Reciprocal peer dislike and psychosocial adjustment in childhood

Reciprocal peer dislike was examined as a predictor of school adjustment and social relationship quality. One hundred and fifty one (69 male and 74 female, Mage = 9.53, SDage = 1.87 years) children completed measures of school liking, loneliness, and friendship quality twice over three months. From ratings of the amount of time participants liked to spend with individual classmates, social network analyses were used to determine reciprocal peer dislike. Curvilinear regression analyses revealed that reciprocal peer dislike at Time 1 predicted changes in the children’s loneliness and friendship quality assessed as help, security, and closeness over three months. The findings support the conclusion that reciprocal peer dislike predicts aspects of school adjustment and social relationship qualities

Centrality in children's best friend networks: the role of social behaviour

Centrality is an indicator of an individual's relative importance within a social group. Predictors of centrality in best friendship networks were examined in 146 children (70 boys, 76 girls, Mage= 9.95). Children completed measures of social confidence, social desirability, friendship quality, school liking, and loneliness, and nominated their best friends from within their class at two time points, 3 months apart. Multigroup path analysis revealed gender differences in the antecedents of centrality. Social confidence, social desirability, and friendship quality predicted changes in the indicators of centrality in best friend networks over time. In boys’ social behaviour positively predicted changes in centrality whereas in girls’ social behaviour negatively predicted changes in centrality. Together, these findings suggest that some aspects of social behaviour are influential for centrality in best friend groups

Does correction for guessing reduce students' performance on multiple-choice examinations? Yes? No? Sometimes?

Multiple-choice (MC) examinations are becoming increasingly popular in higher education because they can be used effectively to assess breadth of knowledge in large cohorts of students. This present research investigated Psychology students' performance on, and experiences of, MC examinations with and without correction for guessing. In Study 1, data were collected from two cohorts of students across three Psychology MC examinations. The results revealed that students scored higher, and left fewer questions unanswered, when there was no correction for guessing. Furthermore, when the correction for guessing was removed from the theory MC examination, students who were told there was no correction for guessing did better than those told there was a correction. In addition, there was limited evidence of gender differences, with female students performing significantly better on one MC examination than males. In Study 2, a further set of first-year Psychology students reported their experiences of correction for guessing on open-book and closed-book MC examinations. Students reported feeling less anxious and more confident on the open-book MC examination. The findings of both of these studies have implications for instructors deciding whether or not correction for guessing is appropriate, and for the advice to be given to students preparing for MC examinations

Examining the components of children's peer liking as antecedents of school adjustment

Children’s social interactions with their peers influence their psychosocial adjustment; consequently, the relationship between class-wide peer liking, same-gender peer liking, and school adjustment was explored in two age groups. Peer liking was analysed using the social relations model (SRM). In Study 1, 205 children (103 female and 102 male, Mage = 7.15, SD = 7 months) completed measures of peer liking and school adjustment, and teachers completed the Short-Form TRSSA. In Study 2, 197 children (98 female and 90 male, Mage = 9.87, SD = 5.9 months) completed measures of peer liking and school adjustment. Both studies yielded evidence of reciprocal liking and individual differences in the ratings of liking awarded to, and elicited from, both peer groups. Multigroup path analysis, with groups created according to gender, revealed that elements of liking predicted different aspects of school adjustment with some variation according to age and gender. Together, these findings suggest that the SRM can be used to examine peer liking and underscore the importance of children’s peers for school adjustment

Developing the cyber victimisation experiences and cyber bullying behaviours scales

The reported prevalence rates of cyber victimisation experiences and cyber bullying behaviours vary. Part of this variation is likely due to the diverse definitions and operationalisations of the constructs adopted in previous research and the lack of psychometrically robust measures. Through two studies, the current research developed (Study 1) and evaluated (Study 2) the cyber victimisation experiences and cyber bullying behaviours scales. In Study 1 393 (122 male, 171 female), and in Study 2 345 (153 male and 192 female), 11- to 15-year-olds completed measures of cyber victimisation experiences, cyber bullying behaviours, face-to-face victimisation experiences, face-to-face bullying behaviours, and social desirability. The three factor cyber victimisation experiences scale comprised: threat, shared images, and personal attack. The three factor cyber bullying behaviours scale comprised: sharing images, gossip, and personal attack. Both scales demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and convergent validity

"People think it's a harmless joke": young people's understanding of the impact of technology, digital vulnerability, and cyber bullying in the United Kingdom

Young people's technology use has increased exponentially over the last few years. To gain a deeper understanding of young peoples’ experiences of digital technology and cyber bullying, 4 focus groups were conducted with 29 11- to 15-year-olds recruited from 2 schools. Interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed three themes: Impact of technology, vulnerability, and cyber bullying. Technology was seen as a facilitator and a mechanism for maintaining social interactions. However, participants reported experiencing a conflict between the need to be sociable and the desire to maintain privacy. Cyber bullying was regarded as the actions of an anonymous coward who sought to disrupt social networks and acts should be distinguished from banter

Protecting against school-based victimisation: the role of children's friendship

Given the detrimental short- and long-term effects of peer-victimisation (Hawker & Boulton, 2000), it is not surprising that bullying has become a central topic for multiple parties; including stake-holders, the media, educators, and researchers. In addition to examining the effect that peer-victimisation can have on a child, researchers have also focused on associated risk and protective factors (e.g., Ttofi & Farrington, 2012) that exacerbate or ameliorate the effects of peer-victimisation respectively. Over the last few decades a wide-range of risk and protective factors have been identified, including poor academic achievement (Spriggs, Iannotti, Nansel, & Haynie, 2007), mental health issues (Sourander, Helstelä, Helenius, & Piha, 2000; Yang, Kim, Kim, Shin, & Yoon, 2006), exposure to child abuse and domestic violence (Bowes et al., 2009) and lack of parental involvement (Shields & Cicchetti, 2001). The following chapter will focus on one protective factor that has received increasing attention: friendship. This chapter will begin by briefly presenting an overview as to the function of friendship in childhood before discussing evidence that suggests for some children, friendship can serve to protect against the experience of victimisation, and alleviate symptoms associated with peer-victimisation. In particular, the chapter will focus upon the different facets of friendship including: (1) the number of friends a child has, (2) the quality of these friendships, and (3) the individual characteristics of friends. The extent to which each of these three facets of friendship serve as a protective factor against peer-victimisation will be explored in turn. Paradoxically, friendship does not always function as a protective factor, but rather a child can be bullied by their friends. The 'darker' side of friendship will also be discussed, including why some children choose to stay friends with their perpetrator. Finally, this chapter will debate the effectiveness of peer support programs in schools and highlight areas that require further empirical focus

Parental rearing style as a predictor of attachment and psychosocial adjustment during young adulthood

Parental rearing-styles are crucial for psychosocial adjustment both during childhood and adulthood. The current study examined whether: (a) parental rearing-styles predicted psychosocial adjustment in young-adulthood, (b) this relationship was mediated by attachment styles , and ( c ) gender differences occur in these relationships. Two hundred and forty (103 male and 132 female) university students completed measures assessing parental rearing-style , current attachment style, romantic relationship satisfaction, friendship quality, self-esteem, and social competence. Multigroup structural equation modelling, conducted separately by gender, revealed that parental rearing-style predicted psychosocial adjustment during young-adulthood. Further, there was also evidence of gender differences and that self-models and other-models of attachment mediated this relationship. Together, these findings reinforce the importance of perceived parental rearing-style for subsequent psychosocial adjustment

Encouraging good writing practice in first-year psychology students writing: an intervention using Turnitin

There is growing concern among many regarding plagiarism within student writing . This has promoted investigation in to both the factors that predict plagiarism and potential methods of reducing plagiarism. Consequently, we developed and evaluated an intervention to enhance good practice within academic writing through the use of the plagiarism detection software Turnitin. One hundred and sixteen first-year Psychology students submitted work to Turnitin and 71 of these students evaluated their learning experiences. For the next assignment the students completed, there was a reduction in academic misconduct cases compared to the previous year and students evaluated the session positively. The findings have implications for teaching good practice in academic writing