ABSTRACT

Focused education, such as identifying specific individuals or groups who will have the greatest impact reflects a social perspective of bullying. Specifically, being bullied has been found to contribute to lower academic performance and school avoidance. Along with interruption to the child's educational progress, victimization has been shown to increase the likelihood of short and long term health risks, both physical and mental. The risk to children is heightened as cyber bullying becomes more prevalent, since avoidance is more difficult. The behaviors of bullies have long been explained by one of two approaches. One approach blames bullies' social skill deficits, whereas the other model explains bullying in terms of bullies pursuit of power and status. Cross-national research has shown that bullies report more moral disengagement and lower moral awareness, as well as less empathy than their peers. Victims tend to be more submissive, have fewer leadership skills, and are generally more withdrawn compared to non-involved classmates.