Objectives. To investigate experiences of substance use, bullying and psychological distress in adolescents. Differential patterns of substance use and levels of psychological distress were explored according to bullying status (bullies, victims, bully-victims and controls). There is little previous research exploring the relationship between bullying and substance use. Design. A between groups cross-sectional design was employed. Method. Students aged 13-16 years were recruited from several inner city schools. 263 students completed the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire, the Birlesen Depression Scale, the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale and a measure of substance use designed by the researcher. Results. Victims and bully-victims were significantly more psychologically distressed, with higher levels of anxiety, depression and lower self-esteem, than bullies or controls. Those participants with higher levels of psychological distress used stimulants and hallucinogens more frequently than those with lower levels of psychological distress. There was no significant positive correlation between victim-hood and bully-victimhood with frequency of substance use. A negative correlation was found between victim-hood and use of hallucinogens and depressants. Being a bully was found to be positively correlated with use of depressants. Finally, reasons for substance use appear to vary according to bullying status. Bullies used substances to ‘have a good time’ and ‘fit in with friends’. Victims used substances to ‘block out bad things that had happened to them’ and to ‘block out negative feelings’. These results highlighted the unique identifiable patterns of substance use according to bully and victim status. However, bully-victims did not appear to have a unique pattern of substance use. Conclusion. Clinical implications of the results include the recognition of a complex association between substance use and bullying. Clinical services are encouraged to consider the differential patterns of substance use according to bullying status, and the subsequent requirement for different interventions and prevention strategies.

This research investigated the levels of being bullied and bullying for 8-15 year old pupils in school. Various studies showed that pupils’ own reports of being bullied and bullying differed from teacher and to a lesser degree peer nominations of pupils who are victims or perpetrators of bullying. Analyses of data examined the consistency of the results from two questionnaires, the ‘Life in Schools’ booklet and a questionnaire on bullying designed by Dan Olweus. Both questionnaires were evaluated for their usefulness in identifying levels of being bullied. In addition interview measures were also compared with reports from the anonymous questionnaire (Olweus questionnaire). Results showed that although there was consistency between the two measures, pupils were more likely to admit to bullying in the anonymous questionnaire than during interviews. Interview data was also collected at two time points. Study 1 investigated types of bullying, pupils’ understanding of what bullying is, and feelings of being bullied and bullying. Study 2 investigated types of bullying and who bullied whom in different ethnic/racial groups. The interview data led to the Olweus definition of bullying and questionnaire to be modified on two occasions to accommodate different types of bullying, that of indirect bullying and racial abuse. Data was also analysed to determine whether ‘ethnic minority’ pupils were more likely to be bullied or engaged in bullying compared to ‘white’ pupils. Results showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups. Further analyses of sex differences in being bullied and bullying showed that females used more indirect means of bullying compared to males although male levels of bullying were higher than that of female pupils. A Survey Service was also designed and implemented so that schools could carry out their own survey to investigate levels of bully/victim problems in schools. The Survey Service provided a package of information and a quota of questionnaires for teachers to administer to pupils in their schools. Results were then analysed by the University researcher and a portfolio returned to schools giving a breakdown by sex and class of pupils who have been bullied and bullying. The final analysis investigated the effectiveness of using a bully court in one middle school. Results showed that in the intervention classes levels of bullying declined and in the non-intervention classes bullying increased. The outcome of the results is discussed in relation to its effectiveness and the ethics of using this type of intervention.

Throughout its history, the activity, or profession of social work has been influenced by dominant political and social mores. This thesis charts such developments in the United Kingdom, locating them in not only the socio-economic circumstances of each period, but also in relation to changes within social theory, specifically those from a left wing political tradition. Charting the move to the contemporary period, it is argued that the current epoch is one of ‘diminished subjectivity’, where people are viewed as more objects than subjects, and are more likely to be viewed as either vulnerable or atavistic, rather than as having the potential to create a better society. The thesis starts with a history of social work from its charitable origins in the seventeenth century through to the early 1970s. It then analyses intellectual developments in the understanding of human subjectivity, in particular that of Hegel, Marx, the Frankfurt School, and the influence of postmodernism/poststructuralism to our understanding of the human subject. It is argued that a common intellectual current is one of ‘diminished subjectivity’. We return to the history of social work in chapter four, analysing the changes from the 1970s onwards, with particular emphasis on the overt politicisation of the profession. Combining this with the theoretical analysis of chapter two, the influence on social work of wider intellectual and political change becomes evident. The contention is that social work itself, for all its talk of ’empowerment’, is influenced by the tendency to view the subject with suspicion, and to demean it at the very moment it endeavours to ’empower’ it. The thesis then examines manifestations of ‘diminished subjectivity’ in the arena of social work. Four specific but interrelated areas of concern to social work are highlighted, with particular focus being on the arena of adult mental health. The first is the rise of the discourses of pathology and abuse. Whilst these increasingly common concepts have affected both social work policy and practice, social work itself is partly responsible for the popularity of such constructs. The second is the current pre-occupation with risk minimisation, or risk management, and this is analysed in relation to mental health policy and practice at the level of statutory powers and civil containment. From this focus on the more overt coercion within the mental health field, we turn thirdly to the constructions of stress and bullying. The fourth focus is on ‘identity politics’, in particular the rise of the psychiatric ‘survivor’. The penultimate chapter discusses the public/private divide as a theme which cuts across all the previous chapters, and addresses some of the implications of the erosion of this boundary. The concluding chapter summarises the thesis and discusses recent critiques of social work from within the profession. It is argued that the developments discussed within the thesis should not be seen in isolation; but rather that all share a common perception of the human subject as fragile, dangerous, or both.

A social-psychological perspective is used to study young people’s representations of bullying across in-groups and out-groups in eight mixed-sex British state secondary schools (a total of 471 pupils aged 11-16 from Years 7, 9 and 11, 54% girls and 46% boys).  Four of the schools were from an area of high ethnic mix and low socio-economic status (SES), and four are from an area of low ethnic mix and high SES.  The study explores the usefulness of making a distinction not investigated in the bullying literature: that between abuse based on individual characteristics, and abuse in terms of group membership, such as one’s race or sex as a whole.  The literature contains an implicit value judgement that group-based bullying is worse, and therefore more difficult to cope with, because it maligns not only the individual but also the individual’s entire reference group.  The aim of this thesis is to understand children’s evaluations of the severity of the two distinguishable bases for being bullied, with a focus on victim representations.  Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used, in the form of group-interview methodology and forced-choice questionnaires administered individually to 400 pupils.  The 96 group interviews used specially designed vignettes about a male and female victim, with the ethnicity and facial expression of the models manipulated.  Responses only partially support the assumption in the literature; children mentioned many other dimensions upon which evaluations are conditional, ranging from social conventions, intention, frequency, and truth, to the type of target and the nature of the stigma.  Results are interpreted in terms of the general heightened awareness of bullying and racism that permeates schools.  This research contributes to knowledge about the complex processes through which adolescents are both susceptible to and protected from bullying.  The topic is contextualised by a wide range of literature including: bullying, gender, ethnicity, racial and sexual harassment, stigma, adolescent peer groups, identity, self-esteem, attribution theory, and cognitive coping strategies.