Volume I comprises the research component of the thesis.  It consists of three research papers which have been prepared for submission to specific academic journals (see Appendix I – Instructions to Authors).  Contrary to journal submission requirements, in order to aid the reader; tables and figures have been integrated into the text. The first paper is a review of the literature on the definition and causes of workplace bullying.  This paper has been prepared for submission to Clinical Psychology Review. The second paper is a qualitative research study of the experiences of eleven people who were bullied at work.  The aim of this paper is to develop a theoretical model of the experience. This paper has been prepared for submission to Theory and Psychology.  The third paper is a brief qualitative paper investigating the types of bullying behaviours experiences in the workplace.  This paper has been prepared for submission to the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology.  The final section of Volume I comprises the appendices for all three papers.

The research confirmed that, to be effective, a leader’s style must fit the situation. The leader must correctly identify the behaviour required in a given situation, that is, appropriate to time, place, culture and people involved. Indeed, in almost any leadership situation, one will need to balance the two dimensions of task orientation and people orientation. The research also suggests that staff’s preference of a supervisory leadership style in the service and food production setting is for a “maintenance oriented” style. Moreover, this research argues that it is possible to identify the specific functions which are required by a supervisor in each situation. The first category of incidents suggests that operative staff tend to believe that their supervisors must have appropriate technical and coaching skills. Next, the category of misuse of power as well as the mismanagement of emotions, suggests the possibility of bullying and the risk of employees being exposed to abusive behaviour. Thirdly, the category of bias represents the normal human operative staff. The fourth category is very interesting: staff recall incidents when supervisors have gone beyond their roles (in the case of helping staff with their personal problems), to be one of the best actions that a supervisor can perform, but do not complain if this does not happen. This type of “sacrifice” may be related to Thai cultural norms. The other categories seem to be less significant (i.e. representing company, lacking self-assertiveness and general behaviour). Operative staff pay most attention to activities concerning the communication skills of their supervisors. Good communication does not simply concern the actions and necessary skills required by a supervisor in each situation, but also the correct mode of behaviour which staff feel their supervisor should display in that situation, to accomplish the intended goal.(DXN006,152)

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.

For some young people, the experience of having a facial disfigurement such as a cleft lip and palate can result in negative social interactions, often originating from the stereotyping reaction of others. Using the social rank theory of shame, the effects of bullying and teasing were investigated in a patient group of 16, 12-18 year olds with cleft lip or cleft lip and palate. The patient group were compared with a group of 16 of their peers with regards to their experiences of bullying and teasing, shame-proneness and the focus of their shame. The interactional effects of shame and bullying were also investigated in order to test a shaming-loop model of negative social interaction. The investigation necessitated two separate studies., The first study involved 215 adolescents from a secondary school and was required for the development of a focus of shame scale and gathering of data for establishing its psychometric properties. It also enabled data to be collected regarding the experiences of shame and bullying in adolescents without cleft lip and palate, in order that a random sample of 16 school adolescents matched with the patient sample on age and gender, may act as a comparison group. Participants completed self-report questionnaires concerning shame-proneness and focus of shame, and a semi-structure interview regarding their experiences of bullying. The second study involved the administration of the same measures to the patient sample. Results showed high levels of bullying for both groups although there was no overall difference between the groups. Differences were seen in focus of shame scores, with the patient group having higher scores on shame related to facial appearance than their comparisons. No overall differences were seen on score of shame-proneness. The implications of the findings are discussed and limitations of the study acknowledged.