Year: 2010
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Although school bullying has well documented psychological and social consequences for victims, very few studies have explored the long-term correlates in adult survivors of bullying. The current investigation examined results from a survey of retrospective memories of bullying victimization and current psychosocial functioning in 482 college students at a large Midwestern University. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that school bullying victimization experiences significantly predicted participants' current levels of posttraumatic stress, psychological distress, social problems, loneliness, and self-confidence. Bully-victim subtypes were identified through k-means cluster analysis, and multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant differences on outcome variables across subtypes. Domestic victimization experiences moderated the association between bullying victimization and symptoms of posttraumatic stress. Community/neighborhood victimization experiences and locus of control significantly moderated the association between bullying victimization and psychological distress. These results contribute to our understanding of adult survivors of bullying, and clinical implications and future research directions are discussed.
Author: Sarah E. Mebane
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W105122259