This research is concerned with the communicative processes involved when young people talk about an anti-bullying strategy called peer support. Peer Support involves training a group of young people to support their peers in any difficulties they may be facing at school or home. The initiative tends to be implemented as part of a ‘whole school’ approach to anti-bullying strategies. This thesis focuses on qualitative analyses of discursive devices and strategies employed by young people, their teachers and trainers as they interact. The project draws on video-recorded material from 4 schools in England. The data follows groups of young people over one academic year, and include 6 days of training plus semi-structured interviews, a focus group meeting and an unsupervised discussion. All of the young people who participated in this project were either training to be supporters, trained supporters or attending a school that had a peer support system in place. I will show how traditional research into anti-bullying strategies has developed and discuss how the majority of these findings are focused on quantitative methodology. This thesis will then examine the development of qualitative research methods and show the role that language-based research can play when a different methodology is utilised. The focus of this type of research is on the voices of young people and the role that social interaction plays in constructions and formulations surrounding issues of peer support schemes in school. This type of in-depth analysis allows insight into dominant issues and dilemmas that emerge when a peer support scheme is actioned. This thesis concludes with recommendations for training programmes and highlights the major issues that implementing a peer support scheme in a secondary school may have on the young people involved. It is only through studying the dynamics of social interaction that these findings have been generated and, as such, many interesting areas of future research have emerged.

One of the main aims of this research was to determine the perceived long-term consequences of bullying behaviour in schools. Furthermore, this study examined individual’s recollections of the nature and prevalence of bullying and experiences of other forms of violence throughout their life-course; in doing so the reliability of individual’s retrospective accounts were also assessed. Further still, school pupil’s experiences of bullying and exposure to violence and trauma was also examined, as were their typical behavioural responses to scenes of school bullying. This thesis presents the findings of three studies, focusing on individuals experiences of bullying in school, in a sample of undergraduate university students and post- primary school pupils. In Chapter One, a review of the literature surrounding bullying behaviour research is presented, in addition to an overview of the ‘cycle of violence’ hypothesis, which permeates all aspects of this research. Chapter Two provides an outline of the continuing debate concerning the use of retrospective in bullying behaviour research and a detailed review of all the scales utilised in the first study. The results of Study One are presented in Chapter Three, in which a short-term longitudinal study assessed the reliability and stability of participants (N = 824) memories, the nature of their life-course victimisation experiences and perceived negative consequences of such experiences. A qualitative approach was adopted in Study Two, involving a series of in-depth interviews with self-reported victims (N = 13) of child abuse, bullying in school and domestic violence, all of whom had previously taken part in the first quantitative study; the results of which are presented in Chapter Four. In Chapter Five, the questionnaire booklet was administered to a sample of post-primary pupils (N = 213), within the local area, to assess their experiences of bullying in school and evaluate their perceived ‘rules’ for behaviour according to their status group. Finally, a summary and discussion of the results are presented in Chapter Six. Results suggest that 31.1 % (N = 256) of university participants recalled having been bullied in school at some point, and a further 11.9% (N = 98) acknowledged having actively taken part in victimising other pupils at school, with individuals most commonly citing verbal bullying (i.e. name calling). Just over two in five victims (44%) stated that they attempted suicide, with the majority reporting more than one attempt. It was determined that 43.0% of victims reported having experienced abuse during childhood (i.e. physical abuse/neglect, sexual abuse, etc), 35.9% indicated that they had experienced bullying in later-life (i.e. workplace harassment); resulting in one in five participants (N = 53; 20.7%) revealing that they had experienced both abuse and further victimisation. Measures in the questionnaire booklet revealed that participants were more likely to experience depression, anger and hostility, compared to those with no experience of bullying in school. Over one in three ‘victim only’ participants reported a ‘fearful’ relationship style, and moreover reported the lowest mean scores relating to same and opposite sex self-esteem, but the highest levels regarding emotional loneliness and social isolation. Further still, symptornology analogues with PTSD were found in 11 % of victims. Finally, reliability analysis revealed that individual’s recollections were both accurate and stable across the three data collection point (initial, 6 months post, and 12-14 months post). Reponses from the face-to-face interviews supported these findings with participants expressing how their experiences of bullying in school have affected many aspects of the adult life. Results from the schools based research revealed that 18.8% of pupils reported to be ‘victim only’ and a further 6.6% stated that they were both the victim and a perpetrator of bullying in school, with name calling and exclusion the most commonly cited forms of behaviours reported. With regards to pupil’s experiences of violence, individuals reported experiencing ‘vivid memories’ recollections and feelings of distress in situations which remind victims of their experiences, leading to outbursts of anger and a general sense of wariness. Furthermore, ‘bully only’ pupils reported the highest overall mean on a measure of aggression, and on a measure of parenting style reported the highest means relating to ‘indifference’, ‘over-control’ and ‘abuse’. Self- identified victims reported lowest levels of both same and opposite-sex self-esteem and general self-esteem; and highest levels of both emotional loneliness and social isolation.

This study explored the experiences of physical activity of Bangladeshi adolescents diagnosed with obesity. It adopted a qualitative methodology using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and semi-structured interviews to explore this un-researched area. Physical activity generally declines In adolescence, and is especially low in Bangladeshi young people. It is an integral part of treatments for childhood obesity and therefore, it is important to maximise uptake and engagement. The study findings are reported as four main themes. Physical activity was understood to offer protection from health problems and facilitate weight loss. However, young people did physical activity for fun, weight loss and because it was a social experience, rather than for health reasons. The motivation of being with others, inclusion and friendships were high in the face of associated costs. Young people had to negotiate their dependency on adults for information about their health and for opportunities to do physical activity. Uptake of physical activity was limited by competing demands on time, proximity to home, ability to travel safely, and for females, by the presence of men and concerns over ‘mixing’. However, when young people did access physical activity they enjoyed feeling energised, improved thinking, feeling lighter and the social approval physical changes offered. They disliked the physiological experiences associated with exertion and some young people were anxious about experiencing these. These findings are sample-specific; they cannot be extrapolated onto other groups in other areas. However, they highlight that many experiences were similar to the general population whilst some were culturally mediated. Young people accepted some personal responsibility for physical activity, which was problematic given the external barriers faced. Family norms, cultural norms, bullying and poverty are factors requiring attention in interventions. The findings are discussed in terms of the existing research base. Clinical and research implications are highlighted.