Adult Survivors of Adolescent Bullying: An Exploration of Long Term Effects

Although school bullying has well documented psychological and social consequences for victims, very few studies have explored the long-term correlates in adult survivors of bullying. The current investigation examined results from a survey of retrospective memories of bullying victimization and current psychosocial functioning in 482 college students at a large Midwestern University. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that school bullying victimization experiences significantly predicted participants' current levels of posttraumatic stress, psychological distress, social problems, loneliness, and self-confidence. Bully-victim subtypes were identified through k-means cluster analysis, and multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant differences on outcome variables across subtypes. Domestic victimization experiences moderated the association between bullying victimization and symptoms of posttraumatic stress. Community/neighborhood victimization experiences and locus of control significantly moderated the association between bullying victimization and psychological distress. These results contribute to our understanding of adult survivors of bullying, and clinical implications and future research directions are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Mebane, Sarah

Contributors dc:contributor

• Espelage, Dorothy L.

• Psychology, Social

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3430886

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/80139