Victimization, friendship and resilience: crossing the land in-between

This article explores the victimization of young people immediately before and after the school day. This is a unique time when most young people of secondary school age, from a range of backgrounds, with different interests and standards of behaviour, are constrained to mix at some point on the journey to school. For most young people this a temporary break from adult control in the home and the school—a spatial and temporal ‘land in-between’ the authority of parents and teachers. This freedom carries with it the possibility of pleasure-seeking, social experimentation and extending friendships, but it also carries the potential for the victimization of some young people by others. Until now, very limited research has been carried out on the extent, characteristics and impact of victimization during this time, and it is these issues that form the focus of the article. We draw upon the English data from an eight-country European research project exploring secondary school children’s experiences of victimization whilst travelling to and from school. The research gathered both quantitative data on the levels of, and responses to, victimization and focus groups and interviews to understand the meanings of these experiences to young people. The research concludes that approximately 20% of young people admit to having been victimized, although generally this occurs only occasionally. Only a small percentage, between 3 and 4% of young people, is victimized regularly. Young people show considerable resilience in dealing with victimization without adult help and that friends are particularly important, as opposed to the school authorities.