The Importance of Developmental Science for Studies in Bullying and Victimization

Research on bullying and victimization, especially in school settings, has become an important area of developmental research, with strong practical implications. In this article we overview some considerations from neuropsychology, quantitative genetics, developmental neuroscience, we discuss CU traits and conduct problems, individual, group, class and school levels of analysis, developmental changes by age and context, and cross-cultural aspects. Together we argue that these can help bring about a developmental science perspective on to this area of research

How Dangerous is Cyberbullying?

Peter K Smith is Emeritus Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London, who chaired COST Action IS0801 on cyberbullying. In this post, he examines the media coverage, prevalence and impact of cyberbullying and concludes that even though occurrences of cyberbullying may be exaggerated, there is important work to be done to prevent it from happening. His book Understanding school bullying: Its nature and prevention strategies is in press (2014) with Sage Publications

Commentary: Types of bullying, types of intervention: reflections on Arseneault

Arseneault’s review is a timely reminder of the strong evidence for the negative impact of school bullying, especially although not only on the victims of it. It is particularly important in dealing with the evidence for causal links, mechanisms, and possible moderating factors. In this Commentary, I raise some issues about the definition of bullying; the importance of separating out the bully/victim category; differing impacts of types of victimization, and notably cyber victimization, perhaps interacting with gender; and evidence on school anti-bullying policies and impact of interventions

A content analysis of school anti-bullying policies in England: signs of progress

Schools in England are required to have an anti-bullying policy. A revised 42-item scoring scheme was used to report a content analysis of 200 anti-bullying policies. On average, school policies had 61% of items. Chi-square comparisons found an increase in policy coverage from 2008 to 2022, notably for mentioning cyber bullying and many types of bias-based bullying; but comparisons are limited by different sampling procedures. Despite good coverage in some areas, fewer than 25% of policies mentioned responsibilities of other school staff, suggested how to help the pupil(s) doing the bullying to change their behaviour, gave advice to parents about bullying, or discussed specific powers to deal with cyberbullying and out-of school bullying. For 131 schools, correlations of self-report scores on bullying victimisation and perpetration with the overall policy score were negative but very small. Ways to improve school policy coverage, and the impact they may have, are discussed

An Analysis of Differences in the Role of Friendships and the School Class in Children’s Perceptions of Bullying in England and Ijime in Japan: A Translation and Expansion of Kanetsuna (2009)

This is an English translation with some expansion of the article originally published in Japanese as a university bulletin in 2009. Previous research has found both differences and similarities between ijime in Japan and bullying in England. Bullying is often by pupils in different classes or higher year groups whom the victim does not know very well; ijime is often by victims’ classmates whom the victim knows very well. However, it has not been shown whether these differences are found for all types of bullying, or how they relate to friendships generally and the impact of differing school systems. We aimed to see whether previously found differences between ijime and bullying could be replicated, and, if so, whether they held for six different types of victimization, and whether friendship characteristics were consistent with explaining why they occur. To investigate the role of friendships and their location, 1036 Japanese and 931 English secondary school pupils participated in a comparative study of perceptions of bullying and ijime. The previous differences were confirmed and found to hold irrespective of type of bullying. Japanese pupils mainly formed friendships on a class basis, English pupils on a broader basis including pupils in different years. In school, English pupils spent much time in the playground with their friends and saw this as a likely venue for bullying, whereas Japanese pupils spent more time in the classroom and saw this as a likely venue for ijime. The difference in friendship formation, together with differences in the organization of class-based teaching in the two countries, are hypothesized to play a significant role in explaining some differences between bullying and ijime

Play fighting (rough-and-tumble play) in children: developmental and evolutionary perspectives

Play fighting and chasing in human children – often referred to as rough-and-tumble play, or RTP or R&T – is a common form of play, and one that has the most obvious correspondence to play in many (especially mammalian) non-human species. Unlike object, pretend and sociodramatic play, generally encouraged by teachers and parents, play fighting is viewed in a much more ambivalent way. The role it has in development, and whether this should be viewed in a positive or negative light, continues to be debated. Here we review what insights may be gained from research on play fighting in non-human species, main developmental trends in humans, definitional and measurement issues, cultural variations, and empirical data on the correlates found with behaviors of adaptive significance. We conclude with some reflections on theoretical issues and future research priorities. A consistent theme from work with non-human species, parent–child RTP, and peer-peer RTP, is that RTP experience is important for emotional control and the learning of restraint in what may be competitive or conflictual situations

Considerations for using ETEC and Shigella disease burden estimates to guide vaccine development strategy.

Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) and Shigella are enteropathogens causing significant global morbidity and mortality, particularly in low-income countries. No licensed vaccine exists for either pathogen, but candidates are in development, with the most advanced candidates potentially approaching pivotal efficacy testing within the next few years. A positive policy recommendation for introduction of any vaccine, following licensure, depends on evidence of vaccine cost-effectiveness and impact on morbidity and mortality. The mortality estimates for these two pathogens have fluctuated over recent years, which has led to uncertainty in the assessment of their relative public health importance for use in low and middle-income countries. This paper summarizes the various ETEC and Shigella disease burden estimates, based on a review of current literature and informal consultations with leading stakeholders in enteric disease modelling. We discuss the factors that underpin the variability, including differences in the modelling methodology; diagnostic tools used to ascertain diarrheal etiology; epidemiological setting; the data that are available to incorporate; and absolute changes in the total number of diarrheal deaths over time. We consider the further work that will strengthen the evidence needed to support future decision making with respect to recommendations on the relative utility of these vaccines