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The aim of the present study was to examine whether the effect of empathy on the role children play in bullying situations, as either bullies, defenders or outsiders, was moderated by children's social status within their classroom, and whether this moderation was gender dependent. For this purpose, we used a representative sample of 2,050 Spanish primary school children (50.80% girls) from grades 3-6 (M age = 9.80 years; SD = 1.24), recruited from 27 primary schools. Results showed that the effect of empathy on bullying behavior was moderated by the sociometric rating only in girls. Both empathy and social rating had an effect on defending behavior. However, neither the children's sociometric rating nor their gender moderated the relationship between empathy and defending and outsider behaviors. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for interventions designed to prevent bullying in school settings., (© 2018 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to build and test a model outlining the factors related to workplace bullying among nurses. The hypothesized model included authentic leadership and a relationship-oriented organizational culture as influencing factors, symptom experience and turnover intention as consequences, and positive psychological capital as a mediator of workplace bullying among nurses., Methods: We obtained structured questionnaire data from 301 nurses working at hospitals in South Korea. Based on these data, the developed model was verified via a structural equation modeling analysis using SPSS and AMOS program., Results: The fit indices of the hypothesized model satisfied recommended levels; χ 2  = 397.58 (p < .001), normed χ 2 (χ 2 /df) = 1.82, RMR = .05, TLI = .93, CFI = .94, RMSEA = .05. A relationship-oriented organizational culture had a direct effect on workplace bullying (β = -.48, p < .001). Furthermore, workplace bullying had a direct effect on symptom experience (β = .36, p < .001), and this relationship was mediated by positive psychological capital (β = .15, p = .003). Workplace bullying also had an indirect effect on turnover intention (β = .20, p = .007). Finally, symptom experience had a direct effect on turnover intention (β = .31, p = .002)., Conclusion: These results suggest that workplace bullying among nurses may be prevented by constructing a relationship-oriented organizational culture, as long as employees have sufficient positive psychological capital. In this regard, workplace bullying among nurses should be addressed using a comprehensive strategy that considers both individual and organizational factors., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Objective: To examine the associations between body image (actual and self-perceived weight status; feelings about appearance) and health outcomes (overall health, life satisfaction, and mental health) and between body image and experiences of being bullied., Methods: Participants included 8,303 children from 7th to 10th grade in the Health Behavior of School-Aged Children (HBSC) 2009-2010 data set, a large-scale sample in the United States. Several multiple linear regressions (with health outcomes as dependent variables) and multivariate logistic regressions (with being bullied or not as dependent variable) were conducted to investigate the associations between each dependent variable and the following independent variables: relationship with parents, frustration with appearance, and actual and self-perceived weight status., Results: Self-perceived underweight, self-perceived overweight (OW), and frustration with appearance were positively associated with being bullied. Frustration with appearance was a risk factor, while good relationship with parents was a protective factor, especially for psychological health outcomes. Self-perceived OW had a stronger association with the experience of being bullied than actual OW. The relationship between actual OW and being bullied might be attenuated when self-perceived OW is simultaneously considered., Conclusions: Body image may be an important factor in the association between weight status and the experience of being bullied., (© 2017 The Obesity Society.)

Purpose: To investigate the prevalence of various types of bullying victimization among adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and examine the effects of victimization on the mental health of adolescents with ASD., Methods: The sample was collected from the Special Needs Education Longitudinal Study (SNELS) database released in 2011. Variables comprising seven psychological distress (PD) items and four types of bullying victimization and family-, school-, and peer-related factors were included in a multivariate regression analysis., Results: Exclusion and verbal bullying were most frequently reported, 72.4% of students with ASD experiencing exclusion bullying and 66% of them experiencing verbal bullying. Among the victims, delayed bedtime, use of medication, and conflicts with parents significantly increased PD. By contrast, good relationships with parents and friends and liking school environments relieved PD symptoms. Furthermore, delayed bedtime after 12 a.m. enhanced the effects of exclusion victimization on PD in the participants., Conclusions: Our results indicated that bullying victimization among adolescents with ASD was a risk factor for their psychological well-being. Nevertheless, good parent-adolescent and interpeer relationships improved their mental health. Our results can serve as a reference in implementing strategies for motivating parents and teachers to pay more attention to the needs of adolescents with ASD. Implications for Rehabilitation More than 80% of adolescents with autism experience at least one type of bullying victimization. Bullying victimization attributes to a major factor influencing mental health of adolescents with autism. Good parent-adolescent and interpeer relationships can play beneficial roles in improving mental health of the adolescents.

Bullying and cyberbullying are highly prevalent in today's society. However, the personality profiles of different roles involved in this phenomenon remain little known. This study aims (1) to examine the association between bullying and cyberbullying in adolescents; and (2) to analyze the relationship between bullying and cyberbullying in terms of the domains and facets of the five-factor model (FFM). A total of 910 adolescents aged 12 to 19 years old participated. They were administered self-report assessments of aggression and victimization in bullying and cyberbullying, as well as the JS-NEO-S questionnaire. The results provide evidence of co-occurrence between bullying and cyberbullying (p < .001). We observed higher neuroticism in victims and aggressor-victims, higher openness in victims, higher agreeableness in victims and non-aggressor non-victims and higher conscientiousness in non-aggressor non-victims as compared with the rest of the groups (p < .001). Comparison of the four cyberbullying groups showed that cybervictims score higher in neuroticism and openness, cybervictims and non-cybervictims non-cyberaggressors score higher in agreeableness and non-cybervictims non-cyberaggressors score higher in conscientiousness (p < .001) In conclusion, this study provides a broad, systematic view of the personality traits associated with different roles implicated in traditional bullying and cyberbullying.

Even though several youth fatal suicides have been linked with school victimization, there is lack of evidence on whether cyberbullying victimization causes students to adopt suicidal behaviors. To investigate this issue, I use exogenous state-year variation in cyberbullying laws and information on high school students from the Youth Risk Behavioral Survey within a bivariate probit framework, and complement these estimates with matching techniques. I find that cyberbullying has a strong impact on all suicidal behaviors: it increases suicidal thoughts by 14.5 percentage points and suicide attempts by 8.7 percentage points. Even if the focus is on statewide fatal suicide rates, cyberbullying still leads to significant increases in suicide mortality, with these effects being stronger for men than for women. Since cyberbullying laws have an effect on limiting cyberbullying, investing in cyberbullying-preventing strategies can improve individual health by decreasing suicide attempts, and increase the aggregate health stock by decreasing suicide rates., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

There are growing concerns about the impact of digital technologies on children's emotional well-being, particularly regarding fear, anxiety, and depression. The 2 mental health categories of anxiety and depression will be discussed together because there is significant symptom overlap and comorbidity. Early research has explored the impact of traditional media (eg, television, movies) on children's acute fears, which can result in anxieties and related sleep disturbances that are difficult to remedy. More recent research deals with the interactive nature of newer media, especially social media, and their impacts on anxiety and depression. Key topics of inquiry include the following: anxiety and depression associated with technology-based negative social comparison, anxiety resulting from lack of emotion-regulation skills because of substituted digital media use, social anxiety from avoidance of social interaction because of substituted digital media use, anxiety because of worries about being inadequately connected, and anxiety, depression, and suicide as the result of cyberbullying and related behavior. A growing body of research confirms the relationship between digital media and depression. Although there is evidence that greater electronic media use is associated with depressive symptoms, there is also evidence that the social nature of digital communication may be harnessed in some situations to improve mood and to promote health-enhancing strategies. Much more research is needed to explore these possibilities., Competing Interests: POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors have indicated they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.)

This study examines ethnic differences in the prevalence of bullying victimization by peers as well as the associations between bullying victimization and psychological distress with relevant ecological factors including parental supervision, school support, and community safety. The study utilized the 2011-2012 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) Adolescents Data, which was collected in the United States using a multi-stage stratified sampling design with a Random Digit-Dial method. The final study sample contained a total of 2367 adolescents, comprised of 48.7% Whites, followed by 35.8% Latinos, 11.1% Asians, and 4.4% African Americans. About 49.3% were males with an overall mean age of 14.6 (sd = 1.7). Results showed that there were significant differences in rates of bullying victimization among the four surveyed ethnic subgroups of adolescents. Black adolescents reported the highest and Asian adolescents the lowest level of victimization. The results of the SEM test using the calibration sample revealed an adequate fit to the data (CFI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.04, Δχ 2 /Δdf = 2.99). Separate model tests with the four subgroups of adolescents revealed good fits with the subsample data with the exception of the subsample of African Americans. Additionally, results show that factors associated with psychological distress vary widely among the White, Latino and Asian subgroups., (Copyright © 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Research has established that long-term exposure to peer victimization is associated with higher levels of emotional and behavioral maladjustment. Yet, relatively little is known regarding predictors of stable versus declining victimization across extended periods of time. To fill this knowledge gap, the present study used latent growth curve modeling to examine the separate and unique contributions of 3 early social behaviors in 2nd grade (aggression, anxious solitude, and prosocial behavior) to victimization across 2nd to 8th grade. Five hundred and 76 youth (M = 7.96 years, SD = .34) reported their level of exposure to victimization once a year from 2nd to 8th grade, and their teachers rated each youth on the 3 social behaviors in 2nd grade. When examined separately, the analyses revealed that (a) all 3 social behaviors contributed to 2nd-grade victimization; (b) anxious solitude and prosocial behavior contributed to the trajectory of victimization differently for boys and girls; and (c) aggression and anxious solitude contributed to significantly different levels of 8th-grade victimization in girls. Of interest, some effects were stronger in boys during elementary school and others were stronger in girls after the transition to middle school. When examined simultaneously, aggression remained the only significant predictor of 2nd-grade victimization; both anxious solitude and prosocial behavior uniquely predicted the trajectory of victimization, and aggression and anxious solitude uniquely predicted 8th-grade victimization in girls. Results are discussed with regard to prevention of prolonged victimization, with attention to gender differences. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

Background: Negative peer experiences may lead adolescents with overweight and obesity to be less active and engage in more sitting-related behaviors. Our study is among the first to empirically test these associations and hypothesized that 1) peer victimization would mediate the negative association between body weight status and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and 2) peer victimization would mediate the positive association between body weight status and screen time. Differences by gender were also explored., Methods: Participants were a part of the Year 1 data (2012-2013) from the COMPASS study, a prospective cohort study of high school students in Ontario and Alberta, Canada. The final sample consisted of 18,147 students in grades 9 to 12 from 43 Ontario secondary schools. The predictor variable was weight status (non-overweight vs. overweight/obese), the mediator was peer victimization, and the outcome variables were screen time and MVPA. Multilevel path analysis was conducted, controlling for clustering within schools and covariates. A few differences were observed between males and females; therefore, the results are stratified by gender., Results: For both males and females peer victimization partially mediated the association between weight status and screen time. Specifically, females with overweight/obesity reported 34 more minutes/day of screen time than did females who were not overweight and 2 of these minutes could be attributed to experiencing peer victimization. Similarly, males who were overweight/obese reported 13 more minutes/day of screen time than the males who were not overweight and 1 of these minutes could be attributed to experiencing more victimization. Males and females who were overweight/obese also reported less MVPA compared to those who were not overweight; however, peer victimization did not mediate these associations in the hypothesized direction., Conclusions: We found that higher rates of peer victimization experienced by adolescents with overweight and obesity partially explained why they engaged in more screen time than adolescents who were not overweight. However, the effects were small and may be of limited practical significance. Because this is one of the first studies to investigate these associations, more research is needed before bully prevention or conflict resolution training are explored as intervention strategies.

This study aimed to examine whether being bullied, fighting, and injury, regarded in terms of frequency and nature, were significantly associated with psychological distress and suicidal behavior, independent of substance abuse and parental support in adolescents. Secondary analysis of data from the Global School-based Student Health Survey from Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu was conducted. Binomial logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association of being bullied, fighting and injury with psychological health outcomes (loneliness, insomnia, suicidal ideation and suicide attempt) at a 5% level of significance. A total of 4122 students were included; 45.5% were male, and 52.0% were 14 years of age or younger. Of the total, 9.3% felt lonely and 9.5% had insomnia most of the time over the last 12 months; 27.6% had suicidal ideation, and 30.9% reported at least one suicide attempt in the last 12 months. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that being bullied, fighting and injury were significantly associated with psychological health outcomes; adjusted odds ratios (AORs) of loneliness, insomnia, suicidal ideation and suicide attempt increased with increased exposure to bullying, fighting, and injury compared to non-exposed group. Among the types of bullying victimization, the highest AORs of insomnia and suicide attempt were among students who were left out of activities, compared to the non-bullied. Among the causes of injury, adolescents injured due to a physical attack were the most likely to report the highest AORs of loneliness, insomnia and suicidal ideation compared to those not injured. Preventing violence and injury among adolescents might contribute to better mental health and reduction of suicidal behavior., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

We examined the association of bullying behavior in adolescence to personality disorder (PD) diagnosed in early adulthood. The study sample consisted of 508 adolescents (300 girls, 208 boys) who were admitted to psychiatric inpatient treatment between April 2001 and March 2006. Data were based on semi-structured K-SADSPL-interviews and hospital treatments extracted from the Care Register for Health Care (CRHC). At the end of 2013, details of psychiatric diagnoses recorded on hospital discharges and outpatient visits were extracted from the CRHC. This study showed that female victims of bullying have an almost fourfold likelihood of developing a PD later in life compared to adolescents with no involvement in bullying behavior. Most of the females had Borderline PD. Female adolescents diagnosed with anxiety disorder during adolescence had an over threefold risk of developing a PD during late adolescence or early adulthood. Conversely, we found no associations between bullying involvement among men in adolescence and subsequent PDs. Bullying victimization may influence the development of PDs among females. Adolescent services should pay particular attention to female victims of bullying and those displaying symptoms of anxiety disorders.

Research on the topic of bullying has revealed that a substantial number of youth are bullied each year. Even so, a complete understanding of the origins of bullying behaviors remains elusive. In the current study, we propose that poor nutrition may constitute an important modifiable risk factor for bullying behaviors during adolescence, and that behavioral sensitivity to nutrition may vary across deviant and non-deviant youth. We employ data from the US sample of youth (52% male) ages 10-17 from the 2009-2010 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study to examine our hypothesis (N = 8753). The results reveal that poor nutrition significantly increases the odds of persistent bullying among youth, and that this relationship is particularly pronounced for non-deviant youth. The findings suggest that efforts to improve the nutrition of non-deviant youth may have the added benefit of reducing their likelihood of engaging in persistent bullying behaviors., (Copyright © 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Little is known about the causes of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), but researchers have proposed a diathesis-stress model. This study uses a patient-centered approach to identify stressful events to which patients attribute the development of their BDD symptoms. An Internet-recruited sample of 165 adults with BDD participated. A large minority of participants attributed the development of their BDD to a triggering event. Bullying experiences were the most commonly described type of event. Additionally, most events were interpersonal and occurred during grade school or middle school. There were no differences in severity of psychosocial outcomes between participants who did or did not attribute their BDD to a specific triggering event. However, participants who specifically attributed their BDD development to a bullying experience had poorer psychosocial outcomes (i.e., perceived social support, depression severity, functional impairment, quality of life) compared to those who attributed their BDD development to another type of triggering event., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Many institutions have conducted research on the subject of bullying. The literature includes many studies of the effects of widespread bullying among primary and secondary school students. Bullying against hospital nurses and also bullying against university students are well-known and frequently discussed research topics. Yet, the exposure of nursing students to bullying has not been sufficiently explored, and few studies have focused on the issue of bullying against nursing students., Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine bullying against nursing students, including the rate of bullying, types of bullying, and responses to the negative effects of bullying., Methods: This study was conducted on 202 nursing students (including sophomores, juniors, and seniors) during the 2013-2014 academic year. The participation rate was 88.5%. The Negative Attitudes Scale was used to collect data, and descriptive statistics were used in data analysis., Results: Participants were evenly distributed between women (49.5%) and men (50.5%). The median age of participants was 21.58 ± 2.28 years; the frequency of bullying was 78.1%. The types of bullying were pejorative statements about the nursing profession (11.3%); low grades used as a form of punishment (9.9%); work, homework, and job rotation used as punishment in lieu of training (9.4%); impossible workloads (9.0%); and the spreading of rumors and gossip (7%)., Conclusions/implications for Practice: This study indicates that the participants were exposed to high levels of bullying. As exposure to bullying negatively affects the job attitudes of nursing students, further studies are necessary to develop strategies to prevent horizontal bullying.

Aim: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of suicidal behaviors (ideation, planning, and attempts) among adolescents aged 13-16, and to identify psychosocial correlates of suicidal behaviors., Method: The 2010 Kuwait Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) cross-sectional study employed a two-stage cluster sample design targeting a representative sample of 2,672 students. A weighting factor was applied to make inferences to all students of the same age. Students' suicidal behaviors were the focus of this paper., Results: The prevalence rates of suicide ideation, planning, and attempts were 20.0% (95% CI = 18.5-21.6%), 14.0% (95% CI = 12.7-15.4%), and 18.1% (95% CI = 16.6-19.5%), respectively. About 26% of adolescents reported at least one suicidal behavior, while 8.5% experienced all three suicidal behaviors. Multivariate analysis revealed that girls, smoking, physical violence, feeling lonely, exposure to bullying at school, and having nonempathetic parents were significant correlates of the experience of suicidal behaviors among adolescents. Moreover, suicidal ideation stood out as a predictor of attempting suicide more than suicidal planning in both the total population and separately by gender., Conclusion: The prevalence of suicidal behaviors was alarmingly high among Kuwaiti adolescents. Adverse school and home environments strongly contributed to such behaviors. School-based mental health programs are necessary to reduce these life-threatening behaviors in Kuwait.

Background Weight-related peer-teasing is considered a potent prospective risk factor for development of disordered eating and clinical eating disorders. Currently, the interplay between genetic and environmental influences has yet to be elucidated. Aims To determine whether peer-teasing moderates latent genetic and/or environmental risk for disordered eating among female adolescent twins. Method Full quantitative gene-environment interplay modelling of longitudinal trajectory of disordered eating in 685 female twins from the Australian Twin Registry. Results A model permitting moderation of disordered eating by peer-teasing involving genetic and non-shared environment effects fit these data best. As levels of peer-teasing increased, both genetic and environmental influences on disordered eating strengthened; however, genetic sources increased proportionally more than environmental sources. Conclusions Weight-related peer-teasing represents a particularly powerful trigger for disordered eating. Nevertheless, it is amenable to intervention/prevention activities spanning individual to universal levels of endeavour., Competing Interests: Declaration of interestNone., (© The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2017.)

This short-term longitudinal study examined the association between relational and physical victimization and subsequent depressive symptoms together with the roles of social cognitive processes (i.e., relational interdependence) and gender in this association. A total of 580 Japanese adolescents in the seventh and eighth grades (52 % girls; age range 12-14) participated in this study across an academic year. Results of structural equation modeling demonstrated that relational and physical victimization, which was assessed via self- and teacher- reports, was concurrently associated with greater depressive symptoms, regardless of the gender of the youth and the level of relational interdependence. Furthermore, after controlling for the stability and co-occurrence between each construct, relational victimization (not physical victimization) was predictive of elevated depressive symptoms only for boys who exhibited relatively higher relational interdependence. The findings are discussed from developmental, gender, and cultural perspectives.

This research examined the development of stress responses across second to sixth grades and whether exposure to peer victimization alters stress response trajectories. Youth (338 girls; 298 boys; M age  = 7.97 years, SD = .37) reported on stress responses; teachers and youth reported on peer victimization. Latent growth curve modeling revealed an increase in effortful engagement responses and a decrease in disengagement and involuntary engagement responses during this period. Peer victimization disrupted these normative trajectories, resulting in less effortful engagement and more effortful disengagement and involuntary stress responses in early adolescence. These findings suggest that early peer victimization sensitizes youth to stress by interfering with the development of effective coping and fostering maladaptive stress responses., (© 2016 The Authors. Child Development © 2016 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.)

Background: We examined the relationship between exposure to electronic bullying and absenteeism as a result of being afraid., Methods: This multivariate, multinomial regression analysis of the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data assessed the association between experiencing electronic bullying in the past year and how often students were absent in the last month due to feeling unsafe at/in transit to school. The model controlled for other predictors of school absence including demographics, physical/behavioral health, and risk factors. Missing data were multiply imputed., Results: Electronic bullying was significantly associated with absences. Controlling for model covariates, the relative risk of missing 1 day of school was 1.77 times higher, the relative risk of missing 2 to 3 days of school per month increased by a factor of 2.08, and the relative risk of missing 4 or more days of school per month increased by a factor of 1.77 for those who experienced electronic bullying in the past year compared with those who were not electronically bullied., Conclusions: Electronic bullying's association with absenteeism places it among already recognized negative influences such as depression and binge drinking, necessitating schools to implement policies to mediate the resulting harmful effects., (© 2017, American School Health Association.)

Bystanders witness bullying, but are not directly involved as a bully or victim; however, they often engage in negative bystander behavior. This study examines how social capital deprivation and anti-social capital are associated with the likelihood of engaging in negative bystander behavior in a sample (N = 5752) of racially/ethnically diverse rural youth. Data were collected using an online, youth self-report; the current study uses cross sectional data. Following multiple imputation, a binary logistic regression with robust standard errors was run. Results partially supported the hypothesis and indicated that social capital deprivation in the form of peer pressure and verbal victimization and anti-social capital in the form of delinquent friends, bullying perpetration, verbal perpetration, and physical perpetration were significantly associated with an increased likelihood of engaging in negative bystander behavior. Findings highlight the importance of establishing sources of positive social support for disenfranchised youth.

Despite relatively universal feelings of discomfort in social situations, there is considerable evidence for diversity in the social behaviors and peer experiences of socially anxious youth. However, to date, very little research has been conducted with the aim of identifying factors that differentiate socially anxious youth who are more socially competent from those who are less socially competent. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by examining whether physiological and cognitive coping responses to social stress moderate the association between social anxiety and social competence. Participants were a community sample of 123 fifth and sixth graders (Mage = 12.03). Social anxiety was measured globally and in the context of a lab-based peer evaluation situation, and social competence was assessed via teacher-reports. Physiological (i.e., skin conductance level reactivity, SCLR, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity, RSAR) and coping (i.e., disengaged) responses to social stressors were also assessed. Results indicated that SCLR and disengaged coping with peer victimization moderated associations linking global and context-specific social anxiety with social competence, such that social anxiety was associated with lower social competence at lower levels of SCLR and higher levels of disengaged coping with peer victimization. Thus, whether socially anxious preadolescents exhibit more or less competent social behavior may depend, in part, on how they respond to peer-evaluative stress. Inflexible physiological responses and disengaged coping responses may undermine social competence, whereas engaged responses may counteract socially anxious preadolescents' tendency to withdraw from social interactions or focus primarily on threat cues.

Children victimized by peers are at increased risk of ongoing depression. This study investigates treatment resistant depression in children victimized by peers, following participation in a targeted cognitive behavioral family intervention. The sample comprised 39 children aged 6-12 years with elevated depression compared with a general sample, prior to the intervention. Six months after the intervention, 26 were no longer depressed and 13 were still depressed. This study investigated the differentiation of these two groups on the basis of parenting and child factors. Children with treatment resistant depression were discriminated from other children by lower levels of peer support and facilitative parenting immediately after the intervention. It was concluded that ongoing support from parents and peers is needed to reduce the risk of ongoing depression even if victimization has been reduced. Further research could develop a comprehensive profile of children at risk of depression following peer victimization.

Background: Student-school connectedness is inversely associated with multiple health risk behaviors, yet research is limited on the relative contributions of a student's connectedness with school and an overall context of school social cohesion to peer victimization/bullying., Purpose: We examined associations of perceived school cohesion and student-school connectedness with physical victimization, verbal victimization, and social exclusion in the past six months in adolescents in grades 6-11 (N = 774) attending 11 public and private urban schools in Colombia., Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected via a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using mixed-effects linear regression models., Results: Higher perceived school cohesion was inversely related with exposure to three bullying types examined (p < 0.05); student-school connectedness was negatively related to verbal victimization among girls only (p < 0.01). In full models, school cohesion maintained inverse associations with three bullying types after controlling for student-school connectedness (p ≤ 0.05)., Conclusion: Enhancing school cohesion may hold benefits for bullying prevention beyond a student's individual school connectedness., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

The aim of this study was to investigate whether various dimensions of student-teacher relationships were associated with different types of motivation to defend victims in bullying and to determine the association between these types of motivations and various bystander behaviors in bullying situations among early adolescents in Italy. Data were collected from 405 Italian adolescents who completed a survey in their classroom. Results showed that warm student-teacher relationships were positively associated with defending victims and with autonomous motivation to defend victims. In contrast, conflictual student-teacher relationships were positively associated with passive bystanding and with extrinsic motivation to defend victims. Different forms of motivation to defend were found to be mediators between student-teacher relationship qualities and bystander behaviors in school bullying. Our findings suggest that teachers should build warm and caring student-teacher relationships to enhance students' autonomous motivation to defend victims of bullying as well as their inclination to defend the victims in practice., (Copyright © 2016 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Previous research has demonstrated that symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are associated with higher levels of victimization, but little is known about protective factors. The purpose of the study was to examine whether physical activity attenuated the associations among ADHD symptoms and physical and relational victimization 1.5 years later. Participants included 168 s through fourth grade students (M age = 8.43; 52.4 % boys) who completed self-reports of physical activity and victimization; teachers provided ratings of ADHD symptoms. ADHD symptoms predicted subsequent increases in physical, but not relational, victimization among children who reported engaging in moderate/high levels of physical activity, especially out of the school context (moderate: β = .26, p = .03; high: β = .55, p < .001). Findings suggest that children with ADHD symptoms may benefit from being taught the skills necessary to appropriately engage in physical activity and from being monitored while engaging in activity in order to limit physical victimization that they might experience.

When former spouses experience distress and dispute following separation, risks to well-being and to safety are heightened for all family members. Reliable family-wide risk screening is essential. The Family Law DOORS (Detection of Overall Risk Screen) is a 3-part screening framework to assist identification, evaluation, and response to safety and well-being risks in separated families. Uniquely, the Family Law DOORS screens for victimization and perpetration risks and appraises infant and child developmental risk. The Family Law DOORS self-report screening tool is the subject of this report. Internal scale reliability and concurrent and external criterion validity for the Family Law DOORS were estimated with a community sample of 660 separated parents, including 181 mother-father pairs. Overall psychometric properties are strong and demonstrate good potential for the Family Law DOORS to support early risk detection for separating families. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

Associations between urban adolescents' victimization experiences and biological stress responses were examined, as well as emotion regulation as a moderator of these associations. Data from a 4-wave longitudinal study with a low-income, community-based sample (n = 242; 91 % African American; 57 % female; M = 11.98, SD = 1.56 years at baseline) revealed that victimization, assessed over 3 study waves, was associated with an attenuated cortisol response to a stress interview at the final study wave, indicating that responses of the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis were dysregulated. Cortisol responses were moderated by caregiver-reported adolescent emotion regulation, suggesting that this modifiable protective factor that is taught in many school-based prevention programs could help reduce harm associated with HPA axis dysregulation linked to victimization.

Abundant evidence has demonstrated an association between peer victimization and adolescent problem behaviors. However, there is a large gap in knowledge about the potential mediators that associate peer victimization with problem behaviors and the potential moderators that exacerbate or buffer this association. The current study examined whether deviant peer affiliation mediated the association between peer victimization and problem behaviors and whether the direct and indirect associations were moderated by impulsivity. A sample of 1401 adolescents (50.1% boys, 11-14 years old) completed anonymous questionnaires regarding peer victimization, impulsivity, deviant peer affiliation, and problem behaviors. Gender, age and socioeconomic status (SES) were controlled for in the analyses. Structural equation models showed that peer victimization was significantly associated with more problem behaviors, and this association was mediated by deviant peer affiliation. Impulsivity moderated both the direct association (peer victimization→problem behaviors) and the second stage of the indirect path (deviant peer affiliation→problem behaviors). Specifically, these associations were especially stronger for adolescents with higher impulsivity. Identifying the processes by which peer victimization is associated with adolescent problem behaviors has important implications for an integrative framework of theory and prevention., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Early life stress (ELS) consists of child family adversities (CFA: negative experiences that happened within the family environment) and/or peer bullying. ELS plays an important role in the development of adolescent depressive symptoms and clinical disorders. Identifying factors that may reduce depressive symptoms in adolescents with ELS may have important public mental health implications., Methods: We used structural equation modelling and examined the impact of adolescent friendships and/or family support at age 14 on depressive symptoms at age 17 in adolescents exposed to ELS before age 11. To this end, we used structural equation modelling in a community sample of 771 adolescents (322 boys and 477 girls) from a 3 year longitudinal study. Significant paths in the model were followed-up to test whether social support mediated or moderated the association between ELS and depressive symptoms at age 17., Results: We found that adolescent social support in adolescence is negatively associated with subsequent depressive symptoms in boys and girls exposed to ELS. Specifically, we found evidence for two mediational pathways: In the first pathway family support mediated the link between CFA and depressive symptoms at age 17. Specifically, CFA was negatively associated with adolescent family support at age 14, which in turn was negatively associated with depressive symptoms at age 17. In the second pathway we found that adolescent friendships mediated the path between peer bullying and depressive symptoms. Specifically, relational bullying was negatively associated with adolescent friendships at age 14, which in turn were negatively associated with depressive symptoms at age 17. In contrast, we did not find a moderating effect of friendships and family support on the association between CFA and depressive symptoms., Conclusions: Friendships and/or family support in adolescence mediate the relationship between ELS and late adolescent depressive symptoms in boys and girls. Therefore, enhancing affiliate relationships and positive family environments may benefit the mental health of vulnerable youth that have experienced CFA and/or primary school bullying.

Aim: There are few population-based studies on bullying behaviour among preschool children. The aims of the study were to investigate the prevalence of bullying behaviour among four-year-old children, as reported by their parents, the prevalence of types of bullying behaviour and the associations between bullying behaviour and psychosocial factors., Methods: This study was based on a population-based study sample of 931 children who attended their check-up at a child health clinic at four years of age. Parents completed the questionnaire about their child's bullying behaviour and risk factors during the check-up., Results: Bullying behaviour, especially being both a bully and a victim, was a common phenomenon among four-year-old children. Being a bully or both a bully and victim were most strongly associated with conduct problems, while being a victim was associated with somatic symptoms and peer problems., Conclusion: Bullying behaviour was frequently found in preschool children and associated with a wide range of other problems, which indicate that routine checking of bullying behaviour should be included in child health clinic check-ups. Bullying prevention programmes are usually targeted at school-aged children, but this study highlights the importance of focusing already on preschool children., (©2016 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Using the National Crime Victimization Survey 2006 Stalking Victimization Supplement (NCVS-SVS) and guided by Greenberg and Ruback's social influence model, this study examines the effects of individual (e.g., severity, sex, victim-offender relationship) and contextual (e.g., location) factors on stalking victimization risk, victim labeling and help seeking, and victim and third-party police contacts. Logistic regression results suggest individual and contextual characteristics matter. Consistent with prior research and the theoretical model, the positive effects of severity and sex (female) were significant across all dependent variables, whereas the interaction effect of victim-offender relationship and location held only for third-party police contacts., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

Objective: To prospectively investigate the reciprocal relationships between personality traits, lifestyle factors, mental health, sleepiness, and work-related stressors against insomnia., Methods: A total of 799 Norwegian shift-working nurses (mean age 33.2 years, 90% female) participated in this prospective cohort study. They were assessed on self-report instruments (Bergen Insomnia Scale, Diurnal Type Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised, Work-Family Interface Scale, among others) in 2008/2009 (wave 1) and 2011 (wave 3). Structural equation modeling was employed to investigate the bidirectional relationship between a wide range of individual and work-related variables and insomnia., Results: Languidity (β = 0.18***), anxiety (β = 0.11**), depression (β = 0.14***), exposure to bullying behavior (β = 0.08*), and negative spillover between work and family life (work to family, β = 0.08*; family to work, β = 0.07*) predicted increased symptoms of insomnia over time. Morningness (β = -0.09*) and positive spillover from work to family (β = -0.11**) predicted less symptoms of insomnia over time. No support was found for night work as a predictor of increased insomnia. Insomnia was a precursor for anxiety (β = 0.11**), but not for depression (*p <0.05, **p <0.01, ***p <0.001)., Conclusion: The data suggested that insomnia more often emerges as a consequence of individual and work-related factors than as a precursor to them. The scope of factors causing insomnia, and factors protecting against it, should be further investigated. Insomnia should be considered in prediction models for mental illnesses and as an outcome of adverse work-related experiences., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Extensive research with children and adolescents documents the deleterious mental health outcomes associated with peer victimization, and recent research suggests that peer victimization is also associated with physical health problems in these age groups. The present study examines the concurrent and prospective links between physical and relational victimization and physical health problems (physical symptoms and physical self-concept) from adolescence to young adulthood (age 12-29 years)., Methods: Data were collected from the Victoria Healthy Youth Survey, a six-wave multicohort study conducted biennially between 2003 and 2014 (N = 662)., Results: As expected, both relational and physical victimization were associated with greater physical symptoms and poorer physical self-concept concurrently and with physical self-concept over time. Relational victimization, which occurred more frequently, also predicted physical symptoms across young adulthood., Conclusions: Peer victimization puts adolescents at risk for immediate and long-term physical health difficulties. This study highlights the unique effects of physical and relational victimization and shows that victimized youth continue to experience poorer physical health for years after high school., (Copyright © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To examine trajectories of adolescent borderline personality (BP) features in a normative-risk cohort (n = 566) of Canadian children assessed at ages 13, 14, 15, and 16 and childhood predictors of trajectory group membership assessed at ages 8, 10, 11, and 12., Method: Data were drawn from the McMaster Teen Study, an on-going study examining relations among bullying, mental health, and academic achievement. Participants and their parents completed a battery of mental health and peer relations questionnaires at each wave of the study. Academic competence was assessed at age 8 (Grade 3). Latent class growth analysis, analysis of variance, and logistic regression were used to analyze the data., Results: Three distinct BP features trajectory groups were identified: elevated or rising, intermediate or stable, and low or stable. Parent- and child-reported mental health symptoms, peer relations risk factors, and intra-individual risk factors were significant predictors of elevated or rising and intermediate or stable trajectory groups. Child-reported attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and somatization symptoms uniquely predicted elevated or rising trajectory group membership, whereas parent-reported anxiety and child-reported ADHD symptoms uniquely predicted intermediate or stable trajectory group membership. Child-reported somatization symptoms was the only predictor to differentiate the intermediate or stable and elevated or rising trajectory groups (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.28). Associations between child-reported reactive temperament and elevated BP features trajectory group membership were 10.23 times higher among children who were bullied, supporting a diathesis-stress pathway in the development of BP features for these youth., Conclusions: Findings demonstrate the heterogeneous course of BP features in early adolescence and shed light on the potential prodromal course of later borderline personality disorder., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

This study was to examine the relationship between measured weight status and three experiences as victims, bullies and bully-victims. The participants were 10,587 Chinese school-aged students (girls: 5,527, boys: 5,060) who ranged in age from 7 to 18 years old. Height and weight were measured. Bullying behavior was obtained by one-to-one interview in 7-10 years older students and group-administered surveys in 11-18 years older students. The results showed that, obese girls were more likely to be victimized (OR=1.73, CI: 1.16-2.59) compared to normal students. For boys, obesity was not associated with victimization, but obese boys (OR=1.45, CI: 1.04-2.03), especially 7-13 years old boys (OR=1.98, CI: 1.35-2.90) were more likely to bully others; obese boys also were more likely to be victim/bullies (OR=1.67, CI: 1.05-2.64). Weight victimization in Chinese school-aged children is not as common as in the west countries, but obese girls clearly realize more victimization, and obese younger boys show obvious aggression. Related departments should provide specific intervention for school bullying according students' weight status, age and gender., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: More optimal parenting has been linked with lower rates of bullying. However, it is not clear whether parenting can alter the trajectories of bullying among children diagnosed with ADHD or ODD as well as those who are not so diagnosed. This study examined whether parenting at age 4-5 years was associated with changes in bullying over the next 4 years among children with Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with and without comorbid Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) relative to children without these disorders., Method: Children from the New York metropolitan area (n = 162) were prospectively studied over six annual assessment points between preschool and 9 years of age. Parenting was assessed by laboratory observations of the parent and child; teachers rated child bullying, and parents reported on children's diagnostic status (Neither ADHD nor ODD, ADHD but not ODD, both ADHD and ODD)., Results: Children with comorbid ADHD and ODD were more likely to bully than the other two groups. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed a fall in bullying over five years. Diagnostic status was significantly associated with initial levels of bullying. Irrespective of diagnostic group, children receiving more parent support for child autonomy at age 4 to 5 years showed a significantly greater decline in bullying than those provided with little support for autonomy. There was no longitudinal link between parent negative affect, emotionally supportive parenting and quality of parent-child interactions with bullying., Conclusions: Greater parent support for child autonomy at age 4-5 years is related to reduced bullying. Interventions that encourage parent support for child autonomy at the time of entry into school may reduce bullying during early school years., (© 2015 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.)

Purpose: No previous study has estimated the association between bullying and preference-based health-related quality of life (HRQoL) ("utility"), knowledge of which may be used for cost-effectiveness studies of interventions designed to prevent bullying. Therefore, the aim of the study was to estimate preference-based HRQoL among victims of bullying compared to non-victims., Methods: A cross-sectional survey data collection among Swedish adolescents aged 15-17 years in the first year of upper secondary school was conducted in the city of Gothenburg in Sweden (N = 758). Preference-based HRQoL was estimated with the SF-6D. Regression analyses were conducted to adjust for some individual-level background variable., Results: Mean preference-based health-related quality of life scores were 0.77 and 0.71 for non-victims and victims of bullying, respectively. The difference of 0.06 points was statistically significant (p < 0.05) and robust to inclusion of gender, age, and parental immigrant status., Conclusions: The preference-based HRQoL estimates in this study may be used as an upper bound in economic evaluations of bullying prevention interventions, facilitating a comparison between costs and quality-adjusted life-years.

Background: Emerging research suggests significant positive associations between bullying and substance use behaviors. However, these studies typically focused either on the link between substance use and bullying perpetration or victimization, and few have conceptualized bullying perpetration and/or victimization as mediators., Objective: In this study, we simultaneously tested past bullying perpetration and victimization as mediational pathways from retrospective report of parenting styles and global self-esteem to current depressive symptoms, alcohol use, and alcohol-related problems., Methods: Data were collected from a college sample of 419 drinkers. Mediation effects were conducted using a bias-corrected bootstrap technique within a structural equation modeling framework., Results: Two-path mediation analyses indicated that mother and father authoritativeness were protective against bully victimization and depression through higher self-esteem. Conversely, having a permissive or authoritarian mother was positively linked to bullying perpetration, which in turn, was associated with increased alcohol use, and to a lesser degree, more alcohol-related problems. Mother authoritarianism was associated with alcohol-related problems through depressive symptoms. Three-path mediation analyses suggested a trend in which individuals with higher self-esteem were less likely to report alcohol-related problems through lower levels of bullying victimization and depression., Conclusions/importance: Results suggested that bullying perpetration and victimization may, respectively, serve as externalizing and internalizing pathways through which parenting styles and self-esteem are linked to depression and alcohol-related outcomes. The present study identified multiple modifiable precursors of, and mediational pathways to, alcohol-related problems which could guide the development and implementation of prevention programs targeting problematic alcohol use.

Body dysmorphic disorder is associated with elevated social and occupational impairment and comorbid depression, but research on risk factors for body dysmorphic symptoms and associated outcomes is limited. Appearance-based teasing may be a potential risk factor. To examine the specificity of this factor, the authors assessed self-reported appearance-based teasing, body dysmorphic, and obsessive-compulsive symptom severity, functional impairment (i.e., social, occupational, family impairment), and depression in a nonclinical sample of undergraduates. As hypothesized, appearance-based teasing was positively correlated with body dysmorphic symptoms. The correlation between teasing and body dysmorphic symptoms was stronger than that between teasing and obsessive-compulsive symptom severity. Last, body dysmorphic symptom severity and appearance-based teasing interacted in predicting functional impairment and depression. Specifically, appearance-based teasing was positively associated with depression and functional impairment only in those with elevated body dysmorphic symptoms. When a similar moderation was tested with obsessive-compulsive, in place of body dysmorphic, symptom severity, the interaction was nonsignificant. Findings support theory that appearance-based teasing is a specific risk factor for body dysmorphic symptoms and associated functional impairment.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the course of workplace bullying and health correlates among Danish employees across a four-year period., Methods: In total, 7502 public service and private sector employees participated in a 3-wave study from 2006 through 2011. Workplace bullying over the past 6-12 months and data on health characteristics were obtained by self-reports. We identified major depression using Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry interviews and the Major Depression Inventory. We performed cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of outcomes according to self-labelled bullying at baseline using logistic regression., Results: Reports of bullying were persistent across four years in 22.2% (57/257) of employees who initially reported bullying. Baseline associations between self-labelled bullying and sick-listing, poor self-rated health, poor sleep, and depressive symptoms were significant with adjusted odds ratios (OR) ranging from 1.8 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.5-2.4] for poor sleep quality among those bullied "now and then" to 6.9 (95% CI 3.9-12.3) for depression among those reporting being bullied on a daily to monthly basis. In longitudinal analyses adjusting for bullying during follow-up, all health correlates except poor sleep quality persisted up to four years., Conclusion: Self-reported health correlates of workplace bullying including sick-listing, poor self-rated health, depressive symptoms, and a diagnosis of depression tend to persist for several years regardless of whether bullying is discontinued or not. Independent measures of bullying and outcomes are needed to learn whether these findings reflect long lasting health consequences of workplace bullying or whether self-labelled workplace bullying and health complaints are correlated because of common underlying factors.

Executive functioning (EF) research has been extended during the past decade to include self-reported estimates of perceived competency in completing routine behaviors associated with these neurological functions. Self-report measures such as the Executive Functioning Index (EFI) and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-A) have been found to be useful in focusing attention on potential areas of EF deficiency. Prior research has focused disproportionately on genetic and biological, rather than developmental, origins of EF. Retrospective accounts of childhood bullying were linked to adult EFI and BRIEF-A subscale scores in three independent samples in this report. Level of perceived competency in organizational skills was linked to childhood bullying experiences in all three samples. Effect sizes for these respective associations ranged from .50 to .74. Childhood bullying was not associated with deficits on any of the Continuous Performance Test subscales. Being bullied during development may alter self-perceptions of strengths and weaknesses in selected areas of EF. Systematic investigation of broader samples and testing tasks may reveal complex connections between childhood bullying and the acquisition of skills associated with EF.

Objective: Peer victimization (PV) is a key interpersonal stressor that can be traumatizing for youth. This study evaluated the relationships between overt, relational, reputational, and cyber PV and adolescents' somatic complaints and sleep problems. Symptoms of depression and social anxiety were examined as potential mediators., Method: Adolescents (N = 1,162; M age = 15.80 years; 57% female; 80% Hispanic) were assessed at three time points, 6 weeks apart, using standardized measures of PV, depression, social anxiety, sleep problems, and somatic complaints. Structural equation modeling evaluated key study aims., Results: Relational, reputational, and cyber PV, but not overt PV, were directly or indirectly associated with subsequent somatic complaints and/or sleep problems. Depression and social anxiety mediated relationships between relational PV and health outcomes, whereas reputational PV was indirectly associated with somatic complaints via depression only., Discussion: The stress of PV may contribute to adolescents' sleep problems and somatic complaints and has implications for pediatric psychologists., (© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The association between experienced victimization and students' psychological and social adjustment depends on the intensity of victimization. We examined how frequency and multiplicity of victimization, and the number of bullies involved, account for differences in students' psychosocial well-being and social standing in the classroom. Multilevel analyses were conducted on the control group of an intervention study among students in grades 3-6 of Dutch elementary schools (N = 2859 students from 124 classes and 33 schools; ages 8-12; 49.6% boys). It was found that victims of frequent and multiple victimization, and victims who were victimized by several bullies, had higher levels of psychosocial adjustment problems than victims of less frequent and non-multiple victimization, and victims with only one bully. Moreover, these more severe victims turned out to be least accepted and most rejected among their classmates. The findings illustrate that it can be fruitful to use several measures of victimization so that (differences in) adjustment problems can be better understood. Moreover, the results suggest that it is important to find out who is victimized, in what ways, and by whom. Anti-bullying interventions should provide resources to do this.

Few studies have examined the rates of childhood victimization among individuals who identify as "mostly heterosexual" (MH) in comparison to other sexual orientation groups. For the present study, we utilized a more comprehensive assessment of adverse childhood experiences to extend prior literature by examining if MH individuals' experience of victimization more closely mirrors that of sexual minority individuals or heterosexuals. Heterosexual (n = 422) and LGB (n = 561) and MH (n = 120) participants were recruited online. Respondents completed surveys about their adverse childhood experiences, both maltreatment by adults (e.g., childhood physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and childhood household dysfunction) and peer victimization (i.e., verbal and physical bullying). Specifically, MH individuals were 1.47 times more likely than heterosexuals to report childhood victimization experiences perpetrated by adults. These elevated rates were similar to LGB individuals. Results suggest that rates of victimization of MH groups are more similar to the rates found among LGBs, and are significantly higher than heterosexual groups. Our results support prior research that indicates that an MH identity falls within the umbrella of a sexual minority, yet little is known about unique challenges that this group may face in comparison to other sexual minority groups.

Background: The bullying phenomenon has serious consequences for those that are involved. In order to find more effective ways to eradicate it from the schools, more research is needed. In this context, teacher management and emotional intelligence (EI) are shown to be relevant keys to consider., Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse the ways in which teacher management and trait EI affect involvement in bullying aggression and victimization., Sample: A total of 2,806 Spanish schoolchildren (51.8% girls; Age M = 15.44; SD = 1.79) participated in this transversal study., Methods: Self-report questionnaires were administrated; four of the dimensions of the Schoolwide Climate Scale: Bullying victimization; bullying aggression; positive teacher management; and negative teacher management. They also completed the Spanish version of the TMMS-24 EI questionnaire. After encoding the data, six structural equation models were created to study the direct and joint effects of teacher management and trait EI on bullying aggression and victimization. The models were run for both the whole sample and split samples based on the education cycles and sex., Results: Results showed that both positive and negative teacher management were closely linked to involvement in bullying aggression and victimization. EI was also found to be directly related to bullying involvement. Furthermore, results revealed that teacher management was directly related to trait EI. Education cycle differences were found, but no sex-specific differences were apparent in the sample., Conclusions: Conclusions of the study highlight the important role that teacher management plays with regard to bullying involvement and trait EI, and include a discussion of the need to include teacher management in bullying prevention programmes at schools., (© 2015 The British Psychological Society.)

This study sought to identify features of peer victimization that aggravate negative outcomes in children. The features that were assessed include "power imbalance," a commonly used criterion in defining bullying, and 5 other characteristics: injury, weapon involvement, Internet involvement, sexual content, and bias content. Three outcomes were assessed: level of fear, missing school, and trauma symptoms. A nationally representative sample of 3,164 children and youth ages 6-17 (51.8% male; 68.4% white, 12.5% black, 13.5% Hispanic, 5.7% other race) was obtained through Random Digit Dial and supplemented with an address-based sample to capture cell-phone-only households. One child was randomly selected from each household. Interviews were conducted with parents of children age 6-9 and with the youths themselves if they were age 10-17. Peer victimization was assessed with the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ). Almost half (48.4%) of the entire sample of school-age children experienced at least 1 form of peer victimization in the past year. Injury and power imbalance independently increased the impact on children for all 3 outcomes. Additionally, weapon involvement and sexual content were associated with trauma symptoms, with sexual content having the strongest effect (B = .23, p < .001). This diversity of aggravating features suggests a need to reconsider the current emphasis on prioritizing bullying with its exclusionary power imbalance definition as the central focus for prevention and intervention. We recommend a broader focus on peer victimization along with more research to identify the aggravating features that signal the greatest need for intervention., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

Student attitudes toward aggression have been linked to individual aggressive behavior, but the relationship between school-wide normative beliefs about aggression and aggressive behavior poses some important measurement challenges that have not been adequately examined. The current study investigated the factor structure, measurement invariance, and criterion-related validity of a six-item Aggressive Attitudes scale using a large sample of seventh- and eighth-grade students (n = 39,364) from 423 schools. Analytic procedures accounted for the frequently ignored modeling problems of clustered and ordinal data to provide more reliable and accurate model estimates and standard errors. The resulting second-order factor structure of the Aggressive Attitudes scale demonstrated measurement invariance across gender, grade, and race/ethnicity groups. Criterion-related validity was supported with eight student- and school-level indices of aggressive behavior., (© The Author(s) 2014.)