ABSTRACT

The flaw in the argument is that bullying is not between equals. As almost all definitions of bullying make clear, bullying involves an imbalance of power. The success of telling teachers will depend on the school context and clearly needs a consistent and effective response from teaching staff. Interestingly, a study comparing what pupils thought was best to do in England and Japan found that most pupils in England suggested that the victim should seek help from others, whereas fewer Japanese pupils suggested this. There are well-established consequences of being a victim of bullying. These can be short-term and long-term. There are also consequences for perpetrating bullying and for the bully-victims, who need to be considered separately.The discordant MZ twin design is a way around this difficulty. MZ, or monozygotic, twins are identical twins – they have the same genetic inheritance. However they might be discordant – they might differ from each other – on some environmentally influenced characteristic.