Bullies Pick On Unpopular Kids.

Bullies pick on unpopular kids.

Who'd have guessed? Bullies target kids who are unpopular and less likely to be defended by their peers, a new study finds.
In elementary school, which this study focused on, kids are only interested in what their same-sex peers think. Boys will target classmates who are not well-liked by other boys, regardless of what the girls think. The same went for girl bullies. In that way the bullies could gain status by dominating other kids while also staying in the good graces of the in-group.

While the findings are a no-brainer, they do paint a picture of a young, strategic, bully who goes out of his or her way to ensure success when taunting, hitting, making fun of and other bully behaviors.

"Bullies do it so strategically that if there is not a good program at the school nothing will change. They won't change their behavior by themselves, because it gives them a lot of advantages," said lead researcher René Veenstra, professor of sociology at the University of Groningen. "You really need a good program that changes the attitude of all the kids in the classroom that makes clear to children that if they want the bully to stop they all have to be part, in taking action."