title: Taking peer victimization research to the next level: complex interactions among genes, teacher attitudes/behaviors, peer ecologies, & classroom characteristics.
abstract: This commentary reviews research findings of the five papers in the special entitled "School-related Factors in the Development of Bullying Perpetration and Victimization", which represent critical areas that are often overlooked in the literature. First, one paper points to the complex interaction between a genetic disposition for aggression and classroom norms toward aggression. Second, an intervention paper unpacks the underlying mechanisms of an efficacious school-wide bully prevention program by opening the "black box" and testing for mediators. Third, the remaining studies employ a wide range of rigorous designs to identify how teachers' attitudes, behaviors, and classroom practices play a critical role in the prevalence of victimization and bullying in the classroom. Further, teachers' attitudes and behaviors are shown to be predictive of youth's willingness to intervene to assist a peer who is being victimized. Results are situated in what is known about bullying prevention, and how the findings from these studies could maximize the sensitivity of future prevention efforts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, 61820-6925, USA, espelage@uiuc.edu.
authors.forename: Dorothy L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Espelage
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D058445:Bullying / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D012574:Schools; D012737:Sex Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data