Examination of peer-group contextual effects on aggression during early adolescence

Peer group contextual effects of aggressive behavior among middle school students (6th-8th graders) were examined using a short-term longitudinal design. More specifically, the homophily hypothesis that peer group membership influences individual-level bullying and fighting was evaluated with multilevel sex-specific models of individual- and peer-level aggression scores. Peer groups were identified via social network analysis. Intraclass correlation coefficients yielded through hierarchical linear modeling demonstrated substantial within-group similarity on self-reported bullying and fighting, suggesting that students affiliate with individuals who bully and fight at the same frequency. Peer group bullying and fighting was associated with individual-level behavior, even after controlling individual baseline levels for males and females. However, peer contextual effects explained more variance in individual bullying than individual fighting. This differential impact of peer group membership suggests that future studies consider peer relations across subtypes of aggression.     

Self-reported harm of adolescent peer aggression in three world regions

While the poor psychosocial outcomes of young people who have experienced bullying are well known, the harm associated with experiences that do not meet the bullying criteria is not well understood. The aim of this study was to examine the level of harm associated with experiences of peer aggression, as well as bullying, by directly measuring the four elements of intent, perceived harm, repetition and power imbalance that comprise the bullying criteria. The purpose of the study was to establish whether bullying was the most harmful form of peer aggression and whether other types of peer aggression that did not comprise all elements of bullying were comparably harmful. Over 6000 students (aged 11–16) from 10 countries completed a student victimization and aggression questionnaire. Data showed that approximately 50% of participants were not intentionally harmed through peer aggression, although this varied across countries, ranging from 10% in India to 87.5% in Taiwan. In all countries, analyses identified a group that had experienced repeated peer aggression, but with no power imbalance, comparable in size to the bullied group, suggesting that bullying is just “the tip of the iceberg”. Victims of bullying self-reported the greatest experiences of harm, although victims of repeated aggression reported comparable harm. The findings show that peer aggression experiences that do not meet the bullying criteria are also rated as harmful by victims. More research is needed to fully understand negative peer interactions that include behaviors outside the scope of the bullying definition, particularly with regard to repeated peer aggression. This study suggests that researchers should consider the level of harm experienced by individuals and avoid terminology such as bullying, while policy makers should place a strong and explicit focus on encompassing a broader realm of harmful peer aggression.     

Resilience to bullying victimization: The role of individual,family and peer characteristics

Little research attention has been paid to bullied students who function better than expected and are therefore defined as “resilient”. The present longitudinal study aimed to identify individual, family and peer factors that predict fewer than expected levels of depression and delinquency following experiences of bullying victimization. The sample consisted 3,136 adolescents. Self-report data were used to measure bullying victimization at age 13 and 14 and depression and delinquency at age 14. We examined the effects of gender, self-esteem, social alienation, parental conflict, sibling victimization and number of close friends on levels of emotional and behavioral resilience following bullying victimization. The resilience measures were derived by regressing depression and delinquency scores at age 14 on levels of bullying victimization at age 13 and 14, respectively. The adolescents who reported low depression despite frequently experiencing bullying tended to be male, had higher self-esteem, were feeling less socially alienated, were experiencing low levels of conflict with parents and were not victimized by siblings. On the other hand, the adolescents who reported low delinquency despite frequently experiencing bullying tended to be female, had higher self-esteem, were experiencing low levels of conflict with parents, were not victimized by siblings and had less close friends. Relationships with parents and siblings continue to play some role in promoting emotional and behavioral adjustment among victims of bullying and, therefore, interventions are more likely to be successful if they target both the psychosocial skills of adolescents and their relationships with their family.     

PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS' AWARENESS AND EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS: ASSOCIATIONS WITH PROPOSED STRATEGIES FOR BEHAVIORAL MANAGEMENT IN THE CLASSROOM

This research examined whether prospective teachers’ emotion regulation styles, dispositional empathy, and conceptions of competent student emotion and behavior were predictive of their attitudes about bullying and proposed responses to peer conflict. Overall, participants perceived physical bullying as more serious than verbal and relational bullying. Prospective teachers also expressed higher levels of sympathy for victims and a greater likelihood of intervention in response to physical bullying. Regression analyses demonstrated that valuing emotional competence and the role of teachers in supporting its development were meaningfully associated with expressed support for victims and with proposed responses to the perpetrators of this type of classroom aggression. Interestingly, those respondents who reported higher levels of situationally specific sympathy for victims (and not dispositional empathy) also reported that they would be more likely than their counterparts to intervene on their behalf. The emotional reactivity component of dispositional empathy was, however, positively associated with regulated responses to peer conflict involving a difficult child. The emotion regulation variables, although associated with the outcome measures in correlational analyses, were not unique predictors of prospective teachers’ bullying attitudes.     

中小学欺负行为的特点及干预

欺负是中小学中常见的不良行为，可分为直接身体欺负和言语欺负。欺负的发生有特定的情境，年龄和性别因素都会导致欺负的发生。目前，学生与教师对欺负的应对方式，受欺负者与欺负者的个性特征和同伴关系值得关注。从学校、班级、个人三个层面进行干预，可以有效地预防校园欺负现象的发生。     

Bullying and social support: variation by school-type and emotional or behavioural disturbances

The present study analysed whether bullying/victimisation and related social support vary by emotional and behavioural disturbances (EBD) as well as school type. We examined 540 German adolescents with and without emotional disturbances (ED)/behavioural disturbances (BD) attending regular and special schools for students with EBD. Adolescents with BD and co-morbid co-occurring emotional and behavioural disturbances (ED + BD) reported elevated levels of bullying, while students with ED and co-morbid ED + BD reported elevated levels of victimisation. Enhanced levels of overt victimisation were also found in adolescents from special schools. Students from special schools perceived less peer support but more teacher support. Furthermore, adolescents with co-morbid ED + BD were least likely to tell teachers about being victimised. It is concluded that bullying interventions for adolescents with EBD and students from special schools need to be implemented and evaluated.     

Bullying and Victimisation among Taiwanese Students in Special Schools

This study examined the prevalence of bullying and victimisation among students in special schools in Taiwan. The sample included 140 students with various disabilities, aged 12–18, from 10 special schools throughout Taiwan. Trained interviewers conducted face-to-face surveys using structured questionnaires. Results show that 31.8% of students in special schools experienced peer victimisation within the past year, while 26.5% of students had bullied others during that period. While the findings did not yield gender differences, students in junior high grades tended to report more victimisation experiences than did their senior high counterparts. Severity of disability was positively associated with both bullying and being bullied; however, no difference was found regarding types of disability. Delinquency was positively associated with student bullying and victimisation. Students who suffered victimisation also reported a higher number of suicide attempts. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Victims of Bullying in Schools

This article provides an overview of current research on bullying (peer victimization, peer harassment) in school, with a focus on victims of such bullying. The 1st section provides a working definition of bullying and its many forms. The 2nd section describes some of the known consequences of being bullied for mental health, physical health, and academic achievement. The 3rd section turns to individual characteristics that might place children at risk for being bullied. The 4th section describes school-based interventions to reduce bullying and its negative effects. The final section considers implications of research on school bullying for teacher practice.     

School climate and exposure to bullying: a multilevel study

This study investigates associations between aspects of school climate, measured by students’ assessments aggregated to the class level, and exposure to bullying, measured at the individual level. The data were derived from the Stockholm School Survey of 2006–2010 with information from 16,418 ninth-grade students (aged 15–16 years) distributed over 871 classes and 259 schools. Three-level binary logistic regression was applied. Two of the studied school climate aspects in particular were linked with the occurrence of bullying: In classes where a high proportion of students claimed to be aware of the school rules and in classes where a high proportion of students stated that adults intervene against bullying, fewer students reported having been bullied. The findings imply that striving toward a school climate characterized by transparent rules and clear disapproval of harassments may help to reduce bullying.     

Children Who Help Victims of Bullying: Implications for Practice

Over the years, literature on the phenomenon of bullying has evolved from treating bullying as an individual behavior to understanding it as a group process. Other than those of the bully and the victim, researchers have identified several roles children assume in bullying situations, with some assuming a pro-social role, often called the defender, in bullying scenarios. Practice literature continues to concentrate its attention narrowly on the bully and the victim, rather than on defenders. Understanding the individual and social circumstances related to defending suggests new avenues for practitioners interested in promoting improved peer relations in schools.     

Pupil and staff perceptions of bullying in secondary schools: comparing behavioural definitions and their perceived seriousness

Effects of a peer-led intervention campaign against school bullying, carried out by eight peer counsellors, were studied in an upper-level comprehensive school in southern Finland. The study was conducted in the seventh and eighth grades, the total number of participating classes being 12 and the total number of participants 196 (89 girls and 107 boys). The core of the intervention campaign was a one-week period during which a series of events and activities were organized at the school and in each individual class. In all parts of the campaign, the peer counsellors emphasized each individual's responsibility, as well as their potential to affect whether or not bullying occurs in their school or class. The results showed that the campaign was especially effective among girls. This was most clearly shown by decreases in both self- and peer-reported bullying, as well as an increase in 'power attitudes', i.e. attitude items reflecting the students' self-perceived potential and willingness to influence bullying problems in their class. Among boys, on the other hand, there was a slight decrease in self-reported bullying, not confirmed by peer reports and, unfortunately, there was an increase in pro-bullying attitudes, such as 'bullying might be fun sometimes'. Evaluating the campaign, girls also perceived it as more beneficial and more effective than boys did. Most students who reported being bullied before the intervention were satisfied with the campaign and thought it was helpful.     

学校欺负与同伴背景的关系

欺负是发生于同伴群体中的现象,同伴构成了欺负发生的背景。传统的欺负与同伴间关系研究关注欺负／受欺负与个体的同伴地位的联系,近年来研究者开始从同伴群体的角度来揭示欺负与同伴间联系的机制,有关不良同伴联系对攻击与反社会行为影响的研究则从异常同伴联系的角度为这一机制做出了解释。对这三个方面的研究进行评介,并阐述了该领域今后研究的主要方向及对欺负干预的启示。     

A Review of Research on School Bullying Among African American Youth: An Ecological Systems Analysis

School bullying and peer victimization are social problems that affect African American youth across various environmental contexts. Regrettably, many of the empirical research on bullying and peer victimization among African American youth has examined individual and direct level influences in silos rather than a constellation of factors occurring in multiple settings, such as home, school, and neighborhood. As a holistic model, the social–ecological framework provides a context with which to situate and interpret findings and draw implications from a broader psychosocial framework, which can be applicable across various systems. We utilize Bronfenbrenner’s (American Psychologist 32:513–531, 1977) social–ecological framework as a springboard for investigating the accumulation of risk contributors and the presences of protective factors in relation to school bullying and peer victimization of African American youth. More specifically, we examine the risk and protective factors occurring in the micro- (i.e., parents, peers, school, and community), exo- (i.e., parental stress), and macrosystem levels (i.e., hypermasculinity, and gender role beliefs and stereotypes). We then discuss implications for research and school-based practice.     

Interactive effects of guilt and moral disengagement on bullying,defending and outsider behavior

We examined the moderating effect of guilt on the associations between moral disengagement and bullying, defending and outsider behaviors in a sample of 404 students (203 boys; M_age = 11.09 years; SD = 1.48). Bullying, defending and outsider behavior were assessed through peer nominations, whereas guilt and moral disengagement were assessed by self-reports. Results showed that moral disengagement was associated with high levels of bullying and low levels of defending. Guilt was negatively associated with bullying and positively with defending. A moderating effect for guilt was also found: increasing levels of moral disengagement contributed to more bullying and outsider behavior, and to less defending, among students with low levels of guilt. The current research broadens the extant literature, showing the combined effects of guilt and moral disengagement on bullying-related behaviors.     

School bullying in Korea and christian educational approach

The central purpose of this study is to examine approaches for dealing with the problem of bullying (wangtta in Korean) in schools from the Christian educational perspective. There has been much development in both research and practice in the 1990s and 2000s relating to bullying in Korean schools. Most Korean research on bullying, however, has almost exclusively focussed on verification of the facts that bullying or peer rejection is a widespread phenomenon in schools. This study, however, is mainly concerned with how to tackle effectively the bullying problem on the basis of Christian educational philosophy. To do this, this paper suggests a four stage approach to dealing with bullying: namely, clarifying the Christian school ethos, leading to determine the school’s bullying policy. With the bullying policy, school anti-bullying programs could be developed in order to create a bullyingfree school environment.     

The relationship between school belonging,sibling aggression and bullying involvement: implications for students with and without disabilities

Bullying is grounded in the interactions between an individual and complex social–ecological systems. Therefore, bullying involvement is not just confined to the classroom or school. Recent research suggests that sibling aggression may be a predictor for peer-level aggression. These findings may be more relevant for students with disabilities because studies suggest that students with disabilities are disproportionately involved in the bullying dynamic. Therefore, this study explored the intersection between sibling aggression and school belonging on bullying, victimisation and fighting for 14,508 students, including 1183 students with disabilities and 13,325 students without disabilities in grades 6 through 12. As hypothesised, students with disabilities reported higher levels of victimisation, bullying and fighting. Additionally, high levels of school belonging partially buffered fighting and bullying behaviours for students with and without disabilities. These findings demonstrate the importance of establishing an inclusive and safe environment for school-aged youth.     

Coping with bullying and victimisation among preadolescents: the moderating effects of self-efficacy

Bullying and victimisation may result from ineffective coping with interpersonal stressors. However, little is known about the preadolescents who are most susceptible to dysfunctional coping styles. Self-efficacy beliefs may be one source of individual differences in coping among those involved in bullying and victimisation. The purpose of the present research was to examine whether links between bullying/victimisation and coping were moderated by self-efficacy beliefs. Participants were 262 Greek preadolescents who completed self-report assessments of bullying/victimisation, coping, and self-efficacy. Results indicated that self-efficacy moderated the association between bullying/victimisation and coping, in that greater use of ineffective coping (i.e., resignation, passive avoidance) predicted bullying and victimisation among preadolescents with moderate and low levels of social and emotional self-efficacy, whereas greater use of adaptive coping (i.e., positive self-instructions, social support) was reported by those with higher self-efficacy beliefs. Practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Bully/victim problems among Greek pupils with special educational needs: associations with loneliness and self‐efficacy for peer interactions

This study explores the prevalence of different types of bullying and victimisation among Greek pupils receiving special education support provision. Associations of these types with feelings of loneliness and perceived social efficacy for peer interactions are also examined. The sample consisted of 178 students of fifth and sixth primary school grades who participated in pull‐out special education delivery programmes. Participants were found to be actively involved in both bullying and victimisation, with higher rates in victimisation. Statistically significant gender and disability differences in bullying and loneliness were identified. Both bullying and victimisation were associated with loneliness/social dissatisfaction, and self‐efficacy for peer interactions. Moreover, our data provided evidence that bully/victims may be a distinct group in terms of their increased levels of loneliness. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for promoting children with special educational needs and disabilities social inclusion.