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PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES OF SCHOOL CHILDREN

1003PSY Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Assignment

Psychological Attributes of School Children: Relationship between indicated Bullying, Perceived Stress and Depression 1003PSY Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology

Word count: [Insert word count here] Statement of originality: I declare that this assignment is my own work and other than the material that was provided in the template document, it does not include: (i) material from published sources used without proper acknowledgement; or (ii) material copied from the work of other students

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PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 2 Abstract The aim of this experiment was to establish and examine the extent of the relationship between indicated bullying and the onset of self reported anxiety and depression symptoms in prepubescent children. Participants in the experiment were 254 primary school children (125 females, 129 males). Participants were presented with a survey pack to take home and complete in one week. Packs included a parent or guardian consent form and a self –reported questionnaire regarding demographic characteristics, frequency of bullying, perceived stress and depression. Participants were required to answer the presented questions using a scale range; with higher scores indicating higher agreement. Results indicated a significant positive correlation for bullying and depression in females and a non-significant weak correlation in males. A significant positive association was found for bullying and stress in males, yet weak in females.

PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 3 Psychological Attributes of School Children: Relationship between indicated Bullying, Perceived Stress and Sepression. The significant social impact of schoolyard bullying was vividly illustrated in August 2009 when Jai Morcom died as a result of a playground brawl at Mullumbimby High School (New South Wales, Australia). News of the 15 year-olds death led to public outcry and a mass protest by students and staff at the school (Stolz, 2009). A poll conducted by the Queensland newspaper The Courier Mail showed that 92% of the 604 respondents responded Yes to the question of “Do you think bullying is out of control in our schools?” While this sample is likely to be biased, placing doubts over the extent to which this opinion is shared by the general population, it does suggest a perception of a high incidence of bullying in Australian schools. Additional research conducted by the Queensland Education Department indicates that approximately five children in each class are verbally or physically bullied each week and that up to 70% of suspensions relate to bullying behaviour. Research conducted in other countries support these findings in reporting that 5 to 15% of primary school and 3 to 10% of secondary school children being the victims of bullying on at least a weekly basis (Genta, Menesini, Fonzi, Costabile, & Smith, 1996; Olweus, 1994). The high prevalence of bullying in schools indicates that more information is needed on what variables are associated with bullying and what impact it has on children. Prior research on the victims of bullying has revealed that several variables are associated with bullying. Boys are more likely to be bullied than girls (e.g., Nansel et al., 2001; Slee & Rigby, 1993), particularly when bullying includes physical harm and threats (Baldry, 1998). Younger children are also more likely to report being the victim of bullying than older children (Whitney & Smith, 1993). Victims also tend to be more introverted, passive, submissive, and lonely (Boulton & Smith, 1994; Mynard & Joseph, 1997). In victims, the amount of bullying received is positively associated with levels of anxiety (e.g.,

PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 4 Bond, Carlin, Thomas, Rubin, & Patton, 2001) and depression (e.g., Abada, Hou, & Ram, 2008; Craig, 1998), and negatively associated with self-worth (e.g., Slee & Rigby, 1993), popularity (Olweus, 1978), and physical health (Abada et al., 2008). The negative psychological variables that are associated with bullying indicate that victimisation is likely to lead to considerable stress (Newman, Holden, & Delville, 2005) and be a risk factor for subsequent mental health problems (Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpelä, Rantanen, & Rimpelä, 2000). Coggan, Bennett, Hooper, and Dickinson (2003) reported the findings of a large crosssectional survey of 3,265 randomly selected secondary school students in New Zealand. The students were categorised as experiencing chronic bullying (physical violence, verbal teasing, sexual harassment, and racist comments) or not across a six month period. A comparison between the groups revealed significant differences on several psychological measures. Bullied children were less likely to feel good about themselves, had a lower self-esteem, more likely to have attempted self-harm and suicide, and more likely to have higher scores for depression, stress, and hopelessness. Coggan et al. argued that the findings indicated an association between chronic bullying and negative mental health outcomes in secondary school children. Further, the authors stressed that their findings highlight the need for positive youth development strategies in conjunction with prevention and intervention strategies to reduce bullying at school. The present study aimed to extend the findings of Coggan et al. (2003) in three main ways. First, we changed the sample of students that were studied. Students were sampled from primary schools in Queensland, Australia. Second, rather than treating bullying as a categorical variable (i.e., bullied versus not bullied), we treated it as a quantitative variable (i.e., frequency of bullying incidents). Third, we looked at boys and girls separately to understand if associations are significant for both genders. An analysis of the resulting data

PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 5 sets will provide descriptive statistics on the extent of bullying in students and those psychological variables that might be associated with the extent of bullying in boys and girls. A relationship has been established through previous studies linking the connection between being the victim of bullying to self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression. Nonetheless, young females experiencing bullying as a victim communicated greater levels of anxiety and depression when likened to young males (Australian Psychiatric Association, 2013)(Bond, Carlin, Thomas, Rubin & Patton, 2001). It was hypothesised based off previous research by Bond et al, 2001 a strong positive relationship would be learned amongst bullying and perceived stress in young women. Based off prior studies by Slee & Rigby 1992 and American Psychiatric Association 2013 it is hypothesised a strong, positive correlation will be observed between bullying and depression in young females. Centred on research from Bond et al and Slee & Rigby a strong, positive correlation was hypothesised regarding bullying and perceived stress in young males. Based on the study by Bond et al a hypothesis was founded regarding bullying and depression in young males. It is believed a strong, positive correlation will be found. (Bond et al. 2001)

Method Participants Participants were 254 primary school children (125 female, 129 male), 318 survey packs were originally distributed, and however 64 were not returned thus a sample size 254. The mean age for females in the sample was 10.58 years (SD = .98) based on N = 125, and

PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 6 was 10.6 years (SD = .98) for males, based on N =129. As seen in Table 1, students were selected from grades 5-7; the median grade for both female and males was grade 6. Sampling method. The methods used to sample the students and to measure the variables were given approval by the Institutional Research Ethics Committee. The target population was deemed to be Queensland primary school children in grades 5, 6, and 7. The potential participants were those students that were randomly selected to receive a survey pack that contained the self-report measurement instruments. To obtain the list of potential participants, five state schools in Queensland were first randomly selected to participate in the study. Each school consisted of a preparatory year and grades 1 to 7. The number of enrolments at the schools varied from 423 to 845 students. The enrolment list for each school was next obtained and 30 students in grades 5, 6, and 7 were randomly selected. These students became the potential participants and were each given a survey pack to take home. The pack included an information sheet and consent form that the parent or guardian was required to complete as acknowledgement of informed consent. In addition, the pack included the questionnaires to obtain information regarding demographic characteristics, frequency of bullying, perceived stress, depression, and self-esteem. The students were asked to return the completed questionnaires within one week. Of the 318 survey packs handed out, 80% were returned thus giving an actual sample of 254 students.

Design Bullying was regarded as a quantitative variable (i.e. frequency of bullying accidents). Significance of bullying was assessed independently for young females and males, to recognise if associations were significant to a specific gender. The extent of bullying in primary school children and the psychological variables of perceived stress and depression were analysed in data sets and descriptive statistics showing the level of the association in

PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 7 young females and males. Within this procedure perceived stress and depression were the two levels of independent variables. The dependent variable was indicated bullying. Materials Self-report measures were used to obtain demographic information and to measure each variable of bullying, perceived stress and depression. Demographic characteristics. Three questions were used to obtain information about gender (male, female), age (in whole years), and grade level (5, 6, or 7). Frequency of bullying. The amount of bullying experienced by a student was measured as the number of times the student reported being a victim of four possible behaviours. A question asked “In school over the past week, how many times have you experienced each of the following?”. The four items were “Another child was physically violent towards me”, “Another child teased me”, “Another child made racist comments to me”, and “Another child made sexually harassing comments to me”. The number of times each incident occurred was summed across the four items to give a single measure of the frequency of bullying the child experienced over the past week. Perceived stress. The level of stress perceived by the student was measured with four items. These were “It is hard for me to tell people I am angry”, “I feel stressed by expectations to do well or better at school”, “I feel ‘stressed out’”, and “Difficulties seem to pile up so high that I feel that I cannot overcome them”. Ratings were made on a scale that ranged from 0 to 25, where higher ratings indicate higher agreement with the statements. The sum of the ratings for all four items (maximum score = 100) provided the measure of perceived stress. Depression. The students’ depression was measured with the four items of “I feel lonely”, “I feel that people dislike me”, “I feel depressed”, and “I feel that nobody truly cares about me”. Students were asked to rate their level of agreement to each statement on a scale

PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 8 from 1 to 10, where higher ratings indicate higher agreement. An algorithm was applied to the total score across the four items to provide the measure of depression (maximum score = 100). Results Descriptive Statistics in the Female Group Version 24 of the computer statistics program SPSS was used in examining the variables in this sample. A histogram showing distribution for bullying in young females is shown in figure 1. It can be said the distribution is mesokurtic (std. kurtosis = 1.79) and is a non-significant slightly positive skew (std. skew = 1.66). The distribution has two peaks and therefore is bimodal. Application of the 1.5IQR rule thorough inspection of the box plot showed outliers present on both the lower and upper boundaries (refer to corresponding box plot in Appendix A). See table 1 for all remaining descriptive statistics.

Figure 1. Histogram showing the showing the distribution of bullying levels in young females A histogram showing the distribution on the variable perceived stress is shown is Figure 2. The distribution is seen to be mesokurtic (std. kurtosis = 0.16) and showed a significant positive skew (std. skew = 2.76). There are two peaks and therefore is bimodal. Use of the 1.5 IQR rule when examining the box plot confirms no outliers (refer to corresponding boxplot in Appendix A). See Table 1 for all remaining descriptive statistics.

Figure 2. Histogram showing the distribution of perceived stress levels in young females

A histogram showing the distribution on the variable depression is shown in Figure 3. The distribution is seen to be mesokurtic (std. kurtosis = 1.52) and moderately skewed (std. skew = 1.52). There is multiple peaks and therefore is multi-model. Application of the 1.5

PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 9 IQR rule confirmed highly resistant outliers (refer to corresponding box plot in Appendix A). See Table 1 for all remaining descriptive statistics.

Figure 3. Histogram showing the distribution of self reported depression in young females

Variables Associated with Bullying in the Female Group Figure 4 presents a scatterplot illustrating the association between bullying and stress levels. Inspection of this scatterplot indicated two data points in the top right, and bottom left appeared to deviate from the overall pattern. A linear, positive, yet very weak association was observed. This was confirmed upon the examination of bivariate correlations indicating there was a non-significant association between bullying and stress levels (r = .14, p < .12), as seen in Table 2 (Refer to Appendix A).

Figure 4. Scatterplot of the two variables bullying and perceived stress in young females A statistically significant, strong, positive association was observed between bullying and depression levels in young females (r = .44, p...