Building Capacity to Reduce Bullying and its Impact on
Youth across the Lifecourse: A Consensus Study

Bullying has evolved from "just a part of growing up" to an unacceptable behavior that has long-term consequences on the targets and perpetrators of bullying behavior which can include poor school performance, anxiety, depression, and future delinquent behavior. In addition, bullying can be understood as an opportunity for intervention with troubled youth, potentially preventing the proliferation of more extreme violence throughout the nation's schools and communities. Bullying behaviors occur across a spectrum of age groups from elementary school through high school; it can occur in various forms such as physical, verbal, social isolation or with the use of technology known as cyberbullying. Bullying behaviors occur in social settings that can support or mitigate the act of bullying. Bystanders, targets, and perpetrators of bullying behavior are all part of the process and each participant brings individual risk and protective factors to the situation. Due to the complexities of bullying, identifying universally effective prevention programs and policies is challenging. Results can vary based on the duration of the intervention, the age group or community of individuals being targeted, or the intervention strategy applied. As a result, communities or decision makers may implement bullying prevention initiatives and policies without knowing the effectiveness of these interventions. Building on the activities from the recent (April 9-10, 2014) bullying prevention workshop, the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the IOM and the NRC, will convene a committee of about 15 experts to conduct a consensus study that will produce a comprehensive report on the state of the science and policies related to bullying prevention. Based on currently available evidence, the committee will review relevant research and practice-based literatures on bullying prevention and provide recommendations for future research and policy efforts to support bullying prevention Initiatives, which are likely to result in improved health, safety, and well-being of children and youth. Recommendations may be geared toward government agencies, legislatures, foundations, and academic Institutions. The report will inform Institutions serving youth, federal, state, and local policymakers, and other stakeholders. Finally, the report will identify areas for further research to answer questions raised during the study. The committee will meet four times over the course of the study. These meetings will allow for gathering data from a variety of sources, data synthesis, developing background papers, engaging in committee deliberations, and drafting of conclusions and recommendations. The final consensus report will undergo peer review according to Academies policies. nca/ncf