What actually makes bullying stop? Reports from former victims

School bullying is a serious, worldwide problem which is not easily counteracted. The present study focuses on the perspective of former victims, asking them what it was that made the bullying stop in their case. Participants were 273 18-year-old former victims in Sweden, a country in which schools are doing extensive work against bullying and the bullying prevalence is relatively low. Results showed that although support from school personnel was the most common reason that the former victims gave to why the bullying had ended, it was only mentioned by a fourth of them. In fact, it was almost equally as common that the bullying had ended in that the victims transitioned to a new school level or changed their way of coping with the bullying. Very few of the adolescents reported that the bullying had stopped due to support from peers.