In recent weeks Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd have both talked publicly about the need to stamp out bullying in our schools, but why does it occur and what can be done about it?

Two Macquarie University PhD students in psychology have recently returned from an international conference in the United States where they presented their current research on bullying in Australia.

Kirstin Barchia and Puneet Singh were selected from over 5000 applicants to present at the leading international conference on child development held by the Society for Research in Child Development, held in Boston.

Barchia's doctoral study, titled School interaction study: Bullying in high schools, examines the group dynamics involved in bullying and in particular the reasons why students take on different roles such as the bully, the victim, the intervener or the passive on-looker.

"Bullying is a significant problem in Australian schools and leads to anxiety and depression not only for victims but also for students who bully and those who intervene," Barchia says. "My research focuses on why children bully or intervene in bullying. I have found that students' attitudes toward bullying, along with the skills they have to resolve conflict, predict bullying and intervening behaviour - current interventions have not adequately addressed these factors.

"I also found that students who believe the school can work well with students to stop bullying are less likely to bully others," Barchia says.

Singh's research focuses on links between bullying and depression and anxiety.

"I found that bullying that occurs between siblings is also a significant problem, and that students who were bullied by peers at school as well as brothers and sisters fared worst," Singh says. "To reduce the negative impact of bullying, students need to not blame themselves, focus on their positive attributes and learn to be assertive."