Espelage, Dorothy L., & Swearer, Susan M. . Bullying in American Schools: a Social-Ecological Perspective on Prevention and Intervention

Adolescence, Spring, 2004

ESPELAGE, Dorothy L., & SWEARER, Susan M. (Eds.). Bullying in American Schools: A Social-Ecological Perspective on Prevention and Intervention. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004. 408pp. $99.95 (h), $45.00 (p).

This book is a compilation of research on bullying in school-aged youth conducted across the United States by a representative group of researchers, including developmental, social, counseling, school, and clinical psychologists. As such, it presents a picture of the complexity of bullying behaviors and offers suggestions for using data-based decision-making to intervene and reduce bullying behaviors in schools. Given the complexity of bullying and victimization, this book gives guidance for schools as they develop prevention and intervention programming for bullying. Providing a source through which school administrators can utilize the research findings, the book is divided into five parts. Part I illustrates the importance of individual characteristics across bully-victim subtypes. Part II addresses how peer groups relate to bullying across the school years. Part III explores how teachers and classrooms influence bullying and aggression during the school years. Part IV implicates ecological systems in fostering and maintaining bullying in schools. It also highlights the potential for these systems to work in combating bullying. Part V focuses on specific aspects of prevention and intervention planning.