Bullying is a significant public health concern that has garnered considerable attention by the media, policy makers, educators, parents, and researchers. In some ways, its increased visibility has followed a similar trajectory to the issue of child maltreatment, whereby research on short- and long-term impacts of maltreatment, high-profile case examples, and court cases came to the attention of the media, which in turn led policy makers to pass legislation related to identification and reporting. Although the laws and policies related to bullying have taken a different form and focus (ie, largely on schools), they still represent a significant shift in the way in which we are beginning to conceptualize bullying as a public health problem rather than a fact of life. We must capitalize on this increased attention to the issue of bullying and its myriad effects to promote effective prevention approaches in schools, families, and online.
Bradshaw CP. The Role of Families in Preventing and Buffering the Effects of Bullying. JAMA Pediatr. 2014;168(11):991-993. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2014.1627