School Psychology International

The current study examined the longitudinal association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and posttraumatic growth (PTG) as well as the moderating role of trait resilience in that association. Participants completed measures of PTSD symptoms, PTG, and trait resilience at 12, 18, and 24 months after the Wenchuan earthquake. Results showed that after adjusting PTG at wave 1, PTSD symptoms at wave 1 were positively and significantly related to PTG at wave 2 for low-resilience individuals, but not for individuals with the other two levels (middle and high) of trait resilience. After adjusting PTSD symptoms at wave 1, PTG at wave 1 was positively and significantly related to PTSD symptoms at wave 2 for middle-resilience individuals, but not for individuals with the other two levels (low and high) of trait resilience. No other cross-lagged correlations were significant. Implications of the results for psychological service providers are discussed.

This study aims to validate the Bullying and Cyberbullying Behaviors Questionnaire, to examine the prevalence of bullying and victimization behaviors in Portuguese middle school students, and to analyse the differences in victimization and bullying between genders and across school grades. The questionnaire is composed of 36 items, allowing for the measurement of the prevalence of bullying and cyberbullying, and was completed by 1039 sixth to eighth graders (M _age  = 12.02; SD = 1.36) from six public middle schools in the district of Lisbon. The questionnaire presented acceptable psychometrics properties, except for the victims of cyberbullying scale where there is an item that needs to be rewritten. Bullying prevalence (10.1% victims and 6.1% aggressors) is among the lowest internationally. Victimization prevalence was homogeneous between genders, but boys reported aggressive behaviors more frequently. The percentage of victims decreased across school grades. The present questionnaire is adequate for use in the assessment of bullying and cyberbullying with middle school students. Bullying prevention programs should take into account the need to raise teacher awareness of bullying and cyberbullying.

This study investigates the relationships among peers' perceived support, life satisfaction, and student engagement in academic activities. Three hundred and fifteen Iranian students (172 boys and 143 girls) who were studying in one suburb of Tehran participated in this study. All participants were asked to complete Peers' Perceived Support scale (PPSS), Student Engagement in Academic Activities scale (SEAAS), and Brief Multi-dimensional Students Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS). Structural equation modeling was used to analyse the data. According to the results, there are significant positive correlations between components of peers' perceived support, student engagement in academic activities, and life satisfaction in pairs. In two examined models, the direct and indirect effects of peers' perceived support on student engagement in academic activities and life satisfaction were significantly positive. In addition, life satisfaction and student engagement in academic activities had a mediating role and bi-directional effect in the surveyed models. In sum, the results of this research endorse not only the importance of peers' perceived support in enhancing student engagement in academic activities and life satisfaction but also the cross-effect of student engagement in academic activities and life satisfaction variables on each other.

In recent years, increase in adolescent crime in the Republic of Korea has put adolescent aggression in the spotlight. This study examines whether the quality of attachment to parents and peers influences aggressive behaviors and whether social emotional competencies serve as significant mediators for middle school students. These relationships were investigated between gender groups. A full mediational model better explained the male sample while a partial mediational model better explained the female sample. Specifically, parent and peer attachment was found to have indirect effects on aggression via behavioral self-control among boys, whereas for girls, parent attachment was found to have both direct and indirect effects on aggression via empathy and behavioral self-control. The findings of the study underscore the importance of parent and peer attachment during adolescent years. Significant implications for teachers and school psychologists as well as aggression-prevention program developers are discussed.

The goal of the study was to examine the joint and distinct contribution of attachment security and social anxiety to Arab children’s peer competence in middle childhood. We focused on Arab children as very little research has examined close relationships for this group. A sample of 404 third-, fourth- and fifth-grade Arabic students (203 boys and 201 girls), mostly from lower middle-class neighborhoods in northern Israel, participated in the study. In a cross-sectional design, bivariate correlations and regression analyses were performed, and findings revealed that attachment security was negatively related to distancing strategies in help-seeking and help-giving contexts, whereas social anxiety was positively related to these strategies. Secure attachment was also associated with providing reassurance to friends, and with peer competence as perceived by teachers. The possible implications of the socio-cultural context, suggestions for future studies, and implications for school intervention are discussed.

This study examined the determinants of students’ willingness to intervene in bullying incidents, as well as the process underlying students’ defending behaviors. The participants were 24 students (12 defenders and 12 outsiders) recruited from six secondary schools in southern Taiwan. The study used semi-structured interviews to collect qualitative data and a grounded theory approach to analyse the data. The results showed that bystanders in bullying situations tended to assess the perceived severity of a bullying incident, personal responsibility, affective factors, victim characteristics, relationship with the victim, and other factors before committing to an intervention. This study found four possible phases of defending behavior: a) personal assessment affects a bystander’s decision to act as a defender or an outsider; b) a defender evaluates the severity of a situation and the relationship with the bully to determine strategies for defending; c) defenders who come forward to intervene are interrogated or threatened by bullies; and d) defenders then reassess whether to intervene again. The results of this study suggest that bystander intervention programs can encourage students’ personal responsibility, awareness of the severity of school bullying, improvement of interpersonal relationships, and self-efficacy to raise bystanders’ willingness to defend a victim.

Systematic literature reviews can play a key role in underpinning evidence-based practice. To date, large-scale reviews of interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have focused primarily on research quality. To assist practitioners, the current review adopted a broader framework which allowed for greater consideration of educational utility. Between July and August 2013, 20 databases were searched, alongside web searches and hand searches, to identify ASD intervention studies published between 2008 and 2013. This search yielded 6,232 articles and the subsequent screening and evaluation process identified 85 best evidence studies. Studies were grouped into categories and individual interventions were assessed and classified as providing most; moderate; some; or a small amount of evidence. Interventions with most evidence tended to focus on younger children and core difficulties associated with ASD. Emerging trends, such as increasing evidence for technology-based interventions and peer-mediated interventions, were identified. An encouraging finding for practitioners is that in 59% of the studies, interventions were undertaken with or by school staff. Implications for school psychology practice as well as factors to consider when selecting educational interventions are discussed.