The experience of bullying in Great Britain: The impact of organizational status

This study explores some epidemiological features of bullying in Great Britain by means of a large-scale, nationwide survey, focusing on the differences in experience with regard to organizational status. Few differences were found for the experience of self-reported bullying between workers, supervisors, middle, or senior managers. The prevalence of bullying, duration of experience, status of perpetrator, whether the experience was shared with others or not, were similar across these organizational status groups. However, different factors may account for the experience of self-reported bullying for each of the organizational status groups. More discrepancies emerged when the behavioural experience of bullying was compared across groups. Workers and supervisors were more frequently exposed to negative acts than managers. They were also more likely to have been exposed to derogatory or exclusionary behaviour, whereas managers more frequently reported exposure to extreme work pressure. Moreover, when the results were adjusted for the possible impact of gender, a number of discrepancies between the organizational status groups emerged. The interaction between status and gender was explained by reference to cultural differences between men and women, the phenomenon of the ''glass-ceiling'' and the interaction between such factors and the prevailing socio-economic situation.     

Perceiving college peers’ alcohol consumption: temporal patterns and individual differences in overestimation

Objective: This study examines temporal patterns and individual differences of overestimation in alcohol norm perception within a social network.

Design: Hundred psychology freshmen indicated biweekly during their first semester the drinks they consumed, the perceived average of their peers’ consumption, and with whom they were acquainted. At baseline, trait self-control was assessed.

Main outcome: The moderation of alcohol consumption overestimation by time and individual characteristics was explored.

Results: Results show that students overestimated alcohol consumption of their acquainted peers by 1.22 drinks (p?<?.001). For time periods at which peers reported high consumption, overestimation decreased. Additionally, individuals reporting high alcohol consumption (b?=??0.25, p?<?.001) and low self-control (b?=?0.27, p?=?.010) showed higher overestimation.

Conclusions: Students overestimate the alcohol consumption of peers not fully accounting for changes in peer-reports. Furthermore, individual differences suggest informational and motivational processes underlying overestimation.