Does age make a difference?

In 1990, over 6,000 school children in Sheffield provided information about their experience of bullying. It was found that the number of children being bullied fell sharply as they grew older. In junior/middle school, the number of children being bullied (whether frequently or less often) dropped sharply. In secondary school the numbers also fell. However, while the rate of being bullied falls with age, the rate of bullying others remains more or less the same, with a dip only in the first two and then the last year of secondary school.
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Article details

I Whitney and P Smith (1993) 'A Survey of the Nature and Extent of Bullying in Junior/Middle and Secondary Schools', in 'Educational Research', Volume 35, Number 1, Spring.
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Author details

Professor Peter K Smith is Head of the Unit for School and Family Studies, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, London. He has been involved in bullying research for a number of years and has published widely on this topic.

Peter Smith may be contacted by email, and the website of the Unit for School and Family Studies at Goldsmiths College may be found here.
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