There is more than one reason why bullies bully.
Youths who act aggressively towards others do so for a multitude of reasons. But to prevent bullying behavior, it pays to learn what sets bullying in motion. There’s a need, a desire for one youth to show dominance over another.
And there are different types of bullying. Among them are verbal, sexual, prejudicial, physical. Not to mention cyberbullying. Yet what leads one youth to try to show superiority over others comes from different motivations.
At least from the youth’s perspective, these different motivations appear to be true. And their perspective helps us to better understand how to develop prevention programs for youths.
Robert Thornberg published an article, Social Representations of Bullying Causes, in 2010 in Psychology in the Schools. In it, he discussed his research on school-age youths’ social representations of the causes of bullying. He wanted to look not only at how much bullying occurred, but how youths perceived it. And discussed it in their own words. They came up with six overall causes why bullies bully.
In order of most to least frequent, they are:
Reaction to Deviance- as the most prevalent cause, the victim was seen as different, odd, or deviant. Just not fitting in with everyone else meant a youth was a target of bullies. It could be appearance, behavior, characteristics such as odd or nerdy, or disabilities.
Social Positioning-youths saw this as bullying to reach status in a school or group’s pecking order. They described three different types. In these cases, those acting aggressively picked youths who were seen as physically weak, shy, unpopular, younger, lonely, or new.
· Bullying for status was for kids who wanted to be the coolest, the toughest.
· Bullying for power occurred when youths were struggling for authority. About being the boss.
· Bullying for friendship meant acting aggressively to win or keep friends.
Work of a Disturbed Bully-youths perceived an aggressive youth as someone who has their problems. They had emotional or behavioral issues like attention problems, bipolar, poor impulse control. Or the aggressor was a representation of trouble at home. Alcoholism. Violence. Poverty.
Revengeful Activity-youths saw this as an excuse to blame the victim for some type of harm that occurred to the aggressor. They were snitched on. Their little brother got in trouble. They felt ridiculed. A youth told the teacher about them. An eye for an eye mentality.
Amusing Game-youths describe this happening when the aggressor decides they’re bored. They want to have fun at someone else’s expense. The youth at recess finds another youth and pushes them, ridicules them, or does some other activity purely to make themselves feel better. Without caring about the collateral damage.
Social Contamination-youths say this occurs in a group format. Youths talked about how a student would be nice and kind to them. But once they were in a group and wanted to be part of the group, the comments changed. This shows how youths “change their stripes” depending upon who they’re around.
Understanding this behavior, aggressive in nature, help teachers as well as behavioral health professionals, deal with youths acting like bullies. They’re not this way all the time. But in social or emotional conditions, they need to prove themselves at the demise of another. Developing assertive skills for youths helps them avoid bullying or being bullied.
PRAXES offers training on courses for BBS CEU’s, among them Bullying Prevention and Early Intervention. For more information on training for your organization, please contact us.
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PRAXES is a nationwide behavioral health software, consulting, and training company. No one in the behavioral health industry has a better reputation, and if you give us the chance, we’ll show you why! At PRAXES, our services improve the efficiency and structure of behavioral health agencies serving children and families nationwide. PRAXES brings over 45 years of administrative and clinical expertise. With more than 100 client companies nationwide, we offer the expertise to advance the quality of behavioral health services. We accomplish these goals through our new clinical decision software, our training of best practices, and helping companies meet regulatory standards. At PRAXES, we believe in being creative and fostering new ways to serve children and their families. Our vision is to empower the families our agencies serve with skills that not only improve their functioning, but help them to thrive in their everyday lives. When you give us the chance, you’ll be connected directly to our friendly staff, so you can expect immediate attention to your inquiry. So, don’t wait, call now!
Dan Thorne has unique perspectives on the field of mental health. As a clinician, he has had over 40 years of experience working with clients in the Southern California area. After obtaining his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Irvine, he worked with children in the Orange County Juvenile Hall. Here he honed his earliest techniques on at-risk children. After that, he obtained his Master’s degree in Counseling from California State University, Fullerton.
In the 1990’s, Dan turned his attention to the clinical and administrative side of behavioral health organizations. For three years, he was the Assistant Administrator of Starting Point, a chemical dependency facility in Costa Mesa, CA. In 2001, he took an opportunity to be the Director of Harbor View Community Services Center in Long Beach. When he arrived, the Center had only 80 clients and 13 staff. When he left, there were over 400 clients and 75 staff. Dan created several programs through their contract with the Los Angeles County Departments of Mental Health and Child and Family Services. Under his guidance, Harbor View became one of the leading providers of children’s services in Los Angeles County.
While improving the results of the client’s parents at the Center, Dan reflected on his experiences as a parent. His children themselves had special needs such as mental and intellectual challenges, and Dan knew the toll it takes on the parent. In order to help the child, the parent has to be healthy. From this concept, he created his parenting program. After years of refining it, teaching it to his staff at the Center, and then taking the results and comments from these efforts, he became the developer of the current PRAXES program. It is a culmination of Dan’s personal trials and tribulations as a parent along with empirical results and research of over 40 parenting programs.
Our vision at PRAXES is to advance the strength of parents and caregivers of children with special needs (mental health, intellectual, or physical) through education, support, and empowerment. Thus, they can live healthy and functional lives while caring for the child.
Apogee is a clinical decision software designed to help behavioral health practitioners with their treatment and patient engagement. It provides evidence-based and research-based components. Not only do they consist of elements from such practices as Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Seeking Safety, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Functional Behavior Analysis, but also the Intensive Models for Parents, Youth, and Children.
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