Understanding Factors Associated with Bullying and Peer Victimization in Chinese Schools Within Ecological Contexts

We review factors associated with school bullying and peer victimization in the People’s Republic of China (hereafter referred to as China) within the context of Bronfenbrenner (Am Psychol 32:513–531, 1977) ecological systems framework. Bullying and peer victimization are serious problems in Chinese schools, which calls for effective school-based bullying prevention and intervention strategies. However, understanding of this phenomenon has been limited because the majority of the empirical studies have examined individual characteristics (e.g., age, gender), and relatively few Chinese researchers have considered various contexts of the social ecology, such as cultural contexts. We first discuss the definition and prevalence, which is followed by a review of socio-demographic and ecological factors (micro-, meso-, exo-, and macrosystem) that are correlated with school bullying and peer victimization in Chinese schools. Findings from our review suggest that factors at the socio-demographic (age, gender, behavioral/mental health problems), micro- (parents, peers, and teachers), meso- (parents’ involvement in children’s school), exo- (mass media), and macrosystem (emphasis on academic achievement and collectivism vs. individualism) levels can foster or mitigate bullying and peer victimization among children and adolescents in Chinese schools. We then draw implications for assessment, practice, and policy concerning school bullying and peer victimization in China.     

Psychosocial Processes Associated with Bullying and Victimization

Bullying and victimization are timely, robust areas of inquiry throughout various psychological paradigms. Humanistic psychology has a history of investigating victimized individuals, but unfortunately, as this review of the literature demonstrates, the Humanistic voice has not remained active in these investigations. I contend that by exploring the research of these behaviors, Humanistic researchers may identify areas in need of Humanistic-oriented inquiries. This discussion explores the relevant literature focused on psychosocial processes associated with bullying and victimization. Also reviewed are individual characteristic variables, developmental trajectories of both bullies and victims, the role of social cognitive processes, social status and power, social networks, and bully and victim psychopathological trajectories.     

Bullying Behaviors and Victimization Experiences Among Adolescent Students: The Role of Resilience

The role of resilience in the relationship between bullying behaviors, victimization experiences, and self-efficacy was examined. Participants were 393 (191 young men, 202 young women) adolescents (M age = 15.88 years, SD = 0.64 years) from schools in Coimbatore, India, who completed scales to assess bullying behaviors and victimization experiences, resilience, and self-efficacy. Multigroup structural equation modeling, with separate groups created according to participant gender, revealed that resilience mediated the relationship between bullying behaviors and self-efficacy in young men. Young men engaged in bullying behaviors and experienced victimization more frequently than young women. The findings of the study have implication for designing intervention programs to enhance resilience among adolescents and young adults to enable them to manage bullying behaviors.     

Bullying and Victimization in Adolescence: Concurrent and Stable Roles and Psychological Health Symptoms

From an initial sample of 1,278 Italian students, the authors selected 537 on the basis of their responses to a self-report bully and victim questionnaire. Participants' ages ranged from 13 to 20 years (M = 15.12 years, SD = 1.08 years). The authors compared the concurrent psychological symptoms of 4 participant groups (bullies, victims, bully/victims [i.e., bullies who were also victims of bullying], and uninvolved students). Of participants, 157 were in the bullies group, 140 were in the victims group, 81 were in the bully/victims group, and 159 were in the uninvolved students group. The results show that bullies reported a higher level of externalizing problems, victims reported more internalizing symptoms, and bully/victims reported both a higher level of externalizing problems and more internalizing symptoms. The authors divided the sample into 8 groups on the basis of the students' recollection of their earlier school experiences and of their present role. The authors classified the participants as stable versus late bullies, victims, bully/victims, or uninvolved students. The authors compared each stable group with its corresponding late group and found that stable victims and stable bully/victims reported higher degrees of anxiety, depression, and withdrawal than did the other groups. The authors focus their discussion on the role of chronic peer difficulties in relation to adolescents' symptoms and well-being.     

Classroom‐ and School‐Level Contributions to Bullying and Victimization: A Review

School bullying is increasingly viewed by researchers as a group phenomenon that extends beyond the perpetrator–victim dyad and is embedded in the wider social context. This paper reviews the literature on classroom and school factors contributing to bullying and victimization among children and adolescents. Considerable variability in the prevalence of these problems exists between classrooms and schools, which are highly relevant contexts for students' social development. Along with individual characteristics, both classroom‐ and school‐related factors explain the bullying dynamic. The contexts may also exacerbate, or buffer against, the effects of individual‐level risk for bullying involvement and the consequences of victimization. We discuss findings on the contributions of demographic and structural characteristics (e.g. grade level, classroom and school size), peer contextual factors (e.g. status hierarchy, group norms and bystander behaviours) and the role of teachers. Finally, implications for research and school‐based antibullying programs are considered. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

当代中国青少年校园欺凌受害模式探索:基于潜在剖面分析

采用特拉华欺凌受害量表、病人健康问卷抑郁量表和广泛性焦虑量表对湖南省八个地区20所中学初一到高三3761名学生进行调查,探索学生欺凌受害模式,并对不同模式亚群体的人口学特点及其心理健康状况展开研究。结果发现：（1）校园欺凌中,言语欺凌、身体欺凌、关系欺凌、网络欺凌这四种常见欺凌类型具有较高的共发性,潜在剖面分析表明存在四种典型的校园欺凌受害模式："所有类型欺凌受害组"（1.5%）、"传统类型受害组"（3.9%）、"传统类型轻卷入组"（14.9%）和"未受害组"（79.6%）;（2）欺凌受害模式的人群分布受不同人口学特征（性别、年级、学校位置、自评学习成绩）的影响,男性、初中、乡村学校、成绩较差的学生更易受到欺凌;（3）即使是轻度的欺凌受害卷入,也会对个体心理健康产生较为严重的消极影响,对校园欺凌行为"零容忍"确有依据。     

Mothers and Children as Informants of Bullying Victimization: Results from an Epidemiological Cohort of Children

Stressful events early in life can affect children’s mental health problems. Collecting valid and reliable information about children’s bad experiences is important for research and clinical purposes. This study aimed to (1) investigate whether mothers and children provide valid reports of bullying victimization, (2) examine the inter-rater reliability between the two informants, (3) test the predictive validity of their reports with children’s emotional and behavioral problems and (4) compare the genetic and environmental etiology of bullying victimization as reported by mothers and children. We assessed bullying victimization in the Environmental-Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally-representative sample of 1,116 families with twins. We collected reports from mothers and children during private interviews, including detailed narratives. Findings showed that we can rely on mothers and children as informants of bullying victimization: both informants provided information which adhered to the definition of bullying as involving repeated hurtful actions between peers in the presence of a power imbalance. Although mothers and children modestly agreed with each other about who was bullied during primary and secondary school, reports of bullying victimization from both informants were similarly associated with children’s emotional and behavioral problems and provided similar estimates of genetic and environmental influences. Findings from this study suggest that collecting information from multiple informants is ideal to capture all instances of bullying victimization. However, in the absence of child self-reports, mothers can be considered as a viable alternative, and vice versa.     

Stability in Bullying and Victimization and its Association with Social Adjustment in Childhood and Adolescence

This study examined the concurrent and longitudinal associations between stability in bullying and victimization, and social adjustment in childhood and adolescence. Participants were 189 girls and 328 boys who were studied in primary school and in secondary school. The mean age of the participants was 11.1 years in primary school and 14.1 years in secondary school. The measures consisted of peer reported social and personal characteristics. Children who bullied in childhood and adolescence were less liked and more disliked in childhood, and more aggressive and disruptive both in childhood and adolescence, than children who bullied only in childhood or adolescence. Children who bullied or who were victimized only in childhood did not differ largely in adolescence from the children that were never bullies or victims. Children who were victimized in adolescence closely resembled those who were victimized in childhood and adolescence in terms of being liked or disliked, being nominated as a friend, and shyness. The study stresses the need to distinguish between stable and transient bullies and victims.     

Continued Bullying Victimization from Childhood to Young Adulthood: a Longitudinal Study of Mediating and Protective Factors

Bullying in schools has severe consequences for victims’ adjustment. It is unclear, however, whether victims of school bullying continue to be victimized in other contexts during adulthood. Mediating processes through which peer victimization in school increases the risk of revictimization in adulthood, as well as protective factors, also need to be explored. This study examined 1) the longitudinal association between peer victimization in school and victimization at work during young adulthood, 2) the predictive link of reactive and proactive aggression and anxious-withdrawn behavior in childhood with victimization in school and at the workplace, 3) the potential mediating role of depression symptoms, and 4) the potential protective effect of friendship support. The study included 251 participants (61% females) followed from age 12 to age 22. Participants reported about their victimization in school from ages 12 to 17 and their workplace victimization at age 22. They also reported about their depression-related thoughts and feelings and about friendship support. Teachers rated reactive and proactive aggression and anxiety-withdrawal at age 12. Structural equation modeling revealed that anxiety-withdrawal at age 12 predicted peer victimization in school, which in turn predicted later victimization at work. The latter association was partially mediated by increased depression symptoms. However, friendship support counteracted (via a main effect) the link between school victimization and subsequent depression symptoms. Bullying victims may benefit from interventions aimed at reducing depression symptoms and fostering social skills to establish supportive friendships to help avoid the generation of new interpersonal stress such as workplace victimization in adulthood.     

Bullying Is Everywhere: Ten Universal Truths About Bullying As A Social Process In Schools & Communities

This article outlines a proposal to see schools as the natural portal of entry into community violence and to conceptualize bullying as a universal dysfunctional social process, in which the bully and the victim are symptoms, not causes of that dysfunction. Ten truths that we have found are crosscultural, and deserve consideration if such an approach is to become a practical reality in our struggles against community violence. These are: (1) Children need clear, consistent signals from home and school; (2) biology transcends culture; (3) schools mirror their communities; (4) bullying is a process, not a person; (5) when adults deny problems, children become targets; (6) children are developmentally similar across cultures; (7) all schools have a climate; (8) children need to feel safe to learn; (9) when children feel securely attached and valued, they grow; and (10) natural leaders and altruism are necessary for school and community change.     

Value Development During the College Years: A Cause for Concern and an Opportunity for Growth

The authors examine and propose a synthesis of the theoretical tenets of ecumenical religious principles and cognitive-developmental stages of moral reasoning as a basis for value development. Because the college years represent a major opportunity for such value development, a case is made for formal programs and curriculum development for this period and an example is provided of coursework designed to promote systematic consciousness and the process of value growth.     

Getting precise and pragmatic about the assessment of bullying: the development of the California Bullying Victimization Scale

Accurate assessment of bullying is essential to intervention planning and evaluation. Limitations to many currently available self-report measures of bullying victimization include a lack of psychometric information, use of the emotionally laden term "bullying" in definition-first approaches to self-report surveys, and not assessing all components of the definition of bullying (chronicity, intentionality, and imbalance of power) in behavioral-based self-report methods. To address these limitations, we developed the California Bullying Victimization Scale (CBVS), which is a self-report scale that measures the three-part definition of bullying without the use of the term bully. We examined test-retest reliability and the concurrent and predictive validity of the CBVS across students in Grades 5-12 in four central California schools. Concurrent validity was assessed by comparing the CBVS with a common, definition-based bullying victimization measure. Predictive validity was examined through the co-administration of measures of psychological well-being. Analysis by grade and gender are included. Results support the test-retest reliability of the CBVS over a 2-week period. The CBVS was significantly, positively correlated with another bullying assessment and was related in expected directions to measures of well-being. Implications for differentiating peer victimization and bullying victimization via self-report measures are discussed.     

Perceived Social Support and Mental Health among First-Year College Students with Histories of Bullying Victimization

Although childhood bullying victimization is associated with adult depression and anxiety, the majority of previously bullied youth do not develop psychopathology. Identifying protective factors has implications for designing interventions that can support a successful adjustment to emerging adulthood. In this study, we investigate whether perceived social support protects against depression and anxiety among first-year college students who had previously experienced bullying. We collected data from 1474 first-year college students attending four large universities across the United States. Students completed a web-based survey in fall 2012 (Wave 1) and 436 (29.5 %) participated in a follow-up survey in spring 2013 (Wave 2). Participants reported on childhood bullying victimization, current depression and anxiety, and current social support (overall and from family, friends, and significant others). Results indicated that a history of childhood bullying victimization was positively associated with depression and anxiety in both fall and spring. Further, overall social support reported in fall moderated the association between childhood bullying victimization and fall and spring anxiety. Also, higher levels of perceived family support, in particular, buffered previously bullied students’ risk for spring anxiety. Results suggest that perceptions of familial social support during the initial adjustment to college may protect previously bullied first-year students from anxiety during their adjustment to college. Research and clinical implications, study limitations, and future directions are discussed.