Peer Victimization: Hitting Psychological Distress, Self Esteem and Psychological Well-being among Adolescents

  • Authors

    • Umbreen Khizar
    • Sidra Liaquat
    • Nazia Jahangir
    2018-11-26
    https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i4.29.21699
  • Bully, peer victimize, psychological distress, Psychological Well being, self esteem

  • Children have to face a lot of problems related to their academics, coping with society, peer relations, bulling and victimization. Research has reported increasing rate of bulling at school and colleges in Pakistan. Bullying is a public health problem and has serious negative impacts for the bully and for the victim, causing serious social and personal problems. This research was aimed to explore the relational aspects of bullying in form of peer victimization, psychological distress and self-esteem among adolescence. Sample was consisted of 200 students; their age varies from 10-17 years from different institutes of Multan. Bully Scale [1] subscale peer victimization was used in this study. Psychological Distress Scale [2], State Self-esteem Scale [3] and Psychological Well-being Scale [4] were used. Results suggested that being victimized by peers is significantly related to high levels of psychological distress, low self-esteem and psychological wellbeing. Findings indicated that distress is high among peer victims of bullying as compare of bullies. Significant gender differences were found. This research suggests that bulling prevention trainings, workshops and seminars must be part of school education. Parents need to be aware of bullying attitudes and have concern for wellbeing and self-esteem.

  • References

    1. [1] Angner, E. The philosophical foundations of subjective measures of well-being. Capabilities and Happiness (pp. 286-298). Oxford University Press,(2008).

      [2] Blascovich, J. & Tomaka, J. Measures of self-esteem. In J. P. Robinson, P. R. Shaver, & L. S. Wrightsman (Eds.), Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes, 1,115-160,(1991).

      [3] Branson, C., & Cornell, D. A comparison of self and peer reports in the assessment of middle school bullying. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 25, 5-27,(2009).

      [4] Brunstein, K. A., Sourander, A., & Gould, M. The association of suicide and bullying in childhood to young adulthood: a review of cross-sectional and longitudinal research findings. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 55(5), 282–288,(2010).

      [5] Cairney, J., Veldhuizen, B., Wade, T. J., Kurdyak, P., Streiner, D. L. Evaluation of 2 measures of psychological distress as screeners for depression in the general population. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 52(2), 111-20,(2007).

      [6] Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Managing conflict at work: a survey of the UK and Ireland. London,(2004).

      [7] Currie, C., Roberts, C., Morgan, A., Smith, R., Settertobulte, W., Samdal, O. & Barnekow Rasmussen, V. (eds.). Young people’s health in context. Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study: international report from the survey. Health Policy for Children and Adolescents.International Report. WHO regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen. (2004), 2001/2002.

      [8] Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well-being: An introduction. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9(1), 1–11,(2008).

      [9] Diana, C. Outcomes of Bullying. Retrieved from http:// parenting4tomorrow . blogspot.com/2010/10/outcomes-of-bulling. html ,(2010).

      [10] Espelage, D. L., & Holt, M. Bullying and victimization during early adolescence: Peer influences and psychosocial correlates. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 2 (3), 123–142, (2001).

      [11] Golparvar, M., & Abedini, H. The Relationship between Spirituality and Meaning at Work and the Job Happiness and Psychological Well-Being: A Spiritual-Affective Approach to the Psychological Well-Being. International Journal of Management and Sustainability, 3(3), 160-175,(2014).

      [12] Golparvar, M., & Azarmonabadi, A. R. Explaining Psychological Capital Components through Organization’s Ethical Climate Components. International Journal of Business, Economics and Management, 1(8), 216-228,(2014).

      [13] Golparvar, M., & Rafizadeh, H. The Relationship Between Bullying at Workplace with Psychological and Spiritual Well Being of Nurses. Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2(2), 120-128,(2014).

      [14] Gordon, T, W. & Ladd, G. W. Trajectories of peer victimization and perceptions of the self and schoolmates: precursors to internalizing and externalizing problems. Child Development, 76(5), 1072–1091,. (2005).

      [15] Gough, H. G. California Psychological Inventory Administrator’s guide. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press,(1987).

      [16] Gough, I., Mcgregor, J. A.,& Camfield, L. Theorizing wellbeing in international development. In Gough, Ian andMcGregor, J. A., (eds.) Wellbeing in Developing Countries: From Theory to Research. (pp.3-44). Cambridge University Press , Cambridge, UK. ISBN 9780521857512,(2007).

      [17] Hay, C., & Meldrum, R. Bullying victimization and adolescent self-harm: testing hypotheses from general strain theory. Journal of Youth Adolescent, 39(5), 446–459,(2010).

      [18] Heatherton, T. F., & Polivy, J. Development and validation of a scale for measuring state self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(6), 895-910. doi.10.1037/0022-3514.60.6.895, (1991).

      [19] Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J.W. Bullying, cyber bullying, and suicide. Archive of Suicide Research,14(3), 206–221, (2010).

      [20] Huppert, F. A. Psychological well-being: Evidence regarding its causes and consequences. Applied Psychology: Health and Well‒Being, 1(2), 137-164, (2009).

      [21] Isaacs, J. E., Hodges,J., & Salmivalli, C. Long-term consequences of victimization: a follow-up from adolescence to young adulthood. European Journal of Developmental Science, 2(4), 387–397, (2008).

      [22] Kessler, R.C., Andrews G., Colpe, L.J., Hiripi, E., Mroczek, D.K., Normand, S.L.T., Walters, E.E.,& Zaslavsky, A.M. Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in non-specific psychological distress. Psychological Medicine, 32(6), 959–956, (2002).

      [23] Kuan, G., & Kueh, Y. C. Psychological Skills during Training and Competition on Recovery-Stress State among Adolescent State Athletes. Journal of Sports Research, 2(4), 122-130, (2015).

      [24] McAllister, F. Wellbeing concepts and challenges. Discussion paper, The Sustainable Development Research Network, (2005).

      [25] Reijntjes, Albert, Kamphuis, Jan H., Prinzie, Peter, & Telch, Michael J. Peer victimization and internalizing problems in children: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Child Abuse & Neglect, 34, 244-252, (2010).

      [26] Rigby, K., Slee, P. T. & Martin, G. Implications of inadequate parental bonding and peer victimization for adolescent mental health. Journal of Adolescence, 30, 801-812, (2007).

      [27] Sheehan, K. H., Sheehan, D. V., White, K., Leibowitz, A., Baldwin, D. J. A pilot study of medical student abuse. Journal of the American Medical Association.263(4):533-537, (1990).

      [28] Slee, Philip T., & Rigby, Ken The relationship of Eysenck’s personality factors and self-esteem to bully-victim behavior in Australian schoolboys. Personality and Individual Differences, 14(2), 371-377, (1993).

      [29] Smith, P. K., Cowie, H., Olafsson, R. F., Liefooghe, A. P., Almeida, A., Araki, H. Definitions of bullying: A comparison of terms used, and age and gender differences, in a fourteen-country international comparison. Child Development,73, 1119–1133, (2002).

      [30] Ebrahimi, M., & Jahanian, R. Strategies to increase the self-efficacy of educational administrators. International Journal of Management and Sustainability, 3(4), 250, (2014).

      [31] Chou, C. M., & Shen, C. H. Influence Internship Learning Effect in Business Service Sector: Using Internship Self-Efficacy as the Mediator Variable. Financial Risk and Management Reviews, 1(1), 1-7, (2015).

      [32] Balami, Y. G. Relationship between Self-Efficacy Belief and Academic Achievement of Distance Learners in National Teachers Institute (NTI) Adamawa State, Nigeria. International Journal of Education and Practice, 3(2), 80-84, (2015).

      [33] Khalid, N. R. B., Wel, C. A. B. C., Alam, S. S., & Mokhtaruddin, S. A. B. Cosmetic for Modern Consumer: The Impact of Self-Congruity on Purchase Intention. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 8(1), 34-41, (2018).

      [34] Yu, C., Lee, Z. S., Wang, Z. Y., & Lin, C. C. L. C. S. Bonus ratio, individual performance, and Self-selection of housing brokerage employees. Asian Journal of Empirical Research, 7(11), 284-297, (2017).

      [35] Ara, E. Measuring Self-Debasing Cognitive Distortions in Youth. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 6(12), 705-712, (2016).

      [36] Khansir, A. A., & Abdolahi, Z. Self-Esteem and Writing Achievements of Iranian EFL Learners. International Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, 3(2), 155-164, (2014).

  • Downloads

  • How to Cite

    Khizar, U., Liaquat, S., & Jahangir, N. (2018). Peer Victimization: Hitting Psychological Distress, Self Esteem and Psychological Well-being among Adolescents. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(4.29), 122-126. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i4.29.21699