Bullying among mentally‐ill patients detained in a high‐secure hospital: an exploratory study of the perceptions of staff and patients into how bullying is defined

The present study is the first to explore patient‐to‐patient bullying within a secure psychiatric hospital housing mentally‐ill patients. Its main aim was to provide an outline of the perceptions held by both patients and staff with regards to patient‐to‐patient bullying as opposed to providing an objective study of bullying. The total sample comprised 104 participants, 44 patients and 60 staff. These were sampled from wards housing male patients and wards housing female patients. All participants took part in a semi‐structured interview based on that developed by Ireland and Ireland [2003] and Ireland [2005, 2004]. One quarter of participants stated they had seen a patient being bullied in the previous week, with staff perceiving a higher extent of bullying than patients. Differences between wards were minimal. It was predicted that theft‐related bullying would be reported most frequently, that staff would identify a wider range of bullying behaviours than patients and that direct forms of aggression would be identified more readily as bullying than indirect forms. All predictions were supported. Problems in attempting to obtain a definition of bullying were also identified, with participants operating broader definitions than those found in the school‐based literature. For example, bullying was not generally considered a repeated form of aggression, the severity of the aggression or provocative behaviour of the victim were not defining features, and it was felt bullying could be accidental. In summary, the current study highlights how patient‐to‐patient bullying does occur in services housing mentally‐ill patients and that researching the behaviour may require the adoption of broader hospital‐specific definitions of bullying. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–13, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Community violence victimization and aggressive behavior: the moderating effects of coping and social support

Exposure to community violence (CV) as a victim is an established risk factor for exhibiting later aggressive behavior. It is unclear, however, what factors may mitigate this relationship. This study tested the relationship of CV victimization to aggressive behavior, and the roles of coping style and perceived social support in moderating that relationship. Five hundred and fifteen 18–22‐year‐old men and women completed self‐report inventories on CV exposure, aggressive behavior, perceived support from family and friends, and coping strategies. From a prior study, factor analysis of the coping scales yielded three factors of (1) disengagement (i.e., using primarily avoidant strategies), (2) interpersonal (i.e., using primarily emotion‐focused strategies) and (3) problem‐focused (i.e., using primarily active/approach strategies) coping styles. Results indicated that high CV victimization, high disengagement (i.e., avoidant) and interpersonal (i.e., emotion‐focused) coping styles, and low perceived support from friends significantly predicted increased aggression scores. Significant moderating effects indicated that, as CV victimization increased in frequency, aggression scores were highest for those with low perceived friend support and high use of disengagement coping. Findings suggest that avoidant and emotion‐focused coping styles are risk factors, and perceived support from friends is a protective factor, for a putative “cycle of violence.” Aggr. Behav. 32:502–515. 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Convergent,discriminant, and predictive validity of aggressive driving inventories: they drive as they live

The authors hypothesized that aggressive driving is indicative of a more general trait that leads individuals to behave aggressively in different situations. This hypothesis was tested by having 85 male and 237 female undergraduates complete the Aggression Questionnaire, three measures of aggressive driving (the Driver Anger Scale, Driver Vengeance Questionnaire, and Driving Behavior Inventory), and questions about violating traffic laws. High correlations among the aggressive driving inventories provided evidence for the convergent validity, but a confirmatory factor analyses raised questions about the discriminant validity of aggressive driving inventories. The inventories did not attain significance in hierarchical analyses of traffic violations that controlled for gender, driving experience, and measures of trait aggression. It is concluded that there is little unique about aggressive driving and that individuals drive as they live. Aggr. Behav. 32:89–98, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

P300 to emotionally relevant stimuli as an indicator of aggression levels

Severe acts of aggression have been associated with prefrontal dysfunction. Less severe aggression may be associated with more subtle abnormalities. P300 event‐related potentials were recorded from 32 healthy volunteers during a novel modified oddball task. The task required participants to respond only to rare, food words (targets), which occurred randomly among neutral words. Aggressive words appeared randomly with the same frequency as the target words. A median split divided subjects into high‐ and low‐aggression groups based on their scores on the Buss–Durkee Hostility Inventory. The groups did not differ in their responses to the target words. Participants with higher aggression scores had lowered responses to the aggressive words at the frontal relative to the other electrode sites. Cognitive processing of aggressive stimuli was less efficient at frontal sites in individuals who reported higher levels of aggression. This result extends work showing frontal P300 decrements in more severe aggressive groups, using simple oddball tasks. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–8, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Aggressive behavior among girls and boys during middle childhood: predictors and sequelae of trajectory group membership

Using longitudinal data spanning early elementary through middle school, aggression behavior trajectory groups were identified for boys and girls. Early elementary school predictors of trajectory group membership were examined as well as whether trajectory group predicted physical aggression, covert delinquency, and substance use in 9th grade. Semiparametric group modeling identified aggression behavior trajectory groups. We identified four aggression trajectory groups for both genders described as “not involved,” “low,” “moderate,” and “high.” Attention problems, family conflict, and low school commitment and attachment were predictors of membership in higher aggression groups for both boys and girls. Low family involvement and low parental education predicted membership in higher aggression groups for boys; while depression, low‐income status, and having a single parent predicted higher aggression group membership for girls. For both boys and girls, few risk predictors distinguished between the moderate and high aggression trajectories except that low school commitment and having a teen mother were significant predictors of being in the high group for girls, and low parental education and income were significant predictors of being in the high group for boys. Membership in the higher aggression trajectory groups predicted involvement in violent behaviors, covert delinquency, and substance use in 9th grade. Findings suggest that children who display an early trajectory of high levels of aggressive behavior are more likely to continue involvement in later problem behaviors. Second‐grade predictors suggest commonality of risk across genders and provide evidence of modifiable targets for preventive interventions. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–15. 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Powerlessness and the Use of Indirect Aggression in Friendships

Aggression in girls, especially indirect aggression perpetrated by girls toward other girls, has received increasing attention in the popular press. Various explanations have been offered to explain why girls might use indirect methods more so than boys, including both biological and social explanations. We tested a social contextual explanation; that is, that powerlessness is associated with the use of indirect aggression strategies. Power was conceptualized as both an individual difference variable and as an interpersonal variable. In two studies, we found that for both men and women, lack of power in same gender friendships (defined as anxiety about one’s status in friendships) was associated with greater use of indirect aggression strategies. Further, individual differences in deferent personality characteristics and lack of relational control in a friendship were unrelated to the use of indirect aggression. Study 1 was based, in part, on the second author’s undergraduate Honors Thesis, which was supported by a grant from Smith College’s Tomlinson Fund. Study 2 was supported by a grant from Smith College to the first author.     

提示线索、目标信息对大学生攻击可能性判断的影响

该研究探讨了在受挫情境中,不同的提示线索和目标信息对大学生攻击可能性判断的影响,结果发现:1)线索提示对大学生攻击可能性判断存在显著性影响,而目标信息的主效应、目标信息与提示线索的交互作用并不显著。2)与图片线索相比较,命题线索更容易激活攻击性认知,进而影响大学生对攻击可能性的判断。