Simona Carla Silvia Caravita

Early Adolescents’ Participation in Bullying: Is ToM Involved?

The present study investigated the role of theory of mind (ToM) skills in three forms of involvement in bullying: ringleader bullying, defending the victim(s), and victimization. Individual (affective empathy) and interpersonal variables (social preference and perceived popularity) were assumed to moderate the associations between ToM and the ways of being involved in bullying. Moderation effects by gender were also explored. Participants were 211 primary school pupils (average age = 10 years and 2 months, SD = 6 months), who took part in a ToM interview and filled in self- and peer-report questionnaires on empathy, social status, and involvement in bullying. ToM skills were positively linked to defending, and among boys this association was further strengthened by social preference. Practical implications include the need to focus on both peer relationships (i.e., status) and emotional characteristics (i.e., empathy) when trying to motivate youth with good cognitive skills to actively defend their victimized classmates.

Main and Moderated Effects of Moral Cognition and Status on Bullying and Defending

This study analyzed the relations of two dimensions of moral cognition (i.e., acceptance of moral transgression and moral disengagement) and two forms of status in the peer group (i.e., social preference and perceived popularity) with bullying and defending among 235 primary-school children and 305 middle-school early adolescents. Social status was tested as a moderator of the associations between moral cognition and bullying and defending. Participants completed self-reports assessing the two dimensions of moral cognition and peer nominations for status, bullying, and defending. Both acceptance of moral transgression and moral disengagement were associated to bullying among early adolescents only, whereas in childhood moral disengagement was linked to defending among girls. Social status moderated the associations between morality dimensions and bullying and defending. The moderating effects of status were discussed considering status as a magnifying lens for the relations between individual characteristics and social behavior. The results were also discussed with reference to age and gender differences in the associations.

Bullying in preschool: The associations between participant roles, social competence, and social preference

The different roles of bullying participation (bully, follower, victim, defender of the victim, and outsider) have not been investigated in preschool children. The aims of this study were to use a peer-report measure to assess these roles and to investigate their associations with social competence among pre-schoolers. We also explored whether status among peers, indicated by being socially preferred, mediates the relationship between social competence and bullying roles. Three hundred twenty 3- to 6-year-old children participated in the study. Bullying roles and social preference were assessed by means of peer reports, whereas social competence was investigated with a Q-Sort methodology, based on observations in classrooms. Bullying was also assessed by means of teacher reports. The results showed quite a clear distinction among roles and a correspondence between peer and teacher assessments, except for the role of outsider. The role of defender was positively associated with social competence, whereas the other roles were negatively associated. In a subsample, social preference statistically predicted the role of bully and mediated between social competence and bullying. The findings are discussed in terms of the importance of assessing bullying and its correlates at a very young age, although roles may further develop when children grow up.

Why do early adolescents bully? Exploring the influence of prestige norms on social and psychological motives to bully

The present study examines psychological (e.g., Machiavellianism) and social (i.e., perceived popularity) motives for bullying, exploring the effects that classroom prestige norms for physical and relational aggression may have on these associations. A longitudinal multilevel study design was adopted, which included 978 5th to 7th graders from four Chilean schools. Participants were assessed three times over one year on self reports on bullying and Machiavellianism, and peer reports on popularity. Classroom prestige norms were calculated as the within classroom association between peer perceived coolness and aggression. Both Machiavellianism and perceived popularity were associated with bullying. However, hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that Machiavellianism, but not perceived popularity, predicted bullying after controlling for baseline scores. Classroom prestige norms for relational aggression increased the association between Machiavellianism and bullying. Separate models were tested for boys and girls, showing no differences. Results are discussed in light of conceptual and methodological considerations.

THE EFFECTS OF EXPRESSIVE WRITING ON POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION AND POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS SYMPTOMS

This study investigated whether an Expressive Writing intervention decreased depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms after childbirth. 113 women (M age = 31.26 yr., SD = 4.42) were assessed at Time 1 for depression (Beck Depression Inventory) and PTS (Perinatal PTSD Questionnaire) in the first days after childbirth, then randomized to either expressive writing or neutral writing conditions and reassessed at Time 2, 3 months later. The results (ANCOVAs, regression models) show that at 3 mo. depressive and posttraumatic symptoms were lower in women who performed the expressive writing task than in the neutral writing group. Moreover, the intervention condition was associated significantly with decreased depression at the high and at the mean levels of baseline depression at Time 1. Regarding PTSD, the results showed that the intervention condition was linked significantly to reductions of the symptoms at all levels of baseline PTSD. Mainly, these outcomes suggest that Expressive Writing can be a helpful early and low-cost universal intervention to prevent postpartum distress for women.

The architecture of high status among Finnish youth

We tested the construct validity of a two-dimensional model of high status, consisting of social acceptance and perceived popularity (hereafter, acceptance and popularity) among Finnish children and adolescents. In addition, we investigated the correlates of the two forms of high status, as well as their relations to resource control. Participants were 563 boys and girls in grades four and eight, that is, aged 10-11 and 14-15. CFA and SEM models supported the hypothesis of acceptance and popularity representing distinct, yet associated constructs that have partly different correlates. Acceptance and popularity were most closely connected among grade four students, particularly among boys. Prosocial behaviour was associated with acceptance, whereas peer-valued characteristics (physical attractiveness, athletic ability) and aggression were related especially to popularity. Popularity, but not acceptance, was positively related to resource control.

The Parenting Alliance Measure: the first contribute to the validation of the measure in Italian mothers and fathers.

Aim of this study is to validate the Italian version of the Parenting Alliance Measure (PAM). Participants were 350 mothers and 350 fathers of children (49.3% girls) aged 1-15 years. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed to individuate the dimensionality of Italian PAM. The scale’s internal consistency and invariance over mothers and fathers were examined. The scale’s concurrent validity was explored by investigating the associations of PAM dimensions with parenting stress and children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. In a subsample of 175 couples of parents we also explored the associations among PAM dimensions with marital adjustment. A 2-factor structure model was the most effective PAM structure for both mothers and fathers. This solution obtained the partial scalar invariance over mothers and fathers and internal validity of the scale was confirmed. The dimension Communication and Team Work was the most associated with all the other variables in the expected directions, for both parents.

Vittimizzazione in situazioni di bullismo e colpevolizzazione della vittima in rapporto a dimensioni di contesto: uno studio in due città

Lo studio ha indagato la vittimizzazione in situazioni di bullismo in rapporto a fattori di contesto diversi, considerando la vittimizzazione oggettivamente subita e la colpevolizzazione della vittima da parte dei compagni, come forma piu sottile di vittimizzazione. Queste due dimensioni sono state esplorate in rapporto a variabili di contesto oggettive, l’area geografica (Nuoro vs. Milano), e connesse alle relazioni tra compagni e alla moralita del gruppo dei pari. Lo studio ha interessato 379 alunni di scuola primaria e secondaria di primo grado. La vittimizzazione oggettivamente subita e risultata associata allo status dello studente tra i compagni, con differenze nelle due aree geografiche, mentre la colpevolizzazione della vittima a livello di gruppo era connessa all’area geografica, al senso di comunita riferito alla scuola e al rifiuto della scuola.

Bullying behavior, youth's disease and intervention: which suggestions from the data for research on bullying in the Brazilian context?

Since the influential work by Dan Olweus,1 bullying has emerged as a major problem of the society all over world and across societies. The international literature reports rates of children and adolescents involved in bullying in different countries ranging from 7% to 43% for victims and from 5% to 44% for bullies.2 Moreover, the studies agree in highlighting how bullying constitutes a factor of risk for the health as well as the social and psychological adjustment of both the bullied and the bullying youth. Children and adolescents who suffer victimization by peers can be affected by several health problems, including physical and psychological disease symptoms, both concurrently and prospectively.3,4 Likewise, there is evidence that bullies can also suffer from depression and other diseases,4 and that they are at risk of externalizing behavior and involvement in criminal activities in late adolescence and adulthood.5

Violent Video Games and Children’s Aggressive Behaviors: An Italian Study

The literature provides some evidence that the use of violent video games increases the risk for young people to develop aggressive cognitions and even behaviors. We aimed to verify whether exposure to violent video games is linked to problems of aggression in a sample of Italian children. Four questionnaires were administered to 346 children between 7 and 14 years of age, attending primary and secondary schools in Northern Italy. Variables measured were externalization, quality of interpersonal relationships, aggression, quality of coping strategies, and parental stress. Participants who preferred violent games showed higher scores for externalization and aggression. The use of violent video games and age were linked to higher levels of aggression, coping strategies, and the habitual video game weekly consumption of participants. Our data confirm the role of violent video games as risk factors for problems of aggressive behavior and of externalization in childhood and early adolescence.