Simon C. Hunter

Help seeking amongst child and adolescent victims of peer-aggression and bullying: The influence of school-stage, gender, victimisation, appraisal, and emotion

BACKGROUND An important element of many anti-bullying programmes is encouraging victims to tell someone about their predicament. Research has already reported prevalence of telling, who/when children tell and efficacy of telling. However, seeking help can be viewed as a coping behaviour, and coping processes such as appraisal and emotion may be important predictors of whether pupils ask for help. AIMS To examine the effects that background variables (gender, school-stage), victimisation (duration, frequency), appraisal (threat, challenge, control) and negative emotion have upon support seeking by child and adolescent victims of peer-aggression and bullying. To also examine how effective pupils perceive social support to be. SAMPLE Participants were 830 children (49% male) aged 9-14 years. Three hundred and seventeen pupils were in Primary 6, 307 in Secondary 2 and 206 in Secondary 3. METHOD A self-report bullying questionnaire was completed by the participants within their classes. Questionnaires included items relating to victimisation, appraisal, emotion, and coping strategy choice as well as demographic data. RESULTS Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that gender, challenge appraisals, and emotions were significant predictors of the degree to which child and adolescent victims of peer-aggression and bullying sought help (accounting for 15.8% of the variance): girls were more likely than boys to seek help, as were pupils with high challenge appraisals or those experiencing high levels of negative emotion. Also, girls were more likely than boys to view support as the best strategy for both stopping bullying and for helping them to feel better. CONCLUSION Results suggest that pupils are more willing to seek help when they see the situation as one in which something can be achieved. Pupils also may be seeking support to get help coping with negative emotions, and this may need to be emphasized to teachers.

Lonely in the crowd: Recollections of bullying

This study examined the long-term correlates of victimization in school with aspects of functioning in adult life, using a specially designed Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire, which also included questions about short-term effects (e. g. suicidal ideation and intrusive memories) and victimization experiences in adulthood. Current relationship quality was assessed in terms of self-perception, attachment style and friendship quality. In total, 884 adults (35% male) from two occupations (teacher, student) and three countries (Spain, Germany, UK) participated. Victims and especially stable victims (in both primary and secondary school) scored lower on general self-esteem and higher on emotional loneliness, and reported more difficulties in maintaining friendships, than non-victims. Victims in secondary school had a lower self-esteem in relation to the opposite sex and were more often fearfully attached. The data revealed additional differences by gender, occupation and country level, but no further interactions with victim status. This indicates a general association between victimization in school and quality of later life predominately robust to variations in gender, occupation and country. Possible limitations caused by the retrospective nature of victimization reports are acknowledged.

Perceptions and correlates of peer-victimization and bullying.

BACKGROUND The experiences of peer-victimization and bullying are often treated empirically as though they are conceptually indistinct. Both involve repeated aggression, but definitions of bullying additionally emphasize the importance of aggressor intent and imbalance of power between the aggressor and the victim (Olweus, 1978; Whitney & Smith, 1993). AIMS The present study aimed to examine the extent to which peer-victimization and bullying are empirically similar. SAMPLE The sample comprised 1,429 pupils (50.2% male) aged between 8 and 13 years attending mainstream Scottish schools. METHODS Self-report questionnaire assessing peer-victimization and bullying, coping strategy use (WCCL: Hunter, 2000), situational appraisal and depressive symptomatology (Birleson, 1981). RESULTS Almost one-third (30.7%) of pupils reported experiencing peer-victimization, and of these 38.1% (11.7% of whole sample) were categorized as victims of bullying. Victims of bullying perceived higher levels of threat and lower levels of perceived control. They also reported using more Wishful Thinking and Social Support coping strategies, but did not differ on Problem Focused coping. Bullied pupils also reported higher levels of depressive symptomatology. CONCLUSIONS Peer-victimization and bullying appear to be qualitatively different experiences for children and adolescents, with bullying being the more serious phenomenon.

Perceptions of control in the victims of school bullying: the importance of early intervention

Improvements in anti-bullying strategies are likely to depend upon a greater understanding of the psychological processes at work. Transactional theories of coping may be appropriate models to use when examining how the victims of bullying cope with victimization. Research has started to examine the coping strategy aspects of such theories but has neglected the process of appraisal. The current paper aims to address this by examining the perceptions of control in the victims of bullying, and how these are influenced by such variables as gender and the severity, persistence and type of bullying experienced. A self-report questionnaire examining coping responses and perceptions of control regarding the bullying situation was administered to 348 children aged nine to 11 years. Data from the victims of bullying (N = 184) revealed that girls felt less in control of frequent bullying than infrequent bullying, a trend not evident in boys (p < 0.05). In addition, a significantly higher proportion of the male victims of bullying felt more in control than female victims (p < 0.01). Finally, victims of short-term bullying were significantly more likely to feel in control than were victims of longer-term bullying (p < 0.05). The complex relationship between gender, perceptions of control, and the persistence and frequency of bullying has implications for early intervention and for professionals working with the victims of bullying.

The Long-Term Effects of Coping Strategy Use in Victims of Bullying.

The ways in which children appraise and cope with school bullying are likely to influence the long-term outcomes experienced. To examine this possibility, 219 Spanish undergraduate students (73 male, 146 female) aged between 18 and 40, completed an adapted version of the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire (RBQ; Schäfer et al., 2004) and a distress scale (Rivers, 1999). Results indicated that neither coping strategies reported by victims of bullying nor the match between control appraisal and coping strategy influenced levels of distress experienced as adults. Control, threat and challenge appraisals did, however, influence long-term distress. Explanations for these effects are discussed, and include the possibility that appraisals may directly influence levels of distress and the quality of emotions experienced by victims during the actual bullying episode. Active strategies were perceived by students to be effective in dealing with bullying, whereas those centered on avoiding the conflict, or which involved aggression, were considered ineffective.

The influence of emotional reaction on help seeking by victims of school bullying

Research has begun to focus on how victims of school bullying cope, but there is still little understanding of why pupils will cope in one particular way and not another. This paper aimed to examine the effects of gender, stage of schooling, frequency of victimisation, and different emotions (anger, vengeance, self‐pity, indifference, and helplessness) upon the social support that children report using. Questionnaires were completed by 6,282 Maltese schoolchildren between 9 and 14 years of age. Analyses revealed that specific patterns of emotion and victimisation predict pupil reports of using certain sources of social support. Results are discussed in relation to possible intervention, future research needs, and implications for the theoretical framework used.

Psychosocial mediators and moderators of the effect of peer-victimization upon depressive symptomatology

BACKGROUND   Intervention strategies and developmental models of stress have been criticized for failing to integrate social psychological variables. This study investigates both self-referential cognitive mediators (perceived threat and control) and a social psychological moderator (ethnic/religious identity) of the effect of peer-victimization upon depressive symptomatology. METHODS   Self-report questionnaires were completed by 924 students (46% female), aged 8 to 12 years. Experiences of discriminatory and non-discriminatory peer-victimization, threat and control appraisals, depressive symptoms, and strength of main identity were assessed. RESULTS   Perceived threat partially mediated the effect of peer-victimization (regardless of whether it was discriminatory or not) on depressive symptoms. Perceived control partially mediated the effect of non-discriminatory peer-victimization on depressive symptoms. Strength of ethnic/religious identity buffered the effect of peer-victimization on depressive symptoms. Victimization perceived to be discriminatory in nature was more strongly associated with depressive symptoms than non-discriminatory victimization. CONCLUSIONS   Findings support calls for a greater emphasis to be placed on social psychological variables in explaining depressive symptomatology. For clinical, counseling and intervention purposes, it is important to examine whether victims perceive peer-victimization as discriminatory and whether their own strength of identity affects symptomatology.

Confusion and inconsistency in diagnosis of Asperger syndrome: A review of studies from 1981 to 2010

This paper presents a review of past and current research on the diagnosis of Asperger syndrome (AS) in children. It is suggested that the widely used criteria for diagnosing AS in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-IV are insufficient and invalid for a reliable diagnosis of AS. In addition, when these diagnostic criteria are applied, there is the potential bias of receiving a diagnosis towards the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum. Through a critical review of 69 research studies carried out between 1981 and 2010, this paper shows that six possible criteria for diagnosing AS (specifically, the age at which signs and symptoms related to autism become apparent, language and social communication abilities, intellectual abilities, motor or movement skills, repetitive patterns of behaviour and the nature of social interaction) overlap with the criteria for diagnosing autism. However, there is a possibility that some finer differences exist in the nature of social interaction, motor skills and speech patterns between groups with a diagnosis of AS and autism. These findings are proposed to be of relevance for designing intervention studies aimed at the treatment of specific symptoms in people with an autism spectrum disorder.

The relative influence of neighbourhood incivilities, cognitive social capital, club membership and individual characteristics on positive mental health

Previous research indicates that residents׳ perceptions of their neighbourhoods can have an adverse influence on their health and wellbeing over and above the influence of structural disadvantage. Contrary to most prior research, this study employed an indicator of positive wellbeing and assessed the impact of individual characteristics, perceived social and environmental incivilities, indicators of cognitive and structural social capital, and perceived safety. Analyses of data from a large regional UK representative study (n=8237; 69.64% response rate) found the most influential determinants of wellbeing were physical health problems, age, SES and cognitive social capital. Smaller, significant effects were also found for environmental and social incivilities, and for perceived safety. The effect of cognitive social capital was moderated by age, with a stronger effect found among those aged 65 years and over than among younger participants. Findings indicate that the promotion of positive mental health within communities may be facilitated by efforts to foster a greater sense of belonging among residents, and that older adults may benefit most from such efforts.

Perceived Discrimination, Identification, Social Capital, and Well-Being: Relationships With Physical Health and Psychological Distress in a U.K. Minority Ethnic Community Sample

This study examined racism, ethnic and majority identification, cognitive aspects of social capital (i.e., a sense of trust), and perceived stress and evaluated the relationships between these variables and two indices of adjustment (physical health, psychological well-being) in three minority ethnic community samples in Scotland, United Kingdom. Pakistani (n = 211, 101 female), Indian (n = 155, 81 female), and African and Caribbean (n = 244, 119 female) individuals participated in semistructured interviews. Racism was associated with higher levels of perceived stress, lower levels of social capital, higher levels of minority identity, and lower levels of majority identity. Racism was also associated with psychological well-being (though in different ways for different groups) and with poorer physical health. Minority identification was positively associated with psychological well-being and negatively with perceived stress, while majority identification was positively associated with social capital and negatively with physical health. Implications of these findings are discussed with reference to the literature.