Appraisal and coping strategy use in victims of school bullying

Background: Transactional models of coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) can contribute to our understanding of why some children cope effectively with bullying while others suffer negative outcomes. However, previous research has relied on coping measures that are not comparable with adult measures, restricting investigation of developmental trends. Additionally, previous research has not included appraisals when measuring coping using an established coping measure. Aims: To examine the factor structure of a coping measure that is directly comparable with the adult literature; to examine the content of pupils' threat and challenge appraisals concerning bullying; and to examine the relationships between appraisals and coping strategy use within the victims of school bullying. Sample: Participants were 459 children aged 9 — 14 years. Method: A self‐report bullying questionnaire, incorporating Halstead et al.'s (1993) adolescent version of the Ways of Coping Checklist, was completed by participants. Also included were control, threat and challenge appraisal items. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that Halstead et al.'s four‐factor model of coping is valid for a population of school bullying victims. Content validity of items used to measure threat and challenge appraisal was demonstrated. Ambiguity of challenge appraisal influenced the use of Wishful Thinking, Seeks Social Support and Problem Focused coping. Wishful Thinking was also influenced by control appraisal. Avoidance coping was not influenced by the appraisals measured. Conclusion: Halstead et al.'s Revised Ways of Coping Checklist can be used to measure coping amongst child and adolescent victims of bullying. Furthermore, including appraisal variables improves our understanding of individual differences between victims' coping strategy choices.     

Individual and class moral disengagement in bullying among elementary school children

A cross‐sectional study from a sample of 663 elementary school children assessed the four sets of moral disengagement mechanisms conceptualized by Bandura (i.e., cognitive restructuring, minimizing one's agentive role, disregarding/distorting the consequences, blaming/dehumanizing the victim) at both the individual and the class level. Additionally, an analysis of the relations of these mechanisms to pro‐bullying behavior was conducted. Multilevel analysis showed a significant relationship between cognitive restructuring and individual pro‐bullying behavior. Moreover, between‐class variability of pro‐bullying behavior was positively related to minimizing one's agentive role and blaming/dehumanizing the victim at the class level. Conversely, class disregarding/distorting the consequences was negatively associated with between‐class variation in the outcome behavior. Implications for understanding the role of morality in children's bullying are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 38:378‐388, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

School peer counselling for bullying services as a source of social support: a study with secondary school pupils

Individual interviews to solicit secondary school pupils' (N=99) views of the peer counselling for bullying service in their own school, with a focus on the issue of social support for bullying-related problems, were conducted. Three themes were addressed: (1) willingness to use the service relative to other potential sources of support, (2) preferred gender and age of peer counsellor, and (3) disclosure of using the service to friends. Most participants reported a willingness to use the service, but only around one in 20 would 'definitely not' do so. Relative to their willingness to use the service, participants were more willing to solicit help from friends, but less willing to solicit help from their form teacher and siblings. Around a third of participants expressed a preference for seeing a counsellor of a particular gender, and around two thirds expressed a preference for seeing one of a specific relative age. Several significant differences were obtained between girls and boys, and between users and non-users of the service. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for providers of peer counselling for bullying services.     

Peer and teacher bullying/victimization of South Australian secondary school students: Prevalence and psychosocial profiles

This study examined the nature and prevalence of bullying/victimization by peers and teachers reported by 1,284 students (mean age = 15.2 years) drawn from a representative sample of 25 South Australian government and private schools. Students completed a self‐report survey containing questions relating to teacher and peer‐related bullying, measures of psychosocial adjustment, and personality. The results showed that students could be clearly differentiated according to the type of victimization they had experienced. Students reporting peer victimization typically showed high levels of social alienation, poorer psychological functioning, and poorer self‐esteem and self‐image. By contrast, victims of teacher victimization were more likely to be rated as less able academically, had less intention to complete school and were more likely to be engaged in high‐risk behaviours such as gambling, drug use and under‐age drinking. Most bullying was found to occur at school rather than outside school and involved verbal aggression rather than physical harm. Boys were significantly more likely to be bullied than girls, with the highest rates being observed amongst boys attending single‐sex government schools. Girls were more likely to be subject to bullying if they attended coeducational private schools. The implications of this work for enhancing school‐retention rates and addressing psychological distress amongst adolescent students are discussed.     

Delinquents and drug use: a model program for community reintegration

Evidence indicates that serious and persistent delinquency and the frequent use of illicit drugs emerge from common etiological roots. This suggests that treatment efforts which target risk factors of adolescent drug use and crime may be effective in preventing subsequent antisocial behavior. This paper describes Project ADAPT, a treatment program for juvenile delinquents based on the Social Development Model, which integrates this knowledge of risk factors. Project ADAPT is a 3 1/2-year demonstration project which combines behavioral skill training, supportive network development, and involvement in prosocial activities to facilitate the community reentry of youths following placement in a Washington state correctional facility.     

Psychiatric disorders and the use of mental health services among children involved in bullying

This study had two aims: to evaluate the relationship between bullying and psychiatric disorders and to study the probability of using mental health services among children involved in bully/victim problems. The data consisted of interviews with 423 parents and 420 children. Diagnostic measures were based on the Isle of Wight Interview. Children involved in bullying as bullies, bully‐victims, and victims were compared with other children. Children involved in bully/victim problems were more prone to have psychiatric disorders than noninvolved children. The probability of being disturbed was highest among male bullies, followed by male bully‐victims and female victims (9.5‐fold, 7.9‐fold, and 4.3‐fold, respectively) compared with noninvolved same‐sex children. The most common diagnoses among children involved in bully/victim problems were attention deficit disorder, oppositional/conduct disorder, and depression. Furthermore, children involved in bully/victim problems were more likely to have used mental health services at some time during their lives and also during the previous 3 months. Special attention should be paid to children’s mental health when dealing with bullying problems at school. Referral pathways to mental health services and factors affecting the referral processes among children should be further studied. Aggr. Behav. 27:102–110, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Aerobic fitness of Tasmanian secondary school children using the 20-m shuttle run test

The aim of this study was to determine the aerobic fitness of Tasmanian secondary school children aged 11 to 16 years. A random sample of Tasmanian secondary schools was undertaken and then all children within each grade in the school were tested. In all, 6061 children undertook the test, 2981 boys and 3080 girls. The test consisted of a 20-m shuttle run in time to a prerecorded timing sequence. Each child had to complete as many shuttles as possible while staying in time with the beep. The test ceased for each child when they could no longer reach the marker at the same time or prior to the generated sound. The analyses indicated that there was a significant main effect of grade and sex. Children in lower grades completed fewer shuttles than the children in higher grades, and boys completed more shuttles than girls within each grade. Students in government-run schools completed significantly fewer shuttles than their nongovernment school counterparts (p < .0001). On a regional basis, there were no differences between children in the north and south of Tasmania as each completed 5.7 +/- 0.1 shuttles but children in the northwestern region of the state completed a significantly greater number of shuttles. An estimation of mean VO2max based upon shuttle stages completed indicated that these values ranged from a low of 40.6 ml.kg-1.min-1 in 13-, 14-, and 15-yr-old girls to a high of 50.4 ml.kg-1.min.-1 in 16-yr-old boys. Comparisons between this and similar data suggest that Tasmanian school children are less fit than their counterparts around the world. In conclusion, normative data for Tasmanian school children were developed and distributed to schools throughout Tasmania for use by teachers in evaluating the fitness of their students.     

Free writing: Evaluation of a preventive program with elementary school children

Eight-session free-writing workshops focusing on developing elementary schoolchildren's use of different describing words, reference to self, expression and clarification of feelings, and expression of stress responses were introduced to 324 fifth-grade children living on the northern border of Israel where the probability of war-related crisis is particularly high. The purpose of the study was to evaluate (a) the effectiveness of the workshop and (b) the applicability of free writing in an actual stressful event. Results indicated that the workshop group exhibited higher mean scores than the nonintervention control group on all behavior measures, both after the workshop and following a stressful event (shelling of the town). The theoretical background for free-writing conceptualization is given and the implications of the results are discussed in light of large-scale preventive intervention.     

Gender differences in the assessment, stability, and correlates to bullying roles in middle school children

The current study investigated bullying behaviors in 284 school children in the fourth through seventh grades at the time of the initial assessment. Peer ratings of bullying behavior were obtained at the end of the spring semester of one school year and at the end of the fall semester of the next school year. Importantly, peer ratings were obtained by assessing not only the level at which participants actually bully other students but also whether participants help bullies to hurt the victim (assister), encourage bullies (reinforce), or help the victim of bullying (defender). Our results did not support the utility of differentiating between bullies, assisters, or reinforcers. Specifically, these bullying roles were highly intercorrelated, both concurrently and across school years, and they showed similar correlations with aggression and several characteristics often associated with aggression (i.e., conduct problems, callous-unemotional traits, and positive expectancies about aggression). In contrast, ratings of defending designated a particularly prosocial group of students. Finally, whereas bullying appeared to be very similar in boys and girls, it was somewhat more stable across school years and was related to lower levels of prosocial behavior in boys, both of which could suggest that bullying may be somewhat more related to social group dynamics in girls.     

Who escapes or remains a victim of bullying in primary school?

The stability of both direct and relational victimization and factors that contribute to remaining, escaping or becoming a victim of bullying were investigated. 663 children at baseline aged 6–9 (years 2–4) were interviewed about their bullying experiences and parents completed a behaviour and health measure. Children's perception of the degree of social hierarchical structuring and social prominence in their class was determined by peer nominations. 432 children participated in the follow‐up either 2 or 4 years after baseline aged 10–11 (year 6) and completed a bullying questionnaire. Relational victims and children from classes with a high hierarchical structure were more likely to have dropped out of the study compared to neutral children, and children from classes with a low hierarchical structure. Relative risk analyses indicated a twofold increased risk of remaining a direct victim at follow‐up, compared to a child not involved at baseline becoming a victim over the follow‐up period. In contrast, relational victimization increased but was not found to be stable. Logistic regression analyses revealed that being a girl, and receiving few positive peer nominations predicted remaining a direct victim. Becoming a relational victim at follow‐up was predicted by a strong class hierarchy. The implications for future study of early recognition of likely long term victims and early preventative bullying initiatives are discussed.     

Self-evaluation by adolescents in a psychiatric hospital school token program

Nine adolescent boys with a history of high rates of disruptive classroom behavior were selected from a psychiatric hospital school and placed in a remedial reading class after school in which various factors in a token reinforcement program involving self-evaluation were investigated. The effects of self-evaluation, in the form of a rating the students gave themselves about the appropriateness of their classroom behavior, were first assessed. While the students' ratings of their own behavior correlated highly with the teacher's ratings and evaluations made by independent observers, the self-evaluations did not lead to a reduction in disruptive behavior. A token reinforcement program, in which the teacher rated the students' level of appropriate behavior and in which the students traded earned rating points for prizes, clearly led to a reduction of disruptive behavior. When the students were given the opportunity to evaluate their own behavior and to receive rewards in exchange for the evaluation, they returned to their former rates of disruptive behavior.     

Dimensions of empathy and bystander intervention in bullying in elementary school

The current study investigated associations among cognitive empathy, affective empathy, internalizing problems, and the five steps of the bystander intervention model (notice bullying events, interpret as an event requiring intervention, accept responsibility for intervening, know how to intervene, and act). Participants included 336 fourth and fifth grade students (58.9% boys) at a school in the Midwest region of the United States. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that greater cognitive empathy was related to noticing bullying events, accepting responsibility to intervene, and knowing how to intervene. Affective empathy was significantly related to the actual act of intervention. Further, significant interactions revealed that affective empathy was positively associated with interpreting bullying as an event that required intervention at low and moderate levels of internalizing problems, but not at high levels of internalizing problems. Overall these findings underscore the need to examine the decision to intervene as the culmination of a series of steps as outlined in the bystander intervention model, with each step potentially influenced by a unique set of precursors.     

Improving attention behaviour in primary and secondary school children with a Computer Assisted Instruction procedure

Attention disorders are one of the major sources of poor school performance. This research project was designed to examine whether a Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) approach would be successful in achieving higher rates of attention. In order to increase attention behaviour during school time, psychologically‐designed software was developed. The software, called “How to improve your mental skills,” consists of three games based on multimedia perception tasks. First, 155 elementary school children with an average age of 12.4 years, from Cadiz (Spain) School District, were evaluated with two attention tests, the Perception Differences Test (PDT), and the subtest Spatial of Primary Mental Aptitude (S‐PMA). Students were divided and balanced into one experimental and two control groups, according to their scores on the PDT. Then, 10 training sessions, of 25 minutes each, with the software “How to improve your mental skills”, were administered to the experimental group. Children from control group 1 played with a well‐known computer game during the same period of time, whereas children from control group 2 remained in the classroom with nonspecific training. Finally, after the experimental sessions, all the children were re‐evaluated with standard attention tests. Analyses of data included: (1) pre‐ and post‐training comparison of the experimental group scores on the PDT; (2) comparison of the experimental and control group 1 and 2 scores on the PDT and S‐PMA tests after training; and (3) gender and grade interference effects on attention behaviour. Results suggest that children from the experimental group significantly improved their attention behaviour as assessed by the PDT and S‐PMA tests after 10 training sessions with the specific computer software. No gender and grade interference effects on attention behaviour were found. Les désordres d'attention sont une des sources majeures de pauvre performance scolaire. Ce projet de recherche fut conçu pour examiner comment une approche d'enseignement assisté par ordinateur peut être efficace pour obtenir de plus hauts niveaux d'attention. Afin d'augmenter le comportement d'attention en classe, un programme informatique intitulé «Comment améliorer vos habiletés mentales» fut développé. Ce programme, basé sur la psychologie de la peception, consiste en trois jeux multimédias interactifs. L'étude s'est déroulée en trois phases. Premièrement, 155 enfants de L'école primaire, âgés en moyenne de 12,4 ans et issus du district scolaire de Cadiz, en Espagne, furent évalués à partir de deux tests d'attention: le Perception Differences Test (PDT) et le sous‐test Spatial of Primary Mental Aptitude (S‐PMA). Les élèves furent divisés en trois groupes, un groupe expérimental et deux groupes contrôle, en fonction de leur score au PDT. En deuxième lieu, le groupe expérimental fut soumis à 10 sessions d'entraînement, chacune d'une durée de 25 minutes, lors desquelles le programme informatique « Comment améliorer vos habiletés mentales » fut administré. Les enfants du premier groupe contrôle ont joué avec un autre programme informatique bien connu durant ces mêmes sessions, tandis que les enfants du second groupe contrôle demeuraient en classe sans recevoir d'entraînement particulier. En troisième lieu, tous les enfants furent réévalués à L'aide de tests d'attention standardisés. Trois séries d'analyses furent menées. La première visait à comparer les scores obtenus au PDT, au pré‐test et au post‐test, pour le groupe expérimental. La seconde consistait à comparer les scores obtenus au PDT et au S‐PMA, au post‐test, par les trois groupes. La troisième série d'analyses visait à examiner les effets du genre et du niveau de scolarité sur le comportement d'attention. Les résultats suggèrent que les enfants du groupe expérimental ont significativement amélioré leur comportement d'attention suite aux sessions d'entraînement avec le programme informatique. De plus, aucune interférence du genre et du niveau de scolarité ne fut observée. Los déficits de atención son una de las causas más frecuentes de fracaso escolar. La presente investigación se diseñó para someter a prueba si la Enseñanza Asistida por Ordenador (CAI) puede ser un procedimiento eficaz para conseguir mayores niveles de atención. Con el fin de conseguir una mejora de la atención en la escuela, se ha desarrollado un programa informático fundamentado en la psicología de la percepción que consiste en tres juegos interactivos multimedia. El estudio se realizó en tres fases. Primero, se evaluó a 155 niños de edad escolar del distrito de Cádiz (España) con dos pruebas estandarizadas de atención, Perception Differences Test (PDT), y sub‐test Spatial of Primary Mental Aptitude (S‐PMA). Tras ello, se formó un grupo experimental al que se realizaron 10 sesiones de entrenamiento de 25 minutos de duración cada una con el programa “Cómo mejorar tus habilidades mentales.” Otro grupo de alumnos a los que se les denominó control‐1 permanecieron jugando con un conocido juego informático durante el mismo período de tiempo. Los niños del grupo control‐2 permanecieron en sus clases sin un entrenamiento específico. Tras las sesiones experimentales, se evaluó de nuevo a todos los niños con las pruebas estandarizadas de atención. Primero, se comparó las calificaciones del grupo experimental en la PDT antes del entrenamiento y después del entrenamiento; segundo, se comparó las calificaciones del grupo experimental y de los grupos control 1 y 2 en las pruebas PDT y S‐PMA después del entrenamiento; y tercero, se analizó los efectos de interferencia del grado escolar y el género. Los resultados indican que los participantes del grupo experimental mejoraron su conducta atencional tras las sesiones de entrenamiento con el programa informático. No se encontraron efectos de interferencia del grado escolar o del género sobre la conducta de atención.     

The effectiveness of a simulation technique as an integral part of a school psychology training program

A modified Solomon design was employed to study the effects of a school psychology simulation package on the enacted and written response of a group of school psychology preservice students. Fifty-two school psychology students from five training programs enrolled in the last quarter of school psychology training prior to internship were divided into two groups. The experimental group (N=20) received the simulation experience, whereas the control group (N=32) did not. Results generally indicated the superiority of the experimental group and suggested that simulation as an integral part of a school psychology training program is an effective method of instruction. Pretesting in combination with the simulation training improved posttest performance more than simulation training alone.