But, and especially if relationships with parents are reasonably satifactory, by middle childhood peer relationship will occupy much of a child's time. Most of the evidence on peer relationships in middle childhood comes from studies in schools. In modern urban societies, schools provide a prominent forum for same-age peer interaction, and for about 25 percent of the typical school day, children are engaged in playtime or dinner break activities, which allow for fairly unstructured peer interactions. Nevertheless some interactions are hostile, and some relationships are far from friendly. However, many aggressive interactions are transient ways of dealing with immediate conflicts that may arise between two individuals.
Bullying can have a devastating effect on the lives of victimes.
They suffer continuing loss of confidence and self esteem in social relationships. But it is also important to understand why some children become bullies or victims and others do not. Also the nature of peer relationships that bullies and victims have is an area of interest and debate. In this chapter we review these issues. First, however, we consider further what is meant by bullying and its relationship to such behaviors as teasing and playful fighting.