Peer Harassment in School: The Plight of the Vulnerable and Victimized.

Many children are targets of verbal and physical abuse or social ostracism at some point during their school careers, and a minority are repeatedly victimized by their peers. This volume brings together leading investigators to present the latest psychological research on chronically victimized children and adolescents. The book's introduction (Dan Olweus) offers a critical analysis of bullying or peer victimization and highlights some important issues. The book is then organized into four parts, covering conceptual and methodological issues, subtypes and age-related changes in peer harassment, correlates and consequences of peer harassment, and other harassment dynamics beyond the victim/bully dyad. The chapters are as follows: (1) "Variations in Peer Victimization: Relations to Children's Maladjustment" (Becky Kochenderfer Ladd and Gary Ladd); (2) "An Attributional Approach to Peer Victimization" (Sandra Graham and Jaana Juvonen); (3) "Determinants of Chronic Victimization by Peers: A Review and a New Model of Family Influence" (David Perry, Ernest Hodges, and Susan Egan); (4) "Self-Views versus Peer Perceptions of Victim Status among Early Adolescents" (Jaana Juvonen, Adrienne Nishina, and Sandra Graham); (5) "Sampling Instances of Victimization in Middle School: A Methodological Comparison" (Anthony Pellegrini); (6) "The Aggressive Victim of Bullying: Emotional and Behavioral Dysregulation as a Pathway to Victimization by Peers" (David Schwartz, Laura Proctor, and Deborah Chien); (7) "Early Diagnosis and Prevention of Victimization in Kindergarten" (Francoise Alsaker and Stefan Valkanover);(8) "Relational Victimization in Childhood and Adolescence: I Hurt You through the Grapevine" (Nicki Crick and others); (9) "Victimization among Teenage Girls: What Can Be Done about Indirect Harassment?" (Laurence Owens, Phillip Slee, and Rosalyn Shute); (10) "Developmental Context of Peer Harassment in Early Adolescence: The Role of Puberty and the Peer Group" (Wendy Craig, Debra Pepler, Jennifer Connolly, and Kathryn Henderson); (11) "Toward a Process View of Peer Rejection and Harassment" (Michel Boivin, Shelley Hymel, and Ernest Hodges); (12) "Rejection and Victimization by Peers: Social Perception and Social Behavior Mechanisms" (Beate Schuster); (13) "Health Consequences of Bullying and Its Prevention in Schools" (Ken Rigby); (14) "Characteristics of Victims of School Bullying: Development Changes in Coping Strategies and Skills" (Peter Smith, Shu Shu, and Kirsten Madsen); (15) "Groups, Individuals, and Victimization: A View of the Peer System" (William Bukowski and Lorrie Sippola); (16) "Subtypes of Peer Harassment and Their Correlates: A Social Dominance Perspective" (David Hawker and Michael Boulton); and (17) "Group View on Victimization: Empirical Findings and Their Implications" (Christina Salmivalli). Each chapter contains references. (HTH)