The effects of similarity and liking in formal relationships between mentors and protégés

A longitudinal study of mentoring dyads was used to investigate the antecedents and consequences of liking in formal mentoring relationships. Demographic and deep-level similarity were examined as antecedents to liking in mentoring relationships. Following this, the association between the degree of liking and reports of mentoring functions provided was examined. Mentors and protégés differed in the similarity characteristics that impacted their perceptions of the mentoring relationship. Results also indicated that mentors’ level of liking for protégés was not related to protégés’ perceptions of mentoring functions received. Longitudinal data allowed examination of whether early perceptions of similarity predict final evaluations of mentoring functions. Analyses indicate that relationships change over time, further emphasizing the need to examine developmental relationships longitudinally.     

Intuitive theories of group types and relational principles

Three studies investigated perceivers’ beliefs about the principles by which different kinds of social groups govern interactions among group members. In Study 1, participants rated a sample of 20 groups on a set of group properties, including measures of relational principles used within groups. Results showed that people believe that interactions in different types of groups are governed by different blends of relational principles unique for each type of group. Study 2 experimentally demonstrated that perceivers could use minimal group property characteristics of different types of groups (i.e., extent of group member interaction, group size, duration, and permeability) to make inferences about the relational principles used in different types of groups. Study 3 demonstrated that relational style information influences people’s judgments of a group’s entitativity and collective responsibility.     

Aggression in Malaysian adolescents: Validation of the IRPA self-report to measure reactive and proactive aggression

Motives for aggression can be reactive or proactive. While research on these motives for aggression exists in Western societies, little is known about their prevalence in a non-Western society such as Malaysia. The first step to narrow this gap is to validate an instrument, which measures levels of reactive and proactive aggression. In the present study we translated the instrument for reactive and proactive aggression (IRPA) self-report, and examined its psychometric properties in 957 Malaysian adolescents. Participants completed the IRPA self-report along with instruments measuring victimization, anger, shame, and guilt. The outcomes confirmed the expected two-factor structure, good internal consistency and validity of the IRPA self-report in a Malaysian sample.     

Who Speaks First? Analyzing Response Waves in a Large-Scale Campus Climate Survey

ABSTRACT

There has been a recent surge in the number of campus climate surveys conducted across the United States; however, little research has examined response rates. Using data from 5,524 students who participated in a Web-based survey at a large university in a South Atlantic part of the United States, four waves of data corresponding with participation rates after reminder e-mails were analyzed. These waves are first compared across a number of demographic variables. Next, the data on rates of stalking, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and stranger sexual harassment for each wave are examined. The results show few significant differences in the characteristics of the students participating in each wave, and the victimization rates remained relatively constant across the 4 weeks of data collection.     

Body mass index,peer victimization,and body dissatisfaction across 7 years of childhood and adolescence: Evidence of moderated and mediated pathways

Numerous studies have reported that children and adolescents who are overweight are more likely to get bullied, yet the literature is replete with methodological limitations. We examined the transactional associations between peer victimization and body mass index (BMI), considering potential mediating (body dissatisfaction) and moderating (biological sex) factors. Participants (n = 631) came from the McMaster Teen Study, where students were assessed annually between Grades 5–11, approximately half were girls (53.9%), and the majority were white (76.4%). Peer victimization (from Grade 5) and body dissatisfaction (from Grade 6) were self‐reported by students, while parents reported their child's height and weight (from Grade 5). Cascade models were built up sequentially using path analysis across 2‐year increments (Grades 5, 7, 9, and 11). The final model had excellent fit to the data (χ² = 73.961, df = 66, p = 0.234). Grade 5 peer victimization had a direct effect on BMI across a 2‐year period in girls (b = 0.59, SE = 0.21, p = 0.005) and boys (b = 0.82, SE = 0.30, p = 0.006), and an indirect effect on BMI via body dissatisfaction across a 4‐year period (b = 0.074, 95% CI = 0.012–0.152, p = 0.036). At no point did BMI directly increase risk for peer victimization, yet there were indirect effects via body dissatisfaction among girls but not boys. Peer victimization and body dissatisfaction were proximally and longitudinally related at every time point and there was a transactional association in late‐adolescence among girls but not boys. Targeting modifiable factors in the social (peer victimization) and psychological (body dissatisfaction) domains may limit accelerated weight gain and the health risks associated with excess adiposity.     

Parent–child interactions and relational aggression in peer relationships

The major aim of this review is to propose new ways of thinking about the role of parents in the development and course of children’s relationally aggressive behavior. An important theoretical framework from which to start thinking about linkages between parenting and relational aggression is provided by attachment theory. Attachment theory proposes that early family experiences are an important basis for the development of later peer relationships. Recent studies are only beginning to suggest possible linkages between children’s parental attachment and relational aggression. One possible reason for the scant research is that theoreticians studying these constructs have not yet developed a conceptual framework combining the two, but rather have focused on different characteristics of different interpersonal contexts. Based on the premise that both relational aggression and attachment are relational constructs and given the already established correlations between insecure attachment and physical aggression, this paper will attempt to devise a heuristic model that may serve as an aid to discover links between parent–child interactions, attachment, and relational aggression. Finally, implications for future studies of relational aggression are discussed.     

Friendships with Peers Who are Low or High in Aggression as Moderators of the Link between Peer Victimization and Declines in Academic Functioning

This paper reports two prospective investigations of the role of friendship in the relation between peer victimization and grade point averages (GPA). Study 1 included 199 children (105 boys, 94 girls; mean age of 9.1 years) and Study 2 included 310 children (151 boys, 159 girls; mean age of 8.5 years). These children were followed for two school years. In both projects, we assessed aggression, victimization, and friendship with a peer nomination inventory, and we obtained children's GPAs from a review of school records. Peer victimization was associated with academic declines only when children had either a high number of friends who were above the classroom mean on aggression or a low number of friends who were below the classroom mean on aggression. These results highlight the importance of aggression levels among friends for the academic adjustment of victimized children.     

Student victimization by school staff in the context of an Israeli national school safety campaign

In this study, we examined and compared findings from four nationally representative studies of victimization of students by school staff in Israel. We explored whether levels of student victimization by school staff (teachers, principals, secretaries, janitors, etc.) have changed between 1998, 1999, 2002, and 2005, and whether patterns of group differences (gender, age, and cultural groups) were replicated across those four points in time. We employed representative samples stratified by ethnic affiliation and school levels. In 1998, there were 15,916 4th-11th grade students from 232 schools; in 1999, 16,414 4th-11th grade students from 239 schools; in 2002, 21,577 4th-11th grade students from 410 schools and in 2005, 27,316 4th-11th grade students from 526 schools across Israel. Overall, the results reveal that for the entire student population in Israel reports of victimization are quite similar across the four waves of data collection. Levels of physical victimization were consistently higher among boys and Arab students, but other group differences were less consistent, especially with regard to differences between age groups.     

Parental style and child bullying and victimization experiences at school

The aim of this study was to propose and test a theory-driven model describing the network of effects existing between parental style and child involvement in bullying incidents at school. The participants were 377 Greek Cypriot children (mean age 11.6) and their mothers. It was found that a line of influence exists between maternal responsiveness, over-protection and child victimization experiences at school. Also, responsiveness predicted low scores of child bullying behaviour. Permissive mothers (who by definition are high in responsiveness) had children with the highest mean score in victimization experience compared with mothers who function under the other three parental styles.