Are You Raising A Teenage Bully?

As I discuss an especially important topic – bullying. I have a bit of a surprise for you today though because I am not going to talk about the kids who are bullied. Instead, I am going to talk about the ingredients that go into the recipe for creating a bully. The bullies, too, have problems.

Take a good look at your teen and ask yourself whether or not you may have a bully on your hands. If so, get this child some help because bullying during the teen years may lead to more antisocial behavior later in life and we want to prevent that, right? According to a study by Douglas Gentile and Brad Bushman, published this summer in the journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture, there are six factors that if present in the same individual increase that individual’s risk of being a bully and aggressive. Keep in mind that this study looked at 430 children from the ages of 7-11 but kids turn into teens, correct?

These factors may not be what you expected so listen hard:

1. Media Violence Exposure
2. A History of Physical Fighting 
3. Gender with Boys Being More Likely to Be Physically Aggressive
4. A Low Level Of Parental Involvement
5. A Tendency Toward Hostility 
6. A History of Being A Victim of Physical Aggression

The takeaway message here is that you want to take a good hard look at your own teen and see if s/he has the ingredients for being a bully. We neither want our kids to be victims or bullies.