in regards to those exhibited by the bullies themselves. According to Smokowski and Kopasz, bullying has been linked to mental health difficulties, including: attention-deficit disorder, depression, and oppositional-conduct disorder. In fact, bullies have been linked to engage in excessive drinking other substance use more frequently than victims and bully-victims. According to Smokowski and Kopasz, “children who bully others often experience long-term effects and consequences as a result of their bullying.” For example, the National School Safety Center has reported reports that a high number of bullies under achieve in school and perform below their potential within employment settings. In addition, other studies have found that by the age of thirty, bullies are more likely to have committed more criminal offenses and traffic violations than their less aggressive peers. Adult bullies are also more likely to display aggression towards their spouse and are more likely to use “severe physical punishment” on their children. The most concerning research finding reported by Smokowski and Kopasz is that “research suggests that adults who were bullies as children tend to have children who become bullies.”

In blogs of the past, I have referred to bullying as a “gateway” form of violence. In those blogs I have pointed out how bullying seems to serve as a starting point for other forms of aggression that are increasingly violent. This article also hints towards this tendency when it states that bullies often have “a positive attitude [towards] physical aggression” and that bullies are more likely to commit criminal offenses in the future.  However, this article has also made me realize that bullying not only serves as a “gateway” form of violence, but rather serves as a “gateway” for a variety of social problems. What is particularly concerning is that these social problems do not simply disappear as some individuals tend to think. As I have previously pointed out, with the passage of time, bullying and its accompanying or resulting problems seem to become so engrained within our daily lives that they become part of our normal daily lives, leading to a phenomenon which I have referred to as “normalization.”  Interestingly, Smokowski and Kopasz seem to hint that parents may bear part of the blame or at least have some influence over bullying. Perhaps anti-bullying strategies should focus on strengthening family bonds, especially with bullies who are children.