Personal and interpersonal correlates of bullying behaviors among Korean middle school students

Non-angry aggressive arousal and angriffsberietschaft: A narrative review of the phenomenology and physiology of proactive/offensive aggression motivation and escalation in people and other animals

Human aggression typologies largely correspond with those for other animals. While there may be no non-human equivalent of angry reactive aggression, we propose that human proactive aggression is similar to offense in other animals' dominance contests for territory or social status. Like predation/hunting, but unlike defense, offense and proactive aggression are positively reinforcing, involving dopamine release in accumbens. The drive these motivational states provide must suffice to overcome fear associated with initiating risky fights. We term the neural activity motivating proactive aggression "non-angry aggressive arousal", but use "angriffsberietschaft" for offense motivation in other animals to acknowledge possible differences. Temporal variation in angriffsberietschaft partitions fights into bouts; engendering reduced anti-predator vigilance, redirected aggression and motivational over-ride. Increased aggressive arousal drives threat-to-attack transitions, as in verbal-to-physical escalation and beyond that, into hyper-aggression. Proactive aggression and offense involve related neural activity states. Cingulate, insular and prefrontal cortices energize/modulate aggression through a subcortical core containing subnuclei for each aggression type. These proposals will deepen understanding of aggression across taxa, guiding prevention/intervention for human violence.

Cyberbullying Perpetration Among Chinese Adolescents: The Role of Power Imbalance, Fun-seeking Tendency, and Attitude Toward Cyberbullying

The imbalance of power affords individuals to bully others. However, limited studies have explored the specific aspects of power imbalance in predicting cyberbullying. Furthermore, a fun-seeking tendency as a motive for cyberbullying and attitudes toward cyberbullying as cognitive stimuli have rarely been studied in relation to mediating the associations between power imbalance and cyberbullying in an integrated framework. This study aims to narrow these research gaps. Multistage cluster random sampling was employed to recruit a total of 1103 adolescents (52.5% females) ranging in age from 12 to 18 years. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that proficiency in technology use is not only directly and positively associated with cyberbullying but also indirectly associated with cyberbullying via fun-seeking tendency. Although social status among peers had no direct effect on cyberbullying, the indirect effects of social status among peers on cyberbullying via the fun-seeking tendency and attitude toward cyberbullying were significant. Notably, physical power was neither directly associated with cyberbullying nor through the fun-seeking tendency or attitude toward cyberbullying in associating with cyberbullying. Implications of these findings for developing effective interventions are discussed.

Spillover of Workplace Bullying Into Family Incivility: Testing a Mediated Moderation Model in a Time-Lagged Study

Utilizing temporally segregated field data from a sample of nurses (n = 251), the present study examined the relationship between workplace bullying and family incivility. We drew on spillover theory and the emotions literature to answer our research questions. We hypothesized that emotions would serve as an explanatory mechanism for the relationship between workplace bullying and family incivility. We further tested the moderating role of neuroticism on the relationship between emotions and family incivility. Our results indicated that workplace bullying triggered negative emotions, which in turn caused family incivility. Moreover, neuroticism moderated the positive relationship between emotions and family incivility.

Bullying Victimization Among Left-Behind Children in Rural China: Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors

Bullying victimization among Chinese school-aged children has recently been recognized as a serious problem. However, studies on the prevalence and correlates of bullying victimization among left-behind children-whose parents live and work in urban areas while they remain at home in a rural area-have fallen far behind. We conducted a study based on one representative sample of 742 left-behind children in Grades 6 to 10 from rural China in 2010. The results indicate that a total of 31.6% of the left-behind children report recurrent bullying victimization, which is higher than that of their rural counterparts who live with their parents. Furthermore, left-behind children who experience bullying victimization are more likely to report being drunk frequently, poorer peer and family relationships, and academic problems. Future bullying prevention and intervention programs should be designed to meet the special needs of left-behind children.

Perceived friend support buffers against symptoms of depression in peer victimized adolescents: Evidence from a population-based cohort in South Korea

BACKGROUND

Peer victimization is associated with an increased risk for depression, but there is less evidence on how certain factors such as friend support can buffer this association. This study investigated the associations between friend support and depressive symptoms among victimized and non-victimized adolescent girls and boys from South Korea.

METHODS

Participants includes 2258 students from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey, a nationally representative sample of middle school students in South Korea. Self-reported perceived friend support, depressive symptoms and peer victimization were measured using validated scales during middle school year 3 (mean age= 15.7 years).

RESULTS

The association between peer victimization and depressive symptoms varied by sex (p for sex by peer victimization interaction<0.05). Peer victimization was more strongly associated with same year depressive symptoms in girls (β=0.55) than boys (β=0.24). After controlling for key confounders, including prior year mental health symptoms, higher levels of friend support were found to attenuate the association between peer victimization and depressive symptoms (p for friend support by peer victimization interaction <0.05). Peer victimization was associated with more depressive symptoms for adolescents with low and moderate friend support, but not those with high friend support.

LIMITATIONS

Peer victimization, depressive symptoms, and friend support, were self-reported and measured the same year.

CONCLUSIONS

Friend support protects victimized South Korean adolescents from the negative effect of peer victimization on depressive symptoms, hence contributes to closing the gap in depression between victimized and non-victimized adolescents.

Gender-sensitive school environment and bullying victimization among adolescent girls: A multilevel study in Nepal

BACKGROUND

Bullying is an understudied global social problem. While school-level factors are a recognized influence on bullying victimization, the elements of a 'girl-friendly' school that may reduce the risk of bullying victimization among girls and prevent dropout is understudied in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study used baseline data from the evaluation of the Room-to-Read (RtR) Girls' Education Program (GEP) in Nepal to assess the relationship of a conceptually grounded gender-equitable school (GES) index with girls' risk of direct and relational bullying victimization, adjusted for potential confounders at the individual and school levels.

METHODS

The school sample included all 24 RtR GEP schools and 25 community schools attended by girls in a comparison cohort, representing 729 grade six girls with complete outcome data. We employed multilevel negative binomial regression to assess the relationship between the GES score (higher scores indicate greater support for girls), and girls' risk of peer victimization, controlling for individual- and school-level covariates.

RESULTS

On average, girls reported 2.84 direct victimizations and 0.27 relational victimizations in the prior week. The first component of the GES index, a generalized measure of school-level support for girls, showed a significant negative relationship with weekly relational bullying victimization in models with all school- and individual-level covariates. In the full model, a one-point higher score on the generalized GES component accounted for a 26% lower risk of relational bullying victimization in the prior week.

CONCLUSION

School-level policies, practices, and pedagogy designed to support girls may reduce their exposure to relational aggression, a form of bullying that girls most often perpetrate. In LMICs, the school may be an ideal place to raise awareness about the types and effects of peer bullying and to promote prosocial bystander behavior. Further research is needed to identify factors related to other forms of bullying.

Rural-to-Urban Migration, Strain, and Bullying Perpetration: The Mediating Role of Negative Emotions, Attitude Toward Bullying, and Attachment to School

Based on an integrated general strain theory, this study involved testing negative emotions (i.e., anxiety and depression), a social learning variable (i.e., attitude toward bullying), and a social control variable (i.e., attachment to school) as possible mediators of the strain-bullying relationship. A group comparison was also conducted to examine possible differences between migrant and non-migrant children. Data used in the study were derived from a questionnaire survey with a school-based multistage random sample of 1,666 children in Grades 4 to 9 in Nanjing and Guangzhou, China. Structural equation modeling and group comparison were performed with AMOS 25.0 to test the hypothesized model. The findings indicated that attitude toward bullying and attachment to school but not negative emotions mediated the strain-bullying relationship. The results also revealed that the mediation model was applicable to both migrant and non-migrant children, albeit with significant differences in certain paths within the model. The study's framework bridged the integrated general strain theory and its typical emphasis on crime or delinquency with the pervasive behavior of school bullying in the context of Chinese rural-to-urban migration. Implications for theory and practice were discussed.

Innovations in Human Resources Management: Instruments to Eliminate Mobbing

Mobbing in employees’ relationships is a widely researched and analyzed problem, and the concept is still developing. The deliberations mostly concentrate on negative aspects associated with this phenomenon, e.g., deterioration of the relationships between employees, devastating consequences for victims, deterioration of the company’s performance and image. The research on what managerial solutions can help reduce or eliminate the problem is still, however, not very abundant. Also, though many studies confirm the existence of this phenomenon in different sectors of the economy, there is not so much research on mobbing in relationships between employees in the leisure sector organizations. What is equally important, the dysfunction of relationships between employees includes the factors that have a significant impact not only on the quality of communication but also on the services provided in the organizations providing services. Given this fact, this study deals with the prevalence of mobbing in relationships between employees of the leisure sector organizations, distinguishing the most frequent forms of psychological pressure, and shaping the managerial solutions to eliminate the problem. The results of the qualitative research are presented using a semi-structured interview method. The research sample comprises employees of the Lithuanian hotels. The qualitative data analysis was performed using Emic and Etic approaches. The results achieved show that the dynamics of mobbing in the leisure sector organizations can be related to the economic recession, when the number of customers has decreased, corporate earnings shrunk. It affected the staff policy of organizations; it also shows that the relationship between the employees forming within organizations is significantly exposed to external circumstances, the influence of which could be compensated by the change in personnel policy. The originality of this article is presupposed by the fact that a complex, versatile model of managerial solutions designed to eliminate the phenomenon of mobbing is presented as the main result of the studies carried out. Using the proposed model, the practitioners will be able to look at the phenomenon of mobbing from a different angle, and researchers analyzing destructive relationships between the employees will be able to develop strategies of prevention and intervention of mobbing in relationships between employees based on the model. Keywords: mobbing, employee relations, human resource management, managerial solutions, qualitative methods, Lithuania.

Effect of education based on socio-ecological theory on bullying in students: an educational study

Background

Bullying and victimization behaviors are a serious problem for students, peers, parents, and school teachers. These behaviors usually persist and cause communication problems.

Objective

To determine the effect of education based on the socio-ecological theory on bullying in students.

Methods

This educational study was of the field-trial type, and carried out on 237 middle school students in Gonabad City (Iran), from September 2015 to May 2016. The intervention group consisted of 147 students, and 90 were assigned to a control group. The intervention (Five sessions of bullying and victimization were discussed) based socio-ecological theory at two levels: individual level and interpersonal level. The intervention was carried out on the students, their parents, and school teachers in two schools. To this end, the multi-stage random sampling was done. Prior to the intervention, the Illinois questionnaire as well as a researcher-made questionnaire was completed. The researcher-made questionnaire included demographic characteristics with regard to living with both parents, one parent or no parents (a guardian) and questions about bullying behaviors in the family as well as about knowledge and attitudes towards bullying. Subsequently, the questionnaire was completed by the students one month and six months after the intervention. The data was analyzed by IBM-SPSS version 21, using ANOVA, multiple regression, repeated measures, Chi-square, and Man-Whitney U test.

Results

The findings showed that there was no significant difference between the mean attitude of the students before and after training. However, the mean score of bullying behaviors in the experimental group was significantly reduced one month after the intervention, but it increased after six months. Moreover, there was a significant difference in terms of bullying behaviors between the intervention and control groups (p=0.0001). Furthermore, a significant relationship was found between the mothers’ education level and the students’ bullying behaviors (p=0.009

Conclusion

Bullying is an important problem that affects schools and influences the academic and social capabilities of students. In this regard, the role of educators is the most important, and education on the basis of the socio-ecological model was proved to be effective in reducing bullying. Therefore, educational intervention should be taken at two levels of school and family.

From victim to victimizer: Hostility, anger, and depression as mediators of the bullying victimization-bullying perpetration association

The principal aim of this study was to test one cognitive (i.e., hostility) and two emotional (anger and depression) variables as possible mediators of the well-documented association between bullying victimization and bullying perpetration. Using data from the Illinois Study of Bullying and Sexual Violence (ISBSV), a sample of 718 pre-adolescent/early adolescent children (343 boys and 375 girls) provided self-report data in three waves, with six months between waves. Consistent with predictions, hostility and depression correlated equally well with prior bullying victimization but only hostility successfully mediated the relation between prior bullying victimization and subsequent bullying perpetration. Like hostility, anger successfully predicted bullying perpetration but unlike hostility it failed to mediate the victimization-perpetration association. Knowing that hostility provides a link between bullying victimization and bullying perpetration has both theoretical and practical implications. With respect to theory, the current results are largely consistent with the control model of criminal lifestyle development. From the standpoint of practice, intervention programs designed to address the cognitive construct of hostility, which appears to serve as a conduit through which bullying victimization leads to bullying perpetration, may not only help bullied children cope with the trauma of victimization but may also disrupt the victim to victimizer cycle responsible for creating an ever-expanding supply of new bullies.

Bullying involvement of Korean children in Germany and in Korea

This study compared bullying involvement of Korean or Korean-German children living in Germany with children in Korea, and examined children’s perceptions of school environment associated with bullying involvement of the children. This study included 105 Korean or Korean-German children living in the Bayern State of Germany as the study sample and 95 Korean children in Gyeongnam Province of Korea as the control group. Korean children in Germany were significantly less likely to be exposed to and less likely to be engaged in bullying behaviors than those in Korea, except relational bullying. Overall 21.0% of Korean or Korean-German children were being bullied and 18.1% of children were bullying peers in Germany, whereas 33.7% of children were exposed to being bullied and 35.8% of children were involved in bullying peers in Korea. Children’s perceptions of school environment as being more favorable were significantly associated with decreased bullying involvement of children. Policy implications were suggested based on the findings.

Clinical characteristics and precipitating factors of adolescent suicide attempters admitted for psychiatric inpatient care in South Korea

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to examine the rates, correlates, methods, and precipitating factors of suicide attempts among adolescent patients admitted for psychiatric inpatient care from 1999 to 2010 in a university hospital in Korea.

METHODS

The subjects consisted of 728 patients who were admitted for psychiatric inpatient care in a university hospital over a 12-year period and who were aged 10-19 years at the time of admission. We retrospectively investigated the information on suicidal behaviors and other clinical information by reviewing the subjects' electronic medical records. Whether these patients had completed their suicide on 31 December 2010 was determined by a link to the database of the National Statistical Office.

RESULTS

Among 728 subjects, 21.7% had suicidal ideation at admission, and 10.7% admitted for suicidal attempts. Female gender, divorced/widowed parents, and the presence of mood disorders were associated with a significantly increased likelihood of suicide attempts. Most common method of suicide attempts was cutting, and most common reason for suicide attempts was relationship problems within the primary support group. A diagnosis of schizophrenia was associated with increased risk of death by suicide after discharge.

CONCLUSION

These results highlight the role of specific psychosocial factor (e.g., relational problems) and psychiatric disorders (e.g., mood disorders) in the suicide attempts of Korean adolescents, and the need for effective prevention strategies for adolescents at risk for suicide.

A review of bullying prevention and intervention in South Korean schools: an application of the social-ecological framework

School bullying is a serious social problem that results in potentially severe and long lasting consequences for youth, parents, teachers, and school officials. Commensurate with the serious nature and outcomes of bullying, there has been a number of bullying prevention and intervention programs and measures in schools. The current review provides a synthesis and evaluation of the existing research on bullying prevention and intervention strategies in South Korean schools, set within Bronfenbrenner's social-ecological contexts, including the micro- (i.e., family, peer, school), meso- (i.e., family-school), and macro- (i.e., religion, policies) systems. We also discuss the strengths and limitations of the research reviewed and provide directions for future research focusing on major empirical gaps in the literature on bullying prevention and intervention strategies in South Korea.

The consequences of maltreatment on children's lives: a systematic review of data from the East Asia and Pacific Region

This study explores the consequences of child maltreatment in East Asia and the Pacific region based on the results of a systematic review of 16 English and non-English databases for journal articles and "gray" literature published between January 2001 and November 2010. This review shows that children in the region experiencing maltreatment are at increased risk of experiencing mental health consequences, physical health sequelae, high-risk sexual behaviors, and increased exposure to future violence including intimate partner violence (IPV) as an adult. Children who suffer from child sexual abuse have a median twofold increased risk of experiencing mental health disorders than those who have never experienced child maltreatment.  Similar findings were found for those who experience physical abuse.  Children who have been maltreated in the region are also at an increased risk of suicide ideation and attempts than those that have experienced child sexual or physical abuse being at a median fourfold increased risk. Children who have experienced physical abuse or those who have witnessed parental domestic abuse as a child are at median twofold increased risk of experiencing IPV as an adult, while children who have been sexually abused have a median threefold increase in risk of IPV later in life. There are still gaps in our understanding of the consequences of child maltreatment, but we do know that the consequences are profound and far-reaching. The findings indicate that there is an urgent need for governments, civil society organizations, development agencies, and academia to advocate for, invest in, and collaborate across sectors for the strengthening of child protection systems in the East Asia and Pacific Region, with a focus on evidence-based child maltreatment prevention policies and programs.

Functions of parental involvement and effects of school climate on bullying behaviors among South Korean middle school students

This study uses an ecological systems theory to understand bullying behavior. Emphasis is given to overcome limitations found in the literature, such as very little empirical research on functions of parental involvement and the impacts of school climate on bullying as an outcome variable. Two functions of parental involvement investigated are (a) bridging the negative experiences within the family with bullying behaviors at schools, and (b) influencing school climate. Bullying behaviors were measured by a modified Korean version of Olweus' bully/victim questionnaire (reliability range: .78-.84) from 1,238 randomly selected Korean middle school students in 2007. Findings from structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses showed that (a) individual traits are one of the most important influence on bullying, (b) negative experiences in the family do not have direct influence on bullying behaviors at school, (c) parental involvement influences school climate, and (d) positive school climate was negatively related to bullying behaviors.

Youth victimization: school climate or deviant lifestyles?

Despite much focus on school violence, there has been little research that explores the relationship between offending and victimization in various school climates. School climate theory suggests that the school's social system, culture, milieu, and ecological structure affect student outcomes including academic performance, delinquency, and more recently, victimization. Hierarchical analysis of data from 5,037 11th-grade students in 33 schools found that offending behavior was the strongest predictor for both minor and more serious forms of victimization. School climate, specifically the social cohesion of schools, reduced serious violent victimization risk. However, school climate did not affect the relationship between offending and victimization, and was not substantially modified when characteristics of the school environment were considered.

An ecological systems approach to bullying behaviors among middle school students in the United States

The aim of this study is to identify an ecological prediction model of bullying behaviors. Based on an ecological systems theory, this study identifies significant factors influencing bullying behaviors at different levels of middle and high school. These levels include the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem. More specifically, the ecological factors investigated in this multilevel analysis are individual traits, family experiences, parental involvement, school climate, and community characteristics. Using data collected in 2008 from 485 randomly selected students in a school district, this study identifies a best-fitting structural model of bullying behavior. Findings suggest that the ecological model accounted for a high portion of variance in bullying behaviors. All of the ecological systems as well as individual traits were found to be significant influences on bullying behaviors either directly or indirectly.

Bullying in middle school: results from a 2008 survey

A survey conducted in 2008 among 346 American middle school students in several cities determined that 82.7% of respondents found bullying to be a problem of some degree, with 46.0% rating it a "medium", "bad", or "very bad" problem. It was found that 89% had witnessed an act of bullying and 49.1% said they had been the victim of a bully. Boys were significantly more likely than girls to say that a victim deserved to be bullied (11.1% vs. 1.3%, p = 0.01), whereas girls were significantly more likely than boys to fail to intervene because they did not know what to do (30.3% for girls vs. 11.1%, p < 0.01). There was no significant difference in this study between boys and girls in terms of being a bully: 43.6% admitted they had bullied another (46.2% boys, 41.1% girls, p = 0.34); however, girls were significantly more likely than boys to bully by excluding others and gossiping about them than by hitting, teasing, or threatening. Cyberbullying, surveyed as a distinct entity, had affected 31.1% of respondents directly, with similar results from 2006 to 2007 surveys. Of those who found conventional bullying a "bad" or "very bad" problem at their schools, numbers fell from 17.3% in 2006-2007 vs. 11.3% in 2008.