Time and support do not heal all wounds: Mental health correlates of past bullying among college students

Abstract

Objective: We examined whether perceptions of being bullied during middle and high school were associated with depressive, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms during college. We also examined whether perceived social support (PSS) mediated the association between bullying and symptoms, and explored whether parental, peer, or other sources of support was most beneficial. Participants: Undergraduates (N?=?270) from an urban commuter college in the Northeast participated during Spring 2013 or Fall 2015. Methods: Psychometrically sound self-report measures were used to assess symptoms and perceptions of bullying and social support. Results: As hypothesized, bullying was associated with more symptoms, and PSS significantly mediated the associations between bullying and symptoms of PTSD and depression. Conclusion: The college years provide another opportunity to address the effects of middle and high school bullying. Receiving current support for past bullying is beneficial but is not enough, college counseling services are needed to reduce symptoms.     

Fairness Perceptions of Work−Life Balance Initiatives: Effects on Counterproductive Work Behaviour

This study examined the impact of employees' fairness perceptions regarding organizational work?life balance initiatives on their performance of counterproductive work behaviour (CWB). Moderating effects of adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism were also explored. Quantitative data collected from 224 public sector employees demonstrated significant main and moderating effects of informational justice, adaptive perfectionism and maladaptive perfectionism on CWB. Adaptive perfectionism weakened the link between informational justice and CWB, while maladaptive perfectionism strengthened it. Qualitative data collected from 26 employees indicate that both the social exchange and job stress models are useful frameworks for understanding CWB in the context of work?life balance initiatives; CWB emerged as both a negative emotional reaction to unfairness and as a tool used by employees to restore equity in the exchange relationship with their employer. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Black adolescents' racial discrimination and suicide behaviors: Testing perceived school safety as a protective moderator

The current study examined associations between Black adolescents' (M_age = 15.55, SD = 1.23) racial discrimination and suicide behaviors (i.e., suicide ideation, suicide plan, and suicide attempts), and whether perceived school safety was a protective moderator. Furthermore, we tested gender differences in relations, which were not significant. Racial discrimination predicted greater suicide behaviors, and school safety informed less suicide behaviors. School safety moderated the relation between discrimination and suicide plan, such that at low school safety, discrimination predicted having a suicide plan but was not significant at high school safety. Furthermore, school safety moderated the relation between discrimination and suicide attempts. At low school safety, discrimination predicted more suicide attempts, but was not significant at high school safety.     

Why die for my sibling? The positive association between identity fusion and imagined loss with endorsement of self-sacrifice / ¿Por qué morir por un hermano? La asociación positiva entre la fusión de identidad y la pérdida imaginada con la disposición al autosacrificio

Abstract

Identity fusion — a visceral feeling of connection with a group — is a powerful predictor of willingness to engage in extreme pro-group behaviour. Here we propose that identity fusion also reinforces willingness to fight and die for one’s siblings, and we explore one of the underlying mechanisms producing this effect. We additionally controlled for a powerful predictor of family investment, perceived psychological similarity with the sibling. Our study shows that fusion with a sibling, but not perceived similarity, is positively associated with willingness to fight and die for the sibling. This relation is mediated by the imagined personal consequences of losing one’s sibling. This research extends previous work on fusion with groups to pairs of individuals and identifies a new mediator of the effect of fusion on willingness to fight and die for others. Overall, these results suggest that identity fusion might contribute towards explaining self-sacrifice among genetically related individuals as predicted by the theory of kin selection.     

Rejection,Humiliation, and Parole: A Study of Parolees' Perspectives

Research on status rejection has developed considerably over the past two decades and is applied in a number of different settings to better understand criminal and deviant behavior. Our research contributes to that body of work by examining the ways in which status rejection may create a potentially humiliating dynamic for individuals on parole. Specifically, we use in‐depth interviews with parolees to illustrate how the parolee identity can promote the experience of status rejection and simultaneously foster conditions for humiliation—an emotional state that may impede one's ability to both (re) construct a conventional identity and reintegrate back into one's community.     

Vice Careers: The Changing Contours of Sex Work in New York City

In the mid-1990s, changes to law enforcement strategies in New York City pushed many women working in the sex trade off of the streets and into the indoors. Increasing numbers of women began advertising sexual services in bars, over the Internet, and in print media, and conducting their work in their homes, hotels, and brothels. This study uses in-depth interviews and participant observation to examine the impact of this change on the life and work of women working in New York’s indoor sex trade. A critical finding is that as women move their work indoors, they begin to conceive of sex work as a profession and a career, rather than just a short-term means of employment. This “professional and careerist orientation” may have significant implications for the length of women’s tenure in sex work and ultimately, for their ability to exit the trade completely.

Ethics and social media: Implications for sociolinguistics in the networked public1

As a popular agora for writing identity into being, the networked public of social media sites presents exciting and unprecedented possibilities for sociolinguistic research. At the same time, these sites raise a wealth of unfamiliar methodological and ethical issues, and debate concerning appropriate ethical measures for research targeting online discourse communities is emergent. One of the most pressing debates concerns the visibility of online interaction (i.e. its locus between the public and private ends of the continuum). Although they exist freely online, networked publics are not public forums. They are governed by both personal and communal norms, and they are networked. This combination of factors gives rise to unique ethical challenges, particularly in the case of Facebook, an accessible and data‐rich, yet problematic, research site. This paper reviews the ethical difficulties presented by Facebook, and presents a framework for ethnographic sociolinguistic research that uses this site as a source of data. En tant qu’espace public privilégié pour la création de l’identitéà travers l’écriture, le public ?réseauté? (interconnecté) des sites des médias sociaux présente des possibilités prometteuses et sans précédent pour la recherché en sociolinguistique. Cependant, ces sites soulèvent de nombreuses questions méthodologiques et éthiques qui sont nouvelles, d’où l’émergence de discussions portant sur les mesures éthiques appropriées pour la recherche qui vise les communautés discursives en ligne. Un des débats concerne la visibilité de l’interaction en ligne (c.‐à‐d. sa place entre les extrémités privée et publique du continuum). Bien qu’ils existent de façon libre en ligne, les réseaux publics ne sont pas des forums publics. Ils sont gouvernés à la fois par des normes personnelles et communautaires, et ils sont interconnectés. Cette combinaison de facteurs donne naissance à des défis éthiques uniques, en particulier dans le cas de Facebook, un site de recherche accessible et riche en données, mais problématique. Cet article passe en revue les difficultés éthiques que Facebook présente, et offre un cadre de travail pour la recherche sociolinguistique ethnographique utilisant ce site comme source de données. [French]     

SOVA: Design of a Stakeholder Informed Social Media Website for Depressed Adolescents and Their Parents

Two moderated social media websites were designed for increasing likelihood for mental health treatment engagement for depressed adolescents (sova.pitt.edu) and for parents (wisesova.pitt.edu). This article describes iterative stakeholder interviews conducted with adolescents, young adults, parents, advocates, and clinicians and use of human computer interaction techniques to inform major design changes which: (a) underscored the role of online interaction to provide emotional support and information, (b) importance of anonymity, (c) desire to share positive media, and (d) need for frequent moderation. Future studies will examine acceptability and effectiveness of revised websites in helping depressed adolescents and their parents engage with treatment.