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Honorary Research Associate

Infographics to easily learn more about bullying and what actions to take should bullying be an issue in your school or community.

Bullying is now regarded as a health problem and not just a disciplinary problem. Increasing evidence shows both traditional bullying (e.g. hitting, teasing) and cyberbullying have lasting effects on young people (both those who bully and those who are bullied), including damage to self-esteem, academic results and mental health.

Bullying behaviour often increases in late childhood and peaks in early adolescence. While interventions to address bullying behaviour typically encourage students to report bullying incidents to school staff, students are often reluctant to report incidents for fear it will worsen their situation or because they lack confidence in a staff members’ ability to intervene effectively. This study explores school staff responses to student reports of bullying behaviour.

Young people’s use of mobile phones and access to the Internet has increased dramatically in the last decade, especially among those aged 9–15 years. Young people now rely on information and communication technology for much of their social interaction, which can have both positive and negative effects on their social and emotional well-being. Of particular concern is the extent to which digital technology (DT) provides opportunities for cyberbullying. 

Interest in how the school built environment impacts bullying behaviour has gained momentum in recent years. While numerous studies have identified locations within schools where bullying frequently occurs, few studies have investigated the potential conceptual pathways linking school locations to bullying behaviour.

Bullying in schools has been associated with poor academic and mental health outcomes in students. While students are often encouraged to report bullying incidents to school staff, some students avoid reporting incidents as they lack faith in staff members ability to intervene.

Children have a universal right to live free from exposure to family and domestic violence (FDV). Children exposed to FDV can experience long-term effects on their physical and psychological health and their social competencies including social, emotional, and cognitive skills and behaviours that underpin successful social adaptation and academic achievement. The aim of this study was to investigate if children exposed to FDV were more likely to be vulnerable on school readiness measures compared to those children who were not exposed.

Bullying varies in frequency, intensity, duration and hence severity, and contributes uniquely and directly to mental health problems, with severe and long-lasting consequences. Almost a half of school-age students report being bullied in the past year.

Several meta-analyses have demonstrated that bullying prevention programs are successful in reducing bullying. However, scant research addresses if and how such anti-bullying efforts affect long-term internalizing health problems and even less on later use of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy.