Copyright Malvin Porter, Jr. 2010 - acumen - The University of ...

Bully
Bullying also damages the bully perpetrator. A US survey conducted by the National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the World Health Organization found that
children who bully at high rates over long periods of time have more serious psychosocial
adjustment, such as drinking and smoking (T. Nansel et al., 2001a). In 2008, the National
Education Association’s (NEA) National Bullying Awareness Campaign reported that children
with records of long-term bully aggression may engage in sexual harassment or criminal activity
during adolescence and adulthood. Bullies were found to have increased risk of perpetuating
family violence. The 2008 NEA report also found that males with a persistent record of bullying
in grades six through nine had at least one criminal conviction by the time they were 24 years
old and 40 percent of those who had a criminal conviction by age 24 years had three or more
arrests by the time they were 30 years old.
Bully/Victim
There is mounting research on the adjustment problems experienced by reactive
bully/victims of bullying (Schwartz, Proctor, & Chien, 2001). Bully/victims are reported to be
more disliked by their peers (Kupersmidt, Patterson, & Eickholt, 1989; Perry et al., 1988;
Veenstra et al., 2005) and report having fewer friends than children in the proactive bully group
(Unnever, 2005). Bully/victims differ from victims in that they are more likely to be physically
victimized (Unnever, 2005). Bully/victims are prone to serious externalizing behavior problems
(Haynie, Nansel, Eitel, Crump et al., 2001; Kumpulainen et al., 1998) and experience more
extreme and persistent forms of peer maltreatment than other victims of bullying (Salmivall &
Nieminen, 2002). Bully-victims have the highest risk for negative psychosocial and behavioral
outcomes, including tobacco use, depression, low self-control, poor social competence, poor
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