Playground bullies earn more than their victims in middle age

Playground bullies go on to earn higher salaries than their victims, a study has shown.

Children who display aggressive behaviour at school, such as teasing classmates and destroying toys, could be showing signs that are “predictive of positive labour market outcomes”, the paper says.

In contrast, tearful or clingy children, or those that prefer to play on their own, can go on to earn lower salaries in later life, researchers from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex claim.

The researchers used data from the British Cohort Study to track 7,000 children who were born in 1970.

Primary school teachers and parents were asked to complete questionnaires when the pupils were 10 years old, with other information also collected throughout the children’s lives.

Results were compared to the socio-economic status of the individuals at age 46.

Prof Emilia Del Bono told The Observer: “We found that those children who teachers felt had problems with attention, peer relationships and emotional instability did end up earning less in the future, as we expected, but we were surprised to find a strong link between aggressive behaviour at school and higher earnings in later life.

“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.”

The research team based their findings on a number of characteristics displayed by the children, grouped into different types of responses.

So-called “attention” problems might indicate a child found it difficult to concentrate on specific tasks. Aggression and impulsivity were described as “‘conduct“ problems, with “emotional” responses said to include anxiety. Shyness and difficulty in forming friendships were marked as “peer” problems.

The study’s findings revealed attention, peer and emotional problems were negatively related to future earnings, while – contrary to the team’s expectations – conduct problems were seen as indicators of “positive labour market outcomes”.

“It is possible that what is often identified as aggressive behaviour is the adaptive response to a competitive environment (e.g. a classroom or a work establishment),” the paper said.

“Rather than a punitive approach, there could be more focus on understanding the causes of the disruptive behaviour and teachers could be trained to identify strategies which help children to channel these tendencies in more productive ways.”

However, the data suggest bullies do not always enjoy an easy life.

Individuals who scored highly on conduct problems in childhood were found to be more likely to drink, smoke, and engage in criminal behaviour later in life.