SPUR Project

2010 inner (17 of 19)

Adolescents' experiences of bullying

Supervisors: Dr Lucy Bets, Dr James Houston (Psychology)

Bullying is commonplace in many schools and for many children it is an everyday event. Despite government initiatives to reduce levels of bullying through compulsory anti-bullying policies, recent research suggests that these interventions may not be effective. Although the long-term consequences of bullying are recognised, one of the challenges faced by researchers is how to accurately capture adolescents' experiences of incidences of bullying. Recent research suggests that the previous methods are limited because of the increasing use of new technology as a medium to victimise. Consequently, bullying occurs in a range of contexts and can vary markedly in its severity and frequency, something that is not always reflected in the previous research. The purpose of the project is twofold and will involve first reviewing adolescents' experiences of bullying through self-reports to gain an insight in to the frequency of bullying and the range of contexts where bullying occurs and second, once bullying profiles have been established, examining whether different experiences of bullying and bullying severity are associated with psychosocial adjustment and traumatic symptoms. Student tasks will include an initial literature review and distribution of questionnaires to adolescents in five secondary schools. Following data collection, the student will input and analyse the data in SPSS and assist with report-writing.