ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 2, 1996 TAG: 9604020029
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Personal Health
SOURCE: JANE BRODY
A small group of young teen-age boys decided it was ``fun'' to turn a quiet classmate into a human plaything. They forced him to give them money, swallow weeds, drink milk mixed with detergent and allow himself to be led around on a leash.
A 10-year-old girl was bribed into doing homework and running errands for a classmate who told her she would not be allowed into ``the club'' unless she complied.
A third-grade boy woke up three school days in a row with a stomachache and refused to go to school after three fifth-grade boys surrounded him, taunted him, smeared him with animal excrement and then called him names.
The stories of bullies and their victims have a familiar ring to almost everyone. Most people have seen bullies in action and, in fact, most children are victimized by bullies at least once.
According to Dr. Carla Garrity, a child psychologist in Denver with a special interest in bullies, ``approximately 10 percent of all children attending school are afraid through much of the school day.'' Some of these children avoid lunch, recess and playtime out of fear that they will be humiliated or picked on by bullies, she said.
However, few people in authority respond to bullying with the appropriate degree of concern or with an appreciation for its potentially serious consequences for both the bully and his or her victims. Nor do most parents, teachers or school authorities know how best to put a stop to this destructive behavior.
Making of a bully
Myths abound about why some children become bullies and others victims. Contrary to popular belief, bullies are not inwardly anxious, insecure children with a desperate need to boost themselves up by making others afraid of them. Rather, when tested, bullies tend to score high in self-esteem.
Nor are most bullies academic failures or loners without friends. Rather, studies have shown that bullies learn their aggressive, intimidating tactics from others, especially from parents or caretakers who rely on severe and often capricious physical discipline to get their way.
``Bullies are not born that way,'' said Dr. Leonard Eron, a research psychologist at the University of Michigan who has been studying aggressive behavior in children for decades. ``They learn that being aggressive and physically coercive is a way to get other people to do what they want and to increase their status and self-esteem.
They learn this long before school age, from television as well as from parents. They see cartoon characters using physical force to acquire things, vent their frustrations and get their way, and they think the damage isn't permanent. The cartoon characters blow up and then come back.''
Dr. John Lochman, a psychologist at Duke University who studies aggression in children, agrees that bullies ``come to believe that aggressive behavior will work for them'' and says ``bullies place a high value on being in control and dominating others.''
``Bullying is a way to make a child feel important,'' Lochman said.
A bleak future
Bullying often does not stop in childhood. Bullies are at greatly increased risk of first becoming juvenile delinquents and later, criminals.
Dr. Dan Olweus, a psychologist at the University of Bergen in Norway, followed thousands of boys from grade school to adulthood. He found that 65 percent of the boys identified as bullies in the second grade had felony convictions by 24. As Dr. Garrity put it, ``If nobody helps these children, they get worse and worse.''
In an article in the current issue of Contemporary Pediatrics, Dr. Garrity and Dr. Mitchell Baris, a psychologist in Boulder, summarized Olweus' findings: ``Bullies are at risk for conduct disorder and delinquency in adolescence, and for serious antisocial and criminal behavior in adulthood. Most remain bullies throughout their lives, enjoying their power and the control over others that their behavior evokes. They often drop out of school, have difficulty holding jobs and fail to sustain close, intimate relationships.''
Eron, who has followed bullies in the Chicago area for 22 years, has found that they achieve less academically, socially, economically and occupationally than their nonbullying peers of comparable intelligence.
He said, ``They have more arrests for felonies and more convictions for serious crimes, are more abusive toward their spouses and are more likely to have highly aggressive kids.''
Who becomes a victim?
Olweus' research also showed that most victims of bullies do not have external characteristics that set them apart from their classmates. Children who were overweight, wore glasses or spoke with an accent were not more likely to be victimized than other children. Rather, it was mainly psychosocial characteristics that set them apart.
Victims tend to be anxious, insecure and lacking in social skills, Olweus found. These ``passive victims'' are often emotionally vulnerable and physically weak, making them easy targets who do not fight back when attacked.
A second, less common type of victim is the restless, irritable child who teases and provokes others. These ``provocative victims'' do fight back when attacked, but are not adept enough to win. Many are thought to be children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder who have poor impulse control.
Olweus' long-term studies showed that, as with bullies, the propensity to remain a victim is relatively stable over time unless something is done to help the child develop new ways of thinking and behaving.
Although systematic long-term studies of victims have not been done, Dr. Garrity and Baris wrote that their counseling experience indicates that ``victims of bullying suffer from low self-esteem, fear and anxiety, disrupted academic performance, lack of interest in school, a lack of trust and difficulty in establishing and sustaining friendships.''
Dr. Garrity reports that girls are as likely as boys to be the victims of bullies, but the way girls are bullied tends to differ. Boys are primarily bullied by other boys who use swift and effective physical aggression, like tripping victims in the lunch line, shutting them in lockers or elbowing them in the stomach as they pass in the hall.
Girls may be bullied by girls, boys or both, and the methods used are less physical, primarily social alienation and intimidation.
A girl may be teased about her appearance or clothing or be made the target of malicious gossip. She may be the victim of extortion, for example, or promised membership in a group if she participates in a cruel or humiliating prank. Or she may find intimidating notes in her desk or locker.
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