The Problem With Overly Broad Definitions of Bullying: Implications for the Schoolhouse, the Statehouse, and the Ivory Tower

Abstract

Within the past few decades, scholars, lawmakers, and educators have increased attention to a specific type of aggressive behavior known as bullying. While bullying is like peer aggression and harassment, in that they all pertain to negative aggressive actions, there are important distinctions among these three forms of behavior. The key features of bullying behavior that distinguish it from peer aggression and harassment are repetition and power imbalance. Much scholarly attention has been devoted to carefully delineating these distinctions. However, most existing measurement strategies generally ignore or imprecisely specify these two hallmark features. Moreover, when students’ perceptions of bullying are evaluated, repetition and power imbalance are largely disregarded. Perhaps most concerning, many states’ antibullying statutes obscure differences between bullying, peer aggression, and harassment, resulting in a legal equivalence of these very different types of aggression. Legal, policy, and practice implications of limited differentiation of these three behavioral categories are discussed.