The relation between emotional and behavioral disorders and school-based violence

School-based violence is a pernicious and wide-spread problem which affects the lives of a large number of children in school settings as both perpetrators and victims. In this paper, we present a conceptual model of school-based violence which presents two distinct forms of the phenomenon: physical and relational violence; and discuss the distinction between aggression and bullying. Additionally, we present four different participant roles: the bystander, the “pure aggressor,” the “pure victim,” and the “mixed aggressive-victim,” and discuss different psychological markers for each of these different participant actors. The implications for this conceptualization of school-based violence is discussed vis-à-vis the study of the nature and etiology of emotional and behavioral disorders and a call for future research is presented outlining possible avenues for empirical investigation and merging of these two related disciplines.