School Bullying: The Role of Forgiveness

Bullying is a serious problem for school students throughout the world. When students experience bullying, they are placed at greater risk of a range of negative outcomes, including mental distress, physical illness, and social isolation. To date, most anti-bullying efforts have focused on reducing or eliminating bullying, and not on helping bullied students to overcome the negative effects of having been bullied. This paper suggests that forgiveness could play a key role in helping bullied students to cope with and overcome the negative emotions elicited by bullying. This novel approach to mitigating the impact of bullying could help address the shortcomings of traditional anti-bullying measures, and thereby improve the educational experiences of school students.

Key Phrase: Educational Psychology and Learning Sciences