School Psychology Commons^™

Examining The Coping Resources Of Polyvictimized Youth And Young Adults, Zachary Robert Myers

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Bullying represents a significant concern for many youth and young adults in the United States and abroad. However, the growth of technology has allowed for new platforms in which perpetrators can engage in bullying behaviors, such as text and video messaging, social media applications, and online gaming. In addition, research has suggested that the majority of cyberbullied individuals experience co-occurring in-person victimization as well. These trends are concerning, given that findings within both the traditional and cyberbullying literatures place victimized youth at-risk for a host of social and emotional concerns. However, research has yet to fully explore the unique experiences …

Psychological Factors That Underlie Hazing Perceptions: A Mixed Methods Study, Jenna Strawhun

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The quantitative phase of this mixed-methods study examined psychological predictors, including previous bullying involvement, moral disengagement, the need to belong, and their influence on students’ perceptions of hypothetical hazing behaviors. The following qualitative phase was used to explain and contextualize Phase I results through an understanding of the psychological processes related to participants’ constructed meanings of their experiences as perpetrators, witnesses, and/or victims of bullying and hazing. Study participants for Phase I and Phase II included undergraduate students enrolled in psychology courses who participated in the study for research credit. Phase II participants also received a $25.00 gift card as …

Standing Up Or Standing By: Examining The Bystander Effect In School Bullying, Scott M. Fluke

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

School bullying represents a serious mental health problem for youth in the United States. Bullying is a social phenomenon that is affected by the social context in which it occurs. Bystanders (i.e., individuals who witness bullying), are present in the vast majority of bullying situations. When bystanders choose to intervene on behalf of the victim, they are able to stop the bullying about 50% of the time. Unfortunately, bystanders rarely stand up for victims, instead frequently choosing to help the perpetrator or passively observe the bullying situation. Researchers have identified the bystander effect (i.e., the inhibitory effect of other bystanders …

Adolescent Bullying: Do Weight, Body Size, And Body Size Dissatisfaction Influence Victimization?, Paige T. Lembeck

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The current study investigated how body mass index (BMI) z-score, peer context, and body size dissatisfaction influence bullying victimization in adolescents. Participants were 11-18 year-old patients at pediatrician’s offices in a mid-sized Midwestern city. Path analyses and percentile bootstrapping procedures were employed to investigate the research questions. A zero-inflated Poisson approach was used to examine whether there was an indirect effect between BMI z-score and bullying victimization through perceived difference from friends’ body size and body size dissatisfaction. An alternative model was investigated to determine whether BMI z-score indirectly affected body size dissatisfaction through perceived difference from friends’ body size …

Do Students Understand What Researchers Mean By Bullying?, Kristin E. Bieber

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The definition of bullying most often used by researchers incorporates three key elements: repetition, intent to harm, and a power imbalance (Olweus, 2010). Past studies have found that students may not understand how this definition of bullying is different from general peer aggression, and that they may report their involvement in instances of aggression that occur only once, or happen among individuals of equal power, when they are asked about their involvement in bullying (Monks & Smith, 2006).

This dissertation examined: a) grade differences in students’ abilities to accurately apply the definition of bullying when determining if a behavior is …