proofonline.org » Bullying

Bullying Is Even Worse Than You Thought

Douglas Faneuil — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:14:14 +0000

It’s well documented that children and adolescents who are exposed to violence within their families or outside of school are at a greater risk for mental health problems than those children who are not exposed to any violence,’ said the study’s lead author, Ian Rivers, PhD. ‘It should not be a surprise that violence at school will pose the same kind of risk.’

Students who witnessed acts of bullying were more likely to report greater psychological distress than those students who were bullies or victims, according to the results. This was the case even for students who had not been victims themselves, although being both a witness and a victim did also significantly predict mental health problems.”

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‘Orchid’ Theory Posits Illness as Side-effect of Darwinian Success

Douglas Faneuil — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:37:32 +0000

At first glance, this idea, which I’ll call the orchid hypothesis, may seem a simple amendment to the vulnerability hypothesis. It merely adds that environment and experience can steer a person up instead of down. Yet it’s actually a completely new way to think about genetics and human behavior. Risk [of illness] becomes possibility; vulnerability becomes plasticity and responsiveness. It’s one of those simple ideas with big, spreading implications. Gene variants generally considered misfortunes (poor Jim, he got the “bad” gene) can instead now be understood as highly leveraged evolutionary bets, with both high risks and high potential rewards…

[A] genetic trait tremendously maladaptive in one situation can prove highly adaptive in another. We needn’t look far to see this in human behavior. To survive and evolve, every society needs some individuals who are more aggressive, restless, stubborn, submissive, social, hyperactive, flexible, solitary, anxious, introspective, vigilant—and even more morose, irritable, or outright violent—than the norm. All of this helps answer that fundamental evolutionary question about how risk alleles have endured. We have survived not despite these alleles but because of them. And those alleles haven’t merely managed to slip through the selection process; they have been actively selected for.

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[Fascinating stuff – reminiscent of this post. Also included, this wonderful zinger: "The orchid variant of the DRD4 gene, for instance, increases risk of ADHD (a syndrome best characterized, Cochran and Harpending write, 'by actions that annoy elementary-school teachers')." -Ed.]

A Parent’s Passionate Plea Against Hi-tech Bullying

Douglas Faneuil — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:05:36 +0000

It’s one thing to be bullied and humiliated in front of a few kids. It’s one thing to feel rejection and have your heart crushed by a girl. But it has to be a totally different experience than a generation ago when these hurts and humiliations are now witnessed by a far larger, online adolescent audience. I believe bullying through technology has the effect of accelerating and amplifying the hurt to levels that will probably result in a rise in teen suicide rates. Recent statistics indicate that indeed teen suicide is on the rise again after many years of declining rates.

I don’t blame Ryan’s suicide on one single person or one single event. In the end, Ryan was suffering from depression. This is a form of mental illness that is brought on by biological and/or environmental factors… We have no doubt that bullying and cyber bullying were significant environmental factors that triggered Ryan’s depression. In the final analysis, we feel strongly that Ryan’s middle school was a toxic environment. We place accountability for this tragedy, first and foremost, on ourselves as his parents, but also on Ryan’s school administration, staff and the young people involved.

Nothing can ever bring back our Ryan. Nothing will ever heal our broken hearts. But we hope by sharing the personal details of our tremendous loss, another family will have been spared a lifelong sentence to this kind of pain. Please never forget Ryan’s story and the fragility of adolescence.

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[It's a subjective claim, of course – that hi-tech bullying is worse than an old-fashioned shove. Yet the argument has merits. Yes, electronic cruelty is more easily shared; worse than that, it's more easily accessed. Kids can dwell on schoolyard incidents, but with time they recede. Emails, instant messages and blog posts can be read and re-read. Long after the aggressors have moved on, these announcements lose none of their potency. -Ed.]