Abstract
There has been increased attention paid to the reduction of aggressive behaviors among youth since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, an incident which reportedly occurred in response to the perpetrators’ victimization by peers (Larkin, 2009). The shocking display of extreme physical violence at Columbine influenced American researchers to focus on daily incidents of peer bullying and the implications of being an ongoing victim of peer bullying or abuse (Safran, 2007). More recently, harassment and bullying through nonphysical means (e.g., cyberbullying, relational aggression) has received media attention given the rash of suicides by youth who were being victimized by these forms of aggression. Although the media focus on nonphysical forms of aggression has only recently sparked the interest of the general public and lawmakers, research on these forms of aggression, particularly relational forms of aggression, is not a new phenomenon.
This research was supported, in part, by an NIMH grant (R01MH075787) to the first author and was made possible, in part, by the School District of Philadelphia. Opinions contained in this report reflect those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the School District of Philadelphia.
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Leff, S.S., Waasdorp, T.E., Waanders, C., Paskewich, B.S. (2014). Better Understanding and Intervening to Prevent Relational Aggression. In: Weist, M., Lever, N., Bradshaw, C., Owens, J. (eds) Handbook of School Mental Health. Issues in Clinical Child Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7624-5_13
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