Bronfenbrenner's (1977) Bronfenbrenner, U. (1977). Toward an experimental ecology of human development. American Psychologist, 32, 513–531. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar] classic ecological theory is used as a framework to review the documented risk and protective factors associated with involvement in school-related bullying during childhood and adolescence. Microsystems such as peers (socialization during adolescence), family (violence, lack of parental monitoring), community (exposure to violence), and schools (teacher attitudes, climate) contribute to the rates of bullying perpetrated or experienced by youth. The interaction between components of the microsystem is referred to as the mesosystem, and offers insight into how contexts can exacerbate or buffer experiences for youth who are involved in bullying (e.g., family support can buffer impact of peer victimization). Recommendations are provided for teachers and other adults who work with youth.

Violence directed against K-12 teachers is a serious problem that demands the immediate attention of researchers, providers of teacher pre-service and in-service training, school administrators, community leaders, and policymakers. Surprisingly, little research has been conducted on this growing problem despite the broad impact teacher victimization can have on schooling, recruitment, and retention of highly effective teachers and on student academic and behavioral outcomes. Psychologists should play a leadership role in mitigating school violence, including violence directed toward teachers. There is a need for psychologists to conduct research accurately assessing the types and scope of violence that teachers experience; to comprehensively evaluate the individual, classroom, school, community, institutional, and cultural contextual factors that might predict and/or explain types of teacher violence; and to examine the effectiveness and sustainability of classroom, school, and district-wide prevention and intervention strategies that target teacher violence in school systems. Collectively, the work of psychologists in this area could have a substantial impact on schooling, teacher experience and retention, and overall student performance.

This cross-sectional study examines differences in the frequency of suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviors across a group of verbal bullies, bully-victims, victims, physically aggressive bullies, and students not involved in bullying. A large sample of middle school students (n = 661; fifth through eighth grades; ages 10-13 years of age) completed a pencil-and-paper survey that included the University of Illinois Bully, Fight, and Victim scales. Students also self-reported how often they had thought of killing themselves or deliberating hurting themselves in past 6 months, and provided information about delinquent behaviors and symptoms of depression and anxiety. We used cluster analysis to create bully-victim subtypes: uninvolved (n = 357), victims (n = 110), verbal bullies (n = 114), bully-victims (n = 29), and physically aggressive bullies (n = 42). Approximately 32%-38% of verbal bullies and victims, 60% of bully-victims, and 43% of physically aggressive bullies reported suicidal ideation, compared with 12% of uninvolved youth. Similarly, 24%-28% of verbal bullies and victims, 44% of bully-victims, and 35% of physically aggressive bullies reported deliberately trying to hurt or kill themselves, compared with 8% of uninvolved youth. Females in the bully-victim subtype reported particularly elevated suicidal ideation and behavior. After controlling for delinquency and depression, differences in suicidal thoughts and behaviors emerged only between uninvolved youth and the victim and bully-victim groups, but these differences were minimal. Findings highlight that at a bivariate level, involvement in bullying in any capacity is linked to increased risk for suicidal ideation and behavior, and echoes previous literature documenting particularly strong mental health implications for bully-victims. Furthermore, this study points to the importance of considering delinquency and depression in conjunction with suicidal ideation and behaviors.