No abstract

Parents should be included in the design of intervention plans aiming at the elimination of bullying at school.

The aim of this study was to test the direction of effect in the relationship between bullying and empathy. The participants were 205 sixth-grade students, randomly selected from urban and rural schools in Cyprus. A six-month, two-time-point longitudinal design was used in which the participants completed the bullying subscale of the Revised Bullying and Victimisation Questionnaire (BVQ-R) and the Basic Empathy Scale. The results of this study showed that bullying at Time 1 negatively predicted the affective component of empathy at Time 2. Moreover, children's affective empathy at Time 1 negatively predicted bullying at Time 2. The results of this study indicate towards a reciprocal model of understanding the relationship between bullying and empathy.

The aim of this study was to propose and test a theory-driven model describing the network of effects existing between parental style and child involvement in bullying incidents at school. The participants were 377 Greek Cypriot children (mean age 11.6) and their mothers. It was found that a line of influence exists between maternal responsiveness, over-protection and child victimization experiences at school. Also, responsiveness predicted low scores of child bullying behaviour. Permissive mothers (who by definition are high in responsiveness) had children with the highest mean score in victimization experience compared with mothers who function under the other three parental styles.

The aim of this study was to examine the relation between teacher attributions of student school failure and teacher behavior toward the failing student. A structural equation model was proposed and its ability to fit the data was tested. It was found that teachers tend to behave in ways that indicate more pity and less anger when they attribute a student's low achievement to her or his low abilities, whereas they express more anger when attributing low achievement to the student's low effort. In contrast to previous research that argues in favor of anger as a high ability cue, this study has found that the presence of anger was associated with a teacher tendency to give-up efforts to help the student improve. This giving-up behavior was negatively related to the tendency of the teachers to accept some responsibility for the student failure. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.The most important beliefs that teachers have about students are those that deal with the teachers' perceptions of the causes of students' behavior (Clark & Peterson, 1986). These beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, and expectations determine, to a large extent, teacher behavior and teacher interaction patterns with students, especially the low-achieving ones (Brophy, 1985). Ainscrow (1998), for example, claimed that teacher attitudes toward a particular student guided the teaching methods that would be selected each time and the strategies used for instructing the student.This article examines the relationship between teacher attributions of student failure and teacher self-reported behavior toward the failing or low-achieving student. Attributions are special kinds of beliefs through which an individual explains observed events in a causal fashion. From a psychological point of view, the interpretation of an event is perhaps more important than the event itself. Thus, the examination of teacher attributions of student failure becomes justified. According to Miller (1995), attribution is the explanation and evaluation of behavior, both the behavior of others and our own. Heider (1958), who is considered by many to be the father of attribution theory, suggested that people are not content simply to observe events around them, but strive to understand their causes as well. In his earlier writings, he maintained that actions are usually attributed to stable and enduring factors, such as the actor's personality characteristics, rather than transitory or variable factors such as moods.Another leading figure in this area, Weiner (1985), proposed a three-dimensional taxonomy of attributions. According to this taxonomy, an attribution can be internal or external in terms of its locus, stable or unstable in terms of its stability over time, and controllable or uncontrollable by the acting individual (controllability). In educational settings, effort and ability are two major internal sources of attribution; the first is controllable but unstable, while the second is stable but uncontrollable. Examples of external attributions regarding success or failure at...

The purpose of the present study was the examination of the longitudinal effect of parental style on short-term changes in conventional and cyber forms of bullying/victimization, and the investigation of the mediating role of peer attachment relationships on this effect. The participants were 861 children and adolescents (52% girls, M = 11.72 years) attending Cyprus public institutions. Students provided information during three measurement points. There was a six and a 12 week interval among the three measurement points, respectively. The findings of the study indicated that parenting seems to be a significant predictor of all forms of bullying/victimization, conventional and cyber, in early adolescents, even when accounting for bullying/victimization levels eighteen weeks back. More importantly, results showed that the effect of parental style on bullying forms was mediated by peer attachment relationships. Results are discussed in the light of theoretical and practical implications.

Through a structural equation model and a path analysis procedure, it was shown that a line of influence exists between parental attribution style, the type and degree of parental involvement and the child's actual academic achievement.

The purpose of the present study was threefold. First, we tried to investigate whether the quality of attachment with parents and peers predicts bullying and victimization. Second, we also attempted a moderation analysis in order to examine whether the relationship between quality of attachments and bullying is moderated by the child's gender. Finally, we explored whether there are significant differences in the quality of attachment between children identified as bullies, victims, bully/victims, and uninvolved. The participants were 303 fifth and sixth grade children with a mean age of 11.06 years that completed the Revised Bullying and Victimization Questionnaire and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. The results showed that poor quality of attachment with parents and peers predicts bullying and victimization. Moderation analysis revealed that the link between quality of attachment and bullying and victimization is significantly stronger for girls. Also, as hypothesized, bullies and bully/victims manifest the worst quality of attachment with parents and peers. The results are discussed with the framework of attachment and aggression theory, exploring the pathways that explain the association between poor attachment and externalizing problems during late childhood.