Male and Female Observers’ Evaluations of a Bullying Case as a Function of Degree of Harm,Type of Bullying,and Academic Level

Acting as disciplinary committee members, participants listened to a school bullying case that varied in terms of type (relational or verbal), degree of harm (low or high), and academic level of the victim and defendant (high school or university). Participants’ judgments (e.g., verdict, recommended sentence, seriousness, perceptions of both students) generally favored the victim when he experienced more rather than less harm, regardless of bullying type, and when the incident took place in a high school rather than a university. Additionally, women’s judgments supported the victim more than men’s. We propose that previous results suggesting that observers downgrade relational bullying occurred because no harm was specified. Moreover, we contend that observers relied on a “bullying schema” that includes the component that bullying occurs in primary and secondary schools, which led them to make less punitive judgments in the university case.     

Exploring the bullying behaviours experienced by South African domestic workers

This article phenomenologically explores the nature of bullying behaviours as experienced by domestic workers in South Africa. Participants were a convenience sample of 10 black female domestic workers (age range = 27 to 53 years, work experience = 3 to 26 years). The domestic workers responded to an unstructured interview on their experience of work place bullying. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings suggest that bullying is prevalent in domestic work and is perpetrated by both sexes and all races. Bullying behaviours were categorised into verbal bullying (belittlement, deception and false accusations) and non-verbal bullying (intimidation and excessive control, disregard for basic needs and wellbeing, disregard for employment legislation). Bullying behaviours towards domestic workers are explained by the historical socioeconomic disempowerment of domestic workers and a socio-legal system inaccessible to those with disadvantages.     

Emotional load and social support as indicators of bullying at work

This study sought to ascertain whether elevated emotional load and a lack of social support could be indicative of bullying at work. Participants totalled 1442 employees from the manufacturing industry in South Africa. Data on emotional load, social support, and bullying were gathered using a self-report survey. Structural equation modelling methods were implemented to establish the variance explained in bullying by colleagues and bullying by supervisors, as outcomes, with emotional load and social support as predictor variables. Additionally, multi-group analyses were performed to investigate how the explained variances might differ based on gender and race. Results revealed that the models fitted the data well and that emotional load and a lack of social support explained a substantial amount of variance in bullying by superiors and bullying by colleagues. With regard to the multi-group analysis more variance was explained for females than for males, but the values were quite similar in all groups which give strength to the generalisability of the findings. The findings of this study therefore indicate that elevated emotional load and a lack of social support are indicators of bullying behaviour at work.     

Development of the Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale–Revised (MPVS-R) and the Multidimensional Peer Bullying Scale (MPVS-RB)

Peer victimization is a frequent occurrence for many adolescents; however, some of the psychometric properties of self-report scales assessing these experiences remain unclear. Furthermore, with an increase in access to technology, electronic aggression should also be considered. The authors examined the psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale (MPVS; Mynard & Joseph, 2000), and developed versions to include the assessment of electronic aggression according to whether the adolescent was the target or perpetrator of peer victimization. A total of 371 (191 girls and 180 boys; M_age = 13 years 4 months, SD_age = 1 year 2 months) adolescents in the United Kingdom completed the MPVS including five newly developed items assessing electronic aggression, a version of the MPVS designed to assess victimization perpetration, and a measure of self-esteem. Confirmatory factor analyses yielded a five-factor structure comprising: Physical, social manipulation, verbal, attacks on property, and electronic for both scales. Convergent validity was established through negative associations between the victimization scales and self-esteem. Sex differences also emerged. One revised scale and one new scale are subsequently proposed: The MPVS–Revised and the Multidimensional Peer Bullying Scale.     

Kleptomania: A Review of the Research

Research on kleptomania is limited. Earlier views and recent reports of treatment are reviewed in this article. More study is needed to delineate this impulse-control disorder.     

New Beginnings–an experience-based programme addressing the attachment relationship between mothers and their babies in prisons

Data about the quality of attachment between infants and parents in high-risk populations suggests that early intervention may be advantageous for positive developmental outcomes for the child. Mothers in prison represent a high-risk parenting population in terms of both attachment histories and economic and social risk factors. New Beginnings was constructed as a short term, experience-based programme for mothers and infants in the Mother and Baby Units of two UK women's prisons. It is based on the early intervention model developed at the Anna Freud Centre. The programme was piloted in 2004–5, with 27 participating dyads. This paper presents an overview of the pilot stage. Our aim is to introduce the thinking that went into the programme and to present initial observations concerning the effect of the programme. We describe the development of a framework for the programme and its preliminary evaluation using pre- and post-interview protocols concerning the mothers' thoughts and feelings about their babies. We used the Parent Development Interview, for both a qualitative analysis of the major themes in connection to child rearing and quantitative measures of reflective capacity in relation to the child on the part of mother-participants.     

Negotiating time: the significance of timing in ending inpatient work

This paper discusses work with young people during their stay on an NHS psychiatric inpatient unit, especially focusing on the end of treatment and the appropriate timing of discharge into the community. When approaching the end of an admission, various factors are considered that seem particularly relevant to the decision of when a young person may be ready to leave and cope with the transition back to life outside the unit. Indications of medical stability, in patients where this has been an issue, is a factor of prime importance. Other important factors include family functioning; the availability of adequate ongoing local CAMHS support for the child and family; suitable school provision; and the identity of the child within a peer group. The reality of NHS resources and the demand for inpatient beds is another pressing consideration. The young person's own motivation emerges as crucial at this stage – towards the end of treatment – not only in terms of what is said, and therefore evident verbally, but also through signs of internal shifts in the child that indicate a capacity to re-engage with life outside in a lasting way. Decisions about when to stop are taken with all this in mind and when the decision does not seem straightforward, it can provoke considerable anxiety in the multi-disciplinary team. Clinical material from psychotherapy with a young adolescent boy with anorexia nervosa is used to illustrate some of the dilemmas.     

The prospective relationship between role stressors and new cases of self‐reported workplace bullying

In line with the “Work environment hypothesis,” role stressors have been proposed as important antecedents of bullying in the workplace. Only a few longitudinal studies on the relationship between role stressors and bullying exist, however, and earlier studies have largely been cross‐sectional. The aim of the present prospective study was to determine whether role stressors at baseline predict new cases of workplace bullying at follow‐up. A total of 2,835 Norwegian employees participated at both baseline and follow‐up, with an interval of two years between the measurements. The study supports the hypotheses that role ambiguity and role conflict, independently, contribute to subsequent new reports of workplace bullying. However, there was a weak reverse effect: reporting being bullied at work at baseline predicted reporting increased levels of role ambiguity and role conflict at follow‐up. Even though the results may indicate a circular relationship between the variables at hand, the weak reverse relationship seems to have little practical impact compared to the stronger relationship from role stressors to bullying. Hence, the results mainly support the hypotheses stating that role ambiguity and role conflict, independently, predict subsequent exposure to workplace bullying.