ABSTRACT
With a plethora of theoretical and empirical writing dedicated to the study of bullying in childhood and adolescence (including this volume), it is clear that we have faced our problems in earnest, yet it remains di cult to evaluate whether we have, as Harlow advised, faced the problem of bullying honestly. For decades, schoolyard bullying has been considered by many to be a normal part of childhood, a “rite of passage” that can help to “toughen kids up” or “build character.” At the same time, common sense, o en born out of personal experience, tells us that being rejected, shunned, ostracized, or bullied hurts. It hurts so much that some bullied youth take their life (Marr & Fields, 2000) or consider suicide as a way of ending their su ering (e.g., Bonanno & Hymel, 2010; Carney, 2000; Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpela, Marttunen, Rimpela, & Rantanen, 1999; Kim, Koh, & Leventhal, 2005).
