Personality and family relations of children who bully

• Published in: Personality and individual differences 2003-08, Vol.35 (3), p.559-567
• Main Authors: Connolly, Irene, O'Moore, Mona
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Bully; Bullying; Child clinical studies; Children; Control; Family relationships; Medical sciences; Personality; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Risk factors; Social behavior disorders
• ISSN: 0191-8869; 1873-3549
• DOI: 10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00218-0

There is a paucity of studies on the personality and family relations of children who bully. The aim of the present study was to examine the level of Psychoticism, Neuroticism and Extraversion in a group of school going girls and boys who were bullied. A further aim was to examine the relationships that the children had with their families. The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Junior (1975) was used to measure the dimensions of personality and the Family Relations Test (Bene & Anthony, 1957) to elicit both the emotions that the children had towards each member of the family and the reciprocity of their emotions. The study comprised 228 children (aged 6–16 years), 115 of whom had been categorised as ‘bullies’ and 113 ‘controls’. The results indicated that children who bullied exhibited greater emotional inhibition and attributed significantly more negative statements to themselves than children who did not bully. The children who bullied also demonstrated an ambivalent relationship with their siblings, mothers and fathers. The controls on the other hand displayed positive relationships with members of their family. Moreover children who bullied scored higher on extraversion, psychoticism and neuroticism than their counterparts who did not bully. The findings highlight the need for early identification and the involvement of the family in the intervention of children who bully.