The study really highlighted the fact that, strikingly, conduct problems, such as aggression, are found to be positively related to earnings. This means that children who held aggressive behaviours in their youth, or were considered bullies, were more likely to land a better-paying job later in life, which, in a roundabout way, is almost a reward for this behaviour.
According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, bullying is when “people repeatedly and intentionally use words or actions against someone or a group of people to cause distress and risk to their wellbeing. These actions are usually done by people who have more influence or power over someone else, or who want to make someone else feel less powerful or helpless.”
There was a direct link made in the research that tied aggressive behaviours with trying to “win” in a competitive environment. The authors considered that the positive association between conduct problems and labour market outcomes meant that a reconsideration of discipline policies within schools needed to occur.
“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,” said Del Bono.
Enabling is a key theme across the report. We are trained from a young age to “win at all costs”, which creates those adaptive mechanisms that can embolden bullies and aggressors.
[Ed: Did the study control for sex?]
Source: Why bullies earn more later in life – Lawyers Weekly