Abstract

Abstract:

Despite evidence that aggressive, victim, and prosocial behaviors exist among preschool children, preschool bullying has received much less attention than school-age bullying from researchers and practitioners. Preschool is an important environment for examining social behaviors because, for many children, it is the first formal context for systematic peer interaction. Though early identification and intervention has the greatest likelihood of decreasing aggression and victimization and increasing prosocial behaviors, there is little information available for school-based professionals to help identify potential predictors of bullying, victimization, and defending among preschool children. Early intervention programs can be used to target children who demonstrate early signs of these bullying roles. The goal of this review is to summarize research that links bullying roles in preschool to language and social development and offer suggestions for future research in this area.

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