School Bullying and Mental Health

‘School Bullying and Mental Health: Risks, Intervention and Prevention is a unique book that covers a broad variety of relevant and cutting-edge topics spanning from theory to practice. The book discusses the tipping point at which bullying becomes a crime and considers bullying involving sexual violence and bullying targeting minorities. As well as the school setting, bullying in university and workplace settings is covered in this book, giving the reader an overview of bullying across the life-span. The consequences of bullying are considered while accounting for therapeutic work and interventions within specific social and cultural contexts. A must-read for anyone with an interest in this increasingly recognised world-wide problem.’ - Professor Muthanna Samara, Department of Psychology, Kingston University London, UK ‘This is a very important book for anyone who is concerned with the nature of bullying, its consequences for the mental health and well-being of young people, and the measures that can be taken to ameliorate and prevent this ubiquitous but often hidden problem. The editors, Helen Cowie and Carrie-Anne Myers, are distinguished authorities in this complex area and bring to bear their extensive knowledge in the creation of a scholarly and very well constructed book. In dividing the volume into five distinct themes, elaborated by a wide array of international expert writers, they provide the reader with an invaluable resource that illuminates the multifarious nature of bullying in ways that are always informative, engaging, and thought-provoking. The writing is clear and accessible, but never at the expense of complexity. School Bullying and Mental Health: Risks, Intervention and Prevention offers many important insights, none more important than the fact that bullying in schools has immediate, extensive, and, in some cases, lifelong negative consequences for its victims that can be prevented through timely, informed and carefully targeted intervention. This book deserves a very wide readership among school leaders, teachers, educational psychologists, and school governors, as well as policy makers. Academics in education, and their Masters and Doctoral students studying bullying and mental health, will also find this book an indispensable source.’ - Paul Cooper, CPsychol, FBPsS, Emeritus Professor, Brunel University London, UK ‘Bullying was for long spared full censure, the rigours of the criminal law and the criminological gaze, as if it were a fleeting and marginal form of misbehaviour that should be treated with an indulgence akin to benefit of clergy. But a changing understanding of childhood, greater publicity and an enhanced appreciation of who and what it is to be a victim have begun to translate it into a complex and consequential social problem. It is apparent that it is not simply confined to the playground; that it may take multiple forms and that its impact is often far from ephemeral. It is not always easy to make sense of everything that has been learned, and Helen Cowie and Carrie-Anne Myers are greatly to be thanked for having mustered educationalists, sociologists, criminologists, and psychologists from across the globe to produce such a timely and comprehensive review of the state of expert, legal, practical, and policy-relevant knowledge of the field.’ - Paul Rock, Emeritus Professor, London School of Economics, UK ‘Helen Cowie and Carrie-Anne Myers realize that such an important issue as bullying needs to be viewed from different angles, based on current scientific data and appropriate methods in the field of research, intervention, and prevention. They gathered scientific researchers as well as practitioners in bullying prevention and treatment from various countries: UK, USA, Greece, Malta, Sweden, Spain, Pakistan, Australia, Ireland, and Finland. All of them share with us their impressive knowledge and practical experiences for dealing with bullying. Therefore, the book will be of great value for a range of practitioners (teachers, psychologists etc.), but also for university teachers and students, interested parents of both bullies and victims, and all those victimized people who are searching for the right answers.’ - Renata Miljević-Riđički, Professor in the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, Croatia