Children who displayed aggressive behaviour at school, such as bullying or temper outbursts, are likely to earn more money in middle age, according to a five-decade study that upends the maxim that bullies do not prosper.
They are also more likely to have higher job satisfaction and be in more desirable jobs, say researchers from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex.
The paper, published today, used data about almost 7,000 people born in 1970 whose lives have been tracked by the British Cohort Study. The research team examined data from primary school teachers who assessed the children’s social and emotional skills when they were 10 years old in 1980, and matched it to their lives at the age of 46 in 2016.
“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,” said Prof Emilia Del Bono, one of the study’s authors.
They found that an increase in teachers’ observations of conduct problems – such as temper outbursts or bullying or teasing other children – was associated with an increase in earnings in 2016 of nearly 4% for a given rise in conduct problems for boys and girls. That compared with a 6% rise for higher cognition skills.
Those considered to have attention problems, such as failing to finish tasks, and emotional problems – seen as worried, anxious or fussy – went on to earn less than their classmates.
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