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What happens when bullies become adults?

Posted  April 1, 2012   What happens when bullies become adults?

By Devyne Lloyd

Everyone knows someone who has been affected by bullying during grade school. Most discussion about bullying revolves around the victim. However, there is another victim in this situation: the bullies themselves. While we encourage and nurture the bullied, we often ignore the bully, which can lead to them falling through the cracks.

Many people think bullies are dim-witted, large and over-aggressive, such as Helga from Hey Arnold! and Roger from Doug. In reality, most bullies are intelligent, popular and highly charismatic. They also may show traits of anger, aggression, hyperactivity and violence, according to Education.com, a privately funded site.

Just as victims might grow up to have issues later in life, bullies can also encounter issues. According to Utterly Global, an organization dedicated to anti bullying, children who were bullies in grades six to nine are 60 percent more likely to have a criminal conviction by the age of 24. A bully is also five times more likely than a victim to have a serious criminal record in adulthood. Even bullies who grow up to work in an office instead of entering the judicial system cause problems for others. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, workplace bullying causes $3 billion in lost productivity and a staggering $19 billion loss in employment every year.

Matt DeLisi, sociologist and head of the Iowa State University criminal justice program, writes in an article for the for the ISU sociology department that as bullies age, they are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior. According to DeLisi, adults who were bullies as children are 10 times more likely to lie, six times more likely to fight and almost three times as likely to engage in harassment than adults who were not bullies. “Bullies are 11 times more likely to have had conduct disorder than non-bullies. That giant fact shows you that bullies are antisocial anyway. When you get into personality disorders, you’ll see that in anti-social personalities there is almost an eight times difference,” wrote DeLisi.

The bullies themselves are victims, too, and need help just like the children they bully. “Because bullies are so aggressive, they are viewed by peers to be so difficult to deal with, so they are rejected,” writes DeLisi. Many bullies experience some type of abuse at home, and bullying others is simply a coping mechanism. Counseling can be provided as an avenue for bullies to talk about their feelings. Bullying may be a growing problem, but we can stop it by treating all victims: the bullied and the bullies.

Written by Centralcity.londini