Bully and Victim: Possible Causes

Most people are familiar with the school shootings at Columbine High school in Colorado in April 1999, and the incident in Atlanta one month later. What they may not know is that violence is the second leading cause of death among adolescents (p. 9). Over three million crimes (about 11 % of all crimes) were committed in United States’ schools. Fifty percent of arrested criminals in America are teenagers (Day, 1996). Ten children under sixteen are killed every day by handguns in the United States (Silverstein, 1997, p. 9). What are the reasons for youth violence? What can be done to decrease the number of crimes committed by children or adolescents? This paper explores the portrait of a typical bully and a typical victim, and briefly discusses possible causes. The humanistic approach of the family as a possible cause for youth violence and prevention as a solution will be explored in detail. The paper closes with future aspects.

 THE TYPICAL BULLY – THE USUAL VICTIM

Bullies can be found in every age, race, and sex. The usual bully can be characterized as confident and impulsive with low verbal intelligence. He displays a lack of empathy towards his victims. In general he is aggressive in his social environment and surrounded by a group of people who think in similar terms (p. 28). A male bully attacks his victims physically and directly, whereas the female bully assaults her victims in a more indirect and subtle way. A female bully may use languages such as spreading rumors in order to isolate the victim socially (p. 31). However, there is one common characteristic among male and female bullies which is the problematic interaction among the family members which will be discussed later in this paper. This results in the development of aggressive behavior from an early age on (Zarzour, 2000).