Bullying Prevention in Adolescence: Solutions and New Challenges from the Past Decade

Abstract

Bullying among youth at school continues to be a global challenge. Being exposed to bullying may be especially hurtful in adolescence, a vulnerable period during which both peer group belonging and status become key concerns. In the current review, we first summarize the effectiveness of the solutions that were offered a decade ago in the form of anti-bullying programs. We proceed by highlighting some intriguing challenges concomitant to, or emerging from these solutions, focusing especially on their relevance during adolescence. These challenges are related to (1) the relatively weak, and highly variable effects of anti-bullying programs, (2) the complex associations among bullying, victimization, and social status, (3) the questions raised regarding the beneficial (or possibly iatrogenic) effects of peer defending, and (4) the healthy context paradox, that is, the phenomenon of remaining or emerging victims being worse off in contexts where the average levels of victimization decrease. We end by providing some suggestions for the next decade of research in the area of bullying prevention among adolescents.

Intention to Stop Bullying following a Condemning, Empathy-Raising, or Combined Message from a Teacher – Do Students’ Empathy and Callous-Unemotional Traits Matter?

“…Knowing which strategy will be most effective when intervening in cases of bullying is important for teachers, especially when the case involves adolescent perpetrators. Indeed, tackling school bullying has been found to be more challenging with adolescents than with children (Yeager et al, 2015 ), possibly because of decreased obedience to adult authority and a stronger desire for status among peers in this developmental period (see Salmivalli et al, 2021 ). Previous research on this topic indicates that condemning the bullying behavior and trying to raise empathy for the victim are both effective strategies.…”

“…In addition, this study examines whether students’ responses to the different messages vary as a function of their levels of empathy and callous-unemotional traits, which have been shown to be related to bullying behavior (Geel et al, 2017 ; Mitsopoulou & Giovazolias, 2015 ). As anti-bullying interventions tend to become less effective in adolescence (e.g., Salmivalli et al, 2021 ; Yeager et al, 2015 ), it is important to understand students’ responsiveness to various intervention strategies at this age. For this reason, the present experiment was conducted with early adolescents in their first year of secondary school.…”

Differences in Aggression and Alcohol Use among Youth with Varying Levels of Victimization and Popularity Status

“…Specifically, high-status victims self-reported more concurrent and prospective bullying and were seen by peers as more proactively and indirectly aggressive concurrently. The positive association between status and aggressive behavior is well-established (e.g., Salmivalli et al, 2021 ). The current study examined whether the victimization experience of those youth at the top of the social hierarchy would amplify this association.…”

“…To create clear comparisons, the current study focused on victims and non-victims who were either low or high in popularity, resulting in four groups: high-status victims, lower-status victims, high-status non-victims, and lower-status non-victims. The current study focused on aggression and alcohol use, which are both positively associated with popularity (Mayeux et al, 2008 ; Salmivalli et al, 2021 ), but are also two common responses to peer victimization (for aggression, see, e.g., Malamut & Salmivalli, 2021 ; for alcohol use, see, e.g., Manglio et al, 2017 ). Given that both victimization and popularity can be risk factors for these behaviors, the current study directly examined whether they jointly conferred risk for aggression and alcohol use compared to popularity or victimization alone.…”

Teachers Can Make a Difference in Bullying: Effects of Teacher Interventions on Students’ Adoption of Bully, Victim, Bully-Victim or Defender Roles across Time

“…However, bullying affects students worldwide and has been shown to have potentially serious and long-lasting effects on health, well-being, academic performance, and occupational success (Burger & Bachmann, 2021 ), not only for victims but for all students involved (Hysing et al, 2021 ). This is particularly true for students in early adolescence where bullying peaks (Swearer et al, 2017 ) and where students are even at a higher risk for developing mental health disorders due to changes in social dynamics, biology, and cognition (Salmivalli et al, 2021 ). It has been demonstrated that teachers can stop bullying (Troop-Gordon & Ladd, 2015 ) and that teacher interventions have a central role in the fight against bullying (Colpin et al, 2021 ).…”