What You Must Know to Help Combat Youth Bullying, Meanness, and Cruelty

Abstract

As a part of its collaboration with the Born This Way Foundation, the Berkman Center is publishing a series of papers that synthesize existing peer-reviewed research or equivalent scholarship and provide research-grounded insight to the variety of stakeholders working on issues related to youth empowerment and action towards creating a kinder, braver world. This series, called the The Kinder & Braver World Project: Research Series (danah boyd and John Palfrey, editors), is presented by the Born This Way Foundation & the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, and supported by the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The first set of papers, which were intended to provide insights to the new foundation, involved topics related to Youth Meanness and Cruelty.In order to empower youth to create a kinder and braver world, we must begin by making sure that youth are safe. Youth are not safe when they are being bullied, harassed, or threatened. Thus, one of the first things that we must do to help youth be safe is combat the culture of meanness and cruelty that is at the root of bullying, peer violence, and abuse.Bullying is a systems problem and many well-intended people don’t realize the complexity of the issue. The following are research-driven elements of bullying that should ground any discussion of how to address this complex issue.