Professor Peter Smith

Peter is a developmental psychologist, with interests in school bullying, children’s play, and grandparenting.

Staff details

Position

Emeritus Professor

Department

Psychology

Email

p.smith (@gold.ac.uk)

Summary

Peter is at the Unit for School and Family Studies, which he headed from 1998-2011. He is as an Emeritus Professor, continuing with research, writing, and international collaborations. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the Association of Psychological Sciences, and the Academy of Social Sciences. In 2015 he was awarded the William Thierry Preyer award for Excellence in Research on Human Development, by the European Society for Developmental Psychology, and in 2018 the Student Wellbeing and Prevention of Violence (SWAPv) Award, from Flinders University, Australia. In December 2018 he is receiving an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Vienna.

Grants and Awards

Peter has received external funding in recent years from the EU (DAPHNE, COST), British Council (PMI2), DCSF, EHRC, FamilyLives, DigitalMe, ESRC, and QNRF. He is currently co-PI of an Erasmus+ grant on participatory exploration of cyberbullying, young people and socio-economic disadvantage.

Public Engagement and Knowledge Exchange

Peter is an Honorary Member of the of European Antibullying Network, and of the Antibullying Alliance in the UK. He has given presentations on ways of tackling school bullying to a range of organisations, including recently the Flemish Ministry of Education, Born This Way Foundation (USA), ISPRA, EDUC, Ministry of Education in Singapore, and Prince of Songkhla University in Thailand. He is participating in the 2018 Battle of Ideas program in London, on the role of grandparents.

Publications and research outputs

Book

Adolescence: A Very Short Introduction Smith, Peter K.. 2016. Adolescence: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199665563
Understanding Children's Development 6th edition Smith, Peter K.; Cowie, Helen and Blades, Mark. 2015. Understanding Children's Development 6th edition. Chichester: Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-77298-0
Understanding School Bullying: Its Nature & Prevention Strategies Peter K, Smith. 2014. Understanding School Bullying: Its Nature & Prevention Strategies. London, UK: Sage Publications. ISBN 978-1-84887-904-2

Edited Book

Bullying, cyberbullying and pupil well-being in schools: Comparing European, Australian and Indian Perspectives Smith, Peter K.; Sundaram, Suresh; Spears, Barbara; Blaya, Catherine; Schafer, Mechthild and Sandhu, Damanjit, eds. 2018. Bullying, cyberbullying and pupil well-being in schools: Comparing European, Australian and Indian Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge Univedrsity Press. ISBN 9781107189393
School Bullying in Different Cultures Peter K, Smith; Keumjoo, Kwak and Yuichi, Toda, eds. 2016. School Bullying in Different Cultures. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-03189-0
Cyberbullying through the New Media Findings from an international network Smith, Peter K. and Steffgen, Georges, eds. 2013. Cyberbullying through the New Media Findings from an international network. Hove, East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press. ISBN 9781848722538

Book Section

School physical design and its relation to bullying and student well-being Samara, Muthanna; Smith, Peter K.; Francis, Jacinta; Horton, Paul; Markovikj, Marijana; Franco, Liat; Kulcsar, Gabriella; Massarwi, Adeem; Albawab, Alaa; El-Asam, Aiman; Sundaram, Suresh and Lee, Seung-ha. 2024. School physical design and its relation to bullying and student well-being. In: Hildegunn Fandrem and James O'Higgins Norman, eds. International Perspectives on Migration, Bullying, and School: Implications for Schools, Refugees, and Migrants. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 124-147. ISBN 9781032571331
Welfare and the protection of young athletes: an analysis of the nature and prevalence of bullying behaviours in sport settings Nery, Miguel; Neto, Carlos; Rosado, António and Smith, Peter K.. 2020. Welfare and the protection of young athletes: an analysis of the nature and prevalence of bullying behaviours in sport settings. In: Melanie Lang, ed. Routledge Handbook of Athlete Welfare. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 105-118. ISBN 9780367193256
Bullying in schools: thirty years of research Smith, Peter K.. 2011. Bullying in schools: thirty years of research. In: Iain Coyne and Claire P. Monks, eds. Bullying in Different Contexts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 36-59. ISBN 9780521132596

Behavioural Genetics Gregory, Alice M.; Ball, Harriet A. and Button, Tanya M.. 2010. Behavioural Genetics. In: Peter K. Smith and Craig Hart, eds. The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Social Development, 2nd Edition. London and Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 27-43. ISBN 978-1-4051-9679-6
Cyberbullying: the nature and extent of a new kind of bullying, in and out of school Smith, Peter K. and Slonje, Robert. 2010. Cyberbullying: the nature and extent of a new kind of bullying, in and out of school. In: Shane Jimerson; Susan Swearer and Dorothy Espelage, eds. The International Handbook of School Bullying. New York and Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 249-262. ISBN 9780805863925
Cyberbullying: the European perspective Smith, Peter K.. 2010. Cyberbullying: the European perspective. In: Joaquin Mora-Merchan and Thomas Jaeger, eds. Cyberbullying: A cross-national comparison. Landau: Verlag Empirische Pädagogik, pp. 7-19. ISBN 978-3-941320-51-2
Family level intervention with bullies and victims Curtner-Smith, Mary Elisabeth; Smith, Peter K. and Porter, Malvin. 2010. Family level intervention with bullies and victims. In: Eric Vernberg and Bridget Biggs, eds. Preventing and Treating Bullying and Victimization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 75-105. ISBN 9780195335873
Peer support as a means of improving school safety and reducing bullying and violence Cowie, Helen and Smith, Peter K.. 2010. Peer support as a means of improving school safety and reducing bullying and violence. In: Beth Doll; William Pfohl and Jina Yoon, eds. Handbook of Youth Prevention Science. New York: Routledge, pp. 177-192. ISBN 978-0-8058-6332-1
Bullying in primary and secondary schools: Psychological and organizational comparisons Smith, Peter K.. 2009. Bullying in primary and secondary schools: Psychological and organizational comparisons. In: Shane Jimerson; Susan Swearer and Dorothy Espelage, eds. The International Handbook of School Bullying. New York and Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 137-149. ISBN 9780805863925
Prevention and responses to bullying Thompson, Fran; Tippett, Neil and Smith, Peter K.. 2009. Prevention and responses to bullying. In: Kathryn Geldard, ed. Practical Interventions for Young People at Risk. Thousand Oaks: Sage. ISBN 9781847875624

Article

The school bullying research program: How it has developed, 1976-2020 Slonje, Robert; Smith, Peter K. and Robinson, Susanne. 2025. The school bullying research program: How it has developed, 1976-2020. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 81, 102032. ISSN 1359-1789
Bullying for Children in Social Care: The Role of Interpersonal Relationships Brett, Hannah; Cooper, Andrew; Smith, Peter K. and Jones Bartoli, Alice. 2024. Bullying for Children in Social Care: The Role of Interpersonal Relationships. International Journal of Developmental Science, 18(3-4), pp. 103-117. ISSN 2192-001X
The Healthy Context Paradox at a National/Country-Level: Is Victimisation associated with Worse Adjustment in Countries where the Average Level of Victimisation is Lower? Agyekum-Hene, Rhysvana; Smith, Peter K.; Turunen, Tiina and Salmivalli, Christina. 2024. The Healthy Context Paradox at a National/Country-Level: Is Victimisation associated with Worse Adjustment in Countries where the Average Level of Victimisation is Lower? International Journal of Bullying Prevention, ISSN 2523-3653

Research Interests

Peter’s main area of research is on school bullying. He is currently particularly interested in country differences and cross-cultural comparisons. He has also casrried out research on children’s play; and on the role of grandparents in children’s development.

• School bullying
• Cyberbullying
• Cross-national comparisons in bullying
• Nature and growth of the bullying research program
• Role of play in children’s development
• Children’s rough-and-tumble play
• The grandparent role