Causes of Bullying from a Psychological Perspective
The damage caused by "bullying" in both children and adults is serious, and a variety of countermeasures have been implemented. Many studies on risk factors for bullying use cross-sectional designs, which preclude the possibility of drawing conclusions about causality and do not consider the simultaneous effects of multiple risk factors.
Attention to multiple risk factors for bullying can provide a basis for designing intervention programs to prevent or reduce bullying in children and adolescents, hence the studies conducted are presented.
On risk factors for bullying.
The study was conducted using questionnaire data collected in 2004 and 2007, and targeted 14-15 and 17-18 year olds.
The baseline questionnaire was completed by 3054 people in 2004 and 2181 people participated in the study. Risk factors for being bullied at the individual and social levels were analyzed, and information on the social background of the participants was obtained from the National Register of Statistics Denmark.
Results.
A number of risk factors were identified
Being obese
Low self-esteem in the classroom
Overprotective parents
Low self-esteem
Low sense of consistency
Low socioeconomic status - Low self-esteem - Low sense of consistency
The risk factors for being bullied in the workplace were also identified as
Being overweight
Smoking
Low self-esteem in the workplace
Inconsistent or low self-esteem
Low socioeconomic status.
These were the most common reasons cited.
However, most of the associations between bullying in 2004 and 2007 disappeared after the adjustment for bullying in 2004.
Conclusion.
The strongest risk factor for being bullied was having been bullied before. The researchers' results emphasize the importance of early prevention of bullying in schools, workplaces, and therefore require special attention to the role of overprotective parents.
Andersen, L.P., Labriola, M., Andersen, J.H. et al. Bullied at school, bullied at work: a prospective study. BMC Psychol 3, 35 (2015). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-015-0092-1
Summary
Although the causes of being bullied were listed above, the highest cause of being bullied in school was the experience of being bullied in the past. The most common cause in school was the experience of being bullied in the past. If you have been bullied and have used the experience to make strong changes in yourself, there is a possibility that you will not be bullied at all.
Rather than trying to avoid or be careful about the causes of these behaviors, it is better to give priority to "recognizing the personality" in this study.
