Bullying in school and cyberspace: Associations with depressive symptoms in Swiss and Australian adolescents

Background Cyber-bullying (i.e., bullying via electronic means) has emerged as a new form of bullying that presents unique challenges to those victimised. Recent studies have demonstrated that there is a significant conceptual and practical overlap between both types of bullying such that most young people who are cyber-bullied also tend to be bullied by more traditional methods. Despite the overlap between traditional and cyber forms of bullying, it remains unclear if being a victim of cyber-bullying has the same negative consequences as being a victim of traditional bullying. Method The current study investigated associations between cyber versus traditional bullying and depressive symptoms in 374 and 1320 students from Switzerland and Australia respectively (52% female; Age: M = 13.8, SD = 1.0). All participants completed a bullying questionnaire (assessing perpetration and victimisation of traditional and cyber forms of bullying behaviour) in addition to scales on depressive symptoms. Results Across both samples, traditional victims and bully-victims reported more depressive symptoms than bullies and non-involved children. Importantly, victims of cyber-bullying reported significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms, even when controlling for the involvement in traditional bullying/victimisation. Conclusions Overall, cyber-victimisation emerged as an additional risk factor for depressive symptoms in adolescents involved in bullying

Internalising symptoms: An antecedent or precedent in adolescent peer victimisation?

The transition period from primary to secondary school is a critical time in adolescent development. The high prevalence of adolescent mental health problems makes understanding the causal pathways between peer victimisation and internalising symptoms an important priority during this time. This article utilises data collected from self-completion questionnaires four times over 3 years from 3,459 students’ aged 11–14 to examine directional relationships among adolescents as they transition from primary to secondary school, and investigates gender differences in these associations. The findings suggest depression in males is both a precedent and antecedent for victimisation over the transition period, whereas for females depression is an antecedent only. Anxiety is a both a precedent and antecedent for victimisation for males and females. To maintain emotional wellbeing and prevent peer victimisation, interventions prior to and during this transition period are critical, especially among adolescents experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety

Developmental trajectories of adolescent victimization: predictors and outcomes

Chronic victimization negatively affects mental health, making it crucial to understand the key predictive social health (e.g., loneliness, isolation) factors. Evidence suggests that the effects of victimization are worse over the transition from primary to secondary school. Longitudinal data from 1810 students transitioning were used to identify victimization trajectory groups, classified as low increasing, low stable, medium stable, and not bullied. Adolescents with poorer social health were more likely to be in the increasing and stable victimized group than in the not bullied group. Students in the low increasing victimized group had poorer mental health outcomes than those in the stable and not bullied groups. The results of this study have important implications for the type and timing of school-based interventions aimed at reducing victimization and the harms caused by long-term exposure

Adolescent Bully-victims: Social health and the transition to secondary school

This study aimed to investigate the causal pathways and factors associated with being involved in bullying behaviour as a bully-victim using longitudinal data from students aged 11-14 years over the transition time from primary to secondary school. Examination of bully-victim pathways suggest a critical time to intervene is prior to transition from the end of primary school to the beginning of secondary school to prevent and reduce the harm from bullying. Negative outcome expectancies from bullying perpetration were a significant predictor of being a bully-victim at the end of the first year of secondary school. The findings show an association between peer support, connectedness to school, pro-victim attitudes, outcome expectancies and level of bullying involvement. Implications for intervention programs are discussed

Measurement of Submilligram Masses Using Electrostatic Force

The redefinition of the kilogram within the International system of units provides a direct link between mass and Planck's constant. With this in place, it becomes possible to realize the kilogram using electrical metrology. We describe a method that scales this mass measurement approach to the submilligram level using an electrostatic force balance (EFB). Through traceable determination of capacitance, voltage, and position within the balance, the mass values of submilligram artifacts are determined. An uncertainty analysis is carried out on these measurements. Results show a substantial reduction in uncertainty relative to those currently available through conventional approaches based on kilogram subdivision for true mass. Since the EFB measurements are carried out in a vacuum, conversion to conventional mass requires an air buoyancy correction at the location of use. Despite additional uncertainty added by buoyancy correction, the use of the EFB method decreases uncertainty in submilligram mass measurement by an order of magnitude

Comparison of electrostatic and photon pressure force references at the nanonewton level

This work describes a metrological comparison between nanonewton force references derived from an electrostatic force balance (EFB) and photon pressure from laser optical power in the 1 Watt range. An EFB is used to measure photon pressure force in the 10 nanonewton range from the reflection of a laser from a low (approximately 10−5) loss III–V semiconductor distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) mirror while the power of the reflected beam was simultaneously monitored with a traceable thermopile detector. This work demonstrates a method to link mass, force and laser power within the international system of units (SI) with explicit treatment of absorption, diffuse reflection, and a detailed uncertainty analysis. Additionally, it demonstrates a viable method to scale this force continuously using a pulsed laser technique while maintaining the constant thermal load necessary for precision measurement of nanonewton forces with a mechanical balance

A metabolomic strategy defines the regulation of lipid content and global metabolism by Δ9 desaturases in Caenorhabditis elegans.

BACKGROUND: Caenorhabditis elegans provides a genetically tractable model organism to investigate the network of genes involved in fat metabolism and how regulation is perturbed to produce the complex phenotype of obesity. C. elegans possess the full range of desaturases, including the Δ9 desaturases expressed by fat-5, fat-6 and fat-7. They regulate the biosynthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids, used for the synthesis of lipids including phospholipids, triglycerides and cholesteryl esters. RESULTS: Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS), gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy were used to define the metabolome of all the possible knock-outs for the Δ9 desaturases, including for the first time intact lipids. Despite the genes having similar enzymatic roles, excellent discrimination was achievable for all single and viable double mutants highlighting the distinctive roles of fat-6 and fat-7, both expressing steroyl-CoA desaturases. The metabolomic changes extend to aqueous metabolites demonstrating the influence Δ9 desaturases have on regulating global metabolism and highlighting how comprehensive metabolomics is more discriminatory than classically used dyes for fat staining. CONCLUSIONS: The propagation of metabolic changes across the network of metabolism demonstrates that modification of the Δ9 desaturases places C.elegans into a catabolic state compared with wildtype controls.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are