ABSTRACT
Bullying among schoolchildren is certainly a very old phenomenon. The fact that some children are frequently and systematically harassed and attacked by other children has been described in literary works, and many adults have personal experience of it from their own school days. Though many are acquainted with the bully/victim problem, it was not until fairly recently—in the early 1970s—that efforts were made to study it systematically. So far, these attempts have largely been confined to Scandinavia. In the 1980s, however, bullying among school children has also received some public attention also in other countries such as Japan, England, and the USA.
