Translating knowledge into interventions: An ‘individual by context’ approach to bullying

Boosting Resilience Attentional Bias in Previously Bullied University Students with Low Post-Traumatic Growth: A Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Study

Background/Objectives: Post-traumatic growth (PTG) has the potential to draw positive consequences from trauma. Hence, there is interest in finding ways to promote PTG. Research has identified an attentional bias towards positive resilience-related words (e.g., "persistence", "purpose") in university students who report high PTG after experiencing adversities. Although people can respond to these experiences by showing low PTG, this bias seems to help with their struggle by making purposeful contents more accessible. Therefore, boosting attentional bias towards positive resilience-related words could help people with low PTG. Methods: In this study, the participants were thirty-six university students who had experienced bullying before entering university. Using a Stroop emotional task, they identified the color of resilience and neutral words, either positive or negative, before and after being submitted to transcranial direct current stimulation. Stimulation was targeted at the right temporal area involved in intentionality processing. Results: In the anodal condition, the results support a stimulation effect on the resilience attentional bias that could benefit participants with low PTG. A significant moderation of approach motivation for this effect was also found. Specifically, only when participants had medium or high approach motivation did stimulation boost the attentional bias in students with low PTG. Conclusions: These results support that tDCS stimulation in this brain area is effective in enhancing resilience attentional bias in low-PTG students. However, for this effect to occur it is necessary to have approach motivation, which is motivation related to goals.

Supporting teachers to actively respond to bullying and to build positive relationships with their students: effects of the T-SUPPORT training

Despite the central role that teachers can have in preventing and reducing bullying, they often feel insecure about how to deal with bullying. This study evaluated a short teacher training - called the Teachers SUPporting POsitive RelaTionships (T-SUPPORT) training - that aims to reduce bullying by supporting teachers in building positive teacher-student relationships and in actively dealing with bullying. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the T-SUPPORT training resulted in higher quality teacher-student relationships, and more active and less passive responses to bullying incidents, and whether these improvements in turn resulted in lower levels of bullying victimization. In a Randomized Controlled Trial 10 Belgian primary schools were randomly assigned to an intervention or control condition. The Grades 4-6 teachers of the five schools in the intervention condition received the three-session school-based training; control teachers received no intervention. Grade 4-6 students (N = 964; 55 classrooms) in these schools completed questionnaires at pre- and post-test. In contrast to the hypotheses, results of the two-level linear mixed model analyses revealed no significant effect of the training on teacher-student relationship quality, teachers' responses to bullying and bullying victimization. Yet, higher quality teacher-student relationships and more active teacher responses to bullying were significantly associated with less bullying victimization, whereas more passive responses were linked with more victimization. The latter findings are in line with theorizing and research on the role that teachers can play in reducing bullying.

Teachers' bullying-related cognitions as predictors of their responses to bullying among students

BACKGROUND

Teachers may play a key role in reducing bullying by responding to incidents among students. Inspired by the theory of planned behaviour, several studies have investigated teachers' bullying-related cognitions as predictors of their responses to bullying.

AIMS

This study investigated whether six teachers' bullying-related cognitions (i.e., perceived seriousness, empathy, attitudes, self-efficacy and attribution of the bullying) predicted five student-perceived teachers' responses (i.e., Non-Intervention, Disciplinary Methods, Victim Support, Mediation and Group Discussion) over time. By examining this objective, more insight into student perceptions of teachers' responses to bullying could also be provided.

SAMPLE

In total, 999 upper elementary school students (M _age  = 10.61 at Wave 1, SD _age  = .90; 53.6% girls) and their 59 teachers (M _age  = 39.61 at W1, SD _age  = 11.60; 79.7% female) participated.

METHODS

A bullying questionnaire was administered in three waves to assess students' perceptions of the teachers' responses. Teachers reported bullying-related cognitions in the first wave. Multilevel analyses were used to investigate the relative contribution of the predictors on the teachers' responses over time.

RESULTS

None of the teachers' bullying-related cognitions significantly predicted the teachers' specific responses.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that teachers' bullying-related cognitions are not reflected in their responses to bullying as perceived by students. Moreover, the findings indicate that students' perceptions of teachers' responses vary widely within classrooms and over time. Student- and teacher-reported teachers' responses might differ, and these possible differences should be taken into account.

Cyberbullying and Cyber Victimization as Online Risks for Children and Adolescents

Abstract. Cyberbullying is one example of a psychosocial developmental phenomenon caused by mediatization, a meta-process that increasingly shapes everyday practices and social relationships via mediating technologies and media organizations. Research on cyberbullying started less than two decades ago and has grown exponentially during the last few years. Despite the large body of evidence, the research field still is in its “forming” phase, and there are still major topics of debate. The main goal of this paper is to discuss some of the major challenges, identify major research gaps, and give some directions for future research. Summarizing the main findings from meta-analyses and systematic reviews, topics like definition and measurement, theoretical perspectives, risk and protective factors, developmental patterns, as well as prevention and intervention of cyberbullying and cyber victimization are discussed, and promising avenues for future research are outlined.

HEXACO personality correlates of adolescents' involvement in bullying situations

Adolescents' involvement in bullying situations is—at least partially—personality trait‐activated. Although some studies investigated personality correlates of bullying and being victimized, little is known about personality correlates of bystander responses (i.e., reinforcing, outsider behavior, indirect defending, and direct defending). The present study investigated whether Dutch adolescents' self‐reported HEXACO personality traits could explain their peer‐reported involvement in bullying (N = 552; M_age = 13.4 years, SD = 0.8 years). The results show that bullying was negatively related to honesty‐humility, emotionality, agreeableness (for boys specifically), and openness, whereas reinforcing was only negatively related to honesty‐humility and openness. Conversely, direct defending and outsider behavior were positively related to honesty‐humility, emotionality, and openness, whereas indirect defending was only positively related to emotionality and openness. Furthermore, reinforcing was positively related to extraversion (for boys only), whereas outsider behavior was negatively related extraversion and positively to conscientiousness. Finally, being victimized was positively related to emotionality and negatively to extraversion. These findings contribute to our understanding of the heterogeneity in adolescents' involvement in bullying and fit the view of bullying and defending as strategic and goal‐directed behavior. Implications for bullying prevention programs are discussed.

Perceived Teacher Responses to Bullying Influence Students' Social Cognitions

Teachers’ responses to bullying incidents are key in bullying intervention at school. Scholars have suggested that teacher responses can predict student cognitions that are associated with their bullying behaviors. However, little is known about whether and how teacher responses affect these cognitions. Therefore, the current study investigated the effects of four immediate teacher responses on four bullying-related student cognitions, using an experimental vignette design. Additionally, it was examined whether students’ own participant role behaviors in actual bullying moderated these effects. The investigated teacher responses were non-response, comforting the victim, correcting the bully, and a combination of comforting the victim and correcting the bully. The investigated student cognitions were perceived teacher attitudes toward bullying, perceived teacher moral disengagement regarding bullying, student willingness to report bullying to the teacher and student expectations regarding bullying participant role behaviors in the classroom. Fourth-to-sixth grade students (N = 910; 47% boys; M_age = 11.04 years, SD = 0.91) read a vignette describing a hypothetical teacher’s response to a same bullying incident, following random assignment to one of eight conditions (i.e., four teacher responses × two genders of bully and victim in the vignette). Afterward, students completed questionnaires about their social cognitions and manipulation checks. ANOVA demonstrated that students perceived stronger teacher anti-bullying attitudes and less teacher moral disengagement when the hypothetical teacher displayed an active response. These effects were even stronger when the teacher corrected the bully compared to when only the victim was comforted. Further, students were more willing to report bullying when the teacher corrected the bully than when the teacher only comforted the victim. Finally, students expected less pro-bullying behaviors, more defending and less victimization in the vignette’s classroom following active teacher response compared to non-response. The effects of teacher responses on student cognitions were not moderated by students’ own participant roles in bullying. Taken together, these findings emphasize the importance of active teacher responses to bullying, and especially, responses that clearly show that bullying is not tolerated. Teachers are encouraged to be aware that students can deduce beliefs from teacher responses which can, in turn, affect bullying processes in the classroom.