This volume addresses the question of bullying among young girls through a detailed investigation of the strategies and language employed by girls to control peer relations. Section 1 accordingly introduces the issue of bullying, the lack of any rationale for the fractious nature of girls' friendships, and the covert nature of their forms of aggression to entice some into their groups and exclude others. The core of the book consists of a 16-month study examining girls' conversations and social behavior in an informal activity club.

The five chapters in Section 2 delve into gender differences in children's social behavior. Apart from considering the fundamental role of the peer group and its impact on young girls' fluctuating friendship bonds, the prominent role of talk in girls' play activities is discussed. The cooperative nature of girls' games is observed as closely related to their preferred use of indirect modes of aggression. Constant reciprocal evaluations aiming for conformity of attitude or appearance and control of relationships are claimed to shape social exclusion, as a form of bullying among the girls. The key role of grouping in young people's socialization processes is explored in the following section. In contemplating not only young girls' social need for groups, cliques, and gangs, but also their search for close emotional commitment, the fragile nature of their friendships is analyzed by taking into account the part played by dyads, triads, and lovers' quarrels in creating a sense of unease and weariness in groups. The disputatious and unstable character of girls' friendships is explained on grounds of a bid for popularity, which – equated with leadership – seems to be used or abused by young girls to test their positions of power.

The language of conflict is thoroughly studied throughout all four chapters in the fourth section of the volume as a tool to wield power and influence group membership. Through an investigation of the functions, topics, prototypical frameworks, culprits, and targets involved in such conflictive interactions among girls, grassing, insult, gossip, and rumor are accordingly highlighted as key mechanisms for bullying. Chaps. 16 and 17 proceed to focus on emotional issues including the destructive effects of bullying – not only on the victims but also on the bullies themselves – and the role of jealousy in triggering accusations about sexual reputation and provocative appearance. The fractured nature of friendship bonds among young girls is dealt with in Section 7 with a series of case studies illustrating the bullying strategies utilized by girls to acquire and maintain power.

In addition to the various approaches suggested at the end of individual chapters, the last two chapters in the volume offer parents, caregivers, and schools specific strategies for supporting individual girls and tackling bullying problems as a whole. In combining theoretical explanations, analysis of case studies, and practical hints, this book may thus be particularly useful for educators, psychologists, social workers, and parents concerned with the issue of girls' bullying in school.