Working Together to Spread the Word: Education.com's Special Edition on Bullying (page 2)

Education.com:

What drew you to working on our Special Edition on Bullying?

Shelley Hymel:

Parents have no access to a lot of this information.  Researchers from all over the world are studying and examining this problem, but parents never see the end result.  This is an opportunity to bring this important work to the people.

Susan Swearer:

I think that Education.com's special edition on bullying is a perfect venue for translating research into practice. We know a lot about bullying behaviors from the excellent researchers in this field. However, most of these researchers publish their research in academic journals that the lay public typically doesn't read. Therefore, this special edition is a wonderful opportunity to "spread the word" about what we know about bullying and victimization to the public.

Education.com:

What is the #1 fact that parents need to know about bullying?

SH:

I'll give you two: 1) Bullying takes many forms and is done by many types of people.  2) There is no one solution to the problem of bullying; there are too many factors and causes in play.

SS:

Bullying is a complicated social relationship problem that occurs in varying degrees in every school. It's important to realize that bullying is a problem that affects as many as 75% of students at some point during their school careers.

Education.com:

What are some common myths surrounding bullying?

SH:

That there is one type of bullying.  There is a stereotype of the big, socially inept brute pounding on the skinny little weakling.  In reality bullying takes a myriad different forms and kids from many different walks of like engage in this type of behavior.  Over half the kids who bully are high status popular kids.  Bullying is pervasive in our children's culture.  The vast majority of our kids are doing it.

SS:

Bullying only occurs between a "bully" and a "victim." We know that many students involved in bullying function in multiple roles and can switch between different roles (i.e., bully, bully-victim, victim, and bystander). It is not a dyadic problem between two people. Often, multiple people are involved.

Education.com:

Can you tell us about some of the people you have gathered to contribute to our Special Edition?

SH:

We have tried to get articles from the top scholars in the field from around the world: Christina Salmivalli in Finland; Peter Smith in England; Ken Rigby in Australia; Ersilia Menesini in Italy, just to name a few.  We're working with the top minds in the study of bullying right now; it's very exciting.

SS:

We have requested articles from top researchers across the world who study bullying and peer victimization. This is a very exciting opportunity to garner research results from the "best and the brightest" and to bring these results to a large audience.

Our Special Edition promises to be informative, enlightening, and a definite step in the right direction to understanding what causes these destructive behaviors.  So please join Education.com and our illustrious guest editors as we work together to spread the word about bullying.