Factors that Make People Intimidate Others
Before explaining the factors that make people intimidate others, one needs to thoroughly consider the sense of intimidating others. Bullying, for others, can involve purposeful attempts to manipulate others by using verbal harassment, for example, by taunting or insulting others. That can also be in the context of physical coercion in which the survivor is compelled to do something (Claudia 4). Others interpret harassment to be linked to peer bullying and repetitive behaviors, while others consider incorporating sole incidents and age differences in their meanings. Generally, bullying takes place everywhere i.e. in homes, in the nursing institutions, in workplaces, in schools, in the military, and also on the playground.
Bullying as a Child
Bullying has been in existence over ages and is regarded to be antagonistic, fierce behavior. It is common among children whereby around 16% students in the United States of America were reported to be implicated in the acts. Out of that, 7% are regarded as bullies, while the 9% are the victims. However, at the age of 24 years, 60% of people recognized as bullies have illegal records. Hence, bullying children grow to adults with concurrent arrests as a result of domestic violence, driving under the influence of alcohol and child abuse (Susan and Shelley 345). NoBullying.com states that the number of children taking away their lives as a result of bullying has been increasing; this has made the social media create awareness of the matter across the globe. On the other hand, parents are really struggling to safeguard their children from being bullied because they are not ready to see their kids being bullied by other people who find contentment by causing harm to others. Whenever the acts of bullying take place, the spotlight is on the victim.
Why do children bully others?
Studies indicate that bullying is regular among kids and is usually brutal and nasty. They see violence as an acceptable way of interacting with other kids (Limber 60). Those who have the behavior of bullying imagine that other children will hurt them, so to protect themselves or prove they are tough, they fight back. Numerous bullies tend to be impetuous and lively. However, some are slapped or abused physically by other adults or their parent, while other parents are bullies themselves. This implies that bully children usually imitate the character they are exposed to at home. Thus, since some parents have no idea of what to do, they disregard the bully behavior might be developing in their children (Limber 88). Some schools encourage bullying behaviors without their knowledge (Espelage et al 326). The school administration and teachers identify and give gifts to specific group of students, for example, those taking part in athletics or any other activity may be given exceptional attention. These schools do not have an ambiance of teamwork and inclusion. Making bullies to harass others as a result of their ethnicity, race, individuality characteristics, physical element, gender, and sexual orientation.
What causes a child to become the bully?
As much as there is no exact cause of bullying, diverse circumstances depicts the popular causes of child bullying. The causes include
Cultural Causes
Culture may lead to bullying. For instance, a culture that is mesmerized with power, violence and winning, professionals imply that it will be impractical to anticipate that people from these cultures will not be persuaded to hunt for power through violent means (Susan and Shelley 34). For instance, studies carried out have criticized World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and termed it as a deification of bullies in the entertainment industry. They also indicate that the increased rates of domestic violence are as a result of numerous young people growing up knowing that violence is a recognized method of getting what one needs (Claudia 4).
Having Power
There are homes where children are entitled to excessive power; these children grow up without any limitations or restrictions from their parents during childhood. They are given permission and granted anything they ask. They do not follow any rules and regulations in the house. As these children grow, they always have a feeling that they are entitled to behave as they wish since they have so much power over other children. Many at times this children acquire a behavior of bullying other children as they are used to bulldozing their parents at home. These permissive kinds of parenting always make children to start bullying others. Most of the time the parents wants to be the children's best friends, and because of lack of rules and regulation or without minimizing the powers the children have, they are then permitted to give their sentiments freely without considering the feeling of others or even worry about hurting other children. Moreover, the children are not punished for causing harm or injury to their parents, their sisters and brothers or even their peers; because they are not allowed to take up responsibility for their actions. With this kind of parenting the children are raised as bullies because the children are not told or corrected when they cause harm to others they get away with every mistake. These children will not have respect for others and they often become hostile and aggressive and think they have power over and towards their peers.
Issues in Families
There are families that cold and not loving. In these families, people hardly express their feelings to one another (Claudia 5).There are high chances of getting bullies from such families who will bully others within the home or outside, for instance, in the playground. Another place that is capable of generating bullies is homes where there is inconsistence in monitoring discipline. For example, for the children, their parents are the most important people in their lives and when they are going up, they always need confirmation from their parents about their maturity and even when they are old. However, when children don't get these things from their parents at home, they feel they are not worthy and that they have no voice to express themselves. This often leads to children developing anger and bitterness. The outcome of this is children bullying other in school or during their playing time. In the case of forgotten children or neglected children, the parents or the guardians do not know what their children love or what they dislike (Dr. Gail Gross para 8). They don't know when their children thrive or when they fail. The children are always allowed to do what they want, and can go wherever they want without anyone questioning them. These children may either end up being bullied by their peers because they don't have a self worth or become bullies so to get attention from others.
Institutional Causes
In institutions where there are low standards in regards to the manner in which people relate to each other, there is a high prevalence that bullying will be common and rampant in this places and those coming from these institutions may not see bullying to be unacceptable (Claudia 5). For example, children who tend to feel powerless while at home are most likely to become bullies in school. Most of the time this children either go through abuse or they have experienced their parents abuse one another and they feel they have no power to stop what they are seeing from happening. Sometimes these children get so scared while home. With this kind of kind of experience the children want to have their power back by bullying their peers in school. More often than not, the parents who use authoritarian style of parenting which normally parents to intimidate their children to get results from them (Susan and Shelley 346), the children are expected to do as their parents say without questioning their parents' actions. The effect of this type of parenting is that the children will grow up to be a bully. This is because most children feel they are powerless and weak, and as a result, they may always want to have power while in school. To acquire and exercise their powers, they victimize their classmates by bullying them. Hence, if violence is the order of the in some homes, children will grow up knowing that violence is right and would want to use it against their peers.
Social Issues
People tend to be recognized socially as a result of negative behavior than positive ones. This may be a high contributor towards the bullying issue (Claudia 5). For instance, children copy what they see their parents doing and they behave exactly as their parents. When parents bully, treat their children in a disrespective manner or when parents abuse their children, there is high probability that the children will start behaving in the same manner while in school. The children always think that the behavior of their parents is the acceptable behavior (Dr. Gail Gross para 9). The children that have gone through hostility, physical beatings, abuse and abrasive actions by their parents or guardian have a likelihood of becoming bullies in their young age. Children get the training on how to conduct themselves and how to bond with their peers. When children see their parents being aggressive and use abusive words at home, they are likely to imitate the actions as defense mechanism when relating with their friends. For example, when children are home with their parents and they hear their parents refer someone on television as being fat or ugly, the children will probably call someone at school fat or ugly just the way they hear their parents say (Dr. Gail Gross para 5). Therefore, parents are the most important and powerful role models that the children look up to. Children often copy the behavior of parents because they want to be like them. Children will know that violence is something that is acceptable because they see their parents doing it. They always think that if their parents can abuse people or behave violently and get away with it, then they will also they can also get away with causing harm.
The Bully's Personal History
Rejecting or neglecting children is the main reason of children becoming bullies. This is whereby children have inadequate attention from their parents and those around them at home; this makes them lash out to others children or people for attention. Children who are prone to become bullies include those who have been abandoned, those children whose parents are addicted to alcohol/drugs or those of divorced parents. On the other hand, elder brothers and sisters if they had been bullied before, there is likelihood for them to also bully their young siblings for them to more safe or as a means of empowerment. On the other hand, most children who have been neglected at home always exhibit bullying behavior while at school (Espelage, D. et al 328). This because children always need to be shown love, respect, and given attention from the people who are older than them, as well as those around and close to them. Therefore, children experiencing this tend to become bullies, and later pass it on to others. Moreover, kids who fail in academics are also likely to become bullies.
Lack of empathy
Lack of empathy may also make children become bullies. Children of this type are brought up in homes that parents fully love to their children and are active in matters that concern their children's lives. Most of the time, this kind of children like to dominate in any gathering, are possessive and always want to be powerful. As a result, they lack empathy towards others and may end up bullying others without even them realizing that their action is not acceptable (Dr. Gail, Gross para. 8).
Conclusion
Bullying comprises of diverse behaviors. They range from verbal abuse or attacks, obliterating people's properties or clothes, calling people names, physical assaults and even initiating a rumor (Bacchini et al. 22). From previous research, it established that children who are from middle class families are less likely to bully other children compared to children who have been raised in low and high income families. Moreover, it is thought that the boys are the ones who exhibit bullying behavior than the girls. Through the research, it also indicated that the boys are more likely to bully their peers physically while the girls will do it verbally. Even though there is bullying in schools, it is also essential to also keep in mind the bullies are still children and that they could be behaving the way they are behaving because of one reason or the other. Therefore, it is important for parents, teachers and the community at large to guide children in terms of their behavior and relationship with others in the community. They should also stress on the consequences of unacceptable behaviors like bullying and also emphasize that such behaviors are evil. To prevent bullying from taking place in future, for children and teenagers who have reported cases of being bullied, it is significant to tackle the issue immediately with a parent, guardian or teacher. This is because, once the reported bully case is reported and addressed, in many instances it stops because the bully experiences awful consequences or rather expelled from school or a place of work. Therefore, reporting the episodes of bullying immediately, cuts down the future occurrence of such incidents. One should also have high self-esteem because bullies attack those people they feel are weak due to low self-esteem. Moreover, one should have firm group of peers that will defend in case attacked or confronted by a bully. Parents should also create time to talk to their children about bullying and how to overcome or averting it from taking place, and also address the significance of reporting the incident to the right authority immediately, as well as techniques of handling a bully.
Works Cited
Bacchini, E., Esposito, G., & Affuso, G. "School experience and school bullying." Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 19, 2009, pp.17-32.
Claudia, Close. "Case Study #3: Buddhism & Bullying" Non-Western Philosophical Traditions - Philosophy 14, Cabrillo College, 2012, [Link](http://www.cabrillo.edu/~cclose/docs/Asian%20Case%203.pdf). Accessed 11 April 2017.
Dr. Gail, Gross. "What Causes Your Child to Become a Bully" The Huffington Post, 2014, [Link](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-gail-gross/what-causes-your-child-to_b_5980002.html). Accessed 11 April 2017.
Espelage, D. et al. "Examining the social context of bullying behaviors in early adolescence." Journal of Counseling and Development, Vol.78,2000, pp. 326-333.
Limber, S. P. "Addressing youth bullying behaviors." Proceedings from the American Medical Association Educational Forum on Adolescent Health: Youth Bullying. Chicago, IL: American Medical Association, 2002.
Nobullying.com. "Common Causes of Bullying." In Bullying Definitions, Bullying Facts, The World's Authority on Bullying, 2016, [Link](https://nobullying.com/common-causes-of-bullying/). Accessed on 11 April 2017.
Susan M. Swearer and Shelley Hymel. "Understanding the Psychology of Bullying" Moving Toward a Social-Ecological Diathesis-Stress Model. American Psychological Association, Vol. 70, No. 4, 2015, pp. 344-353. [Link](https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-a0038929.pdf). Accessed 11 April 2017.
