Football and the Culture of School Bullying

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I have an idea for any psychology or sociology doctorial candidate. It would be a study on the link between school bullying and organized sports, especially football. I am referring specifically to the sport so called in the United States, although it may also be worthwhile to study the European version (known here as soccer).

I have talked to several people who have been bullied to various degrees, and I have found that while not all of the schools involved had football teams, the ones that did also had the biggest problems with bullying. Students who went to schools with a football team were not only bullied, teased, and ostracized by a few students, but for the most part the majority of the student body participated. I know from personal experience that the biggest problems I experienced was from schools that had football teams. I am also willing to bet that organized varsity football contributes to a culture of bullying.

Our school didn't have a football team, but I was bullied pretty badly.

We had a basketball team, and later on a girls basketball team that I joined the first year but never played. The bullying was slowing way down when I joined the team. I was also a majorette that year along with another girl on the team. We didn't have halftime shows for the girls team, only the boys team so there was no conflict.

Bullying is part of the competitive nature of most animals; human culture affords many more competitive avenues that may result in bullying behavior. In the animal kingdom, when there is over-population the "bullying" can become a life or death issue. There is a correlation of overpopulation and violence among humans as well.

Of course, football provides another competitive avenue, but the largest factor could be that larger schools are more likely to have football teams than smaller schools, at least in the US.

I suspect the environmental stresses correlated with bullying are higher in schools that have higher density populations. As this would apply to basic animal nature, as well.

The most peaceful societies measured in the world are those that are of lower density population, with cultures that rely on cooperation for survival, that do not have the same benefits of western developed societies and modern technology to rely upon as an adaptation for survival, beyond the direct cooperation that is required for survival one sees in these more "primitive" societies.

Sports provide an outlet for the tribal nature of human beings within huge societies of human beings. An opportunity for a "sacred" element of social cohesion, beyond that of religion, politics, and war. It is an important aspect of western developed countries, that one sees in almost every developed country; a better alternative than the potential alternative of civil strife, where the competition of sports, can potentially be replaced with the competition of violence and wars, small and large. Sports and civilization go hand in hand, and it has come along way since the days of the gladiators, although we still have elements of that in certain avenues of sports.

And finally, it is the larger Urban areas that have the professional sports teams, that require the larger populations to support that industry, as well as areas that tend to have higher levels of crime in general, including violent crime, that are are correlated with the general phenomenon of higher density population.

That is kind of an analogy of what one might find in a higher density population school as opposed to a lower one, per overall incidences of bullying, as well as the size and complexity of the sports programs that can be supported in a smaller school. It is possible that in a higher density school, that without that common focus of sports, competition and cooperative "team spirit", that the bullying could be worse, as human nature remains the same as far as the pressures of population density, competition, and some type of outlet to express it; organized sports provide an ordered and fairly safe outlet for that aspect of human nature.

Actually, in studies done on zoo monkeys, it was found that cooperation and conflict resolution behaviors INCREASED when the monkeys were forced into cramped quarters for long periods of time. Ditto for chimps and gorillas in captivity who had limited space in which to get away from each other.

It's worth noting that study done with the rats was conducted with limited food hoppers, which was the most likely culprit for the "violence." Populations, even large populations, that have adequate resources (food, water, ect) are noticeably more harmonious.

It's not a coincidence that poverty has a high correlation with crime, or that crime goes up when the economy goes down the toilet. Even in high population urban areas, the most violence is typically seen in the "poor" sections. As a whole, humans, when compared with other primates, get along exceedingly well. Thirty humans who don't know each other sitting in a classroom together = college. Thirty chimps who don't know each other sitting in a room together = social disaster.

The fuse isn't necessarily "overpopulation," but access to life-sustaining resources.

The school I attended that didn't have the football team was in a very poor area. Although there was bullying there, it was much less than at another school I attended where the population was much more affluent. Like I said, this is informal research, but I may push to have a formal study done. I know several doctorial students who may have an interest in this topic.

I agree. Commonly, in the animal kingdom overpopulation results in fewer resources and has been associated with violent behavior in primates including cannibalism and infanticide.

In the famous experiment/study with the rats, in 1958, often referred to as "the behavioral sink" or "the beautiful ones", the rats were given sufficient food, in that particular experiment, however you may be referring to a different one as far as limited food hoppers. The 1958 study is linked below.

The grooming behavior increased among males Rhesus monkeys and aggressive behavior did not increase among males in the experiment that I believe you were referring to linked below, but aggressive behavior increased among females, which is similar to what was observed in the famous Rat study linked below, but the consequences were not severe, as what was reported in the Rhesus monkey study.

The population crash in the rat study, was in part a result of male rats that no longer had desire to reproduce with the female rats, per the stresses of overpopulation. Since the reproduction cycle could be observed in a shorter period of time, one could observe that consequence, which would have likely taken much longer in Rhesus monkeys considering the time span of the reproduction cycle. As far as I know that issue wasn't addressed, as the study was limited in duration, per the Rhesus Monkey reproductive cycle.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347297904693

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Calhoun

In school age children the competition to "resources" is much more complex than basic food, shelter, and reproductive resources.

It can be differences in the clothing worn, socioeconomic status, and many other variables, as subtle as if one is 20Lbs overweight/underweight, too pretty or not pretty enough, etc., some of it potentially reinforced by modern pop culture.

Children don't likely bully as much in schools as they would if left to their own devices. After looking for articles on the topic of higher density schools, the actual school population does not appear to be as much of an issue as a lower proportion of school administration officials vs. the number of children in school, to observe and control the bullying behavior. Some schools are at a greater disadvantage of this lower proportion of school administration officials than others, including the fairly recent addition of school resource officers working in the school system. Unfortunately it is often in community areas of lower socioeconomic advantage where there are already greater stresses associated with basic subsistence resources.

Sports programs are often a first target of cutbacks in areas that are having problems funding schools, which too, is often an issue correlated with the socioeconomic status of the children, and access to basic subsistence resources.

Research quoted on that issue below:

http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-11-440.pdf



And there is also research specific to bullying in children with ASD's, that indicates while they are more likely to be bullied, there are also subgroups with ADHD reported as more likely to bully at up to a rate of 4 times greater than control groups, as well as some individuals potentially perceived as being a bully when there is limited awareness of the bullying for the child with an ASD, potentially associated with problems understanding social interaction/communication.

http://www.iancommunity.org/cs/articles/bullying;jsessionid=aUMDbStKWZZ8frK8KB




More specific to the topic of football and bullying, the link below suggests that athletes may be more likely to bully if they are not involved in other community oriented activities.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/blogs/the-human-condition/2009/08/18/are-jocks-jerks-kids-sports-and-life-lessons.html

A link here that suggests that athletes are more likely to bully each other, than those outside of their social circle:

http://facts.randomhistory.com/facts-about-bullying.html

And a link here that suggests that those involved in football programs accept bullying only if their peers accept it, where the role model of a coach or a parent can make the difference:

http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/football-boys-bullying-connection-0130123/

What's also interesting, per the overall stresses of society along with new technological associated developments in cyber bullying, and perhaps a little bit alarming in regard to the more distant study on rats and the more recent study of rhesus monkeys, is that in Canada in the link below a recent study showed that not only were female adolescents reporting 2 to 1 cyber bullying over males, they also reported greater levels of bullying in the school environment, while male bullying is not increasing. Environmental stresses resulting in higher levels of bullying among females as opposed to males, rings familiar to those two classic studies. Cyber-bullying adds a new heavily weighted factor in the mix.

Teenage pregnancy and frequency of sex among teenagers on average, is also reported as reduced in the last two decades, in the US.

Could human beings in western developed countries be moving toward an analogous "virtual" behavioral sink, per the classic rat study? Just speculation, but if one looks at that full study there are analogies that one finds in modern society in human behavior, but of course much more complex in regard to culture and human beings, than what one would possibly see among rats or rhesus monkeys.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/07/24/toronto-bullying-boys-girls-cyber.html

From the existing research it appears that a culture of bullying in a school football program, supported by a coach, could correlate with players more likely to be involved in bullying, which would could have some type of overall impact on bullying in a school; coaches aware of this issue that make a positive difference in the sports program and opportunities for community involvement could potentially reduce bullying behavior. It would be an interesting and worthwhile topic to research, as there is some research on the issue specific to football that has been pursued, but it appears to be limited.

But, the overall issue of bullying in the schools is much more complex than what was reported less than 10 years ago with the rise of cyber-social networking. And this new avenue for bullying appears to be increasingly putting females in the spotlight over males, moving away from the stereotype that bullying is a male oriented issue.

I was bullied heavily, but more in elementary and the beginning of middle school, before my family moved and I got to go to a new middle school and a different high school. The high school I went to did have a varsity football team, but by the time I was in high school, the bullying was rare as I tended to fit in with the band geeks. The only football that was really played at the middle school was flag football.

I suspect it would depend on the success of the team, also.

Social economic status may not have as much bearing as people might think.

Let me seeeee, a culture of competition instead of cooperation might foster bullying BUT then again THAT might depend upon IF you are viewed as being cooperative or not.


TheSunAlsoRises

When I was in high school,(Sept 70 - June 73) there was some bullying on campus and it was NOT limited to varsity football or any of the other sports. Heck, I even played football there for 3 years, working my way up to varsity and didn't bully anyone at any time. I knew what it felt like to be picked on and made to feel "included out" from activities. I was just choosy about the people with whom I chose to associate and the other activities I participated in. I sort of straddled the fence back then as "an intellectual jock". I studied hard and got good grades; didn't go running the streets at night with other students. Perhaps I was a bit of an anomaly.

^^ Almost like me in the mid 80s. Knew was it was an anomily that i did not pick on others.

I was an student assistant athletic trainer in my high school so I was not consistently bullied by anyone on the teams, regardless of the sport. Whenever I would get flak from a player, I would give them hell in the form of ignoring them when they needed water, taping them too tightly, or give as good as I got. Example: a black athlete constantly called me a n***er and not in a nice way, so I simply started calling him all the slang for whites in the book. He got really upset so I said ''Oh I noticed you confuse your colours cracker, so I didn't want you to be the only one making yourself look like a white trash drop out.'' Never had a serious incident again with any athlete.

However, I would on occasion get snide remarks from some of the thuggish athletes about my sexuality (I was straight but never was too masculine), or they would make veiled remarks about how I was different or smarter than everyone else.

Basically put, I never fit in. But I was never mistreated to the point of it being bullying by the athletes.

Now the nerds and non-athletes... that's another story for another time. They made my life miserable. If not for the few classy athletes spread out over the freshman, JV, and Varsity football and women's soccer teams... school would have destroyed me.