Jenny Isaacs

Telling is compelling: the impact of student reports of bullying on teacher intervention

Research increasingly recognises the importance of student bystander and adult educator shared responsibility for successful bully prevention. The role of teacher observations versus student reports of bullying, as well as staff preparedness, as predictors of teacher involvement was investigated in 115 middle school teachers. Being told by students about bullying incidents was the strongest predictor of teacher involvement. However, the relation between being told about bullying, or observing it, and coaching students on how to manage bullying was most evident when teachers felt highly prepared to handle bullying situations. Results from this study point to the pivotal role that both teacher preparedness and student reporting play in teacher responsiveness to bullying. Implications for training school professionals and bully prevention programmes are discussed.

Long-term Consequences of Victimization by Peers: A Follow-up from Adolescence to Young Adulthood

Long-term eff ects of victimization were investigated in 177 girls and boys that were followed from adolescence (ages 14-15) to young adulthood (ages 22-23). Victimization in adolescence was associated with increases in depression and decreases in self-esteem as well as negative views of others in young adulthood, but only when adolescents lacked a supportive family environment. Results are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms responsible for the critical role that family support plays in altering maladjustment consequences of victimization by peers.

Multiple Contextual Levels of Risk for Peer Victimization: A Review with Implications for Prevention and Intervention Efforts

Overview In this chapter we will discuss the importance of considering risk— and alternatively, protective—factors for peer victimization that occur at multiple levels of children’s ecological context, with the goal that this review will be useful for both basic research and prevention and intervention efforts. We will begin by defining peer victimization and identifying several well-established personal characteristics that place children at greater or lesser risk for being the targets of their peers’ aggression. However, the majority of our review of risk and protective factors will focus on features of the child’s context, and we will separate these contextual influences into those occurring across five levels of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological taxonomy. We will then discuss the implications of these ecological risk and protective factors for prevention and intervention efforts and review prior prevention and intervention studies that have considered multiple contextual levels. We will conclude that studies that have failed to consider higher levels of contextual risk factors have been less effective than is desired and will offer suggestions for considering these ecological factors in future empirical and applied work.

The Influence of Formal and Informal Formative Pre-Service Experiences on Teacher Self-Efficacy.

Formal pre‐service training has been shown to be effective in building teacher self‐efficacy beliefs. However, the impact of other, less formal, ‘teacher‐like’ pre‐service experiences on the formation of efficacy beliefs has not previously been investigated. This study examines the associations between both formal and informal formative pre‐service experiences and teacher self‐efficacy. In addition, the effect of years of teaching experience on these associations was investigated. Three hundred fifteen teachers of general and Judaic studies in Jewish day schools in the USA responded to a survey about their formal pre‐service experiences; informal experiences as youth advisors, camp counsellors and childcare supervisors; and two measures of teacher self‐efficacy. Formal pre‐service training and positive student‐teaching experiences, as well as each of the three informal experiences, were found to be associated with positive teacher self‐efficacy. Interestingly, formal and informal pre‐service experiences appear to be associated with different aspects of teacher self‐efficacy. Formal teacher training was most strongly associated with efficacy for instructional practices, while the positive informal experiences were most strongly associated with efficacy for student engagement. The potential impact of both formal and informal experiences did not appear to fade over time. On the contrary, for those variables where an interaction with years of teaching was detected, it was the efficacy beliefs of the most senior teachers that were most related to their pre‐service experiences. These findings have important implications for the practice of both teacher trainers and those charged with recruiting and supporting teachers.

Learning of Aggression in the Home and the Peer Group

As the chapters in this book illustrate, aggression and violence are serious problems in our society. In searching for the roots of aggression in individuals, one must look to the early lives of children. Individual differences in levels of aggression emerge early in life and are highly stable across development. While there is undeniable evidence that individual differences in aggression are due in no small part to innate (biological or genetic) factors, there is also overwhelming evidence that aggression is in large part learned through a child’s interaction with the environment. This chapter will focus on two contexts largely responsible for a child’ s learning of aggression the home and the peer group.

Das Erlernen von Aggression in Familie und Peergroup

Aggression und Gewalt sind, wie aus den Beitragen dieses Buches zu ersehen ist, ein gravierendes Problem in unserer Gesellschaft. Die Wurzeln der Aggression im einzelnen Menschen sind in der fruhen Kindheit zu suchen. Individuelle Unterschiede in den Ebenen der Aggression bilden sich sehr fruh heraus und bleiben wahrend der weiteren Entwicklung des Menschen weitgehend stabil. Es gibt zwar eindeutige Beweise dafur, dass die individuellen Unterschiede in der Aggression zu einem nicht geringen Teil auf angeborene (biologische oder genetische) Faktoren zuruckzufuhren sind; ebenso uberwaltigend sind jedoch die Beweise dafur, dass Kinder die Aggression zu einem grosen Teil durch die Interaktion mit ihrer Umwelt erlernen. Dieser Beitrag beschaftigt sich mit zwei Bereichen, die fur das kindliche Erlernen der Aggression weitgehend verantwortlich sind: die Familie und die Peergroup.

Confidant Relations in Italy

Confidants are often described as the individuals with whom we choose to disclose personal, intimate matters. The presence of a confidant is associated with both mental and physical health benefits. In this study, 135 Italian adults responded to a structured questionnaire that asked if they had a confidant, and if so, to describe various features of the relationship. The vast majority of participants (91%) reported the presence of a confidant and regarded this relationship as personally important, high in mutuality and trust, and involving minimal lying. Confidants were significantly more likely to be of the opposite sex. Participants overall were significantly more likely to choose a spouse or other family member as their confidant, rather than someone outside of the family network. Familial confidants were generally seen as closer, and of greater value, than non-familial confidants. These findings are discussed within the context of Italian culture.