Lyndsay N. Jenkins

Associations Among Middle School Students’ Bullying Roles and Social Skills

This study explored the relations among self-reported bully participant role behaviors (i.e., bullying, assisting, experiencing victimization, defending, and outsider behavior) and self-reported social skills (i.e., cooperation, assertion, empathy, and self-control) among boys and girls. The sample consisted of 636 middle school students (52% boys, 84% White). Results indicated several significant relations between bullying participant behaviors and social skills with some gender differences in those relations as well. Most notably, defenders have higher levels of multiple social skills. Future research should seek out additional information regarding inter- and intra-personal characteristics in order to be able to better understand bullying participant role behaviors.

Social Support and Self-Concept in Relation to Peer Victimization and Peer Aggression

Peer victimization is an enduring problem in schools (Wang, Iannotti, & Nansel, 2009). The current study focused on relations among two ecological variables that may be related to involvement in peer victimization: self-concept and social support. The main goal of this study was to investigate relations among social support, self-concept, and involvement in peer victimization (both as a victim and aggressor). The sample included 251 students in Grades 3–5. There was a significant negative relation between social support and peer victimization (β = –.22, p < .05) as well as a significant, negative relation between self-concept and peer victimization (β = –.24, p < .05). For peer aggression, there was a significant negative relation between social support and peer aggression (β = –.49, p < .001) as well as a significant, positive relation between self-concept and peer aggression (β = .23, p < .05).

Bullying Participant Behaviors Questionnaire (BPBQ): Establishing a Reliable and Valid Measure

The current study further establishes the reliability and validity of the Bullying Participant Behaviors Questionnaire (BPBQ), a self-report survey that allows for an examination of participation in various bullying participant role behaviors including bully, assistant to the bully, victim, defender of the victim, and outsider. The study included 801 sixth- through eighth-grade students. The results of the study confirmed a five-factor structure (Bully, Assistant, Victim, Defender, and Outsider). Internal consistency of the subscales was high and item-subscale correlations were all significant and moderate to high. Correlations among the BPBQ subscales and with additional measures, including the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition, Self-Report of Personality (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004), the Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliott, 1990), and an unpublished victim measure (Demaray & Malecki, 2003), provided evidence of concordant, convergent, and divergent validity. Gender and grade level differences were also investigated among the bullying participant behaviors.

A Preliminary Investigation of Kindergarten Teachers' Use of Praise in General Education Classrooms.

It is well established that teacher praise has a positive effect on student disruptive behavior. However, there is little research suggesting how often Kindergarten teachers praise students in the classroom. This study aimed to collect praise frequency data across four general education Kindergarten classrooms. The type of praise teachers used and how teachers delivered praise were specifically analyzed. Results indicated that Kindergarten teachers praised students frequently and the rate of total praise was similar across teachers. Kindergarten teachers also used more general praise and fewer behavior-specific praises. However, Kindergarten rates of behavior-specific praise were higher in this study compared with other research. Continued research on general education teachers’ rate of praise may be useful to schoolwide behavior intervention planning and teacher consultation.

Bullying participant roles and gender as predictors of bystander intervention

Although the importance of peer bystanders in bullying has been recognized, there are few studies that examine the phenomenon in relation to Latané and Darleys (1970) classic Bystander Intervention Model, which states that there are five stages of bystander intervention: (i) notice the event; (ii) interpret the event as an emergency that requires assistance; (iii) accept responsibility for intervening; (iv) know how to intervene or provide help; and (v) implement intervention decisions. This study examined preliminary evidence of reliability and validity of the Bystander Intervention Model in Bullying (Nickerson, Aloe, Livingston, & Feeley, 2014), and the extent to which bullying role behavior (bullying, assisting, victimization, defending, and outsider behavior) and gender predicted each step of the model with a sample of 299 middle school students. Results of a Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported a five-factor structure of the measure corresponding to the steps of the model. There was evidence of convergent validity and Cronbach alpha for each subscale exceeded .75. In addition, students who reported defending their peers were more likely to also engage in all five steps of the bystander intervention model, while victims were more likely to notice events, and outsiders were less likely to intervene. Gender differences and gender interactions were also found. Aggr. Behav. 43:281-290, 2017.

General Education Teachers’ Natural Rates of Praise: A Preliminary Investigation:

Many studies have demonstrated that when teachers are trained to increase their use of praise, student misbehavior improves; however, few studies have examined teachers’ natural use of praise and no study has examined the relation between teachers’ natural use of praise and classroom behavior. The purpose of the current study was to examine general education teachers’ natural use of praise in elementary classrooms. One hundred forty direct behavioral observation hours were used to collect praise rates and student behavior across 28 general education classrooms (kindergarten to fifth grade). Across all grade levels, results suggest that teachers’ use of praise was low (grade-level mean rates ranging from 0.38 per minute in the fourth grade to 0.75 per minute in kindergarten) and teachers used general praise more frequently than behavior-specific praise (BSP). A significant, negative relation was found between off-task behavior and BSP (r = −.37, p = .05), indicating that teachers who used more BSP tended to have less off-task behavior in their classrooms. Implications for training teachers to increase their use of BSP as a universal strategy are discussed.

Social Capital and Bystander Behavior in Bullying: Internalizing Problems as a Barrier to Prosocial Intervention

Theory and research suggests that individuals with greater social capital (i.e., resources and benefits gained from relationships, experiences, and social interactions) may be more likely to be active, prosocial bystanders in bullying situations. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to examine the association of social capital (social support and social skills) with prosocial bystander behavior, and the role of internalizing problems as a potential barrier to this relation among 299 students (45.8% girls, 95% White) in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Results indicate a positive relation between social capital and prosocial bystander behavior. In addition, internalizing problems were a significant risk factor that may hinder youth—particularly girls—from engaging in defending behavior. Prosocial bystanders are an essential component to prevent and reduce bullying and further research is needed to better understand how to foster prosocial behavior in bullying situations, perhaps by utilizing social capital, related to school bullying.

Bystander Intervention in Bullying: Role of Social Skills and Gender:

The Bystander Intervention Model proposed by social psychologists Latané and Darley has been used to examine the actions of peer bystanders in bullying. The five-stage model consists of notice the event, interpret event as an emergency, accept responsibility for intervening, know how to intervene, and implement intervention decisions. The current study examined associations among gender, social skills, and the bystander intervention model among 299 sixth- to eighth-grade students. Analyses revealed that girls reported significantly greater cooperation and empathy, and noticed bullying events, interpreted them as an emergency, and intervened more often than boys. The best fitting structural equation model included both empathy and cooperation, with significant positive path coefficients between empathy and bystander intervention. Students with greater empathy were more likely to engage with each step of the model, except noticing the event. Assertiveness was positively associated and cooperation was negatively associated with greater knowledge of how to intervene.

Peer victimization and social‐emotional outcomes: The role of teacher and peer support

The relation between peer victimization, risk of social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties, and school-based sources of social support for students in elementary and middle school were examined. Participants included 656 students in third to eighth grade from one school district. Results indicated that peer support mediated the relation between peer victimization and risk of social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties, but teacher support did not mediate this relation. Conditional indirect effects analyses revealed that the indirect effect of peer support varied as a function of school level (i.e., intermediate and middle school). The implications and limitations of the current study are discussed, as well as directions for future research.

Cyber Victimization in High School: Measurement, Overlap with Face-to-Face Victimization, and Associations with Social-Emotional Outcomes.

Abstract Cyber victimization is a contemporary problem facing youth and adolescents (Diamanduros, Downs, & Jenkins, 2008; Kowalski & Limber, 2007). It is imperative for researchers and school personnel to understand the associations between cyber victimization and student social–emotional outcomes. This article explores (a) gender differences in rates of cyber victimization, (b) overlap between traditional and cyber victimization, (c) differences in social–emotional outcomes across victimization classes, and (d) associations among cyber victimization and social–emotional risk, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems while controlling for traditional victimization among 1,152 high school students. Boys reported significantly higher rates of cyber victimization than did girls. Ten percent of students reported experiencing low levels of both cyber and traditional victimization (low dual), 3% of students reported experiencing moderate levels of both cyber and traditional victimization (moderate dual), and 1% of students reported high levels of both types of victimization (high dual). Three percent of students reported experiencing traditional victimization but not cyber victimization (traditional). There were significant differences in social and emotional problems among youth involved in victimization in various groups (i.e., uninvolved, traditional, low dual, moderate dual, and high dual). Lastly, cyber victimization significantly predicted variance in social–emotional risk and internalizing problems above and beyond that predicted by traditional victimization.