Kristina Sesar

The relationship between difficulties in psychological adjustment in young adulthood and exposure to bullying behaviour in childhood and adolescence

OBJECTIVE This study investigates the relationship between involvement in bullying in childhood and adolescence and psychological difficulties in young adulthood. MATERIALS AND METHOD A total of 249 college students completed the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire and Trauma Symptom Checklist. RESULTS The results showed significant differences in psychological adjustment among respondents who were exposed to bullying compared to respondents who were not exposed to bullying. Those exposed to bullying had significantly higher levels of anxiety, depression, sleeping problems, and dissociative and traumatic symptoms compared to those who were not exposed to bullying. Respondents who were exposed to bullying in all three examined periods (the period from the first to fourth grade, the period from the fifth to eighth grade and the high school period) had higher scores on the subscale of dissociative symptoms and sexual trauma symptoms compared to respondents who were exposed through one or two periods. Victims abused in all three periods have more symptoms of anxiety and sleeping problems compared to the subjects exposed to bullying during one examination period. There were no differences in the level of depressive symptoms and sexual problems regarding the duration of bullying. Also, there were no differences in psychological adjustment between respondents who were bullied during one specific period. CONCLUSION Bullying experiences in childhood and adolescence are connected with difficulties in psychological adjustment in young adulthood.

The effects of maltreatment in childhood on working memory capacity in adulthood

The aim of this study was to research the relation between exposure to maltreatment in childhood and working memory capacity in adulthood. A survey among 376 females in the age between 16 and 67 was administered. Exposure to maltreatment in childhood (sexual, physical and psychological abuse, neglect and witnessing family violence) was assessed retrospectively using the Child Maltreatment Questionnaire (Karlović, Buljan-Flander, & Vranić, 2001), whilst the Working Memory Questionnaire (Vallat-Azouvi, Pradat-Diehl, & Azouvi, 2012) was used to assess working memory capacity (recalling verbal information, numerical information, attention ability and executive functioning). The results suggest a significantly greater prevalence of physical abuse and witnessing family violence in comparison to other forms of maltreatment in childhood. Psychological abuse and witnessing family violence have shown themselves to be statistically significant predictors for deficits in total working memory capacity, verbal recall and attention ability. The results suggest that traumatic experiences during childhood, such as abuse, may trigger particular cognitive changes which may be reflected in adulthood. It is, therefore, exceedingly important to conduct further research in order to contribute to the understanding of the correlation between cognitive difficulties and maltreatment in childhood.