The Quite Victims of Bullying

On this blog I will wrap up my description and analysis on victims of bullying 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.

According to the journal article victims are often more quite, cautious, anxious, insecure, and sensitive than their peers. In addition, they usually have poor communication skills and problem-solving skills. The poor communication skills exhibited by victims often deter them from conversing with their peers, which consequently results in fewer friends. In fact, Smokowski and Kopasz report that a study found that “victims of bullying demonstrated poorer social and emotional adjustment, greater difficulty making friends, few relationships with peers, and greater loneliness.” Another study found that many victims relate much better to adults, than their own peers. This last finding may prove to be extremely critical towards understanding victims of bullying. It seems that victims of bullying are in a way reaching towards help. However their lack of social and communicative skills seems to be the factor that prevents victims from expressing their needs. As a result, anti-bullying strategies should aim to improve the communication that exists between bullies and the corresponding authoritative figure. However it should be noted that the improvement of communicative skills should be focused on all age groups, not only children.

Smokowski and Kopasz point out that the lack of communication skills often hinders victims from reporting their bullying incidents. This is particularly concerning because when victims neglect to report bullying incidents, it may encourage and cause bullies to continue to target these individuals as victims. As I have stated before, bullies seem to have a false sense of invisibility. On this occasion bullies see their victims as easy target. The journal article also highlights that victims of bullying often suffer from poor self-esteem and see themselves as failures, unattractive, unintelligent, and insignificant. This ends up creating for victims an erroneous sense of self-blame. As result, anti-bullying strategies should not only focus on the remediation of bullies and correcting their behaviors. Anti-bullying strategies should also pay attention towards the remediation of the victims of bullying, since they may suffer deep and invisible mental wounds.

Victims of Bullying

On this blog I will begin my analysis victims of bullying 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.

According to Smokowski and Kopasz most victims of bullying are passive or submissive, however one-third of bullying victims exhibit aggressive attitudes. The journal article only briefly mentions this tendency. However, I believe that this statement is of critical importance and demands further investigation. Researchers may be neglecting a critical sub-population of victims. It may be that these victims are in the process of becoming the bully-victims I have previously discussed in the past. These victims may provide critical revelations to researchers investigating the factors that trigger aggressive behaviors within people. In fact, it may be that the aggressive behavior exhibited by certain victims provides one answer for the existence of bully-victims. It may be that these victims have found that their only route of escape or temporarily relief from bullying is to bully other individuals themselves. In this manner these victims may at least deter some individuals from bullying them all of the time.

Smokowski and Kopasz describe victims of bullying as being physically small, weak, and frail when compared to bullies. In fact, the journal article states that the physical composure of victims is what often leaves them vulnerable and “unable to protect themselves from [the] abuse [of bullies].” The journal article goes on to state that victims of bullying may exhibit “body anxiety” and fear towards getting hurt. In fact, when victims of bullying are attacked, Smokowski and Kopasz report that victims usually react by crying or withdrawing.  Although all the aforementioned characteristics are typical of victims, it would be erroneous to believe that they are always true. In fact, I believe it would be erroneous to think of bullying as being based exclusively on physical characteristics. For example, individuals can be marginalized based on their mental capabilities. This phenomenon can be observed within school settings during the formation of groups for school based projects. Students considered “smart” will often marginalize certain students and prevent them from joining their groups. In fact, on some occasions, “smart” students can be seen making fun of students who are not as knowledgeable as they are.

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.   

Family Background of Bullies

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

According to the journal article research has shown that the families of bullies are “often troubled.” In fact, the parents of bullies are often hostile, rejecting, and indifferent towards their children. Within the household of a bully, the father figure is usually missing and the mother tends to have a permissive parenting style. As a result, supervision over bullies tends to be very minimal. In addition, some parents will dismiss the aggressive behaviors of their children as a rite of passage. What makes this circumstance particularly concerning is that research suggests that a bully’s level of aggression will continue to increase if the caretaker continues to tolerate or dismiss the aggressive behavior.

The aforementioned revelations are interesting because they hint towards a possible origin for bullying. As noted within the article, the lack of parental supervision seems to be one of the initial factors that give life to bullying behaviors. However, on this occasion the blame does not fall onto the bully, but rather onto the parents of bullies. It may be that bullies simply exhibit aggressive and violent behaviors out of a need of attention. Attention that these children should be, but are not, receiving at home. By ignoring their child, parents may be fueling their child’s aggressive behavior to a point where it becomes a normal part of their lives and once again the issue of normalization reemerges. In addition, by ignoring their child, parents are irresponsibly passing the problematic behaviors exhibited by their aggressive child onto other individuals. Perhaps future anti-bullying strategies should focus on strengthening the relationships between bullies and their parents. Not only would this strategy lessen the amount of bullying, it would also benefit the bully’s overall family relationship.

The journal article notes that since supervision in the homes of bullies tends to be minimal, discipline tends to be very inconsistent. However, when discipline is enforced, the parents of bullies tend to use “power-assertive techniques.” In other words, punishment of bullies often occurs in a physical form or in the form of angry outbursts. Consequently, these children begin to learn that aggression and violence can be used as means to solve their problems. In essence, these children begin to imitate the aggressive behaviors they see at home, because they view them as efficient means to obtain what they want.

Once again the article hints that blame for bullying falls onto parents. How can children be expected to behave properly, if this behavior is never modeled or reinforced at home? In order for anti-bullying strategies to be effective against bullying children, schools and parents must work together. Progress will never be made if different behaviors are modeled and reinforced within different settings. Instead, this mixture will create an increasingly difficult situation which becomes increasingly hard to address. In fact, with the passage of time bullying children may learn how to change their demeanor within different settings in order to manipulate the people around them and decrease the probability of getting caught while bullying.  As stated on previous occasions, prevention is the best intervention and this may prove to be especially critical when dealing with children.  

The Characteristics of Bullies 2

On this blog I will continue my discussion in regards to the characteristics exhibited by bullies, as discussed within the academic journal article “Bullying in School: An Overview of Types, Effects, Family Characteristics, and Intervention Strategies”, by Paul R. Smokowski and Kelly Holland Kopasz.

The journal article points out that bullies usually tend to have problems with interacting with other individuals socially. In fact, bullies often tend to interpret other peoples’ behaviors as antagonistic, even if they are not. However, this is not always the case.  In fact, Smokowsi and Kopasz report that one study has found that bullies have an easier time making friends than other individuals. As a result, some researchers have created two distinct subtypes of bullies that vary in regards to their peer social status. The two subcategories include popular aggressive bullies and unpopular aggressive bullies. Popular aggressive bullies socialize with other popular children and do not seem to encounter any major social problem. On the other hand, unpopular aggressive bullies are rejected or neglected by their peers. However, both popular and unpopular aggressive children tend to act aggressively towards adults to the point of imposing their strength and defiant attitude.

The distinction between popular aggressive bullies and unpopular aggressive bullies is really interesting. However, I really question the validity of referring to bullies as “popular.” Are these bullies really popular or are they forcing their peers into conforming to their actions? Although it may seem like a harsh comparison, I would compare “popular aggressive bullies” to dictators. In both cases, bystanders have the option of following along or becoming a victim of bullying themselves. Instead of seeing the distinction made by researchers as enlightening, I see this distinction as a move towards the normalization of bullying. In fact, it may be that bullies are highly selective of their victims and only choose to victimize individuals who they assume are weaker than them and are thus easier to subdue. In either case, it seems to me that some researchers are trying to lessen the severity of bullying. Bullies are bullies, and their popularity does not change the severity of their actions. In regards to bullies trying to impose their will onto teachers, a possible explanation may be that bullies feel protected under the current system of education. The combination of bullies knowing that their actions are seldom reprimanded at severe level and knowing that teachers cannot physically reprimand them, may be creating a false sense of invincibility. As a result, it seems that changes need to be made to the way bullies are handled within school settings.