• Date: Tuesday, April 18, 2023
• Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. ET
• Location: Online via Zoom

A core feature of bullying is an imbalance of social power. The majority of research has focused on the role that individual and interpersonal factors play in establishing social power. For example, research has found that using power as a foundation for aggression, as established in childhood bullying, can have long-term impacts through adolescence and into adulthood. For children who bully, there are increased risks for involvement in other forms of aggression that combine the use of power and aggression such as dating violence, sexual harassment, and involvement in gangs.

The need to understand the developmental origins of power and its exploitation goes beyond the schoolyard. The social-ecological perspective highlights the importance of many factors, such as families, schools, and structural factors (e.g. privilege, discriminatory policies, and systemic oppression) in shaping access to and use of power. Youth’s access to resources and experiences of structural bias/discrimination lead to the amount of social power they hold. This social power also shapes experiences of bullying, as some children are granted power simply because of the privileges they experience in larger society.

This presentation will explore through a series of studies how power is manifested within societal structures such as gender and income inequality, and is related to experiences of bullying and victimization, especially when inequality is experienced in early life. Implications of these inequalities for intervention will be discussed, as well as several educational resources that can be implemented in the classroom to address structural biases and discrimination.