Anchoring Bullying and Victimization in Children within a Five–Factor Model–Based Person–Centred Framework

Predicting How Well Adolescents Get Along with Peers and Teachers: A Machine Learning Approach

How well adolescents get along with others such as peers and teachers is an important aspect of adolescent development. Current research on adolescent relationship with peers and teachers is limited by classical methods that lack explicit test of predictive performance and cannot efficiently discover complex associations with potential non-linearity and higher-order interactions among a large set of predictors. Here, a transparently reported machine learning approach is utilized to overcome these limitations in concurrently predicting how well adolescents perceive themselves to get along with peers and teachers. The predictors were 99 items from four instruments examining internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, sensation-seeking, peer pressure, and parent-child conflict. The sample consisted of 3232 adolescents (M = 14.0 years, SD = 1.0 year, 49% female). Nonlinear machine learning classifiers predicted with high performance adolescent relationship with peers and teachers unlike classical methods. Using model explainability analyses at the item level, results identified influential predictors related to somatic complaints and attention problems that interacted in nonlinear ways with internalizing behaviors. In many cases, these intrapersonal predictors outcompeted in predictive power many interpersonal predictors. Overall, the results suggest the need to cast a much wider net of variables for understanding and predicting adolescent relationships, and highlight the power of a data-driven machine learning approach with implications on a predictive science of adolescence research.

Cybervictimization among secondary students: social networking time, personality traits and parental education

Background

Cyberbullying among children and adolescents is a major public health concern. However, research has not yet definitively identified the risk factors associated with cybervictimization. The purpose of this study was to determine the association of cybervictimization with use of social networks, personality traits and parental education in secondary students.

Methods

The study population consisted of 765 secondary students (56.5% girls) from Majorca (Spain) who were aged 15.99 years (grade 4). The data were from the 16 secondary school centers that participated in the ITACA Project, a multi-center, cluster randomized controlled trial. Cybervictimization was measured by the Garaigordobil Cybervictimization Scale, and the Big Five Questionnaire for Children was used to assess personality traits.

Results

Results showed that 39.9% of the students were cybervictims. Univariate analysis indicated that more girls than boys were cybervictimized (43.1% vs 35.7%). Cybervictims spent more time in social networking sites than non-victims (6 h 30 min vs. 5 h 16 min) and had greater emotional instability (0.16 vs. -0.23) and extraversion (0.11 vs. -0.09) and were less conscientious (− 0.001 vs. 0.20). Multivariable analysis indicated that social networking time was not significantly associated with cybervictimization after controlling for personality traits, but the same personality traits remained significantly associated.

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that cyberbullying is a frequent and relevant problem in adolescents. Big Five personality traits are related with cybervictimization. Possible ways to design interventions include promoting social leisure activities, encourage responsible attitudes and provide stress coping tools.

The Experience of Victimisation among Muslim Adolescents in the UK: The Effect of Psychological and Religious Factors

This study set out to explore the levels of victimisation experienced by Muslim adolescents in the UK, the extent to which victimisation is conceptualised in religious terms, and the extent to which individual differences in the experience of victimisation is related to personal factors, psychological factors and religious factors. Data provided by 335 13- to 15-year-old Muslim students from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales demonstrated that one in four Muslim students (25%) reported being bullied because of their religion. These students saw their religious identity as being a more important cause of their victimisation than their ethnicity, their colour, or their name. Male and female Muslim students were equally vulnerable to victimisation. Psychological and religious variables predicted individual differences in vulnerability to victimisation among Muslim students.

Personality and Adolescent School-Based Victimization: Do the Big Five Matter?

Self-control has provided a useful framework for understanding both offending behavior and victimization risk. As a theory of victimization, research has established that low self-control is directly related to victimization risk beyond a range of other factors. This finding raises the issue of whether other personality traits are associated with an increased risk of victimization. Using a sample of ninth-grade adolescents (N = 2,912) from the Rural Substance Abuse and Violence Project (RSVP), we tested whether the Big Five Inventory (BFI) of personality traits predicted adolescent school-based victimization above and beyond low self-control and rival explanations of victimization. The results indicate that, after controlling for risky behaviors, school attachment, and low self-control, neuroticism is positively related to victimization. This finding suggests that examining traits other than low self-control is important to capture fully what makes someone vulnerable to crime. Further, we consider the theoretical and policy implications of the findings.

Prospective associations between personality and bullying among Australian adolescents

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to examine whether high-risk personality dimensions increased susceptibility to bullying victimisation and perpetration among Australian adolescents.

METHOD

Longitudinal cohort study of 527 secondary school students in Australia (baseline average age = 13 years, 67% female and 93% Australian-born). Bullying was measured using an amended version of the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Scale. Personality was measured using the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale. The data were analysed using mixed models, examining the association between baseline personality scores and frequency of victimisation/perpetration 12 months later.

RESULTS

Baseline hopelessness and baseline impulsivity were positively associated with frequency of victimisation 12 months later. Baseline anxiety sensitivity was negatively associated with victimisation 12 months later for males. There was a positive association between baseline impulsivity and frequency of bullying perpetration 12 months later.

CONCLUSION

High-risk personality dimensions predicted later bullying victimisation and bullying perpetration among Australian adolescents. This indicates that adding a personality-focused intervention for high-risk adolescents to existing universal bullying prevention approaches may be effective in improving the prevention of bullying among adolescents, as well as reducing other associated emotional and behavioural problems.

Bidirectional Pathways between Relational Aggression and Temperament from Late Childhood to Adolescence

Relational aggression is linked to numerous adverse consequences. However, we know little about how temperament leads individuals to become perpetrators/victims of relational aggression, or how being a perpetrator/victim influences the development of temperament. We used longitudinal data from 674 Mexican-origin youth to examine relations between relational aggression and mother- and child-reported temperament from 5^th grade (M_age=10.8; SD=0.60) through 11^th grade (M_age=16.8; SD=0.50). Results show that: (a) high Negative Emotionality and low Effortful Control predicted increases in victimization; (b) low Effortful Control predicted increases in perpetration; (c) victims increased in Negative Emotionality and decreased in Effortful Control; and (d) perpetrators increased in Negative Emotionality and Surgency. Thus, temperament serves as both an antecedent to and a consequence of relational aggression.

Examining explanations for the link between bullying perpetration and physical dating violence perpetration: Do they vary by bullying victimization?

This short-term longitudinal study examined whether the association between bullying perpetration and later physical dating violence perpetration and mediators of that association (via anger, depression, anxiety, and social status), varied depending on level of bullying victimization. Differences have been noted between those who bully but are not victims of bullying, and those who are both bullies and victims. These differences may influence dating violence risk and the explanations for why bullying leads to dating violence. Data were from dating adolescents in three rural counties who completed self-administered questionnaires in the fall semester of grades 8-10 and again in the spring semester. The sample (N = 2,414) was 44.08% male and 61.31% white. Bullying perpetration in the fall semester predicted physical dating violence perpetration in the spring semester when there was no bullying victimization, but not when there was any bullying victimization. Bullying perpetration was positively associated with anger at all levels of bullying victimization and with social status when there was no or low amounts of victimization; it was negatively associated with social status at high levels of victimization. Bullying victimization was positively associated with anger, depression, and anxiety at all levels of bullying perpetration. Anger mediated the association between bullying perpetration and dating violence, regardless of level of victimization; depression, anxiety, and social status did not mediate the association at any level of bullying victimization. The findings have implications for dating violence prevention efforts and for future research on the link between bullying and dating violence.

A Review of the Direct and Interactive Effects of Life Stressors and Dispositional Traits on Youth Psychopathology

Stressors and dispositional traits have been implicated in youth psychopathology; however, the direct effects from stressors or traits alone may be insufficient for explaining maladaptive development. Evidence for the impact of stressors and dispositional traits has largely progressed within separate lines of inquiry, resulting in disunited etiological models and variable empirical support. Existing research on the concurrent effects of stressors and traits has also been hindered by several conceptual issues-including mixed evidence for specificity effects, inconsistent operationalization of stressors, and inadequate coverage of dispositional traits across development-making it difficult to draw conclusions across studies. The current review aims to unify these independent lines of inquiry by evaluating prior research according to three theoretical frameworks: (1) additive, (2) diathesis-stress, and (3) social push models. Implications for assessment, prevention, and intervention efforts in clinical child and adolescent psychopathology are discussed.

Personality, well-being, and health

A lifespan perspective on personality and health uncovers new causal pathways and provides a deeper, more nuanced approach to interventions. It is unproven that happiness is a direct cause of good health or that negative emotion, worry, and depression are significant direct causes of disease. Instead, depression-related characteristics are likely often reflective of an already-deteriorating trajectory. It is also unproven that challenging work in a demanding environment usually brings long-term health risks; on the contrary, individual strivings for accomplishment and persistent dedication to one's career or community often are associated with sizeable health benefits. Overall, a substantial body of recent research reveals that conscientiousness plays a very significant role in health, with implications across the lifespan. Much more caution is warranted before policy makers offer narrow health recommendations based on short-term or correlational findings. Attention should be shifted to individual trajectories and pathways to health and well-being.