Kent and Medway NHS and Social CarePartnership TrustThis study explores the impact of bullying on the mental health of students who witness it. A representative sample of 2,002 students aged 12 to 16 years attending 14 schools in the United Kingdom were surveyed using a questionnaire that included measures of bullying at school, substance abuse, and mental health risk. The results suggest that observing bullying at school predicted risks to mental health over and above that predicted for those students who were directly involved in bullying behavior as either a perpetrator or a victim. Observing others was also found to predict higher risk irrespective of whether students were or were not victims themselves. The results are discussed with reference to past research on bystander and witness behavior.Keywords: bullying, observer, witness, mental health, schoolPrevious studies of bullying behavior have tended to focus on risk factors associated with the primary roles of victim, perpetrator, and that of the "bully victim" (Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003;Nansel, Overpeck, Pilla, Ruan, Simons-Morton, & Scheidt, 2001). Among victims of bullying, higher rates of depression and anxiety coupled with psychosomatic complaints are common (e.g., headaches and abdominal pains; Fekkes, Pijpers, & Verloove-Vanhorick, 2004; Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpelae, & Rantanen, 2000;Srabstein, McCarter, Shao, & Huang, 2006) together with lower levels of academic attainment, self-esteem, and social functioning (Hawker & Boulton, 2000;Schwartz, Gorman, Nakamoto, & Toblin, 2005). When compared with their nonaggressive peers, perpetrators report lower levels of school engagement and belonging, as well higher rates of delinquent behavior outside school (Haynie, Nansel, & Eitel, 2001;Nansel et al., 2001). Among students who have the dual role of perpetrator in some situations and victim in others ("bully victims"), higher rates of depression and reports of somatic complaints are common, and there is an increased probability of these students being referred for psychiatric assessment above those who are primarily perpetrators and victims Swearer, Song, Cary, Eagle, & Mickelson, 2001). Furthermore, higher rates of substance use are associated with both bullying and victimization (Shepherd, Sutherland, & Newcombe, 2006;Swahn, Bossarte, & Sullivent, 2008;Thompson, Sims, Kingree, & Windle, 2008).Although students who witness bullying have a key role to play in challenging it, there remains a dearth of information on this particular subgroup (Craig & Pepler, 1997;Frey, Hirschstein, Snell, Edstrom, MacKenzie, & Broderick, 2005;Hawkins, Pepler, & Craig, 2001). Research by Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, Björkqvist, Ő sterman, and Kaukiainen (1996) 2009, Vol. 24, No. 4, 211-223 1045-3830/09/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0018164 211 beyond those of perpetrator and victim that incorporated a degree of bystander behavior (see also Salmivalli, Huttunen, & Lagerspetz, 1997). Using a combination of self-reports and peernominations, Salmivalli et al. (1996) demonstrated that t...

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Workplace bullying is increasingly being recognized as a serious problem in society today; it is also a problem that can be difficult to define and evaluate accurately. Research in this area has been hampered by lack of appropriate measurement techniques. Social scientists can play a key part in tackling the phenomenon of workplace bullying by developing and applying a range of research methods to capture its nature and incidence in a range of contexts. We review current methods of research into the phenomenon of bullying in the workplace. We examine definitional issues, including the type, frequency, and duration of bullying acts, and consider the role of values and norms of the workplace culture in influencing perception and measurement of bullying behavior. We distinguish methods that focus on: (a) inside perspectives on the experience of bullying (including questionnaires and surveys, self-report through diary-keeping, personal accounts through interviews, focus groups and critical incident technique, and projective techniques such as bubble dialogue); (b) outside perspectives (including observational methods and peer nominations); (c) multi-method approaches that integrate both inside and outside perspectives (including case studies). We suggest that multi-method approaches may offer a useful way forward for researchers and for practitioners anxious to assess and tackle the problem of bullying in their organizations.

In this article a non‐probability sample of 60 lesbians, gay men and bisexual men and women, who had all been bullied at school for a period of 5 years or more, were asked to complete a self‐report style questionnaire at two time points (12–14 months apart) to assess the stability of their recollections of bullying. Three particular types of recollection were explored: (1) age factors and calendar reference points, (2) incident or event recall, and (3) recall for peripheral factors (e.g. ramificationsandconsequences). The results suggested that participants were able to recallkey events intheirlivesandplace themwithina generalchronologywhichwas not found to vary greatly across the 12–14‐month period. They were also able to recall specific types of bullying occurring in specific locations with relative constancy. However, recollections of subsequent outcomes (e.g. telling a teacher) were recalled less well. It is argued that this study lends some support to the idea that retrospective studies have a role to play in applied research and that memory stability may be a useful indicator of reliability where prospective studies are difficult to conduct. However, they should not be seen as an alternative to longitudinalresearch.

This study explores the relationship between experiences of bullying at school, adult mental health status, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress among a sample of 119 UK residents who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Participants completed a series of questionnaires that focused upon school experiences, suicide ideation at school, sexual history, relationship status and negative affect, recent positive and negative life-events, internalized homophobia, and symptoms associated with posttraumatic stress. The results suggested that posttraumatic stress was a potential issue for 17% of participants who also scored significantly higher for depression, and reported having had more casual sexual partners than their peers. However, those who were found to exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress were also more accepting of their sexual orientation. A small number of participants used prescription or nonprescription drugs, or alcohol to help them cope with memories of bullying. It is suggested that posttraumatic stress may be a feature of the adult lives of men and women who experienced frequent and prolonged bullying at school as a result of their actual or perceived sexual orientation.

WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Peer victimization predicts numerous health risks. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB)-identified youth report greater peer victimization than do heterosexualidentified youth. No longitudinal studies have been conducted on developmental trends of peer victimization and emotional distress among LGB and heterosexual youth. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:We provide the first longitudinal evidence on developmental trends of peer victimization and emotional distress for LGB-and heterosexual-identified youth. The findings suggest peer victimization of LGB-identified youth decreases in absolute, but not necessarily relative, terms and contributes to later emotional distress disparities. abstract OBJECTIVES: This study had 2 objectives: Our first objective was to provide the first evidence of developmental trends in victimization rates for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB)-and heterosexual-identified youth, both in absolute and relative terms, and to examine differences by gender. Our second objective was to examine links between victimization, sexual identity, and later emotional distress. METHODS:Data are from a nationally representative prospective cohort study of youth in England were collected annually between 2004 and 2010. Our final analytic dataset includes 4135 participants with data at all 7 waves; 4.5% (n = 187) identified as LGB. Analyses included hierarchical linear modeling, propensity score matching, and structural equation modeling. RESULTS:LGB victimization rates decreased in absolute terms. However, trends in relative rates were more nuanced: Gay/bisexual-identified boys became more likely to be victimized compared with heterosexualidentified boys (wave 1: odds ratio [OR] = 1.78, P = .011; wave 7: OR = 3.95, P = .001), whereas relative rates among girls approached parity (wave 1: OR = 1.95, P = .001; wave 7: OR = 1.18, P = .689), suggesting different LGB-heterosexual relative victimization rate trends for boys and girls. Early victimization and emotional distress explained about 50% of later LGB-heterosexual emotional distress disparities for both boys and girls (each P , .015).CONCLUSIONS: Victimization of LGB youth decreases in absolute, but not necessarily relative, terms. The findings suggest that addressing LGB victimization during adolescence is critical to reducing LGBheterosexual emotional distress disparities but additional support may be necessary to fully eliminate these disparities. Dr Robinson conceptualized the study, designed and performed the data analysis, drafted the initial manuscript, reviewed and revised the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted; Dr Espelage conceptualized the study, reviewed and revised the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted; and Dr Rivers conceptualized the study, reviewed and revised the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted.www.pediatrics.org/cgi

This study charts reports of nasty or threatening text and email messages received by students in academic years 7 and 8 (11-13 years of age) attending 13 secondary schools in the North of England between 2002 and 2006. Annual surveys were undertaken on behalf of the local education authority to monitor bullying. Results indicated that, over five years, the number of pupils receiving one or more nasty or threatening text messages or emails increased significantly, particularly among girls. However, receipt of frequent nasty or threatening text and email messages remained relatively stable. For boys, being a victim of direct-physical bullying was associated with receiving nasty or threatening text and email messages; for girls it was being unpopular among peers. Boys received more hate-related messages and girls were primarily the victims of name-calling. Findings are discussed with respect to theoretical and policy developments, and recommendations for future research are offered.

In this article, we combined data from 145 interviews and three ethnographic investigations of heterosexual male students in the U.K. from multiple educational settings. Our results indicate that 89 per cent have at some point kissed another male on the lips which they reported as being non-sexual: a means of expressing platonic affection among heterosexual friends. Moreover, 37per cent reported also engaging in sustained same-sex kissing, something they construed as nonsexual and non-homosexual. Although the students in our study understood that this type of kissing remains somewhat culturally symbolized as a taboo sexual behavior, they nonetheless reconstructed it, making it compatible with heteromasculinity by recoding it as homosocial. We hypothesize that both these types of kissing behaviors are increasingly permissible due to rapidly decreasing levels of cultural homophobia. Furthermore, we argue that there has been a loosening of the restricted physical and emotional boundaries of traditional heteromasculinity in these educational settings, something which may also gradually assist in the erosion of prevailing heterosexual hegemony.