Bullying, Peer Harassment, and Victimization in the Schools : The Next Generation of Prevention

Bullying and harassment threaten academic achievement and mental health in our schools. Look beyond your work with individual students to address these problems in their larger context!

This book presents enlightening empirical studies and reviews of the literature on peer harassment, bullying, and victimization. Designed to expand our knowledge and understanding of these topics, Bullying, Peer Harassment, and Victimization in the Schools: The Next Generation of Prevention documents the widespread nature of the phenomena both inside and outside the United States, identifies risk and protective factors, and provides practitioners with specific, evidence-based guidelines for effective preventive action.

From the editors: The problem of bullying, peer harassment, and victimization is a serious one in our schools. It greatly affects the climate for learning and productivity and the emotional health of students and staff. This book presents empirical data and theoretical and legal case reviews to show how pervasive and serious these problems are and how they threaten both academic achievement and mental health within many of our schools. Taking a longitudinal and developmental perspective, the authors begin to outline the next generation of research in this field that will shape knowledge and practice for the next few decades. For practitioners, the book is a call to action, particularly at the school-wide level, focusing on reducing the substantial social/emotional harm done to perpetrators, bystanders, and especially, victims.

Bullying, Peer Harassment, and Victimization in the Schools provides vital information on:

• what mental health professionals can do to prevent and respond to sexual harassment in schools
• the relationship between middle-school adjustment and bullying
• aggressive behavior and friendship patterns in immigrant children
• school-based intervention strategies
• the relationship between the cultures of childhood and sexual harassmentfrom developmental, domestic violence, and legal perspectives
• risk factors and protective factors affecting victimization
• and more!

It has been estimated that bullying affects more than half of the students in American schools. This book can add significantly to your ability to combat and prevent this pervasive problem. Use it to improve the quality of education received by students in your community!

Joseph Zins, Maurice Elias