Do The Bullied Bully?

Quarter of bullied children “go on to bully other kids”, a survey has revealed.

16:24 11 May 2016

Anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label has found that nearly 25per cent of 12 to 20-years-old who have been bullied go on to bully other children and teenagers. It also found that half of all kids and teenagers were bullied at some point in the past year and that up to 66per cent of boys and 31per cent of girls bully. Around 33per cent who admitted bullying others said they rarely or very rarely spent time with their parents and the same number said they had arguments every day at home.

 

The study also found that people who bully others are more likely to have suffered a traumatic event.

 

Tyler Bonner, 22, who confessed to have been a bully in the past, said: "When I was about six, my mum passed away and that caused a lot of friction in the family home, just in terms of my behaviour and how I reacted to the whole situation.

 

"I was very angry with the world and would ask myself, 'Why is this happening to me?'

"Because I didn't know how to ask for help and I was a mess, I would then go into school and think, 'OK. Because my life's rubbish, that means I need to make sure everyone knows that my life is rubbish.'

 

"So I then passed that on to other people. It would never become physical. It was only ever verbal and I'd find someone who was different. So someone who was tall, short, fat, thin. It could be anything but I made their life a misery.

 

"It's not something that I'm proud of obviously."