ABSTRACT
American policy makers periodically address school violence, student disruption, and student victimization (Hyman & Snook, 1999a; Moles, 1990). They are generally responding to alarmed public disclosure of perceived increases in illegal student behavior. Yet actual incidents of school violence, including homicides, extortion, assaults with weapons, and death threats are relatively infrequent, and have been relatively stable since 1988 (National Center for Education Statistics, 1992; Hyman et al., 1997). More widespread is “common” everyday bullying by peers (Batsche&Knoff, 1994; Elliott, 2002;Hoover, Oliver, &Hazler 1992; Smith, 2000). During the last decade more policy makers have noted daily student victimization by peers (Limber & Small, 2003). This chapter presents a comprehensive review of the literature on bullying within the broader context of student victimization, school disruption, and student alienation. In so doing, we provide information about the extent of bullying, its contexts, the characteristics of bullies and their victims, the effects of bullying on a variety of outcomes, and interventions aimed at preventing and reducing bullying behavior.
