ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 is introductory and provides a theoretical overview of bullying, considering the conceptual and methodological changes which have taken place over the last four decades of research, as well as referencing some key authors in the development of bullying research. We discuss the general issues and findings about bullying, including translation issues, taxonomy of bullying behaviours, the roles of those involved in bullying episodes, age and gender differences. Although much research has taken place on school bullying, social settings other than the school have also been studied. The main findings of bullying behaviours in these social settings are described and discussed. For bullying in sport, we present a multi-level understanding of bullying, which includes an analysis of the social environment of sport, an individual traits approach, also the influence of group dynamics on bullying behaviours. We end by describing the coping strategies used by the victims, and the consequences of bullying.
