“We used to think that bullies had inferior social skills, but some of the newer data tell us that bullies have superior social skills and are so good at manipulating that adults don’t know how they treat people they consider inferior,” Dr. Spinks-Franklin said. “So bullies can have poor social skills or superior social skills.”
Depression and poor social skills also are risk factors for victims, but a major risk factor is simply being an identifiable minority of any kind. A victim’s minority status could relate to religion, sex, race, ethnicity, immigration status, sexual orientation, economic status, hair color, height, or any number of other characteristics. “Whatever it is, you are different from the people around you,” Dr. Spinks-Franklin explained. One study found the three main reasons kids were bullied were their looks, their body shape, and their race.
Risk factors show up in families and environments too. Bullies are more likely to come from families with poor cohesiveness, little warmth, intolerance of different people, physical abuse, authoritarian parenting, and aggression. An absent father is a risk factor for bullies and victims alike. Victims’ mothers are more likely to be controlling, hostile, overprotective, restrictive, threatening, or coddling, and their fathers are more likely to be distant, critical, controlling, uncaring, or neglectful.
Domestic violence, neglect, uninvolved parents, and inconsistent discipline are among the major risk factors for bully-victims. Research also has identified media violence as a risk factor for increased aggression and antisocial behavior. Violent video game players are more likely to become middle-school bullies.
Communities also can be ripe for bullying if they are unsafe, violent, or disorganized. By contrast, safe and connected neighborhoods have a lower risk of bullying among residents. Similarly, classrooms with poor teacher-student relationships and negative peer relationships can be breeding grounds for bullying, as can unsupportive or punitive school environments or ones with misinformed teachers who do not intervene in bullying. Systemic social contributors to bullying include racism, homophobia, sexism, xenophobia, classism, religious intolerance, and ageism.
Addressing bullying
It’s possible to stop bullying, but it requires intentional, evidence-based intervention, particularly throughout entire schools.
“School-wide antibullying curricula on social skills has been found worldwide to greatly reduce bullying and discipline problems in schools,” Dr. Spinks-Franklin explained. Such programs require buy-in from parents and from teachers, who need training and need to intervene consistently and appropriately whenever bullying occurs.
By contrast, zero-tolerance policies are ineffective at preventing or stopping bullying. They may even worsen the problem by discouraging students from reporting bullying. Peer mediation and conflict resolution also send mixed messages to bullies and victims because bullying is an intentional act with an inherent power imbalance, not part of a shared disagreement. Group treatment for bullies also can backfire, leading to worse behaviors from association with other bullies.
Parents can reduce the likelihood that their children will be bullies or victims by using consistent discipline with clear rules and by remaining supportive and fair. If bullying does occur, parents should recognize the warning signs and start a conversation with their children to find out more. Parents can teach and model appropriate behavior and healthy social skills while also working with the school to develop antibullying programs.
Similarly, pediatricians should screen for bullying by asking just three simple questions:
1. Do you ever see kids picking on other kids? (bystander)
2. Do kids ever pick on you? (target/victim)
3. Do you ever pick on other kids? (bully)
Physicians can use the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s violence prevention website as a resource and become community advocates against bullies by publicly supporting community-based behavioral health services and raising awareness of bullying among parents, children, teachers, and school administrators. Pediatricians also can push for active local injury surveillance systems in local or state governments and contribute data to existing systems. Finally, pediatricians should familiarize themselves with the resources available to help victims and bullies and to stop or prevent bullying, both online and within their communities.
Dr. Spinks-Franklin said that she had no relevant financial disclosures.