The transition to secondary school can be a period of excitement and apprehension for all children; however increased anxiety surrounding change can make periods of transition challenging for children with an autistic spectrum condition (ASC) and can affect their ability to adapt to the new social and physical environment. This study explored the experiences of eight children with ASC during the transition to secondary school. Children were interviewed towards the end of the summer term at primary school and during the first term at secondary school. Children’s drawings and models were used to facilitate the interview process and as a focus for discussion. Findings suggest that some of the aspects of transition experienced by children with ASC are common to all children moving from primary to secondary school, such as familiarisation with the school environment, social relationships, fear of bullying, looking forward to new subjects and people, and new opportunities. However, some of the children in this study experienced heightened anxiety, particularly pre-transition when they were uncertain what to expect, how other children would react to them, who they should make friends with and what they would do if they had difficulty managing their emotions. Induction visits successfully addressed some of these issues however most children still experienced uncertainty about some aspects of secondary school. In contrast, familiarity with the new environment and a greater degree of predictability about the structure of the school day in addition to knowing school staff and making new friends contributed to children’s positive emotions about school. There were some aspects of transition that children felt could be improved such as preparation, peer support, preventative support from teachers and the opportunity to talk about transition and social and emotional issues. Findings emphasise the importance of adequate preparation and individualised planning involving children in the process.

This thesis investigates cognitive mechanisms underlying youths’ vulnerability for involvement in bullying and developing adjustment problems. The aim of this thesis was threefold: (1) investigate whether early cognitive functioning acts as a developmental marker for children’s later involvement in bullying; (2) investigate the cognitive processing of bullied children and whether these skills were associated with adjustment problems; (3) investigate whether early cognitive functioning acts as a differential marker for bullies and non-bullies who have other antisocial behaviour problems. Participants were members of the Environmental-Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally representative sample of 2,232 children and their families, and the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, a longitudinal birth cohort of 1037 children born in Dunedin, New Zealand. Using multiple informant reports, measures of bullying, antisocial behaviours, cognitive functioning, child-specific and family factors were collected during childhood, adolescents and adulthood. Poor theory of mind (ToM) in early childhood predicted becoming a victim or bully-victim in adolescence over and above child-specific and family factors. For bullies, the risk of having poor ToM was overridden by socioeconomic deprivation and child maltreatment. Bullied children reported biased interpretation of their environments when compared to their non-bullied co-twin. Children who used biased attribution styles when interpreting the cause of negative events had higher levels of adjustment problems. Bullies did not differ in their early cognitive processing, temperament and family environment from children with high antisocial behaviours, but did from children with moderate antisocial behaviours. Being a bully or having antisocial behaviours predicted adjustment problems in adolescence and adulthood. Being a bully had an independent effect on substance use in adolescence and emotional problems in adulthood over and above the risk posed by having antisocial behaviours. Findings from this thesis identify cognitive functioning as an early developmental marker for children’s involvement in bullying and a mechanism that may be negatively affected by children’s bullying experiences. Supporting positive cognitive development throughout childhood may help to reduce children’s risk of being involved in bullying and maintain healthy cognitive processing techniques that promote mental wellbeing.

Introduction: Cyberbullying experiences have been linked to mental health difficulties, highlighting the need to refine anti-cyberbullying interventions, particularly for at-risk groups, and understand what encourages bystanders to intervene. The current study compared adolescents’ prosocial cyber-bystander intentions in an intragroup (‘UK-born’ victim status) and intergroup (‘immigrant’ victim status) cyberbullying context. State empathy and state self-efficacy were examined as potential mediators, accounting for baseline trait levels of these two factors and gender.

Methods: British adolescents (N=129; 13.5-15 years old; 59.7% female; predominately White) from two comprehensive schools in the UK took part in a two (gender: female/male) by two (victim status: British/immigrant) between-subjects quasi-experimental study. Participants were randomly assigned to read a gender-matched hypothetical cyberbullying vignette with an adolescent cyber-victim who was either ‘U.K.-born’ or an ‘immigrant’. Self-report questionnaires captured participants’ prosocial bystander intentions, state and trait self-efficacy and empathy, alongside demographic information.

Results: Findings showed that victim status did not relate to self-efficacy or prosocial cyber-bystander intentions. Higher empathy was reported by females and, unexpectedly, within the ‘immigrant victim’ condition. An indirect relationship was found between victim status and prosocial cyber-bystander intentions, with state empathy as a statistical mediator. Trait empathy did not moderate the path between victim status and state empathy.

Conclusions: The present study supports promoting bystander state empathy in anti-cyberbullying programmes, but the importance of intergroup processes is unclear. To reduce cyberbullying impact, future research should explore cyber-bystander behaviour towards at-risk groups inter-sectionally, controlling for additional intergroup variables which potentially caused a suppressor effect in the results.

The emergence of social media tools and the enthusiasm by which young people have embraced theses tools as one of their primary modes of interaction is well documented in many current studies. The over-arching focus of this study considers what impacts if any the influence of social media is having on the behaviour of young people. Drawing on findings and insights gained through the delivery of the HUWY project, this study of the attitudes and perceptions of young people was grounded in an in-depth and critical review of academic and practice based literature. Following from this and guided by it, the primary research consisted of a series of seven focus groups working with young people aged between fourteen and sixteen years of age. The study was conducted in a variety of urban and rural locations across Ireland. An approach incorporating both qualitative and quantitative data was used in order to analyse the results. Core themes of Internet Use, Behaviour and Online Risk where used throughout the study and were framed by including social identity theory. The findings indicate that the use of social media tools have both positive and negative impacts on the social behaviour of young people. There is a need for a deeper understanding of the impacts of social media usage on the behaviour of young people and a more nuanced and multi-faceted response by youth work professionals. The study concludes by identifying some of the challenges that face young people, parents and professionals with regard to the increasing popularity of on line tools and in doing so there is a need to foreground the voices of young people.