Studies show that teachers lack training and confidence when it comes to intervening effectively in bullying situations. The goal of this study is to respond to the appeals of pre-service teachers for more formal training on bullying, including prevention and intervention strategies. A two-hour PREVNet workshop that provides information on bullying, bullying prevention and bullying intervention is offered in four Canadian Teacher Education classes. Two unique questionnaires, each consisting of simulated bullying incidents in a school context and a set of teacher interventions, were developed, piloted with a group of experienced teachers, and used to assess the effect of the workshop on teachers’ reported interventions in bullying situations. The results of a series of repeated measures ANOVAs reveal a marginally significant effect of the workshop on pre-service teachers’ reported interventions (N = 66), with the greatest improvements revealed in participants’ responses to children who bully.

Researchers have consistently shown that as a society, we have failed to protect a large number of Aboriginal children and youths from violence and aggression across multiple contexts. Aboriginal children and youth are at a disproportionate risk of being involved in violent victimization ranging from homicides, family violence, and physical and sexual abuse compared to the rest of Canadian children and youth. However, the extent to which Aboriginal children and youths are involved in bullying remain largely unknown. In the present study, data from a Canadian population-based study was used to examine ethnic and sex differences in children’s and youths’ involvement of different forms of bullying (general, physical, verbal, social). Participants were categorized into three broad ethnic groups: Aboriginal, Caucasian, and ethnic minority. Results indicated that across the forms of bullying, Aboriginal children and youths were more frequently involved than their non Aboriginal peers. Sex differences also emerged, such that, Aboriginal boys were more frequently physically victimized than their non Aboriginal, same sex peers while no ethnic group differences were found for girls. The results highlight the need for an Aboriginal-specific bullying policy and specialized programs and services at school to support this vulnerable group of Canadian school-aged children.

Studies show that teachers lack training and confidence when it comes to intervening effectively in bullying situations. The goal of this study is to respond to the appeals of pre-service teachers for more formal training on bullying, including prevention and intervention strategies. A two-hour PREVNet workshop that provides information on bullying, bullying prevention and bullying intervention is offered in four Canadian Teacher Education classes. Two unique questionnaires, each consisting of simulated bullying incidents in a school context and a set of teacher interventions, were developed, piloted with a group of experienced teachers, and used to assess the effect of the workshop on teachers’ reported interventions in bullying situations. The results of a series of repeated measures ANOVAs reveal a marginally significant effect of the workshop on pre-service teachers’ reported interventions (N = 66), with the greatest improvements revealed in participants’ responses to children who bully.

Researchers have consistently shown that as a society, we have failed to protect a large number of Aboriginal children and youths from violence and aggression across multiple contexts. Aboriginal children and youth are at a disproportionate risk of being involved in violent victimization ranging from homicides, family violence, and physical and sexual abuse compared to the rest of Canadian children and youth. However, the extent to which Aboriginal children and youths are involved in bullying remain largely unknown. In the present study, data from a Canadian population-based study was used to examine ethnic and sex differences in children’s and youths’ involvement of different forms of bullying (general, physical, verbal, social). Participants were categorized into three broad ethnic groups: Aboriginal, Caucasian, and ethnic minority. Results indicated that across the forms of bullying, Aboriginal children and youths were more frequently involved than their non Aboriginal peers. Sex differences also emerged, such that, Aboriginal boys were more frequently physically victimized than their non Aboriginal, same sex peers while no ethnic group differences were found for girls. The results highlight the need for an Aboriginal-specific bullying policy and specialized programs and services at school to support this vulnerable group of Canadian school-aged children.

Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 1998. / Each individual's personal security is basic to the quality of life of a community. If the quality of life is affected by crime or the fear of criminal victimisation, then both crime and the fear of crime should be viewed as a social problem. The fear of crime is the focus point of this study as it produces changes in the lifestyle of the individual and the functioning of the community. Fear of crime generates feelings of anxiety, general mistrust, alienation and suspicion. At a social level, it can lead to a break down of social cohesion, the curtailment of normal activities and an unwillingness to help others. The study aims at bridging the gap in our substantive knowledge regarding the fear of crime. Through the use of a questionnaire, the study further seeks to establish the following: * Statistically measure and describe the nature and extent of fear of crime. * Determine the factors affecting fear of crime. * Account for the differences and variations in the fear of crime according to age, gender, household composition and type of housing, previous victimisation, crime as a social problem, role of the police and community neighbourhood involvement. * Make non-prescriptive recommendations for the prevention of criminal victimisation that might directly influence the quality of life. Research techniques employed in the study included the following: * Literature study of research done on the fear of crime covering the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. * A structured questionnaire consisting of demographicai information and questions pertaining to the factors influencing fear of crime. * Non-probability sampling techniques. * Statistical techniques to test the reliability of the measuring instrument and ten formulated hypotheses. The findings of the study indicate the following: (a) Age is related to fear of crime. (b) Gender is the strongest predictor of fear. (c) Household composition* is related to the fear of crime. (d) No significant differences were found between the type of housing respondents live in and fear of crime. (e) In general, people who have been previously victimised are more fearful of crime then those who have not. (f) Concern about crime and fear of crime are related issues, as people who are concerned about crime, generally fear crime. (g) The role of the police has not proved to be a significant factor influencing the fear of crime of respondents. (h) Neighbourhood involvement tends to reduce levels of the community's fear of crime. The following non-prescriptive recommendations are made: * Improvement of the image of the South African Police Service (SAPS) is a necessity to foster confidence in and respect for policing. * Increased role visibility of the police. * Promotion of effective Neighbourhood Watch Programmes. * Active involvement of citizens in community policing forums. / University of Zululand and CSD

Although studies examining sexual assault among college students are vast, the literature is somewhat lacking in discussions of contextualized sexual assault predictors and their relationship with sexual assault prevention. The purpose of this study is to examine whether demographic factors, contextual factors, and behavioral factors effect sexual victimization on college campuses. In this examination, I hope to show that the presence of these factors may be related to sexual victimization; however their existence does not necessitate the use of victim blame. By reviewing sexual assault prevention programming on college and university campuses across the United States, I provide alternate explanations and possible solutions to the sexual victimization of students in higher education. This study used data from the American College Health Association Fall 2011 survey. In addition, a comparison is made to these data from an Executive Summary for Mississippi State University from the Spring 2013 ACHA survey period.

Background: There is a growing understanding that different kinds of interpersonal violence are interrelated. Many victims report experiences of cumulative violence, i.e., being subjected to more than one kind of violent behaviour (sexual, physical, emotional) and/or violence from more than one kind of perpetrator (family members, partners, acquaintances/strangers). To gain a more comprehensive understanding of what violence entails for victims, how victims can be helped and how violence can be prevented, there is a need to learn more about the co-occurrence of violence. Also, despite strong associations repeatedly being found between exposure to violence and the reporting of different kinds of ill-health, only a minority of victims have told health care professionals about their victimization. Less is known about the process of disclosing victimization to health care professionals for men than for women. Main aims: 1) Investigate the prevalence and co-occurrence of self-reported lifetime experiences of different kinds of interpersonal violence among male and female clinical and random population samples in Sweden (Study I-II). 2) Investigate whether cumulative violence is more strongly associated with       self-reported symptoms off psychological ill-health than with any kind of victimization alone (Study III).   3) Develop a theoretical model concerning male victims’ process of disclosing experiences of victimization to health care professionals in Sweden (Study IV).   Method: The self-reported prevalence of interpersonal violence as well as self-reported symptoms of psychological ill-health were estimated by means of secondary analyses of data collected with the NorVold Abuse Questionnaire (NorAQ). Both sexes were represented in clinical (women n=2439 men n=1767) and random population samples (women n=1168 men n=2924). Descriptive statistics as well as binary logistic regression and ordinal regression analyses were used (Study I-III). In study IV, constructivist grounded theory was used, and 12 men were interviewed concerning their experience of disclosing victimization to health care professionals. Results: A large proportion of victims (women: 47-48%, men: 29-31%) reported experiences of more than one kind of violent behaviour. Many also reported being subjected to violence by more than one kind of perpetrator (women: 33-37%, men: 22-23%). Reporting cumulative violence had a stronger association with symptoms of psychological ill-health than reporting only one kind of victimization. In study IV, the interviewed men’s own perceptions and considerations beforehand (e.g., perceived need for help and feelings of shame), as well as the dynamics during the actual health care encounter (e.g., patient-provider relationship and time constraints), were essential for understanding the process of disclosure. Also, the men’s own conformity to hegemonic constructions of masculinity and professionals’ adherence to gender norms had a strong negative influence on the men’s process of disclosure. Discussion: Experiences of cumulative violence were common. Prevalence rates of experiences of different kinds of interpersonal violence were compared to previous studies on interpersonal violence in Sweden. Large discrepancies were found between all studies, which is a symptom of methodological and conceptual difficulties within the research field. Violence is a gendered phenomenon. Differences were seen in the kind of violence men and women reported. In addition to this, the results in study IV indicate that gender affects how violence is perceived and how victims are treated by health care professionals. Conclusion: Integrated approaches in research on interpersonal violence, as well as in clinical work, are needed. If the co-occurrence of violence is ignored, it may hamper our understanding of the experiences and consequences of interpersonal violence for victims. More research is needed into what produces the differences found in prevalence rates between studies to improve the methodology.

The study is a contextual analysis of flood victimization. Victimization is defined as the social, psychological, and physiological aftermath experienced by victims of a disaster. Disaster researchers concentrate on the victims' characteristics to explain the varying degrees of their victimization, providing only ambiguous results. Theorists such as Kreps, Wildavsky, and Douglas contend that the outcomes of disasters are contingent upon social structure. This analysis treats victimization as one such outcome. The condition and behavior of individuals can be explained by the presence of disaster and the conditions of social organization. A model explains victimization based on individual's attributes (individual resources), his social environment, and the disaster characteristics. This study uses the 1984 Mingo Creek Flood Victims Survey data to test the model. The data contain information measuring victimization. The survey data are linked with 1980 Census tract data. The tract data provide indicators of the social networks. This tract information, the contextual variables, taps the social conditions, including poverty, unemployment, geographic mobility, and family patterns. This study uses factor analysis to identify the dimensions of victimization. Regression tests the relationship between the contextual variables, the individual resource variables, the disaster characteristic variables, and victimization. The results of the analysis show that victimization is multidimensional with different types of variables being significant predictors for each dimension of victimization, one variable indicating the intensity of the disaster, the dollar value of damage victims experienced, is found to be a significant predictor of the psychological, physiological, and social disruption aspects of victimization. Variables measuring the family and unemployment patterns in the victims' census tract are significant predictors of the psychological and social disruption aspect of victimization. The findings provide general support for the proposed model of victimization. However, victimization is multidimensional with each dimension having a unique set of predictors. Based on the findings, this study suggests that future research focus on measurement and conceptualization of the characteristics of disasters and the victims' social environment.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T14:18:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DANIELA CRISTINA CAMPOS.pdf: 863675 bytes, checksum: 97ee8a67cc76d00d7b435f5cd1dec2b5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-11 / This study aimed to perform a systematic review of studies of violence and victimization in adult populations published in Brazilian journals of Psychology. It was performed a search in SciELO, PePSIC and LILACS databases and in the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD). A search of the BVS Psychology and BDTD was initially performed using the victimization and revictimization descriptors, and no records were found. Later the descriptors were placed separately. For the term victimization 18 records were found in PePSIC, 60 records in SciELO, 227 in LILACS and 116 in BDTD initially. The studies summaries were analyzed according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and in the end six articles remained in PePSIC, three in SciELO, five in LILACS and 14 in BDTD. The results showed that most productions are concentrated in the state of São Paulo, the publications of articles mostly been carried out in specific journals in the field of psychology, but there was no significant concentration in a specific magazine. In addition, it was observed that a small number of articles on the topic and the majority of the records were distributed among the dissertations and theses 2010 to 2014. The productions also pointed out that violence is a growing phenomenon and that many brings damages to individuals lives. / Este trabalho teve como objetivo realizar uma revisão sistemática sobre estudos de violência e vitimização em população adulta publicados em periódicos brasileiros da área de Psicologia. Foi realizada uma busca nas bases de dados SciELO, PePSIC e LILACS e na Biblioteca Digital Brasileira de Teses e Dissertações (BDTD). A busca na Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde - Psicologia Brasil (BVS-Psi Brasil) e na BDTD foi realizada, inicialmente, utilizando os descritores vitimização and revitimização , mas nenhum registro foi encontrado. Posteriormente, os descritores foram colocados separadamente. Para o termo vitimização foram encontrados, a princípio, 18 registros no PePSIC, 60 registros no SciELO, 227 no LILACS e 116 no BDTD. Os resumos dos estudos foram analisados seguindo os critérios de inclusão e exclusão, e, ao final, restaram seis artigos na PePSIC, três na SciELO, cinco na LILACS e 14 na BDTD. Os resultados apontaram que a maioria das produções se concentra no estado de São Paulo, sendo as publicações dos artigos realizadas, em grande parte, em revistas específicas da área de Psicologia. Contudo, não houve uma concentração significativa em uma revista específica. Além disso, foi possível observar um número reduzido de artigos sobre o tema, estando a maioria dos registros distribuídos entre as dissertações e teses de 2010 a 2014. As produções também apontaram que a violência é um fenômeno crescente e que traz diversos danos à vida dos indivíduos.

The purpose of this study was to develop a measure to understand victimization in the workplace, defined as the degree to which individuals perceive themselves as being hurt by an aggressive act that was deemed to be intentional. The definition is based on a review of the workplace aggression literature. The study followed a multi-phase procedure to develop this measure. Items were developed using a deductive process based on the construct definition. Subject matter experts reviewed the developed 30 items to assess content validity. Two independent samples were used to reduce the measure to the most appropriate and representative items to reflect the construct of perceived victimization. The construct validity of the final eight-item perceived victimization measure was examined against a theoretical nomological network. Findings suggest reliability and preliminary validity evidence for the perceived victimization measure, which may be used in research and applied settings. / Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council