1-042 - School Bullying as Interpersonal Trauma: Relations Between Peer Victimization and Mental Health and the Role of School Cimate

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Bullying is a chronic stressor that has been conceptualized as a type of interpersonal trauma. Although longitudinal studies help establish the temporal sequence between bullying and mental health, they have typically failed to address why or under what conditions these associations exist. This symposium comprises three studies, two using data from Canada and one using data from Finland, that examine associations between exposure to bullying and mental health and the role of school climate.
Paper 1 use multinomial logistic regression models to examine how frequency, duration, and pervasiveness (i.e., number of places) of peer victimization predict various psychosocial factors. Findings indicate that duration and pervasiveness predicted the outcomes.
Paper 2 examines longitudinal predictions of bullying exposure on PTSD symptoms as a distal outcome, and the role of school climate, using both latent growth curve models and growth mixture models. Results of both indicated longitudinal predictions of bullying on PTSD symptoms. School climate was negatively associated with baseline exposure.
Paper 3 use latent growth curve models to investigate relations between trajectories of bullying and mental health, and the role of school climate, across two developmental periods. Findings indicate that prior peer victimization and change over time can have negative impacts on mental health functioning over multiple developmental periods. School climate had positive influence in elementary school.
Discussion will focus on the associations between bullying exposure and mental health functioning and on the role of school climate.

Sub Unit

• Social Relationships

Chair

• Tracy Vaillancourt, University of Ottawa

Discussant

• Wendy Craig, Queen's University

Individual Presentations

• Peer Victimization Through a Trauma Lens: Identifying who is at Risk for Negative Outcomes - Presenting Author: Irene Hong, Queen’s University; Weijun Wang, Queen’s University; Debra J. Pepler, York University; Wendy Craig, Queen's University

• Developmental Trajectories of School Bullying, and Associations with PTSD Symptoms and School Climate - Presenting Author: Thormod Idsoe, Norwegian Centre for Learning Environment and Behavioural Research in Education; Ella Cosmovici Idsoe, Norwegian Centre for Learning Environment and Behavioural Research in Education; Atle Dyregrov, Center for Crisis Psychology; Christina Salmivallil, University of Turku

• Relations Between Trajectories of Peer Victimization and Mental Health: Role of School Climate Across two Developmental Periods - Heather Brittain, University of Ottawa; Presenting Author: Tracy Vaillancourt, University of Ottawa