Cargando…

Peer Victimisation in Early Childhood; Observations of Participant Roles and Sex Differences

During middle childhood and adolescence, victimisation appears to be a group process involving different participant roles. However, peer reports with younger children (four to six years old) have failed to identify the participant roles of assistant (to the bully) reinforcers or defenders with much...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Monks, Claire P., Smith, Peter K., Kucaba, Kat
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7825670/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33430281
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020415
_version_ 1783640361019637760
author Monks, Claire P.
Smith, Peter K.
Kucaba, Kat
author_facet Monks, Claire P.
Smith, Peter K.
Kucaba, Kat
author_sort Monks, Claire P.
collection PubMed
description During middle childhood and adolescence, victimisation appears to be a group process involving different participant roles. However, peer reports with younger children (four to six years old) have failed to identify the participant roles of assistant (to the bully) reinforcers or defenders with much reliability. This may be because peer victimisation is a more dyadic process among younger children (behavioural reality), or because of limitations in young children’s cognitive capacity to identify these behaviours (cognitive limitations). The findings of an observational study which examined the group nature of peer victimisation among young children are presented. Observations were made of 56 children aged four and five years using time sampling during free play at school (totalling 43.5 h of observation). Records were made of their behaviour when an onlooker witnessed aggression by others, and also of others’ behaviour when they were being aggressive or being victimised. Although children other than the aggressor and target were present in nearly two thirds of the episodes of peer victimisation observed, few exhibited behavioural responses in line with the assistant, reinforcer or defender roles. This supports the behavioural reality rather than the cognitive limitations explanation. Sex differences were observed in types of aggression displayed by children, with boys more likely than girls to be physically aggressive. Children were less likely to be aggressive to other-sex peers and were most likely to be victimised by children of the same sex as them. There were also sex differences in children’s onlooker behaviour. The implications for our understanding of the development of peer victimisation and bullying in children are discussed.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7825670
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-78256702021-01-24 Peer Victimisation in Early Childhood; Observations of Participant Roles and Sex Differences Monks, Claire P. Smith, Peter K. Kucaba, Kat Int J Environ Res Public Health Article During middle childhood and adolescence, victimisation appears to be a group process involving different participant roles. However, peer reports with younger children (four to six years old) have failed to identify the participant roles of assistant (to the bully) reinforcers or defenders with much reliability. This may be because peer victimisation is a more dyadic process among younger children (behavioural reality), or because of limitations in young children’s cognitive capacity to identify these behaviours (cognitive limitations). The findings of an observational study which examined the group nature of peer victimisation among young children are presented. Observations were made of 56 children aged four and five years using time sampling during free play at school (totalling 43.5 h of observation). Records were made of their behaviour when an onlooker witnessed aggression by others, and also of others’ behaviour when they were being aggressive or being victimised. Although children other than the aggressor and target were present in nearly two thirds of the episodes of peer victimisation observed, few exhibited behavioural responses in line with the assistant, reinforcer or defender roles. This supports the behavioural reality rather than the cognitive limitations explanation. Sex differences were observed in types of aggression displayed by children, with boys more likely than girls to be physically aggressive. Children were less likely to be aggressive to other-sex peers and were most likely to be victimised by children of the same sex as them. There were also sex differences in children’s onlooker behaviour. The implications for our understanding of the development of peer victimisation and bullying in children are discussed. MDPI 2021-01-07 2021-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7825670/ /pubmed/33430281 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020415 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Monks, Claire P.
Smith, Peter K.
Kucaba, Kat
Peer Victimisation in Early Childhood; Observations of Participant Roles and Sex Differences
title Peer Victimisation in Early Childhood; Observations of Participant Roles and Sex Differences
title_full Peer Victimisation in Early Childhood; Observations of Participant Roles and Sex Differences
title_fullStr Peer Victimisation in Early Childhood; Observations of Participant Roles and Sex Differences
title_full_unstemmed Peer Victimisation in Early Childhood; Observations of Participant Roles and Sex Differences
title_short Peer Victimisation in Early Childhood; Observations of Participant Roles and Sex Differences
title_sort peer victimisation in early childhood; observations of participant roles and sex differences
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7825670/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33430281
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020415
work_keys_str_mv AT monksclairep peervictimisationinearlychildhoodobservationsofparticipantrolesandsexdifferences
AT smithpeterk peervictimisationinearlychildhoodobservationsofparticipantrolesandsexdifferences
AT kucabakat peervictimisationinearlychildhoodobservationsofparticipantrolesandsexdifferences