Hypotheses for Possible Iatrogenic Impacts of School Bullying Prevention Programs

Feeling better now? Being defended diminishes daily mood problems and self-blame in victims of bullying

BACKGROUND

School bullying is a group phenomenon in which being defended by peer bystanders may buffer against the development of psychological problems in victims.

AIMS

This registered report examines whether being defended diminished victims' daily mood problems and self-blame, both from a within- and between-person perspective.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Daily diary data were collected from n = 1669 Finnish 7th-9th grade students (M age = 14.45; 55.5% girl) across 3 weeks. In n = 1329 out of 12,366 assessments (10.7%), students indicated that schoolmates victimized them on the day of bullying.

RESULTS

Multi-level regression analyses indicated that students reported lower depressed mood, greater positive mood and lower self-blame on days that they were victimized and defended as compared to days when they were victimized but non-defended. Effect sizes were medium for depressed mood and small for positive mood and self-blame. Repeated victims (n = 144) were less likely to blame themselves for victimization on days they were defended, which, in turn, diminished feelings of humiliation (mediation).

DISCUSSION

Our findings indicate that being defended benefits victims of bullying by mitigating mood problems, both directly and indirectly via diminished self-blame.

CONCLUSION

Anti-bullying programmes that encourage peer defending have the potential to improve victims' psychological adjustment, even on a daily basis.

Effects of the KiVa anti-bullying program on defending behavior: Investigating individual-level mechanisms of change

Given that defending victimized peers might help discourage bullying behavior and prevent its harmful consequences, various anti-bullying programs have attempted to increase defending behavior among participating children. However, the cognitions that underlie the effectiveness of interventions in increasing defending remain unknown. Data for this randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the KiVa anti-bullying program were collected in Finnish primary schools at baseline, after 5 months of implementation, and after 9 months of implementation and were used to examine the possible mediating role of seven psychological factors (empathy for the victim, feelings of responsibility to intervene, self-efficacy for defending, negative attitudes towards victims, and outcome expectations that defending would decrease or stop the bullying, be beneficial for one's status, and not increase one's risk of being victimized). Analyses conducted on a sample of 5731 children (baseline M_age = 11 years; 51% girls) revealed that the positive effects of KiVa on defending behavior after 9 months of implementation could partly be explained by the positive effects of the program on two factors (i.e., feelings of responsibility to intervene and expectations that the defending would make the bullying decrease or stop) after 5 months of implementation. This study provides information regarding the individual-level factors that anti-bullying interventions can target to successfully promote defending of victimized peers in primary schools.

Humor Styles, Bullying Victimization and Psychological School Adjustment: Mediation, Moderation and Person-Oriented Analyses

Humor can be both adaptive and maladaptive and plays a role in bullying victimization and school adjustment. It was hypothesized that humor styles decrease or increase victimization, which in turn affects school adjustment. Furthermore, humor might moderate effects of victimization on school adjustment. Moreover, a person-oriented approach could improve our understanding of group differences in these variables. An online questionnaire retrospectively surveyed emerging adults (N = 172; 77.2% female; mean age: 22.7 years) with respect to humor style use, bullying victimization and school adjustment. Mediation and moderation analyses were computed, and two sets of person-oriented analyses compared victims, bully-victims and noninvolved students on humor styles and school adjustment, and three latent humor-related groups (overall-high, adaptive-high and adaptive-low) on victimization and school adjustment. Victimization fully mediated the positive effect of affiliative humor and partially mediated the negative effect of self-defeating humor on school adjustment. The negative effect of victimization on school adjustment was magnified by self-defeating humor and attenuated by aggressive humor. Bully-victims used both aggressive and self-defeating humor more frequently, and victims used aggressive and affiliative humor less frequently. Furthermore, both victims and bully-victims showed lower school adjustment. Finally, the adaptive-high humor group showed lower victimization and higher school adjustment. Implications for school interventions are discussed.

Empirical and theoretical foundations of family interventions to reduce the incidence and mental health impacts of school bullying victimization

Bullying victimisation is a serious risk factor for mental health problems in children and adolescents. School bullying prevention programs have consistently produced small to moderate reductions in victimisation and perpetration. However, these programs do not necessarily help all students affected by bullying. Paradoxically whole-school programs lead to higher levels of depression and poorer self-esteem for students who continue to be victimised after program implementation. This may be because some elements of whole-school programs make victims more visible to their peers, thus further eroding their peer social status. Three main identified risk factors for children and adolescents who continue to be victimised following school bullying prevention programs are peer rejection, internalising problems, and lower quality parent-child relationships. All are potentially modifiable through family interventions. A large body of research demonstrates the influence of families on children's social skills, peer relationships and emotional regulation. This paper describes the theoretical foundations and empirical evidence for reducing the incidence and mental health outcomes of school bullying victimisation through family interventions. Family interventions should be available to complement school efforts to reduce bullying and improve the mental health of young people.

The Healthy Context Paradox: When Reducing Bullying comes at a Cost to Certain Victims

Bullying remains one of the most serious problems affecting school systems around the world. The negative consequences of bullying in the short and long term have been widely documented, showing that victimized students are at greater risk of suffering psychosocial distress. In this paper, we first summarize the current situation of bullying prevention, adopting a contextual perspective, and briefly highlighting the characteristics of the most effective prevention programs. Secondly, we address a disturbing phenomenon detected in classrooms where bullying has been reduced through interventions and which has been termed “the healthy context paradox”. In these healthier contexts, students who remain in a situation of victimization have been found to present poorer psychological adjustment after the intervention. Understanding the causes of this phenomenon may offer clues for the prevention of bullying. In this regard, we present three hypotheses recently proposed to explain the phenomenon. Finally, we offer some implications for the study and prevention of bullying derived from “the healthy context paradox”.

Bullying Prevention in Adolescence: Solutions and New Challenges from the Past Decade

Bullying among youth at school continues to be a global challenge. Being exposed to bullying may be especially hurtful in adolescence, a vulnerable period during which both peer group belonging and status become key concerns. In the current review, we first summarize the effectiveness of the solutions that were offered a decade ago in the form of anti-bullying programs. We proceed by highlighting some intriguing challenges concomitant to, or emerging from these solutions, focusing especially on their relevance during adolescence. These challenges are related to (1) the relatively weak, and highly variable effects of anti-bullying programs, (2) the complex associations among bullying, victimization, and social status, (3) the questions raised regarding the beneficial (or possibly iatrogenic) effects of peer defending, and (4) the healthy context paradox, that is, the phenomenon of remaining or emerging victims being worse off in contexts where the average levels of victimization decrease. We end by providing some suggestions for the next decade of research in the area of bullying prevention among adolescents.

Trends in Adolescent Online and Offline Victimization and Suicide Risk Factors

OBJECTIVE

Suicidal ideation and plans are increasing among US adolescents. Changing prevalence of online victimization is frequently hypothesized as an explanation for this increase. We tested trends in online and offline victimization and whether they contribute to recent trends in adolescent suicidal outcomes.

METHODS

Youth Risk Behavior Survey data (2011-2019, N = 73 074) were collected biennially through national cross-sectional surveys of US school-attending adolescents. We examined trends in past-year victimization. We also examined whether the relationship between victimization and past-year suicidal ideation, plans, attempts, and injury changed over time using survey-weighted logistic regressions that adjusted for sex and race and ethnicity. We also sex-stratified results to examine sex differences.

RESULTS

Although suicidal ideation and plans increased among US adolescents (mainly girls), online and offline victimization prevalence did not increase over time (offline: 20.0% in 2011, 19.5% in 2019; online: 16.2% in 2011, 15.7% in 2019). Online and offline victimization were associated with suicidal outcomes, especially co-occurring online and offline victimization (eg, adjusted odds ratio [co-occurring online and offline victimization versus none, outcome: suicidal injury] = 8.37; 95% confidence interval: 7.06-9.91). The magnitude of the associations between victimization and suicidal outcomes largely remained stable over time.

CONCLUSION

Peer victimization prevalence has not sufficiently changed over time in concert with suicidal outcomes to explain increased suicidal outcomes. The prevalence of victimization has remained relatively invariant across time despite growing awareness and programming, making online and offline victimization consistent, socially-patterned risk factors that warrant further monitoring and interventions. Research must examine risk factors beyond victimization to explain increasing suicidal outcomes.