Victims more likely to become bullies, finds study

A GROWING number of children being bullied at school are bullying others as they try to cope with their own difficulties, researchers warned yesterday.

Teachers have urged the Department of Education to review their guidelines to take such changes into account text, email and chatroom bullying.

Psychologists have also warned that so-called bully/victims - children who are victim and tormentor - are often the most vulnerable in the playground.

Studies have shown that 10-14% of primary school children are bully/victims as are a further 4% of secondary school children.

In a presentation for the Psychological Society of Ireland annual conference this weekend, Dr Conor McGuckin and Dr Christopher Lewis warn bully/victims must be identified.

“The bully/victims we have identified are the children who suffer the most acute mental and physical problems because of their bullying,” Dr McGuckin said. “These children are the most likely to suffer psychosomatic illnesses like bedwetting, ear aches, tummy aches and depression.”

He called for the 1993 bullying guidelines to be upgraded and individual school bullying policies to be implemented.

The Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) agreed that the teachers’ guidelines must be updated as the phenomenon of bullying is changing with the advent of newer technologies.

“Classroom sizes are still big and social changes like the advent of mobile phones and widespread e-mail usage mean that it’s not just happening in the schoolyard. We also need to look at it from a disciplinary perspective,” an ASTI spokeswoman said.

A Department of Education spokeswoman said: “We are tackling it (the problem) on a number of fronts, including by building pupils’ self esteem.”