Speakers
Description
This symposium combines findings from five studies focusing on bullying perpetration from different angles. Together, these studies offer a comprehensive perspective on bullying perpetration, encompassing the motives, genetic predispositions, and psychological antecedents and consequences of bullying. Moreover, this symposium will discuss heterogeneity among bullying perpetrators and examine the mechanisms through which teachers’ strategies to tackle bullying may work.
Study 1 presents the development and validation of a short questionnaire to assess adolescents’ motives (i.e., rage, revenge, reward, and recreational aggression) across offline and online contexts, and applies this measure in secondary schools to examine the motives behind offline and cyberbullying. Study 2 focuses on how genetic predispositions for neurodevelopmental problems may relate to bullying dynamics through specific neuro-developmental symptoms, such as inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, pragmatic speech difficulties, and social communication deficits. Study 3 investigates psychological factors underlying latent profiles of bullying, victimization, and peer status, focusing specifically on differences between high status (popular and well liked) bullies and non-bullies. Study 4 examines how elementary-school-, middle-school-, and persistent-bullies differ from each other and from non-bullies in psychological, social, and academic adjustment. Finally, Study 5 focuses on children’s feeling of guilt, shame, and sadness as potential mediators of targeted teacher interventions to stop bullying. This study presents results from an experimental design in which students watched video vignettes of a teacher intervening in different ways to stop bullying perpetration and report how likely they would be to stop bullying after this intervention.
Keywords
bullying, aggression, genetics, heterogeneity, intervention
Additional field for symposia
Developing and Applying Short-Form Measures of Adolescents’ Rage, Revenge Reward and Recreational Aggression Across Offline and Online Contexts
Graf D. Yanagida T. & Salmivalli, C.
Background: To date, only the Cyber-Aggression Typology Questionnaire (CATQ) and the Face-to-Face Aggression Typology Questionnaire (FATQ) have operationalized rage, revenge, reward, and recreational aggression specifically for offline and online contexts. However, these questionnaires have been validated solely in university student samples and feature a high item count, which limits their practical application in school environments.
Methods: In Study 1 (N = 587 university students), we briefly present the construction of a short version of the CATQ/FATQ questionnaire set. In Study 2 (N = 1064 secondary school students), we describe the validation process with an adolescent sample. In Study 3 (N = 1064 secondary school students), we demonstrate an application case to examine the differential relationships of specific aggression subtypes with offline and cyberbullying.
Results: In study 1, structural validity was confirmed, with most short scales showing good reliability and substantial correlations with their long counterparts. In Study 2, structural and criterion validity were further confirmed in an adolescent sample. In Study 3, reward and recreational aggression were found to have stronger associations with offline bullying than with cyberbullying.
Conclusion: The present work supports the four-factor model of aggression in both offline and online contexts and provides a practical instrument designed for efficient measurement of subtypes of aggression in secondary schools. Moreover, it offers insights into similarities and differences between offline and cyberbullying.
From Genes to Bullying: The Mediating Role of Neurodevelopmental Symptoms
Larose, M.-P., Turunen, T., Barker, E., & Bowes, L.
Theoretical background and objective of the study: Developmental studies indicate that bullying perpetration and victimization are heritable, yet the genetic mechanisms behind these behaviors remain unclear. This study examines how genetic predispositions for neurodevelopmental problems – mainly autism spectrum and attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder — may relate to bullying dynamics through specific neuro-developmental symptoms. We hypothesize that polygenic scores for neurodevelopmental problems (PGS-NDD) will be linked to 1) bullying perpetration via hyperactivity/impulsivity and social communication deficits, and to 2) bullying victimization via inattention, pragmatic speech difficulties, and social communication deficits.
Methodology: We will use data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC, N=6552) for which genetic data are available for children, and where mothers reported children’s neurodevelopmental problems in middle childhood - inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity pragmatic speech difficulties, and social communication deficits – and where children reported their own experiences of bullying perpetration and victimization experiences on three occasions between the ages of 8 and 13. We will follow a preregistered analysis plan. The PGS for neurodevelopmental problems will be calculated using the LDpred2-automatic technique. Using structural equation modeling, we will perform two sets of mediation analyses looking at the associations between PGS-NDD and 1) bullying perpetration and 2) victimization via neurodevelopmental symptoms. All models will be adjusted for maternal exposure to adversity in the prenatal period and child sex.
Results: Results on the mechanisms between PGS-NDD and bullying perpetration and victimization will be presented and discussed during the symposium.
Conclusions: We aim to identify the neuro-developmental symptoms that are precursors of bullying involvement.
Popular, Liked, and Bully?
The Psychological Antecedents of Becoming High-Status Bullies Versus Non-Bullies During Adolescence
Chávez, D. V., Turunen, T., Graf, D. & Salmivalli, C.
Prior research has shown that popularity and likeability often serve different roles in adolescent social behaviors, with popularity typically linked to dominance and aggression and likeability associated with warmth and prosocial behavior. However, these two forms of status often overlap during adolescence, and less is known about the differential antecedents of their coexistence, especially among bullies and non-bullies. Building upon a prior study that identified subgroups of popular-liked bullies and non-bullies (Turunen et al., 2024), this study investigates the psychological factors underlying these profiles, such as C-U traits, affective and cognitive empathy, attributions for victimization, and psychological reactance. Utilizing two-wave longitudinal data from approximately 2300 adolescents, we first aim to replicate Turunen et al.'s (2024) subtypes of youth based on peer-reported bullying, victimization, and peer status (popularity, likeability, rejection) through latent profile analysis in a different sample. Second, we apply logistic regression analysis to predict class membership at T2 based on individual psychological traits measured at T1 and examine differences between popular-liked bullies and non-bullies. Findings are expected to provide a more nuanced understanding of why some high-status adolescents engage in bullying perpetration, shedding light on unique patterns of individual characteristics associated with bullying behavior among popular and liked peers.
Longitudinal Investigation of Elementary School Bullies’, Middle School Bullies’, and Persistent Bullies’ Adjustment
Turunen, T. & Salmivalli, C.
Some adolescents identified as bullies in one timepoint cease their behavior, whereas others seem to be immune to interventions and sanctions and bully their peers repeatedly (multiple timepoints) and across contexts (elementary and middle school). The aim was to examine whether self-reported elementary school bullies (EBs), middle school bullies (MBs), and persistent bullies (PBs, bullies in elementary and middle school) differ from each other and from non-bullies in psychological, social, and academic adjustment. 821 individuals (40.7% male) were followed from Grade 3 to Grade 8. 3.9 % of the participants were identified as EBs, 2.1 % as MBs, and 1.5 % as PBs.
Linear regression analyses revealed that in Grade 3, EBs and PBs were the most maladjusted: they were victimized, had self-reported learning difficulties, lower self-esteem, anti-bullying attitudes and perception of school climate, and PBs were also rejected. The groups did not differ in other status measures, empathy, or internalizing symptoms. In Grade 7, MBs and PBs were the most maladjusted: they were victimized, anxious, had low self-esteem and negative perception of peers, and were skipping school and using internet more than non-bullies. MBs had also depressive symptoms and PBs had lower GPA than non-bullies. In Grade 8, PBs were more likely to date than other groups and they did not have future study plans. The findings suggest that EBs and MBs maladjustment is for the most part limited to when they bully, whereas PBs seem to be maladjusted in both elementary and middle school.
Teachers’ targeted interventions to stop bullying: Guilt, shame, and sadness as potential mediators
Johander E., Turunen T., Garandeau C. F., & Salmivalli C.
Results of the studies examining the effectiveness of teachers’ targeted interventions indicate that both, condemning the bullying behavior and trying to raise perpetrators empathy for their victimized peer are effective in stopping bullying (e.g., Garandeau et al., 2016). However, why these approaches work is unknow. Using hypothetical filmed interventions shown to a sample of 264 7th grade students (47% female, Mage=13.93 years), we examined whether and how students’ perception of these approaches is associated with their intention to stop (hypothetical) bullying, and whether the possible association between the perceptions and intention to stop is mediated by moral emotions (guilt and shame), and empathic concern (sadness). Participants were randomly assigned to three experimental conditions viewing a video vignette of a ‘teacher’ addressing the situation using either approach alone, or in combination. Self-report surveys were used to measure the students’ perception of the approaches (perceived condemning and empathy raising), feelings of guilt, shame and sadness, and their intention to stop bullying after such discussions. According to the results, both perceived condemning of the bullying behavior and empathy-raising positively predicted students’ intention to stop bullying. Further, sadness mediated the effect of perceived empathy raising, and guilt mediated the effect of both, perceived condemning and empathy-raising on intention to stop. Shame was not a significant mediator of the approaches. The findings suggest that targeted interventions against bullying should aim to evoke guilt and sadness (or empathic concern) rather than shame.
| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Quantitative method study |
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| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
