Moving Beyond Bullying: Focusing on Harm

This chapter shows that policies and interventions should primarily be humanistic, and consider adolescents’ vulnerability during the phase of their life, when physiological as well as neurological development influences mental health and well-being. Individuals reporting intentionally harmful peer aggression should be referred to counselling, and any other assistance required for them to deal with the harm caused to their mental health and well-being. An approach centred on intentional harm would also overcome difficulties with individuals identifying themselves using a label of being weaker or stronger than another individual. Laws and policies have the effect of demonstrating that all stakeholders consider bullying and harmful peer aggression a serious issue, i.e., serious enough to warrant a law against it. Adolescent vulnerability means that young people are more susceptible to experiencing harm as well as to meting out harm. The ultimate goal is to curb school violence and harmful peer aggression for all school children and young people in the world.