CHICAGO – Bullying by elementary school children was associated with increased odds of lacking a feeling of safety while at school, having lower academic achievement, and feeling sad most days, according to an article in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

According to background information in the article, "Bullying is defined as any repeated negative activity or aggression intended to harm or bother someone who is perceived by peers as being less physically or psychologically powerful than the aggressor(s)." In a 2000 survey of more than 15,000 U.S. students, researchers found the prevalence of bullying involvement among teens and preteens was approximately 30 percent. Concerns about the role of bullying in school violence, depression, and health concerns have grown over the past decade.

Gwen M. Glew, M.D., of the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues surveyed 3,530 third, fourth, and fifth grade students to determine prevalence of bullying and its association with attendance, academic achievement, suspension or expulsion, and self-reported feelings of sadness, safety and belonging. Students were classified as victims, bullies, bully-victims (those who were both victimized and bullied others), bystanders (children who did not bully others and were not bullied by others) and nonresponders.

Twenty-two percent of the children surveyed reported being involved in bullying, either as a victim, bully, or both. Six percent of the children reported being bullied "always," 14 percent said they bullied others, and two percent said they both bullied and were bullied. All three bullying-involved groups--either as a victim, bully or bully-victim--were significantly more likely than bystanders to feel unsafe at school. Among students who reported feeling as though they did not belong at school, their odds of being a victim were 4.1 times higher than those who felt they belonged at school; their odds of being a bully was 3.1 times higher than those saying they belonged. Bullies and victims were more likely than bystanders to feel sad most days. Both bullies and bully-victims were more likely to be male.

"The prevalence of frequent bullying among elementary school children is substantial. Associations between bullying involvement and school problems indicate this is a serious issue for elementary schools," the authors write. "The take-home message is that elementary school-aged children who are psychologically distressed are more likely to be involved in some form of bullying, and children who struggle academically are more likely to be victims and bully-victims."

EurekAlert
7 November 2005

Men behave in certain ways to retain their partner and to continue their relationship with her. Sometime it's sweet, like holding hands or giving flowers, and sometimes it's a harbinger of danger. A study published in the latest issue of Personal Relationships identifies several specific acts and tactics that lead to the possibility of violence. Vigilance over a partner's whereabouts was the highest-ranking tactic predicting violence across the researchers' three-study investigation. Emotional manipulation, such as a man saying he would "die" if his partner ever left also was predictive of violence. Monopolization of time and the threat to punish for infidelity also were signals of violence. Showing love and care was among the tactics not associated with violence. "Mate retention behaviors are designed to solve several adaptive problems, such as deterring a partner's infidelity and preventing defection from the mating relationship," author Todd K. Shackelford explains.

In the first two studies, the researchers asked independent samples of men and women to report on men's retention behaviors and men's violence against their partners. In the third study, they asked husbands and their wives to report on men's retention behaviors and violence against wives. The highest-ranking correlations between single acts and violence were not consistent across the three studies. But acts such as "dropped by unexpectedly to see what my partner was doing" and "called to make sure my partner was where she said she would be" were the overall third and fifth highest predictors of violence. These acts fall into Vigilance, which the couples reported as the highest–ranking tactic leading to violence and the only tactic across all three studies that uniquely predicts violence. "At a practical level, results of these studies can potentially be used to inform women and men, friends and relatives, of danger signs-- the specific acts and tactics of mate retention that portend the possibility of future violence in relationships in order to prevent it before it has been enacted," the authors conclude.

EurekAlert
27 October 2005