Developmental Psychology: Challenges in Education and Development (FSWP2070A)
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Summary on 2.4.1C Challenges in Education & Develop
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Developmental Psychology: Challenges in Education and Development (FSWP2070A)
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Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (EUR)
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This is a summary of 2.4.1C Challenges in Education & Development.
In this course, we are given many articles to read. This summary notes every article we had to read. It is thorough but concise, as the most important information in each article is the background, results, and limitations.
Developmental Psychology: Challenges in Education and Development (FSWP2070A)
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Problem 1
Bullying in Schools: The Power of Bullies and the Plight of Victims – (Jaana Juvonen and Sandra
Graham)
Bullying
involves targeted intimidation or humiliation
physically stronger or socially more prominent person abuses their power to threaten, demean or
belittle another
Its more than aggression dynamic interaction between the perpetrator and the victim
power imbalance between the two parties distinguishes bullying from conflict
needs to be repeated some say but single traumatic incident can raise expectation and fear of
continued abuse
o 20–25% of youths -> directly involved in bullying as perpetrators, victims, or both
o in Western nations - 4–9% of youths frequently engage in bullying behaviors
o 9–25% of school- age children are bullied
Also, smaller subgroup of youths who both bully and are bullied (bully-victims)
Forms and functions of bullying behaviours
Direct and indirect forms
Direct confrontation – threats, phys. aggression, name-calling
Indirect – spreading rumours, backstabbing, exclusion from the group - relational manipulation, belittling
someone. To damage the targets’ social reputation or deflate their social status while concealing the
Identity of the perpetrator
gender differences - boys more likely to engage in physical bullying. Girls use more relational aggressive
behaviours - but no strong differences between the two genders in the use of relational aggression. But
girls when wanting to aggressive – more likely to use relational tactics bullying and social dominance
- middle adolescence – relational aggression – the norm for both genders -> less socially acceptable to
physically aggressive - only reliable difference -> physic. aggression decreases with age
0.76 correlation between direct and indirect forms no reliable gender difference in indirect forms
BULLYS
Risk factors for bullying
childhood aggression – stems from a lack of social skills. Aggressive behaviour reflect budding antisocial
personality. but – indirect forms – require sophisticated social skills
most bullies – not violent adults, bully. behaviour short-lived
o evidence – bullies cold and calculating, lacking empathy
o high score on – how important it is to be visible, influential and admired
o strive to domine, often high social status – often popular and socially prominent
o ethological – aggression – way to establish dominant position within a group
strategic behaviour – to gain and maintain a dominant position within a group
status enhancement – important during early adolescence, transition from el. to middle school
bullying peak during times of social reorganization and uncertainty
dominance hierarchy – allows youths to navigate social scene more safely, - align and establish their
position in the hierarchy
Bullying behaviour
proactive/ instrumental forms of aggression- also guided by soc. dominance motives – peak at times
of soc. reorganization and transitions
, inflated self-views and soc.-cog. biases of bullies - aggressive youths – often high and inflated
perceptions of themselves. They overestimate their competencies also in academic and athletic
domains. Rate themselves lower on depression, soc. anxiety, loneliness. Display positive self-views
information-processing biases:
hostile attribution bias - perceive ambiguous situations as reflecting hostile peer intent may account for
bully’s lack of emotional distress. It maintains the self-view -> by blaming and aggressing against others
a. receive more positive feedback from peers than neg.
b. rarely challenged by other witnesses
c. some bystanders reinforce it by smiling and laughing
d. peers likely to side with them to protect their soc. status, reputation and phys. safety plight
of victims
VICTIMS – depressed mood and anxiety, psychosomatic problems, academic difficulties. But there is not
clear the direction of the relationship between these problems and bullying
victim subtypes
1. submissive – anxious, insecure and sensitive
a. internalizing problems, lack of confidence in soc. interactions – increases the risk of being
bullied
2. provocative victims – resort to aggression, also called bully-victim
a. ineffectual aggression, failed attempt to retaliate – did not stop bullying
b. em. response rewarding for bullies too
c. emotion regulation and attention problems
d. shares some of the plight of victims (e.g., moderate levels of distress, high level of peer
rejection) does not share any of the social benefits associated with the high social status of
bullies
Individual and social risk factors of victims
specific psychological characteristics, also nonbehavioral (obesity, off-time pubertal maturation)
children with disabilities and LGBT youths – more likely to be bullied
any condition/characteristics that makes youths stand or, sets apart from the group – increases the
likelihood
ADHD - attention and emotion regulation problems + aggression
social misfit -> their soc. behaviour deviates from group norms -> increases the risk of rejection
within the group
marginal soc. status -> increases the risk of prolonged/ more sever peer victimization
o because they are unlikely to be supported or defended by other group members
emotional / behavioural problems may elicit bullying -> esp. when targets are lower in social status
o depressed youths – difficulties establishing friendships -> likely bullied
o marginal soc. status and lack of friends – risk factor
o em. support from a friend – role in how victims are affected by bullying
Victims with it -> protected from internalizing problems over time
Individual risk factors (e.g., obesity, disabilities, LGBT status) that set a youth apart from the group (norm)
increase the risk of bullying, especially in the absence of friends or when rejected by the group. However,
when an obese child or a sexual minority youth has friends or is accepted by classmates, the chances of
being bullied are decreased. Even just one friend can protect against being bullied and the degree to which
victimized youth feel distressed
Cyclical processes and consequences of peer victimization
,(Many risk factors can be also consequences)
Relationships between peer victimization and internalizing problems reciprocal, probably reflecting
cyclical processes over time. Unless the reciprocal and possibly cyclical processes can be interrupted,
victims of bullying are likely to manifest psychosocial difficulties later in life
Victims across preadolescence and young adulthood elevated rates of psychiatric disorders in young
adulthood
Higher prevalence of anxiety-related disorders - when controlled for childhood psychiatric problems and
earlier family hardships:
bully-victims – elevated risk of adult depression, specific phobias and panic disorders and suicide-
related behaviour
victims em. distressed concurrently and over time
even single incident - increases daily levels of anxiety
Mediating mechanisms underlying psychosocial problems
For example, middle-school students who were identified as victims of bullying by their peers -> more likely
to endorse attributions for bullying that were internal and uncontrollable by them
self-blame exacerbated the effects of victimization on internalizing problems
hostile attributions of negative peer intent partly account for why bullied youths experience
increased externalizing problems over time
Mechanisms underlying school difficulties and health problems
Victims are likely to be absent from school and receive low grades from teachers
can be partly accounted for by emotional distress and somatic complaints (headaches, physical
ailments that prevent them from coming to school)
suffer from health problems – HPA axis
o can be explained partly by differences in reactivity to stress detected at the neuroendocrine
level
o altered cortisol levels during stress test compared with non-victimized peers
o higher cortisol immediately after the stressor and lower cortisol 30 min after the stressor
were associated with more health problems
underlying neural mechanisms associated with victimization in the form of social exclusion
o increased activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex dACC
associated with more self-reported feelings of stress
region which is activated when experiencing phys. pain
o more activity in the subequal anterior cingulate cortex subACC
region associated with affective processes
adolescents have difficulty handling neg. emotion associated with soc. exclusion
associated with increases in depression 1 year later
School climate- the degree to which the students feel not accepted, supported, respected, and treated
fairly in schools – most consistently correlated
Relationship between victimization and social anxiety -> strongest when sixth-grade students resided in
classrooms that were judged by their teachers to be orderly rather than disorderly
orderly classrooms – low on teacher-rated aggression
Positive classroom norm (prosocial conduct, high social order) -> worse outcomes for victims who deviated
from those norms
victimization - more predictive of loneliness and social anxiety for students who were members of the
Majority ethnic group in their classroom
, more likely to endorse self-blaming attributions (“It must be me”), and self-blame -> predicts adjustment
difficulties
more diversity with multiple ethnic groups that share the balance of power protect against victimization
It may also foster enough attributional ambiguity to ward off self-blaming tendencies - victims who deviate
from the norm are particularly vulnerable to self-blaming attributions
Vreeman, R.C., & Carroll, A.E.: Systematic Review of School-Based Interventions to Prevent Bullying:
Literature Review
Bullying – form of aggression in which 1 or more children repeatedly and intentionally intimidate harass, or
physically harm a victim
- Victims are perceived as physically/psychologically weaker than the aggressors
- Key elements: aggression, repetition, the context of a relationship with an imbalance of power
RQ – evaluate school-based interventions to reduce or prevent bullying to see if they worked.
Method – 26 articles were selected – investigating primary schools. Data extracted regarding direct
outcomes of bullying – bullying, victimization, aggressive behaviour, school responses to violence +
outcomes indirectly related - school achievement, self-esteem, knowledge or attitudes towards bullying.
Interventions divided in 5 categories:
1. Curriculum interventions – 10 studies
Curriculum interventions were designed to promote antibullying attitude in the classroom and help
children develop prosocial conflict resolution skills. They did this by focusing on changing student’s
attitudes, altering group norms and increasing self-efficacy. It includes videos, lectures, written curriculum
followed by classroom discussion to 15 weeks of classroom modules. They don’t require that many
resources.
Results – did not consistently decrease bullying and several actually suggested that the bullying increased.
Only 1 study curriculum intervention showed pure improvements
Multidisciplinary or whole-school interventions – 10 studies
This approach address bullying as a systematic problem, they seek to alter the school entire environment.
Its success suggests that bullying comes from external and internal factors. Some combinations of
schoolwide rules and sanction, teacher training, classroom curriculum, conflict resolution training and
individual counselling.
Whole school interventions have overall positive affects on bullying.
Social and behavioural skills group training interventions
2 interventions targeted children with high levels of aggression
- Training reported bullies did not have any significant decrease of the problem.
The other 2 targeted children who were victims
- They did social skills group training for 3rd years in 11 primary schools – results – decrease in bullying
on self-reports + fewer antisocial affiliations
But the other 3 interventions for older children, did not find significant results
Mentoring – 1 study
Studied the effects of mentoring ‘at risk’ children – the mentored students were less likely than their other
students to report bullying + physical fighting + feeling depressed.
Increased social work support – 1 study
Studied the effects of an increase in the number of social workers focused on problem behaviour, including
bullying. Compared with the controls they found significant decrease in self-report bullying. But worsening
the bullying in secondary school.
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