REVIEW article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Pediatric Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicEarly Recognition and Intervention of Bullying and Cyberbullying: Strategies, Challenges, and SolutionsView all articles
How do we identify potential perpetrators of indirect bullying and how do we help them? A review of the characteristics that are associated with perpetration and can be targeted through prevention and intervention
Provisionally accepted
Laura Metz Crothers*
Jered Kolbert
Ara J SchmittJessica CowleyKayla PerfettoAthena VafiadisAlexandra Zawodny- Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, United States
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Identifying those who are likely to become perpetrators of bullying may help direct prevention strategies to those who are most at risk of engaging in peer victimization. Meta-analyses have suggested that antibullying interventions are modestly effective only for students in grades 7 or below. Such interventions are typically Tier I programs of a multi-tiered system of support provided to all students. Some research has examined the cognitive and psychosocial predictors of a type of bullying, relational and social aggression, most often used by those in middle school or above, with limited ability of various cognitive profiles to predict perpetration behaviors. Therefore, this article explores which intrapersonal factors, both cognitive and psychosocial, signify increased susceptibility to perpetrating relational and social aggression from middle childhood through adolescence, as a means of developing targeted preventive strategies for this population. A review of existing interventions for indirect bullying is provided, and recommendations are made for additional strategies for addressing these behaviors through Tier II and III efforts.
Keywords: indirect bullying, intervention, Perpetrators, Relational aggression, Tier II and Tier III intervention
Received: 18 Mar 2025; Accepted: 02 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Crothers, Kolbert, Schmitt, Cowley, Perfetto, Vafiadis and Zawodny. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Laura Metz Crothers
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