Friendship as a moderator of the relationship between social skills problems and peer victimisation

Previous research, primarily in North America, has found that individual factors (e.g., ‘internalising problems’) and social factors (e.g., friendship) interact to influence children's levels of peer victimisation. Some research has found that the identity of children's friends and friendship quality (as ‘protective factors’) are more important than the sheer number of friends. However, studies have produced conflicting findings. A peer nomination inventory was used to assess social skills problems, peer victimisation, peer acceptance, and several different aspects of friendship. Four hundred and forty‐nine children aged 9 to 11 years completed the inventory at two time points over the course of an academic year. Social skills problems were found to predict an increase in peer victimisation over time. Two friendship variables were found to moderate this relationship: a) number of friends, and b) the peer acceptance of the very best‐friend. The relationship was found to be weaker for those children with lots of friends and for those children with a ‘popular’ best‐friend. The findings advance understanding of the factors that promote peer victimisation. Aggr. Behav. 32:110–121, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Examining the relationship between low empathy and bullying

This paper investigates the relationship between cognitive and affective empathy and bullying. A bullying questionnaire was completed by 376 males and 344 females aged about 15 in Hertfordshire. Low affective empathy was significantly related to bullying for females, but not for males. However, for both males and females low affective empathy was related to frequent vs. occasional bullying. Low total empathy was related to violent bullying by males and to indirect bullying by females. Cognitive empathy was not significantly related to any type of bullying by males or females. Aggr. Behav. 32:540–550. 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Mothers' Parenting and Young Economically Disadvantaged Children's Relational and Overt Bullying

We examined links between mothers' parenting and children's relational bullying and overt bullying in a sample of children attending a Head Start program. Mothers completed surveys and face-to-face interviews. Head Start teachers completed assessments on children. Results indicated that a small percentage of children in the sample was rated by teachers as engaging in relational bullying “frequently to almost always,” and slightly over half of the sample was rated by teachers as engaging in relational bullying “occasionally to about half of the time.” Similar results were found for the frequency with which children engaged in overt physical bullying. Regarding mothers' parenting, maternal empathy was most strongly correlated with both children's relational bullying and overt physical bullying. In addition, mothers' inappropriate developmental expectations for children and mothers' need to exert power over children rather than grant them independence were related to children's relational bullying. A composite variable for mothering predicted 11% of the variance in children's relational bullying. No gender differences were found for children's relational bullying and children's overt bullying.     

Sectioned offenders presenting with enduring mental illness: a study exploring behaviors indicative of bullying

Logit and logistic regression analyses were employed to explore the nature, extent and predictors of behaviors indicative of "being bullied" and of "bullying others" in a sample of 125 adult male offender-patients sectioned for enduring mental illness and detained within a high-secure psychiatric hospital. The study addresses the lack of research into this specialized population to date, with a subsidiary aim of comparing the results directly with a previous study conducted with a population of adult male personality-disordered offender-patients (n = 53). Participants were required to complete a self-report behavioral checklist (Direct and Indirect Patient behavior Checklist-Hospital version Revised). The prediction that indirect (subtle) aggression would be reported more frequently than direct aggression was supported in relation to perpetration estimates, with evidence such aggression was also more prevalent among personality-disordered than mentally ill offender-patients. As predicted verbal aggression was the most commonly reported direct behavior. Although it was predicted that those perpetrating aggression would present with increased experience with secure settings this was only supported with regard to bully-victims. Contrary to the prediction made, those victimized did not present with less experience of secure settings. Consistent with the hypothesis, bully/victims were predicted by increased negative behavior toward staff and hospital rules. The results are discussed in relation to the environment in which the aggression is taking place with the implications for practice and future research outlined.     

The impact of aggressive priming, rumination, and frustration on prison sentencing

We tested the hypothesis that ruminating about a previous aggressive prime interacts with a subsequent minor frustration to augment aggression. Sixty participants watched a video showing a murder during a bank robbery (the aggressive prime). Those in the rumination condition were asked to write about the video for 20 min. In the no rumination condition, participants were given 20 min to complete an irrelevant task. Participants were then either frustrated or not frustrated. Our results supported the main hypothesis. Relative to the control condition, neither rumination nor frustration alone impacted aggression. Rumination, in combination with a minor frustration, however, increased the recommended prison sentence towards the targets. We discuss the implications of our findings.     

Psychiatric disorders and the use of mental health services among children involved in bullying

This study had two aims: to evaluate the relationship between bullying and psychiatric disorders and to study the probability of using mental health services among children involved in bully/victim problems. The data consisted of interviews with 423 parents and 420 children. Diagnostic measures were based on the Isle of Wight Interview. Children involved in bullying as bullies, bully‐victims, and victims were compared with other children. Children involved in bully/victim problems were more prone to have psychiatric disorders than noninvolved children. The probability of being disturbed was highest among male bullies, followed by male bully‐victims and female victims (9.5‐fold, 7.9‐fold, and 4.3‐fold, respectively) compared with noninvolved same‐sex children. The most common diagnoses among children involved in bully/victim problems were attention deficit disorder, oppositional/conduct disorder, and depression. Furthermore, children involved in bully/victim problems were more likely to have used mental health services at some time during their lives and also during the previous 3 months. Special attention should be paid to children’s mental health when dealing with bullying problems at school. Referral pathways to mental health services and factors affecting the referral processes among children should be further studied. Aggr. Behav. 27:102–110, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Beyond the reactive‐proactive dichotomy: Rage,revenge, reward,and recreational aggression predict early high school bully and bully/victim status

The role of reactive and proactive aggression in school bullying perpetration remains unclear. In this study, we explore the predictive value of an expanded model of aggression motives based on the Quadripartite Violence Typology (QVT), which distinguishes between motivational valence (appetitive or aversive) and recruitment of deliberative self‐control to derive four classes of motives: Rage, Revenge, Reward, and Recreation. With a sample of 1,802 students from grades 7–9, we assessed aggression motives via self‐report, along with self‐report of bullying perpetration and victimization, which were used to assign students into categories of Pure Bully, Bully/Victim (B/V), Pure Victim, and Uninvolved. Two structural models were computed to examine the relationship between these four categories of bullying involvement and aggression motives, using conservative and liberal bullying cutoffs. As predicted, B/V status was more strongly related to Rage and Revenge motives. However, B/Vs had higher scores than Pure Bullies for almost all aggression motives, including Recreation. We discuss the implications of addressing Revenge and Recreation, as well as Reward and Rage (which map most clearly to proactive and reactive aggression, respectively) aggression motives, for bullying prevention and intervention strategies, especially among adolescents for whom extant bullying prevention strategies may be ineffective or counterproductive.

     

Workplace Bullying and Burnout: The Moderating Effects of Social Support

This study aims to investigate the moderating effects of social support on the link between workplace bullying and burnout. This correlational study includes 222 employees recruited from various industry sectors. Participants completed the Revised Negative Acts Questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the Social Support Scale. Colleague and supervisor support moderated the relationship between both work- and person-related bullying with burnout, whereas family and senior management support moderated the links between burnout and person-related and physically intimidating bullying, respectively. High levels of emotional support were associated with greater emotional exhaustion in work-related and overall bullying. Different forms of social support moderated the links between different forms of workplace bullying and different components of burnout. The present findings may inform anti-bullying prevention programs and interventions supporting bullying victims.