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Are children born to be bullied?

It is possible that your child is genetically predisposed to be a victim.

Researchers at Duke University looked at pairs of twins in which one twin was significantly more impacted by bullying behavior. in those children, the affect of bullying was severe emotional stress and in some cases, the need for mental health treatment. And those emotional problems appear to be linked to a specific part of the DNA, or genetic makeup.

And bullying appears to be everywhere. Whether it's pushing and name-calling, systematic exclusion, or even more insidious bullying online, it is a significant problem.

Doug White, the head of Student Services for Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, said, "We know that bullying is pretty widespread in our community and our schools."

A recent DPI survey of high school students had some startling results. 25% of students reported being bullied in the last year. One-third of girls and half of boys said bullying is a problem at their school.

That's no surprise to James Carlson. Carlson, now an adult, was bullied throughout his school life.

"Always being the new kid was a big source of being bullied," he recalled, "Just because I was new, I was different."

Carlson said the teachers didn't help either.

"They will single them out and isolate them with wording or mannerisms in the school environment," he added.

Carlson ended up leaving traditional school and finishing his degree at home. He heads up Bucketworks, a "gym for the mind" in which entrepeneurs share workspace and ideas. Carlson wishes schools were designed similarly.

"Keeping a safe environment for students and eliminating bullying, it should be wired into the design of every school," he commented.

So why are some kids victimized and others aren't? It could be linked to the Duke study of genetics.

We asked Dr. Ramel Smith, a child psychologist, to look at the research and give us his take on it.

Dr. Smith agreed that children react differently to bullying.

"We see a lot of our children who become depressed who isolate themselves, don't do anything, become extremely introverted to the point where we become nervous," Smith told us.

Smith did say the Duke research is helpful in understanding bullying, but won't solve the problem.

"The problem with research is it's very good but it's not immediate with the answers, and when you have something like bullying this is an immediate problem where we need immediate answers," he commented.

Smith also cautioned that genes won't automatically make you a victim. Socialization is key. So is acknowledging the problem.

"The first thing we have to do is alert our children that one, it can happen and not to be afraid to tell somebody," he said.

Wisconsin schools are taking action with mandatory anti-bullying programs. Starting this fall, every school must have anti-bullying programs in place that clearly define bullying, set up a policy to deal with bullying, and clearly penalize those found to be in the wrong.