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Bullying

Bullying in School
At Linköping University the primary research on bullying focuses on social processes, peer culture and interaction patterns, as well as on children and young persons' stories and perspectives.

Bullying is most often defined as repeated violations of dignity against a person or a group that is at a disadvantage and has difficulties defending themselves. This can manifest itself in different ways: physical violence, verbal affronts, the spreading of rumours and social ostracism. 

Research into bullying in school started in the 1970s and is now a very extensive field of research.

The incidence of bullying is determined by the interplay of several different factors. Therefore it can be studied from different perspectives and with different points of focus. Examples of such factors are personality traits, feelings and ways of thinking, groups of friends, interaction patterns and group processes, power and social hierarchies among pupils, teachers' working methods and the school as culture and organisation, social norms, cultural conceptions and social structures in society.

Children and young people subjected to bullying run a higher risk of developing a psychosocial disorder, both during childhood and as an adult. Bullying in the school is also in conflict with both the Education Act and the values that curricula intend for the school to create, mediate and firmly establish in the pupils.

At Linköping University the primary research on bullying focuses on social processes, peer culture and interaction patterns, as well as on children and young persons' stories and perspectives. Studies are also conducted into municipal strategies to counteract bullying.

Research

A girl is on her knees with her hands over her face; further away, some children are whispering.

School Bullying Research Group

Physical violence, verbal harassment, social ostracism, rumour spreading and cyber bullying. In today’s school bullying comes in all shapes. What factors affect children’s different behaviour in bullying situations?
A woman waving a Pride flag.

LGBTIQ+ young people’s lived experiences of homophobic bullying in Swedish Schools

The project investigates LGBTIQ+ young people's experiences of homophobic bullying in school. The research can contribute with important knowledge on experiences, the associated effects on their wellbeing; and what might be protective factors.
Happy girl, jumping

Barnafrid

Barnafrid is a national knowledge center with the aim of assembling and disseminating knowledge about violence and other abuses against children. It is a government commission that was assigned Linköping University in 2015.

News

A girl is on her knees with her hands over her face; further away, some children are whispering.

School Bullying Research Group

Physical violence, verbal harassment, social ostracism, rumour spreading and cyber bullying. In today’s school bullying comes in all shapes. What factors affect children’s different behaviour in bullying situations?
A woman waving a Pride flag.

LGBTIQ+ young people’s lived experiences of homophobic bullying in Swedish Schools

The project investigates LGBTIQ+ young people's experiences of homophobic bullying in school. The research can contribute with important knowledge on experiences, the associated effects on their wellbeing; and what might be protective factors.

Classroom climate affects prevalence of bullying

Bullying is less prevalent in classrooms where pupils perceive that their classmates believe that bullying is wrong without exception and that those who bully cannot blame someone else. These are findings from a study from Linköping University.

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