This study aims to use Foucault’s ideas to analyse the nature of bullying and to understand how it is constituted by the literature and research, school policies and from the perspective of young people who experience it. This study examines the issue of bullying in schools from a number of perspectives: from the viewpoint of young people who have experienced it, from the literature and from school policies which seek to guide interventions. The research included eight initial interviews with teenagers from three different schools and focused on their experiences with bullying. Six of those participants were re-interviewed and asked for their views on their schools’ anti-bullying policy. Three school policies were analysed to explore how they constituted bullying. This research suggests both existing research and school policies focus on bullying as an individual occurrence and on behaviours and their management. Such a view is also evident in the way in which young people who experience bullying see themselves and perceive how they are positioned by others. The conclusion is that this focus effectively excludes the subjective experience of the person being bullied from consideration and in its focus on managing individual instances leaves out from the discussion possible approaches which might focus on the prevention of bullying. Included in these might be a consideration of the norms which govern inclusion and exclusion and a focus on how more inclusive environments can be created in schools. Bullying needs to be understood in terms of how deeply it affects those who experience it. Therefore, managing it needs to become more than simply policing behaviours; it is about structural and social change that encourages and fosters attitudes where individuals treat each other with mutual care and respect. Talk needs to change from how we can prevent it to how people should treat each other.

A wealth of research evidence has been accumulating over the last two decades, highlighting the association of childhood trauma and psychosis. The literature review evaluates empirical evidence and builds upon the previous literature reviews in this area. In addition, the literature review examines the theoretical bases and the underlying psychological factors that contribute to the relationship between childhood trauma and psychosis. It concluded that despite a large body of literature on the association between childhood trauma and psychosis, there is a paucity of empirical research which investigates other forms of childhood trauma, such as, bullying. The empirical paper investigates whether ‘anxiety’, ‘depression’, ‘interpersonal sensitivity’, and/or negative beliefs would mediate the relationship between childhood bullying and paranoid thinking in people with psychosis. Data were collected through self-report measures on demographics, childhood bullying (‘direct aggression’, ‘indirect aggression’), ‘anxiety’, ‘depression’, ‘interpersonal sensitivity’, ‘other-self negative beliefs’, ‘self-self negative beliefs’, ‘self-other negative beliefs’, and paranoid thinking (‘ideas of social reference’, ‘persecution’). A significant association was found between childhood bullying and paranoid thinking. ‘Interpersonal sensitivity’ was found to mediate the relationship between childhood bullying (‘direct aggression’, ‘indirect aggression’) and ‘ideas of social reference’, indicating the importance of the Rejection Sensitivity Model in the understanding of paranoid thinking in victims of childhood bullying. Clinical and research implications, as well as, directions for future research are highlighted.

The experiences of women who stammer have not been explored for over 30 years, with most stammering research recruiting only men and not differentiating the results by gender. Therefore, to date, stammering research can be seen as exploring male or androgynous stammering. Furthermore, speech and language therapies (SLT) that are based on this research are arguably inappropriate in addressing the experiences of women who stammer. In light of the above, this study aimed to explore the experiences of women who stammer, whilst taking into account the influence of societal gender norms on these experiences. 12 women were recruited from either the British Stammering Association (BSA) or the City Lit (college that offers SLT). Individual interviews were conducted using semi-structured interviews and the data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The four main findings suggested that stammering had a profound influence on the women’s lives. They described other’s reactions to their stammers as mostly unhelpful and thought this was due to a lack of understanding and mediated by societal gender norms. These negative reactions consequently impacted on their self-perception. Stammering was also found to affect relationships, starting within the family and spreading to other future relationships. There was a trend to want to break these relationship difficulties with their own children. The findings showed that negative experiences in school, due to bullying and lack of teacher support, led to the women feeling as though their potential was overlooked. They then described seeking jobs with minimal speaking or ‘pushing’ themselves academically and professionally. Finally, the women described their experiences of stammering as a journey, whereby they started off ‘hiding’ it from others and then learnt to accept it, with the support of SLT. The research findings are discussed in relation to the literature and clinical implications are suggested.

This study used a Participatory Action Research (PAR) framework to explore bullying in a private day and boarding school. Six students from the school were recruited and trained in research; we worked together to answer this question: What do young people in this private day and boarding school view as the core issue of bullying in the school and how do they want to address this? This thesis presents three cycles of PAR through inquiry, action and reflection: Cycle one, initiated by myself, investigated the bullying definition at the school and how this was understood by the school community. Online questionnaires and a focus group were used to collect data. Cycle two was initiated by the research team following analysis of cycle one data. The ‘core bullying issue’ was identified as that of the ‘snitch’ and how participants conceptualised ‘serious’ and ‘not serious’ bullying. Paper questionnaires and student-led interviews were used to collect data. Cycle three focussed on the tangible ‘action’ from the project: the development of a draft anti-bullying strategy for the school. This thesis has two separate contributions. Firstly there is a subject contribution about ‘snitching’; students had to navigate a complex web in their decision to ‘snitch’ or not to ‘snitch’. Deciding whether the bullying was ‘serious’ enough to ‘snitch’ impacted on their initial decision. Furthermore students needed to decide if ‘snitching’ was the right thing to do. Secondly there is a methodological contribution; I further developed an existing framework for evaluating the participation of children in research (Dual-axis Model of Participation, Moules and O’Brien, 2012), through adding the dimensions of ‘ideas’ and ‘knowledge’.

Volume one comprises of two parts. Part one is a critical literature review which discusses the research into bullying in schools. There is a particular focus on the nature and prevalence of homophobic bullying and the use of homophobic language within the school environment and the impact of this on young people who are subjected to this type of abuse. Part two is an empirical paper based on the research project conducted by the author during her training on the Applied Educational and Child Psychology Doctoral programme. The research investigates the use of homophobic language within a single secondary school from the perspective of young people. The research is a two part study, where both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods are utilised. The overall results highlight that young people who use remarks and language that are homophobic often perceive these remarks and language as banter amongst peers and are not always aware of the emotional distress this can cause to young people who are vulnerable to this form of bullying.

Autistic people have described masking, or ‘camouflaging’, parts of the self in order to avoid repeated bullying, discrimination, social rejection and in order to meet neuro-normative social expectations. This thesis explores the relationship between autistic people’s experiences of masking and mental health. Part 1 is a conceptual introduction to autism, mental health and masking. Explanations for the increased prevalence of mental health difficulties for autistic people are explored. Masking is identified as a potential factor mediating this relationship. The review discusses different ways of conceptualising masking and explores the drivers and consequences of masking for autistic people. The review concludes with a summary of existing research into the relationship between masking and mental health difficulties. Part 2 is a qualitative study seeking to understand autistic teenager’s experiences of masking and how this relates to their mental health. Semi structured interviews were conducted with 20 autistic teenagers and transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Bidirectional relationships between masking and negative mental health related factors, and conversely between authenticity and positive mental health related factors, were described. Both processes were driven by social and environmental factors. The findings support a broader conceptualisation of masking and have implications for diagnostic and therapeutic clinical services. Part 3 is a critical appraisal of the research process. Personal reflexivity is used to consider the impact of the researcher’s perspective on the research. Introspection is used to identify broader theoretical perspectives to inform system-level implications of the research. Reflections on the essentiality of co-production are also presented.