Abstract
In this study, bullying is examined in light of the “prosocial security hypothesis”— i.e., the hypothesis that insecure attachment, with temperamental dispositions such as sensation seeking, may foster individualistic, competitive value orientations and problem behaviors. A group of 375 Italian students (53% female; Mean age = 12.58, SD = 1.08) completed anonymous questionnaires regarding attachment security, social values, sensation seeking, and bullying behaviors. Path analysis showed that attachment to mother was negatively associated with bullying of others, both directly and through the mediating role of conservative socially oriented values, while attachment to father was directly associated with victimization. Sensation seeking predicted bullying of others and victimization both directly and through the mediating role of conservative socially oriented values. Adolescents’ gender affected how attachment moderated the relationship between sensation seeking and problem behavior.
Highlights
A “uniform definition” of bullying suggested by the U S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Gladden et al, 2014) is any undesirable, repetitive aggressive behavior(s) by youth(s) who are not siblings or current dating partners, involving an observed or perceived power imbalance
In order to test the prosocial security hypothesis, we performed a path analysis, which estimated the effects of sensation seeking, attachment security, and social value orientation on the bully/victim behaviors
Since sensation seeking is a personality trait (e.g., Zuckerman, 2007), we hypothesized that it affects attachment security, which depends on environmental factors and develops later in childhood (e.g., Pasco Fearon et al, 2006)
Summary
A “uniform definition” of bullying suggested by the U S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Gladden et al, 2014) is any undesirable, repetitive aggressive behavior(s) by youth(s) who are not siblings or current dating partners, involving an observed or perceived power imbalance. The result may often involve distress at physical, social and psychological levels. This definition builds conceptually on the extensive work by Olweus (1978,1993,2009), and implies two parties: bullying of others and being victimized. Individuals may bully and be victims of this behavior at the same time, even though individuals tend to play only one of the two roles (Cook et al, 2010). Involvement in bullying is observed ubiquitously across continents and cultures, ranging from 7% to more than 70% both for boys girls (Carney and Merrell, 2001; Kanetsuna and Smith, 2002; Eslea et al, 2004; Kyriakides et al, 2006; Cook et al, 2010; Williams and Veeh, 2012).
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