If the school calls to inform you your child has been bullied, you will probably feel terrible for them.

But at least you'll know how to feel. If your child is the one accused of bullying, you might be worried or

disappointed or even embarrassed. Like could their bad behavior be somehow your fault? From KERA in

Dallas, this is think. I'm Chris Boyd. My guest researches bullying, the different forms it can take,

who does it and why. And although it may sound counterintuitive,

we're going to talk today about evidence that childhood bullies who don't get help can suffer

lifelong mental health consequences themselves. Elizabeth Englander is professor of psychology

and executive director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State

University and a founding member of the Social and Emotional Research Consortium.

Her article, What to Do If Your Child Is the Bulley, appears in Scientific American.

Elizabeth, welcome to think.

Thank you so much for having me.

A lot of unacceptable behavior perpetrated on kids by kids gets labeled

bullying these days. Why do you feel like it's important to make the distinction between

bullying and other forms of undesirable behavior among kids?

Well, there's a couple of reasons why it's important. One thing I think is that bullying other kids

is a very different behavior than just being mean to them,

maybe once, but it's also something that carries a lot of stigma.

And so parents can feel absolutely devastated

by the thought that their child is a bully,

but they may feel better able to cope if they thought that their child is a bully, but they may feel better able to cope

if they understand that their child was maybe just being mean to somebody once and wasn't

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