Bullied youth more likely to fantasise about violence

New York: According to the findings of a new study, experiencing bullying and forms of aggression in late adolescence and early adulthood is linked to a marked increase in the likelihood of having daydreams or fantasies about hurting or killing people.

A team led by a University of Cambridge professor tracked the self-reported thoughts and experiences of 1,465 young people from schools across Zurich at the ages of 15, 17 and 20.

Researchers gathered data on whether violent thoughts had occurred in the last 30 days, and the types of bullying or aggression experienced over the last 12 months.

They used questionnaires to probe the levels of aggression (humiliation, beatings, murder) and imagined targets (strangers, friends) within young people’s darkest fantasies.

The team also asked about experiences of 23 forms of “victimisation”, such as taunts, physical attacks and sexual harassment by peers, aggressive parenting – yelling, slapping and so on – and dating violence e.g. being pressured into sex.

While the majority of teenagers had been victimised in at least one way, experiencing a range of mistreatment was “closely associated” with a higher likelihood of thinking about killing, attacking or humiliating others.

Boys were more prone to violent thinking in general, but the effect of multiple victimisations on violent fantasies was very similar in both sexes.

Among the 17-year-old boys who had not been victimised in the preceding year, the probability of violent fantasies in the last month was 56 per cent.