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Investigating retrospective bullying experiences: how does social support contribute to current resilience and recurrent memories of bullying?

Hurren, K. and Maunder, R. (2015) Investigating retrospective bullying experiences: how does social support contribute to current resilience and recurrent memories of bullying? Poster presented to: Violence: Children, Family & Society Conference 2015, The University of Northampton, 24-26 June 2015. (Unpublished)

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
Abstract: Bullying in schools is an ongoing concern; with Young Minds (2014) reporting that half of the young people they surveyed said they had been bullied. Exposure to traumatic stressful events such as bullying can lead to unpleasant recurrent memories and intrusive imagery associated with the experience (Sansen et al, 2015; Storch & Esposito, 2003). There is convincing evidence for the short and long term negative effects that bullying can have on victims, including increased risk of depressive symptoms, anxiety and low self-worth (Hawker & Boulton, 2000). We suggest however that the focus of research in this area has mainly been orientated towards the course and characteristics of problematic outcomes, thus has arguably neglected to adequately understand why not all victims of bullying are affected, and what factors may have helped those individuals to cope more effectively with their experiences. For example, social support is a protective factor when exposed to trauma (Agaibi & Wilson, 2005) and increased resilience is sometimes the product of stressful life events (Bogar & Hulse-Kilacky, 2006). Therefore, the present study examined the relationships between retrospective accounts of bullying at school and amount of social support available when at school, with experiences of recurrent unpleasant memories of bullying and current levels of resilience. Eighty-six participants (51 female, 35 male) completed an adapted version of the Retrospective Bullying questionnaire (RBQ) (Schafer et al., 2004) measuring bullying frequency when they were at secondary school, and recent unpleasant recurrent memories of their bullying experiences. They also completed an abbreviated version of the Two-way Social Support Scale (2-Way SSS) (Shakespeare-Finch & Obst, 2011) to measure the social support they received when at secondary school, and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC, Connor & Davidson, 2003) to measure their current resilience to life events. Mediation analysis indicated that social support was a statistically significant mediator between bullying frequency and resilience whereby frequently bullied participants were more resilient if they received greater social support when at school. Social support was not a significant mediator between bullying frequency and recurrent memories, but there was a significant negative relationship between resilience and recurrent memories, meaning that those who had greater resilience had lower reports of recurrent memories. Implications and interventions for enabling greater social support in order to promote resiliency among youths are discussed.
Subjects: L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB3013 Classroom management and student behaviour > LB3013.32 Bullying in schools
B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF636 Applied psychology > BF637.B85 Bullying
Creators: Hurren, Katherine and Maunder, Rachel
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Research Centre > Institute of Health and Wellbeing > Centre for Applied Mental Health Research
University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Research Group > Social and Cultural Research in Psychology Group
University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > School of Social Sciences (to 2016)
University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Faculty of Health & Society > Psychology
Faculties > Faculty of Health & Society > Psychology
Research Centres > Centre for Health Sciences and Services
Research Centres > Centre for Psychology and Social Sciences
Date: 25 June 2015
Date Type: Presentation
Event Title: Violence: Children, Family & Society Conference 2015
Event Dates: 24-26 June 2015
Event Location: The University of Northampton
Event Type: Conference
Language: English
Status: Unpublished
Refereed: Yes
Related URLs:
URI: http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/7611

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