Early Adolescents' Participation in Bullying: Is ToM Involved? (original) (raw)
Related papers
A prospective longitudinal study of children’s theory of mind and adolescent involvement in bullying
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2012
Background: Theory of mind (ToM) allows the understanding and prediction of other people's behaviours based on their mental states (e.g. beliefs). It is important for healthy social relationships and thus may contribute towards children's involvement in bullying. The present study investigated whether children involved in bullying during early adolescence had poor ToM in childhood. Method: Participants were members of the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally representative sample of 2,232 children and their families. We visited families when children were 5, 7, 10 and 12 years. ToM was assessed when the children were 5 years using eight standardized tasks. Identification of those children who were involved in bullying as victims, bullies and bully-victims using mothers', teachers' and children's reports was carried out when they were 12 years' old. Results: Poor ToM predicted becoming a victim (effect size, d = 0.26), bully (d = 0.25) or bully-victim (d = 0.44) in early adolescence. These associations remained for victims and bully-victims when child-specific (e.g. IQ) and family factors (e.g. child maltreatment) were controlled for. Emotional and behavioural problems during middle childhood did not modify the association between poor ToM and adolescent bullying experiences. Conclusion: Identifying and supporting children with poor ToM early in life could help reduce their vulnerability for involvement in bullying and thus limit its adverse effects on mental health. Keywords: Theory of mind, bullying involvement, child development.
Child & Youth Care Forum, 2017
Background Children's bullying involvement may arise from biases and deficiencies in social information processing, and it is important to consider cognitive and emotional aspects of bullying because social cognition is an important aspect of children's social skills and their ability to get along with others. It is also important to understand how children see things from others' point-of-view. Objective The study examined whether empathic concern, perspective-taking, attitude towards bullying, and Theory-of-Mind were associated with non-physical form of bully perpetration and victimization in diverse sample of middle school students.
Scoping Review on Theory of Mind and Bullying: A Critical Update
Psicologia - Teoria e Prática
The present study aimed to conduct a scoping review on researches that investigated the relationship between Theory of Mind (ToM) and school bullying found in seven databases in the areas of health/ psychology (PubMed, PsycInfo, and Lilacs), education (Eric), and interdisciplinary (SciELO, Web of Science, and Scopus). Of the 270 results initially identified, 14 were eligible for review and were analyzed regarding their main results, the measures in ToM used, and variables related to the classification of bullying. It was found that most studies reported a direct (relationships that tend to be statistically significant) and/or indirect (mediated by other variables) relationship between the roles of the students involved and types of bullying and the performance in tasks of ToM. However, a critical discussion regarding the assessment measures in ToM was carried out, pointing to the need for clarification in the type of assessment and updating of tasks.
Bystanders in Bullying: Do ToM and Social Competence Skills Play a Role?
Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology
The present study aimed at investigating: (a) the direct effects of Theory of Mind (ToM) on elementary school children’s self-reports of participant roles in school bullying, (b) ToM’s indirect effects via self-reported social competence skills. Gender was examined as moderator. A total of 171 elementary school children (Ν = 95 girls) from 3rd to 6thgrade from Greek public schools participated in the study. Participants were examined individually through the administration of advanced ToM stories. Also, they were asked to complete in groups self-report questionnaires as regards their roles as bystanders in bullying situations and their social competence skills. Path analysis indicated significant positive direct effects of ToM on prosocial skills and defending behavior and a negative effect on assisting/reinforcing behavior. Significant indirect effects were found from ToM on bystanding behavior, via its direct effect on prosocial competence skills. Gender was not a significant mode...
Social Development, 2001
Bullying in schools has been found to be widespread. The popular stereotype of a bully, supported by theories based on the social skills deficit model, is of a powerful but 'oafish' person with little understanding of others. In this article, we trace the origin of this view, and present an alternative view: that some bullies, at least, will need good social cognition and theory of mind skills in order to manipulate and organise others, inflicting suffering in subtle and damaging ways while avoiding detection themselves. Such skills, although likely to be utilised in all bullying, may be particularly useful for ringleader bullies and in the indirect forms of bullying which are more common between girls. Suggestions for further research in this area are made, and implications for antibullying work briefly discussed.
Interactive Links Between Theory of Mind, Peer Victimization, and Reactive and Proactive Aggression
2010
This study investigated the relation between theory of mind and reactive and proactive aggression, respectively, as well as the moderating role of peer victimization in this context. The 574 participants were drawn from a longitudinal study of twins. Theory of mind was assessed before school entry, when participants were 5 years old. Reactive and proactive aggression as well as peer victimization were assessed a year later in kindergarten. Results from multilevel regression analyses revealed that low theory of mind was related to a high level of reactive aggression, but only in children who experienced average to high levels of peer victimization. In contrast, a high theory of mind was related to a high level of proactive aggression. Again, this relation was
Social cognition and moral cognition in bullying: What's wrong?
Aggressive Behavior, 2006
Two different models have been proposed that describe the bully alternatively as a child lacking in social skills , or as a cold manipulative individual, who leads gangs to achieve personal goals . The present study examined the performance of 204 8-11-year-olds in a set of stories that assessed understanding of cognitions and emotions, in relation to their Participant Role in bullying. Moreover, children's understanding of moral emotions and proneness to moral disengagement was assessed. Victims showed some difficulties in the social cognition task, whereas bullies did not. Aggressive children, instead, were found to be more ready to show moral disengagement mechanisms, whereas defenders showed higher levels of moral sensibility. Results are discussed in relation to the two models, and the need for further research into empathy and moral cognition of children involved in bullying episodes is highlighted. Aggr. Behav. 32:528-539, 2006. r
Unique and Interactive Effects of Empathy and Social Status on Involvement in Bullying
Social Development, 2009
This study investigated the relationships between affective and cognitive empathy, social preference and perceived popularity, and involvement in bullying situations by bullying others or defending the victimized children. The participants were 266 primary and 195 secondary school students. Affective and cognitive empathy, as well as the status variables, had some significant main effects on involvement in bullying. In addition, several interaction effects emerged. For instance, the positive association between affective empathy and defending behavior was stronger among boys who had a high status (i.e., were highly preferred) in the group. The results highlight the importance of studying child-by-environment models, which take into account both child characteristics and interpersonal variables in predicting social adjustment.
British Journal of Educational Psychology, 2019
Background. The literature indicates that separate significant links exist in adolescence between empathy, cognitive and affective motivation to defend victims, and behavioural problems in bullying episode in schools. Aims. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between empathy, motivation to defend, and defending behaviour in bullying situations. The hypothesis focuses on the possible role of autonomous motivation in the association between empathy and defending attitudes. Samples and methods. Data were collected from 430 Italian adolescents (48.4% male, 51.6% female) who completed a questionnaire in their schools. The mean age of the participants was 13.1 years (SD = 2.1). Results. Results showed that empathy significantly predicts defending behaviour and also has a significant effect on extrinsic, introjected, and intrinsic motivation to defend. Autonomous motivation, in turn, has a mediating role in the relationship between empathy and defending behaviour. Conclusions. Our study suggests the importance of focusing on empathy and on developing autonomous motivation to defend in children, to raise spontaneous defending attitudes against bullying.