CFD Psych

If its true that half of all teens have bullied others within the last year as they admit in a new survey http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1650858/20101026/story.jhtml , and nearly half admit to being victimized by a bully within the last year, then society has truly regressed. Has something sinister replaced loving our neighbor during the last 4 to 5 decades? In the sixties I am quite sure the bullies were considerably less than ten percent, but I can not quote a study on it. There were a few, but it was obvious as to who they were and it was obvious that the bullies didn't feel very good about themselves. They were the larger kids with bad attitudes. They seemed to enjoy being mean. Maybe there were one or two of them at the most in a given classroom at school.

Today they are suggesting a 50% bully rate. If accurate I would suggest this means something close to a contagious outbreak of self-esteem difficulties in our culture. What might be driving this trend? The answer is most likely complicated, and we can only speculate. It seems feasible that video-games might be replacing talent development during the after-school hours. This may be one of the variables contributing to the problem. Are video games interfering with today's youth becoming competent in sports, sciences or an art? If not engaged in a disciplined approach to talent development, a young person will not acquire one of the main ingredients that goes into the development of a solid self-esteem.  Low self-esteem then contributes to and sets the stage for bullying. Hard work, not always seeking to have fun, may be critical for character development. Real games and real sports requiring intense exercise may be better for youth than being addicted to today's electronic fun boxes. In any case, self-esteem building and competency-development are very important to us as we work with youth at our clinic at Child & Family Development. Best wishes, Psychologist Stephen S. Elliott, Ph.D.