Is bullying a learnt or hereditary trait?

Blame it on the genes.

Recent studies by scientists have established that bullying and aggressive traits in people can be caused by genetic formation in the DNA.

Thalia a London based scholar studied 1,523 twins in Sweden and Britain with a half of them being identical and sharing some identical inheritance found that gene play a role in formation of aggressive behavior causing bullying.

The study, published in Child Development Journal strongly tied Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) has a flaw in character trait that makes a person to be more likely to be a bully.

“Aggressive behavior can be inherited by the gene ADHD although social environment plays a highly significant role in non-aggressive anti-social manners” the research said.

The finding now adds genetics to other causes of bullying like low self-esteem, poor parental upbringing and social context.

While boys are more likely to be influenced into bullying from their environment, girls are predestined be traits in their genes into the anti-social behavior, the study said.

“In girls, a beautiful and more sexually active female is more likely to be bullied as she appears to be more attractive for mating making her more competitive” Zapito Marini’s atavistic angle in Bullying from an Evolutionary Perspective is quoted in the study.

Marni espouses that gene leads to bullying as a specie is forced to procreate and pass the dominant gene to the next generation in Darwinian theory.

Equally excess or low genetic neurotransmitter serotonin and other enzymes are a main cause of the trait with bullies having a 10% likelihood of verbal abuse and 16% chances of getting into a physical fight as compared to other people.

“Bullying is when people use their strength or power of some kind to hurt weaker people” Prof Dan Olweus of University of Bergen, Norway says.

A bully dominates, blames and uses others for their means with poor soial skills and lack of compassion for weaker people whom they see as preys.

Guest Blogger: UNAIDS: Homosexuality rising HIV prevalence in developed countries by Philip Alambo

New York State, USA just legalised same sex marriage though conservatives are contesting for it's withdrawal in court.

With the increased global socio-economic, political and scientific efforts put in mopping up the dreaded HIV/AIDS, there has been a remarkable breakthrough in curbing the disaster. Studies conducted by the UNAIDS reveal that the rate of infection has fallen by more than 25% between 2001 and 2009.

This is a major milestone ,for the journey of a thousand miles, as the Chinese put it , begins with one step. Yet in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the war against AIDS is far from victory.

While there has been a notable global reduction of the rate of HIV infection and their subsequent deaths across the globe, in consonance with the UNAIDS report, Eastern Europe and Central Asia do not mirror the pattern. To the shocking dismay of many the findings instead makes it known that the rate of HIV infection in seven countries located in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and North America has been steadily increasing over the last two decades , and by more than 25%.

According to the report a number of factors which are to be faulted for these peculiar occurrences abound. They range from socio-cultural and economic issues, to unnatural sexual intercourses. Also to be blamed is the sharing of needles among drug addicts for injection. But particularly more pronounced and monumental cause is attributed to the massive expansion of the gay population in these countries reflecting the reversal of their erstwhile low prevalence.

Nurture has superceded nature, as men, women and teenagers in Eastern Europe and Central Asia engage in unnatural carnal intercourse. Ironically encouragement by many governments to set up legal frameworks protecting of homosexuals and shying away from arresting bestiality is detrimental to the fight against the deadly virus.

I shall zero in on homosexuality and lesbianism as key in heightening the burdensome economic attempts these regions have allotted in curbing this pandemic. Developed north has been on the record in the past for criticizing Africa’s socio-cultural practices as outdated and retrogressive, and a major deterrent in eradicating AIDS.

These, just to name a few, include wife inheritance and traditional midwifery. Homosexuality is however not indigenous to Africa. Sadly homosexuality which is backed in the West is causing exactly what the world thought to be the main cause of spread of the deadly virus, albeit from the West!

The most enormous retrogressive cultural orientation known by man is the practice of homosexuality, lesbianism and bestiality, often synonymous with the developed world like the legalisation of same sex marriage in New York, US.

Such practices defy conventional wisdom as well as scientific premises and suppositions. This is particularly true to homosexuality, whose practitioners have turned their physiological “entrance into exit” and vice versa. The UNAIDS report testifies.

The Guest Blogger is a student of Communication and Media Technology with IT at Maseno University; Kenya.