Bullies!

April 6th, 2024| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

Yes, playground bullies thrive! And we have proof: Children who displayed aggressive behavior at school, such as bullying or temper outbursts, are likely to earn more money in middle age, according to a five-decade study that upends the maxim that bullies do not prosper. They are also more likely to have higher job satisfaction and be in more desirable jobs, say researchers from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, U. K.

The British Cohort Survey 1970 has been following around 17,000 individuals in England, Scotland, and Wales. Beyond collecting data during the perinatal period, these individuals have been surveyed in nine additional waves at ages 5, 10, 16, 26, 30, 34, 38, 42, and 46. At each of these ages, various forms of information were collected using methods such as tests, parent and teacher questionnaires, as well as self-reports.

Our study focuses on the socio-emotional skills of individuals at age 10 and how they relate
to their economic outcomes later in life using data from the 1970 British Cohort Study. We
measure skills using information provided by teachers, who assess aspects such as attention, behaviour, and emotional regulation. By analyzing these data, we identify four key skill dimensions: attention, conduct, emotional, and relationship with peers. We find that these socio-emotional skills are strongly linked to various adult outcomes, including earnings, work hours, and the types of jobs people end up in.”

But here is the clincher:

Surprisingly, we discover that certain behaviours considered problematic in childhood, like conduct issues, are associated with higher earnings in adulthood.”

They found that an increase in teachers’ observations of conduct problems—such as temper outbursts or bullying or teasing other children—was associated with an increase in earnings in 2016 of nearly 4% for a given rise in conduct problems for boys and girls.

The scientists speculate:

It’s possible that our classrooms are competitive places and that children adapt to win that competition with aggression, and then take that through to the workplace where they continue to compete aggressively for the best paid jobs. Perhaps we need to reconsider discipline in schools and help to channel this characteristic in children in a more positive way.”

Maybe. But here is another view:

For I was envious of the boastful:
the peace of the wicked I saw.
For there are no pangs unto their death,
and fat is their belly. They do not have the trouble [of other] people,
and [as it is] with [other] mortals they are not afflicted.
…
Their eye bulges with fatness;
the imaginations of [their] heart overflow.
…
Therefore they are satisfied with food,
and waters of abundance are imbibed by them.
…
Behold, these are the wicked;
and forever at ease, they increase wealth.
Psalm 73:3–5, 7, 10, 12

Yup, bullies prosper. So is it worth being a nice person, wondered the psalmist?

Surely in vain I have kept my heart clean,
and washed my hands in innocence;
And I have become afflicted all day,
and my rebuke [happens] every morning.
Psalms 73:13–14

But later the psalmist gets a revelation and comes to his senses:

… I went into the sanctuary of God: I perceived their outcome.
Psalms 73:17

And what was that outcome, the ultimate result?

For, behold, those far from You perish;
You terminate all those who are unfaithful to You.
But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have set the Lord Yahweh [as] my refuge,
that I may recount all Your acts.
Psalms 73:27–28

SOURCE: Institute for Social and Economic Research; Guardian