Secondary school pupils’ views of their school peer counselling for bullying service

Pupils (n=99) from two secondary schools in the UK were interviewed to investigate their views and experiences of the peer counselling for bullying service set up in their school. They were asked about various things concerning (1) the characteristics of the service and service providers that they valued and (2) their reasons for not using the service. Overall, a majority of participants reported a willingness to use this type of service and they identified numerous characteristics that they valued, including peer counsellors with good listening skills who were trustworthy and maintained confidentiality. A noteworthy proportion of participants also wanted the service to provide advice on solving bullying‐related problems. Some barriers to using the service were also identified, including fear of being stigmatised. Responses offered by girls and boys, and by users and non‐users of the service, were compared and several significant differences emerged. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for adults who run this type of service and the peer counsellors who deliver it.     

Weakly aggressive behaviour towards nymphs in the cockroach Schultesia nitor (Blattaria: Zetoborinae)

This paper describes aggressive behaviour in the cockroach Schultesia nitor, a tropical forest species living in bird nests. Young S. nitor nymphs are known to show active dispersal while old nymphs and adults are contrastingly strongly gregarious, a combination of features never observed in other cockroach species. Our laboratory experiments using video recording of confrontations between pairs show that aggressive behaviour towards conspecific nymphs is not exhibited towards nymphs of the species Phoetalia pallida, and thus can be considered species specific in S. nitor. But, it is not kin oriented: the mother and all adults of both sexes in different physiological states exhibit this behaviour as well. Six types of aggressive interactions were discriminated, occurring in age-symmetric pairs of nymphs and adults. Even more frequent aggression was exhibited by adults and last instar nymphs towards younger nymphs of all instars. The frequency of aggressive acts and types of aggressive interactions varied according to sex and size of the two interacting individuals. The possible function and evolution of this behaviour is discussed, with emphasis on the difficulty of interpreting obvious but weak and not kin-biased aggression.     

A Model of Contagion Through Competition in the Aggressive Behaviors of Elementary School Students

This article extends the work of Kellam, Ling, Merisca, Brown and Ialongo (1998) by applying a mathematical model of competition between children to peer contagion in the aggressive behaviors of elementary school students. Nonlinearity in the relationship between group aggression and individual aggression at 2-year follow-up is present. Consistent with the findings of Kellam et al. (1998), hierarchical linear modeling indicates that the relationship is statistically significant for those students whose initial parental ratings of aggressive behavior were above the sample median. In the context of competition between students, the behavior of initially aggressive students may be negatively reinforced. Lowering aggression in the school environment may therefore be the most effective way to lower the level of these students aggressive behavior.     

Using Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations to Assess Cognitive Activity in Aggressive and Nonaggressive Adolescents

Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations (ATSS) is a think aloud method for examining a person's thought content as it unfolds in the situation. We used the ATSS to investigate the cognitive activity of aggressive and nonaggressive male and female adolescents as they listened to an audiotaped depiction of an ambiguous but provocative interaction with another student. Eighty-one adolescents participated in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment. The two factors were gender and aggressive vs. nonaggressive background. Students in the aggressive group had a history of aggressive behavior in the past year that was severe enough to warrant their arrest or suspension from school. Students in the nonaggressive group had no such history. As a secondary measure of anger and aggressiveness, we administered the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2). As predicted, males, compared to females, expressed more aggressive intent on the ATSS. Likewise, aggressive, compared to nonaggressive, adolescents expressed more anger and aggressive intent on the ATSS, as well as more intense feelings of anger, less control over their anger, and a greater tendency to externalize angry feelings on the STAXI-2. As expected, scores on the ATSS were related to scores on the STAXI-2. We concluded that the ATSS is a useful method for assessing cognitive activity that may mediate aggressive behavior in adolescents.     

Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) and Elementary School Aged Children’s Aggression: Results from a Cluster Randomized Trial

This study reports on aggressive outcomes from a cluster randomized trial of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum. Fourteen elementary schools were randomly assigned to intervention or control condition and third grade students were followed through the fifth grade. Teacher and self-reports of student aggression, conduct problems, delinquency, acting out problems, and social information processing (SIP) variables were collected. Linear change for each of the SIP variables was noted with control students demonstrating increased normative beliefs about aggression, increased aggressive social problem solving, increased hostile attribution bias, and increased aggressive interpersonal negotiation strategies over time while PATHS students remained relatively stable. Teachers reported significant curvilinear change in student aggression, conduct problems, and acting out behavior problems; all favoring PATHS students.     

Verbal Problem Solving in Families of Father-Absent and Father-Present Delinquent Boys

An observational method was used to investigate the relationship of juvenile delinquency and father absence to family problem-solving communicatian. Subjects included 18 intact (mother- father-son) and 18 father-absent (mother-son) families. In support of recent programs that have used probIem-solving interventions with families of deviant adolescents, the results indicated that adolescent delinquency was associated with lower rates of maternal problem solving. Members of families with delinquents also showed less emotional warmth, but not more conflict or attitudinal differences, than members of families with nondelinquents. Father-absence was associated with higher rates of maternal and adolescent problem solving. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Concentric circles of containment: a psychodynamic contribution to working in pupil referral units

This article aims to reflect on the lessons learnt from using a psychodynamic approach to offering onsite therapeutic child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in four pupil referral units (henceforth referred to as PRUs). The PRUs cater for six- to 16-year-old children and adolescents permanently excluded from mainstream schools. The work takes place in an inner London borough. The approach described evolved over five years through practice-based evidence of what worked well in each particular setting. This was viewed both in terms of sustaining families' engagement in the therapeutic process, and also effectively supporting child and adolescent mental health services and education staff in their respective tasks. The model which gradually evolved owes much to Bion's concept of containment as the necessary foundation for emotional growth and genuine learning. It also draws on ideas from psychoanalytic consultation and open systems theory. The importance of work discussion groups in this setting will also be evident. Some links are made to relevant Buddhist concepts and metaphors.     

Experiences in running a staff group

This study examines an activating mechanism of aggressive behaviour in young children. Many studies on attachment theories have indicated disorganised attachment as a significant risk factor for externalising problems and have explained the aetiology of disorganised attachment in terms of deficits in affect, behaviour and cognitive functions from a traumatic or inconsistent environment. Via the moment-to-moment analysis of the play therapy process with a three-year-old, this paper attempts to identify how these emotional, behavioural and cognitive factors interact in actual situations and can lead to an observable behaviour: aggressive behaviour. The findings from this study indicate that the child with disorganised attachment was going through a dual process, one with her therapist and the other with her internalised caregivers. When anxiety and an ambiguous social cue from an unpredictable situation were added to the child's repetition of previous attachment experience, this ‘click’ lowered the threshold of regulation of affect, behaviour and cognition. The child turned to disorganised and aggressive behaviour, relying on her physiological signals regarding the perceived threat. Finally, this paper describes how these difficulties can be channelled by symbolic play via displacement and containment.