In studies, bullying shows patterns

What makes one child a bully, a second the bullied and most of the rest silent witnesses?

In the wake of the heartbreaking suicide last week of 11-year-old Jaheem Herrera, those and other questions demand answers.

Nothing in Jaheem’s fifth-grade school photo offers clues to why he was singled out for the torment alleged by his parents. In the photo, he’s a handsome little boy with a tentative smile, ready to dash off to the monkey bars or soccer field. But according to his mother, Jaheem was called “gay” and “snitch” and physically attacked in his DeKalb school, a school where students, teachers and staff all signed an anti-bullying pledge. Kids mocked Jaheem’s accent from his native Virgin Islands, according to his mother, and called him “the virgin.”

Other kids might have laughed off or ignored those comments, but perhaps the adjustment to a new culture made it harder for Jaheem. Maybe he felt the ridicule would never end.

Because bullying is so pervasive —- in a 2005 U.S. Department of Education report, 14 percent of students ages 12 through 18 said they had been bullied in the past six months —- a lot of study has gone into figuring why it happens.

According to the report, “Bullied students are generally younger students of either sex, and are more often white than black.” The study noted no differences in bullying based on whether a child’s family is rich or poor or whether they attend private or public schools.

Other studies have found that bullying is a worldwide problem. What bullying shares across borders is that it takes place most often at school and in front of witnesses.

In the early grades, bullies direct their attacks at almost anyone. As they get older, they start targeting certain kids. One study found that although 22 percent of students reported being a victim of a bully early in the school year, the rate fell to 8 percent by the end of the year, indicating that bullies prey on the weakest members of the herd.

Bullies who use physical force tend to go after younger and smaller kids. But the victims have other traits that draw bullies to them. Noted researcher Dan Olweus says bullying victims tend to be more anxious, sensitive, cautious and quiet. They tend to cry more easily and have more vulnerabilities and a deep fear of confrontation.

Those traits might make the victims less sympathetic to their more robust classmates.

In 85 percent of bullying incidents, other children are involved, most often as an audience. In addition to the overt bullying, victims then have to cope with the social isolation, which can lead to depression, poor academic performance and suicidal thoughts, according to Olweus.

Why don’t teachers intervene? It’s quite possible they don’t always see the offense. In an experiment in Canada, researcher Debra Pepler recorded 52 hours of playground exchanges, documenting more than 400 incidents of bullying, which on average lasted only 37 seconds. Pepler found that teachers intervened in one of 25 incidents.

I don’t think we can stop bullying without enlisting children. A school in Chicago, for example, eradicated bullying by adopting a “everybody plays” policy. Anyone who wanted to play had to be let in the game, no excuses and no exceptions. I’ve tried to embrace that philosophy, and not always to my children’s liking. When a 5-year-old wanted to join an informal soccer game with my fourth-grader and his pals at the park, I insisted that Joey let him join. The little boy couldn’t play as well and kept picking up the ball and running away with it. He ended up being the only happy player on the field.

Like many parents, I have used Jaheem’s death to talk to my children about bullying, which they contend they rarely see in their school. When they do see it, I hope they’ll recognize it and speak out against it.

mdowney@ajc.com