Karin Österman

Bullying as a group process: Participant roles and their relations to social status within the group

Bullying was investigated as a group process, asocial phenomenon taking place in a school setting among 573 Finnish sixth-grade children (286 girls, 287 boys) aged 12-13 years. Different Participant Roles taken by individual children in the bullying process were examined and related to a) self-estimated behavior in bullying situations, b) social acceptance and social rejection, and c) belongingness to one of the five sociometric status groups (popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, and average). The Participant Roles assigned to the subjects were Victim, Bully, Reinforcer of the bully, Assistant of the bully, Defender of the victim, and Outsider. There were significant sex differences in the distribution of Participant Roles. Boys were more frequently in the roles of Bully, Reinforcer and Assistant, while the most frequent roles of the girls were those of Defender and Outsider. The subjects were moderately well aware of their Participant Roles, although they underestimated their participation in active bullying behavior and emphasized that they acted as Defenders and Outsiders. The sociometric status of the children was found to be connected to their Participant Roles..

Aggression among university employees

Harassment among university employees (n = 338; 162 males, 176 females) was investigated by help of the Work Harassment Scale (WHS), developed for the study. Nineteen cases of severe victimization by harassment were interviewed. Subjectively experienced symptoms of depression and anxiety were estimated with two subscales from SCL-90 [Derogatis LR, Lipman RS, Covi L (1973): Psychopharmacology Bulletin 9:13-28] and aggressiveness was measured with the Buss-Durkee Inventory [Buss A, Durkee A(1957): Journal of Consulting Psychology 21:343-349]. Females experienced themselves as significantly more harassed than men. Position was related to harassment: individuals in superior positions harassed more often than individuals in subordinate positions. Less victimization by harassment was experienced among individuals involved in research and teaching than among individuals involved in administration and service. The experienced reasons for harassment were predominantly envy and competition about jobs and status. In 25% of cases, victims felt that their sex might be a reason. Victims of harassment experienced higher levels of depression, anxiety, and aggression than others. The interviewed cases showed evidence of symptoms reminiscent of the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The relationships between social intelligence, empathy, and three types of aggression

Relationships between social intelligence, empathy, and three types of aggressive behavior were studied. Peer-estimation techniques were used to measure all major variables. Altogether, 526 Finnish schoolchildren from three age groups (10, 12, and 14 years old) participated in the study. As was hypothesized, indirect aggression correlated positively and significantly with social intelligence in every age group studied. Physical and verbal forms of aggression had almost zero correlation to social intelligence. Empathy correlated negatively and significantly with every type of aggression except indirect aggression in 12-year-old children. The major findings are in Line with the developmental theory by Bjorkqvist et al. [1992. Aggr Behav 18:117-127] suggesting that indirect aggression requires more social intelligence than direct forms of aggression.

Sex differences in covert aggression among adults

In previous studies [Aggressive Behavior 14:403-414, 1988; Aggressive Behavior 18:117-127, 1992] it was found that adolescent girls used indirect means of aggression more than adolescent boys, whereas physical aggression was used more by boys, and direct verbal aggression was used equally by both sexes. The present study investigated whether males, as adults, start to employ indirect aggression to the same extent is females. Three hundred thirty-three university employees (162 males, 176 females) filled in the Work Harassment Stale by Bjorkqvist et al. [1994]. Special attention was drawn to two subscales: rational-appearing aggression and social manipulation. It was found that males used the former type of aggression significantly more often than females, while females used the latter more than males. Both are variants of covert aggression, in which the perpetrator tries to disguise his/her aggressive intentions, in order to avoid retaliation and/or social condemnation.

Social intelligence - empathy = aggression?

Empathy reduces aggressive behavior. While empathy and social intelligence are strongly correlated, it is, for both logical and consequential reasons, important to regard them as different concepts. Social intelligence is required for all types of conflict behavior, prosocial as well as antisocial, but the presence of empathy acts as a mitigator of aggression. When empathy is partialed out, correlations between social intelligence and all types of aggression increase, while correlations between social intelligence and peaceful conflict resolution decrease. Social intelligence is related differently to various forms of aggressive behavior: more strongly to indirect than to verbal aggression, and weakest to physical aggression, which is in accordance with the developmental theory of aggressive style. More sophisticated forms of aggression require more social intelligence.

Cross-cultural evidence of female indirect aggression.

Three types of aggressive behavior (physical, verbal, and indirect) were investigated by help of peer estimations based on The Direct and Indirect Aggression Scales (DIAS) (Finland: Abo Akademi University) [Bjorkqvist et al., 1992b]. Aggressive behavior of adolescents of three age groups (8, 11, and 15 years old), in Finland, (Finnish and Swedish speakers),Israel (secular and religious Israelis),Italy,and Poland were studied (n=2094). Indirect aggression was, in proportional terms, the aggressive style mostly used by girls, across nations, ethnic groups, and age groups studied. Verbal aggression was their second most used: style, and physical aggression was applied least often by girls. Among boys, indirect aggression was, in all ages, the least used aggressive style. Physical and verbal aggression was, by boys, used equally often at ages 8 and 11, while, at the age of 15, verbal aggression had surpassed physical aggression and was the most used style. Scores of victimization to others aggression showed somewhat similar trends.

Peer and Self‐Estimated Aggression and Victimization in 8‐Year‐Old Children From Five Ethnic Groups

The Direct and Indirect Aggression Scales (DIAS) (Bjorkqvist et al. [1992b] Finland: Abo Akademi University) were applied in order to investigate the perception of aggression among 8-year-old children (n=404, girls 200, boys 204) in a cross-cultural comparison. Two samples from Finland (Finnish and Swedish-speaking children), two from Chicago, IL (African Americans and Caucasians), and one from Warsaw; Poland, were included in the study. These types of aggressive behavior and victimization of aggression (physical, verbal, and indirect) were measured using both peer and self estimations. Peer estimations were internally more consistent than self estimations. Children rated themselves as significantly less aggressive than their peers rated them. The opposite was true of victimization. An attributional discrepancy index (ADI) was calculated as the difference between self and peer estimated aggression sc ores. The index may be seen as an indicator of norms pertaining to aggression in different ethnic groups. ADI stores of girls, but not for boys, showed significant variance over culture on all three types of aggression. This indicates greater cultural variation in norms pertaining to aggression for girls than for boys. Cultural variation and sex differences in the patterning of aggressive behavior were analysed using multidimensional scaling (ALSCAL). Cultural variation appeared as distribution along the x-axis (dimension 1) in a two-dimensional solution, and sex differences along the y-axis (dimension 2), indicating that patterns of aggressive behavior are dependent on both culture and sex.

Locus of control and three types of aggression

The literature suggests external locus of control to be related to aggression. The present study investigated whether this is equally true of different types of aggression (physical, verbal, and indirect) and in both sexes. A total of 722 adolescents, 11 and 15 years of age from two nations, Finland and Italy (n = 722), filled in the Locus of Control Scale for Children [Nowicki and Strickland (1973): Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 40:148–154] and the Direct and Indirect Aggression Scales [Bjorkqvist et al. (1992b): Abo Akademi University]. In the case of boys, all three kinds of aggression correlated significantly with external locus of control. In the case of girls, no significant relationship between aggression and locus of control was found. When both sexes were aggregated in the analysis, external locus of control correlated significantly with all three types of aggression, but significantly higher with physical than with indirect aggression. Aggr. Behav. 25:61–65, 1999.

Twenty-Eight Years After the Complete Ban on the Physical Punishment of Children in Finland: Trends and Psychosocial Concomitants

In 1983 Finland became the second country in the world, after Sweden, to adopt a law prohibiting all kinds of physical punishment towards children, also by parents. The present investigation was carried out in 2011, 28 years after the law was adopted. Changes in exposure to various types of physical punishment towards respondents born between 1931 and 1996 are presented. A representative sample from Western Finland, consisting of 4,609 respondents (2,632 females, 1,977 males) between 15 and 80 years, filled in a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. A number of psychosocial concomitants were measured. The results showed a significant drop in reports of being slapped and beaten with an object among respondents who were born after the law was adopted. The decline in physical punishment was associated with a similar decline in the number of murdered children. Respondents who had been exposed to higher amounts of physical punishment than average scored significantly higher on alcohol abuse, depression, mental health problems, and schizotypal personality. Divorced respondents had been significantly more physically punished than others. Respondents who had attempted suicide during the last 12 months had been exposed to physical punishment during childhood significantly more often than those who had not attempted suicide.

Twenty-eight years after the complete ban on the physical punishment of children in Finland: trends and psychosocial concomitants.

In 1983 Finland became the second country in the world, after Sweden, to adopt a law prohibiting all kinds of physical punishment towards children, also by parents. The present investigation was carried out in 2011, 28 years after the law was adopted. Changes in exposure to various types of physical punishment towards respondents born between 1931 and 1996 are presented. A representative sample from Western Finland, consisting of 4,609 respondents (2,632 females, 1,977 males) between 15 and 80 years, filled in a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. A number of psychosocial concomitants were measured. The results showed a significant drop in reports of being slapped and beaten with an object among respondents who were born after the law was adopted. The decline in physical punishment was associated with a similar decline in the number of murdered children. Respondents who had been exposed to higher amounts of physical punishment than average scored significantly higher on alcohol abuse, depression, mental health problems, and schizotypal personality. Divorced respondents had been significantly more physically punished than others. Respondents who had attempted suicide during the last 12 months had been exposed to physical punishment during childhood significantly more often than those who had not attempted suicide.