Insecure Attachment Styles and Bullying Perpetrators in the Workplace: An Exploratory Study (original) (raw)
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Aim: Bullying in schools is a global challenge, with numerous detrimental side effects and broader societal implications. This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of attachment styles in the relationship between social-emotional competence and bullying. The research design was descriptive-correlational. The statistical population included all the junior high school students in Urmia city in 2020-2021. The sample included 365 students selected by cluster random sampling method. The participants completed Social-Emotional Competence Questionnaire (SECQ) by Zhou and Ee (2012), Illinois Bullying Behavior Scale (2001), and Adult Attachment Inventory (2011). The results of structural equation modeling indicated that Social-emotional competence has a direct effect on bullying behavior. Social-emotional competence also had an indirect effect on bullying behavior through attachment styles. Consequently, the findings showed the positive and effective role of socio-emotional competence and attachment style in reducing bullying behavior of adolescent students.
Attachment Styles of Different Groups of Vocational Learners in Bullying Behavior
European Proceedings of International Conference on Education and Educational Psychology
This research addresses the question of whether or not vocational students who bully others and/or are victimised can be distinguished by their current attachment styles. The aim of the present study is to explore the attachment styles of the different groups of vocational school students involved in bullying behaviour-victims, bullies, bully/victims, and not-involved. A total of 402 vocational school students (195 girls and 207 boys) ages 17 to 28 years old (main age 20.87) completed a self-reported measure (the Revised Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument-Bully and Target) to determine the status of bullying behaviour (bullies N = 57; victims N = 74; and bully/victims N = 41; non-participants of bullying N=230) and a selfreported measure to examine attachment style (the Multiple-item Attachment Scale). Results of the study indicated that: (1) bullies and victims had higher scores in avoidant and anxious/ambivalent attachment scales than bully/victims, whereby all three victim/bullying group members had lower scores than nonparticipants of bullying; and (2) non-participants of bullying behavior demonstrated higher levels of secure attachment than bullies, victims and bully/victims, whereas the first two bullying group members had lowest level of secure attachment. Findings reflected the role of insecure attachment as a risk factor in the development of bullying behaviour in late adolescence in the context of vocational school settings.
2018
The study investigated the relationship between attachment style and personality traits to understand how it can be implicated in the act of bullying among teenagers in some secondary schools within the Lagos metropolis of Nigeria. The research was an explanatory survey with a correlational research design. The sample comprised 288 adolescents (155 males and 133 females) using purposive and convenience sampling methods. Participants responded to three scales combined in a questionnaire. These scales included the Adolescence Peer Relations Instrument which was used to measure bullying behaviour, a modified and adapted version of The Big five Personality Inventory (BFI)was used to assess personality traits, and an adapted version of The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA)was used to assess attachment style. The findings in the study showed that there was a significant relationship among attachment style, personality traits and bullying. Indeed, it was found that bullying is...
Attachment Styles Among Bullies, Victims and Uninvolved Adolescents
Journal of Psychology Research, 2012
Attachment theory provides a frame for understanding the role of attachment styles in the development of bullying behaviour in adolescence. The present study examined attachment styles (secure, avoidant and anxious/ambivalent) that differentiated bullies, victims, bully/victims and uninvolved adolescents. A total of 1,921 students (1,006 girls and 915 boys) in grades four through nine (ages 10 to 18 years old) completed a peer-reported measure (peer nomination inventory:
The purpose of the present study was threefold. First, we tried to investigate whether the quality of attachment with parents and peers predicts bullying and victimization. Second, we also attempted a moderation analysis in order to examine whether the relationship between quality of attachments and bullying is moderated by the child's gender. Finally, we explored whether there are significant differences in the quality of attachment between children identified as bullies, victims, bully/victims, and uninvolved. The participants were 303 fifth and sixth grade children with a mean age of 11.06 years that completed the Revised Bullying and Victimization Questionnaire and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. The results showed that poor quality of attachment with parents and peers predicts bullying and victimization. Moderation analysis revealed that the link between quality of attachment and bullying and victimization is significantly stronger for girls. Also, as hypothesized, bullies and bully/victims manifest the worst quality of attachment with parents and peers. The results are discussed with the framework of attachment and aggression theory, exploring the pathways that explain the association between poor attachment and externalizing problems during late childhood.
Attachment Styles among Teachers with and without Victimization Experiences in Estonia
2016
The present study examined attachment styles (secure, avoidant and anxious/ambivalent) that differentiated teachers as victims of student and adult bullying and non-victims of bullying in school settings. A total of 576 teachers as two-stage cluster sampling in Estonia completed a self-reported measure to determine the victim-categories (victims of student bullying N = 77; victims of adult bullying N = 64; victims of student/adult bullying N = 74; and non-victims N = 361), and a self-reported measure to examine the three attachment styles (Multiple-item Attachment Scale: Simpson, 1990). Results indicated that teachers as single-target victims of students and adults bullying and teaches as multi-target victims of bullying in school settings had higher scores in avoidant and anxious/ambivalent attachment scales than non-victims of bullying. There were no statistically significant differences across scores of secure attachment among four study group members. Findings reflect the role o...
Attachment to parents and peers as a parameter of bullying and victimization
The purpose of the present study was threefold. First, we tried to investigate whether the quality of attachment with parents and peers predicts bullying and victimization. Second, we also attempted a moderation analysis in order to examine whether the relationship between quality of attachments and bullying is moderated by the child's gender. Finally, we explored whether there are significant differences in the quality of attachment between children identified as bullies, victims, bully/victims, and uninvolved. The participants were 303 fifth and sixth grade children with a mean age of 11.06 years that completed the Revised Bullying and Victimization Questionnaire and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. The results showed that poor quality of attachment with parents and peers predicts bullying and victimization. Moderation analysis revealed that the link between quality of attachment and bullying and victimization is significantly stronger for girls. Also, as hypothesized, bullies and bully/victims manifest the worst quality of attachment with parents and peers. The results are discussed with the framework of attachment and aggression theory, exploring the pathways that explain the association between poor attachment and externalizing problems during late childhood.
The Influences of Parent and Peer Attachment on Bullying
Journal of Child and Family Studies, 2017
Individuals with secure attachments to parents and peers are less likely to be bullies and victims of bullying. The current study examined the interplay between gender, parent attachment, and peer attachment as factors related to roles (bullying involvement, defending a victim, and outsider) during bullying. One-hundred forty-eight adolescents (M age = 15.68) completed surveys about parent and peer attachment and roles during bullying. Findings indicated that females were less likely than males to be involved in bullying and were more likely than males to defend a victim or be an outsider (ps < .05). Greater attachment security to parents and peers was associated with greater involvement in bullying and less defending of victims (ps < .05). Additionally, a significant three-way interaction demonstrated that greater peer attachment security predicted less bullying involvement for those with lower parent attachment security (p < .05), but not for those with higher parent attachment security (p > .05). However, this was only true for males (p < .01). These results indicate that having a secure attachment to peers may be a potential protective factor against bullying involvement for males with insecure attachments to parents. Future research should examine the possible mechanisms involved in the association between attachment and bullying, such as empathy, aggression, or social information processing. Keywords attachment; bullying; parents; peers; gender There were no potential conflicts of interest for the current study. All procedures were approved by the University's Institutional Review Board, and all participants gave their informed consent.
International Journal of Developmental Science, 2019
The present study sought to examine the independent, hierarchical, and integrative models of multiple attachment relationships in a sample of Greek-Cypriots in middle adolescence and to test the distinct and interactive effects of these relationships on bullying involvement. A sample of Greek-Cypriot adolescents (N = 406, 55.4% females, M age = 16.01, SD = 0.82) completed the Greek forms of the Revised Olweus Bully-Victim Questionnaire (BVQ-R), the Inventory of Parental and Peer Attachment (IPPA), and the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI). Path models were used to test for the effect of multiple attachment relationships on bullying and victimization, using AMOS 24.0.The integrative model of multiple attachment relationships was supported and found to have significant effects on bullying involvement. The effect of the quality of the mother-adolescent relationship on bullying involvement was fully mediated by the quality of the attachment relationships with peers and the interpersonal relationship with teachers. The quality of adolescents’ relationship with teachers affected their interactions with peers, and not the opposite, though both continued to have distinct effects on bullying involvement.
Attachment, Social Value Orientation, Sensation Seeking, and Bullying in Early Adolescence
Frontiers in psychology, 2018
In this study, bullying is examined in light of the "prosocial security hypothesis"- i.e., the hypothesis that insecure attachment, with temperamental dispositions such as sensation seeking, may foster individualistic, competitive value orientations and problem behaviors. A group of 375 Italian students (53% female; Mean age = 12.58,= 1.08) completed anonymous questionnaires regarding attachment security, social values, sensation seeking, and bullying behaviors. Path analysis showed that attachment to mother was negatively associated with bullying of others, both directly and through the mediating role of conservative socially oriented values, while attachment to father was directly associated with victimization. Sensation seeking predicted bullying of others and victimization both directly and through the mediating role of conservative socially oriented values. Adolescents' gender affected how attachment moderated the relationship between sensation seeking and problem...