ABSTRACT
The demonstration of the existence of alterophobic bullying provided a further exemplar of the finding that certain forms of school bullying are, at the very least, affected by if not directly underpinned by, patterns of broader societal prejudice. Meta-analyses of anti-bullying programmes in schools have recorded that the levels of intervention success have been rather modest in many cases, and the effects have been more evident in leading to improvements in knowledge about bullying, rather than the production of actual changes in behaviour. The well-documented and serious psychosocial consequences of bullying, discrimination and physical violence, it is to be hoped that whilst to date alterophobia has received little in the way of specific attention, other researchers and practitioners may find the concept worthy of study in the future. The conceptual models – particularly stigma – have been under-utilised in the bullying literature and yet hold promise for understanding the causes of disproportionate rates of bullying among certain groups of youth.
