Bullied Teen Is Driven to Succeed

Feb. 8, 2011— -- In the eighth grade, Zach Veach weighed 80 pounds and stood less than five feet tall. The bigger kids at school would push him around, pick him up, and knock his books on the floor.

"It always seemed to come from the football players," Veach said.

Veach, who was into go-karting at the time, was teased about his stature and for wearing car racing clothes. But now, the 16-year-old from Stockdale, Ohio, is a champion race car driver with Michael Andretti's team "Andretti Autosport" – the most successful team in Indy Racing League history.

"Now, a lot of the kids that bullied me are trying to be my friends," Veach said. "It's really hard – you want to look at them and ask, 'What's changed from two years ago?' I haven't changed but suddenly they want to be my friend."

Veach, an honor-roll sophomore, drew from his own experience to write a how-to guide for surviving high school: "99 Things Teens Wish They Knew Before Turning 16."

"Bullies are usually people who are insecure about themselves," Veach wrote in his book, which hits shelves in March. "Try to remember that when someone is picking on you for no reason. Just tell yourself that you are not the one with the problem."

Veach's observation is the topic of ongoing research into who bullies, who gets bullied, and why.

A study published Feb. 8 in the journal American Sociological Review suggests bullies use aggression to climb the social ladder at school. So bullies tend not to be the most or the least popular, but rather kids in the middle of the "social hierarchy."

"The overall theory is that kids view bullying as a tactic for gaining social position," said study lead author Robert Faris, assistant professor in the department of sociology at University of California at Davis.

Veach remembers how helpless he felt when the football quarterback swiped his Bridgestone Tires hat – a souvenir from his second national championship in Indianapolis, which was too big and hung over his ears.

"He threw the hat in the trash and then dumped chocolate milk on it," Veach said. "That hurt the most."

Bullying: 'A Major Societal Problem'

"Bullying affects millions of American youth every year, and victimization is associated with increased rates of mental health problems like depression, anxiety and even suicidal ideation," Faris said. "We need to increase our understanding of it in a hurry."

The suicides of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi and Massachusetts teen Phoebe Prince in 2010 were linked to bullying.

Faris and other are working to better identify risk factors for bullying and for being bullied, so that interventions can be targeted to the right kids.

"I think one of the most important unanswered questions is: What can we do to prevent bullying?" said Liz Arnold, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, adding that current strategies seem to be falling short. "One of the things we need to look at is who's at risk. And this study suggests that it may be those kids in the middle level of their peer social network."

Faris agrees that preventing bullying is the ultimate goal. But focusing on the bullies and the bullied might not be the answer.

"Aggression is kind of interwoven in the fabric of the social hierarchy. But at same time, most kids are not aggressive – they're bystanders," Faris said. "If we're going to intervene and create long lasting changes, rather than solely focusing on victims and bullies we should also be working with the kids who aren't involved, who might encourage or fail to discourage the act. If we can make them more attentive to and disapproving of aggression, there's a better chance of having long lasting effects."

Faris and colleagues are now studying where the victims tend to fall on the social ladder. He suspects that, like the bullies, they're somewhere in the middle.

"I think we're going to see more aggression among rivals rather than it being the strong dominating the weak," Faris said. "I think overall we're kind of expecting that social status will not just increase aggression, it will also increase victimization."

Beyond Being Bullied

Veach says he hopes his book will help teens look beyond the walls of high school to the exciting future ahead of them.

"I wish I had had a guidebook when I was being bullied," Veach said, adding that it can be hard to reach out for help when you're being bullied because you're embarrassed. "Now someone can see what I've done to get through the rough times."

In March, Veach will compete in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Fla. And since he turned 16 in December, he's finally licensed to drive a normal car too.

"I always want to inspire kids to do what they want to do and to not worry about whether they're going to be popular or not," Veach said. "Just surround yourself with good friends and keep moving forward."