I found this recently-published article, Children who are bullied suffer worse long-term mental health problems than those who are maltreated interesting. Here are some excerpts:
A new study published in The Lancet Psychiatry shows that children who have been bullied by peers suffer worse in the longer term than those who have been maltreated by adults.
The research is led by Professor Dieter Wolke from Warwick's Department of Psychology and Warwick Medical School. The study is due to be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in San Diego on Tuesday 28 April.
[...] Professor Wolke said: "The mental health outcomes we were looking for included anxiety, depression or suicidal tendencies. Our results showed those who were bullied were more likely to suffer from mental health problems than those who were maltreated. Being both bullied and maltreated also increased the risk of overall mental health problems, anxiety and depression in both groups."
An abstract and full article (pdf) are available.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday May 05 2015, @07:09PM
In my observation, you are correct. Alphas do not fight or bully; they're completely socially secure and have no need to fight (not even with each other). Betas do not attack alphas. Only betas fight, and only with other betas, and in a fight, the socially-lower individual always loses. Betas come in a range from tough-guys always looking for trouble to a bottom-end type who snipe from a safe distance. Meanwhile gammas (who are ignored by all or, rarely, beat up by an overbearing beta since a gamma will not fight back) go "wha'happened??"
In dogs, these social statuses are born (genetic), not made, and nothing you can do will change them.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.