ABSTRACT
Most teachers and helping professionals perceive aggressive and bullying behaviour among children and youth simply in terms of bullies and victims, which are mutually exclusive roles. Often, they focus on the presenting behavioural forms of aggressive and bullying behaviour, such as physical, verbal, relational, sexual, and cyber aggression, but not on the functions and motives of the aggressors and bullies. School aggression and bullying problems therefore often remain unresolved. This chapter considers the two subtypes of aggressive behaviour, reactive and proactive aggression, in relation to school aggression and bullying problems. Proactive and reactive aggression have been well distinguished in the literature but are rarely considered in the context of school bullying and aggression. This chapter thoroughly discusses the importance of considering the two subtypes of aggressive behaviour to determine whether an aggressor is a defender or a real bully. This chapter also examines the characteristics of reactive and proactive aggressors and ways to differentiate aggressive behaviour in face-to-face and cyber contexts. This chapter thus provides insights for teachers and various helping professionals in schools to identify defenders and real bullies. It also describes different counselling strategies to reduce reactive and proactive aggression in children and youth in both face-to-face and cyber contexts.
