Indirect aggression, bullying and female teen victimization: a literature review

Abstract

This article assesses the literature in relation to youth bullying in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and North America, focusing in particular on female aggression as it is expressed in adolescent peer relationships. It addresses the escalating problems of indirect aggression, especially those involving social networking interchanges such as texting, email and Facebook postings. The goal is to raise awareness of the need to improve peer relationships by teaching empathy, adopting whole school awareness and implementing peer mentoring systems within the school framework. Acknowledging that bullying is a worldwide problem, the aims of this review of the literature are to: provide a brief overview of the bullying problem among girls; discuss factors that contribute to the ongoing problem, such as by‐standing; and assess the literature for successful bullying prevention programs and bystander interventions that work well for girls

Keywords:

• bullying
• bystanders
• cyber‐bullying
• indirect aggression
• victimization