Who cares about the bullies?

Abstract

Children who bully have learned to use their power and aggression to control others, a mode that is not conducive to healthy relationships either in the present or in their future lives. Furthermore, there is evidence that children who bully are also likely to have mental health problems that persist into adult life. There are also wide social and cultural differences in how bullying is perceived and defined. The values and norms of the culture itself strongly influence the behaviour of perpetrators. In this article, we discuss how educators and health care professionals can use this knowledge to help young people who bully develop deeper understanding of themselves and their relationships with others.

Keywords:

• Bullying
• peer relationships
• interventions
• mental health and youth

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their perceptive comments on an earlier version of this article.