The Effect of Type of School Bullying on Threat Appraisal and Coping Style of Adolescent Victims

Abstract

AbstractThe type of peer victimisation experienced is likely to influence the ways in which young people appraise and cope with school bullying. To examine this possibility, 269 adolescents (137 male, 132 female) aged between 12 and 17 years, completed a victimisation questionnaire, an adapted version of the Threat Appraisal Scale (TAS; Sandler, 1999) and the short-form of the Adolescent Coping Scale (Frydenberg & Lewis, 1996). Results indicated that there is an association between styles of coping and victimisation experiences, with physical and social bullying playing a part in the use of a Non-productive style of coping. Furthermore, the results indicated that there is also an association between threat appraisal and victimisation. Specifically, adolescents who reported greater threat appraisals reported more physical and social bullying.