The findings show that the proactive-moderating (PM) approach is the one most frequently used by class teachers to tackle physical, verbal and indirect bullying. This approach seeks to tackle bullying before incidents happen, and stresses the importance of teacher-pupil interaction at the regular class level. Teachers report that the PM approach is the most effective method of tackling pupils’ bullying behaviour. The teachers clearly see their role as important in that the strategies most highly recommended to pupil victims and bullies are at the class level. There are significant differences among teachers in terms of the relationships between their perceptions of the nature of bullying, their beliefs and attitudes, their teaching experience, support from the Head and senior staff, school size, and teachers’ choice of approaches to tackling bullying. Teachers have broad perceptions of the nature of bullying, so they tend to adopt the RM and PM approaches in the classroom. The strongly humanitarian teacher has positive beliefs and attitudes towards his/her teaching and classroom management. He/she will adopt counselling skills to guide pupils’ bullying behaviour instead of using a RE or ignoring approach. Teachers with many years teaching experience tend to adopt a proactive approach (PM and PE) to tackle bullying behaviour, because they believe that prevention is better than cure. If the Head and senior staff have a clear policy towards bullying, then a proactive approach will be used in the school. Bullying incidents happen most frequently in larger schools. Hence, these schools tend to use a proactive approach to prevent pupils’ bullying. It appears from the findings that many Taiwanese teachers recognise their important roles in schools in relation to dealing with the bullying problem. Both senior staff and class teachers need in-service training, because the complex nature of bullying compounds the difficulty of detecting bullying. The provision of core material on the topic should be seriously considered as an essential part of basic training for teachers. This study represents a good starting-point for school staff to utilise in formulating a more effective whole-school anti-bullying policy, thereby helping to reduce the rate of juvenile delinquency in Taiwan.

This thesis explores the career experiences of women civil engineers in the UK and examines how women negotiate their place in a highly male-dominated profession. The thesis considers why women are under-represented in this profession, are rarely appointed to senior management positions and how changes in the business pattern of UK engineering consulting companies has created barriers or opportunities for women. Uncovering the detail of women’s career expectations and experience was more suited to a qualitative approach to data collection. .A series of semi-structured interviews was carried out with thirty-one women engineers working in different sectors of the profession. The women were in a variety of personal circumstances, including single and married women, some with young children and others with no dependent caring responsibilities. The ages of the women ranged from twenty three to fifty six years with the majority having attained chartered status. The interviews focused on factors that affect career progression and these were discussed within the three themes of subcultures of the profession, work/life balance and possible agents for change. Quantitative membership data from the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and other construction professions has been analysed to provide the context for the research. Feminist concerns about the relationship between women’s role in the private sphere of the home and the public sphere of paid work have led to a theoretical framework that draws mainly on the work of Walby and Cockburn. This has been enhanced by Greed’s gendered critique of the wider construction sector. The findings show that women feel isolated within the profession and t his isolation seems more pronounced for the few women who reach the top and also generally in the setting of the construction site. Despite attempts by some contracting firms to reform the culture of construction sites, this sense of isolation is heightened by problems of harassment in that setting. .Thus, for many women the prospect of working on site is still very daunting. .Equal opportunities policies have a low profile in the industry and this research shows that women working as professionals in construction do not see’ equality’ measures of this type as likely agents for change. The image of the profession as predominantly a ‘male preserve’ continues. and the ICE is regarded as a ‘very male club’ which admits women only reluctantly. Although women report feeling marginalised within the profession many receive personal support from individual male and female colleagues and this factor can be critical to their career progress. Moving into management is seen as necessary for career success but some women are ambivalent about the negative impacts this may have on work/life balance. The culture of long hours is dominant and this marginalises women with caring commitments and reinforces male hierarchy within the profession.

Psychotic disorders are experienced by between 100,0000 and 500,000 people in the U.K. at any one time.  The symptoms which characterise these disorders are more common in the general population than previously assumed.  Studies of both adults and children have demonstrated that up to 70% of non-clinical samples endorse items related to psychotic experiences.  Pre-psychosis or psychosis prodrome has been considered influential in the early identification and intervention in psychosis.  However the experiences that have been identified as indicators of psychosis are non-specific such as quality and withdrawal and could also be indicative of other psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression.  Models of psychosis previously focused upon deficits in those with psychosis.  Current cognitive models focus more upon thinking biases such as attributional bias or jumping to conclusions.  These models move away from the idea that psychosis is experienced by people who are physiologically or biologically different from those who do not.  These models are the foundation of current psychological intervention in psychosis and aim to reduce associated stigma and shame.  The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of psychotic experiences in a non-clinical sample of school-aged children.  Associations with depression, anxiety, stress, bullying and dissociation were also investigated.  Nine questionnaires were completed by 308 14 to 16 years olds.  results indicated that 98% of the sample endorsed at least one item on the early signs of psychosis measure and 92% endorsed at least one item on both the measures of delusional ideation and hallucinatory experiences.  Psychotic experiences were significantly associated with all other factors and those who had been bullied were significantly more likely to report psychotic experiences.  This study adds further support to the continuum model of psychosis and clinical practice implications are discussed.

This thesis deals with the issue of bullying at work.  The bullying concept refers to situations where a person is persistently and over time exposed to hostile and demeaning behaviours at work.  Whether the bullying is deliberate of not, it is likely to cause humiliation, offence and distress in the target person.  In the thesis, the focus is on two aspects of bullying at work – namely prevalence rates and occupational health outcomes.  In recent years, attention has been paid to bullying and harassment among health care professionals.  Findings from several countries suggest that health professionals are frequently exposed to various kinds of bullying behaviours or acts.  Indeed, the two studies reported in this thesis point to high levels of bullying in the health sector. The studies took place in two hospital trusts, one located in Scotland and the other in Iceland.  Questionnaires were used to assess the prevalence and nature of bullying experiences in these trusts.  The study samples were large and randomly generated.  Two key methods were used to assess prevalence levels.  The first method focused on persistent exposure to undesirable behaviour at work.  The second method focused on subjective experiences of bullying at work.  An interesting disparity in findings appeared, depending on the method used.  Results from the first method consistently pointed to higher prevalence rates than results from the second method. Apart from studying local prevalence rates, the project aimed at comparing the rates from the two countries.  The results from this cross-cultural comparison pointed consistently to higher levels of bullying in Scotland than in Iceland. However, both studies showed that people were most likely to report work-related negative acts and personal derogation or isolation.  This accords with the notion that rational-appearing aggression and other forms of covert aggression are more frequently used in the workplace than are overt forms of aggression.

This study analyses the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace from a social constructionist perspective to argue that what is considered sexual harassment is different according to context.  Using this framework of structure and agency in two different countries at a particular time, it argues that sexual harassment has been constructed differently within the law in France and England during the 1990s, and that these differences are also reflected in contrasting assumptions about sexual harassment within the narratives of individuals living in France and England. In the first instance, the study compares the legal definitions of sexual harassment in France and England during the 1990s and argues that in England sexual harassment has been defined as a discrimination issue, whilst in 1992 French law on sexual harassment deliberately rejected this frame and defined sexual harassment as sex-based conduct aimed at obtain sexual favours.  The study explored the implications of the French definition of sexual harassment. The study then explores the narratives of a set of matched female student respondents in France and England undertaking secretarial courses.  It argues that assumptions relating to power and sexuality at the national legal level also exist within the micro narratives of individuals.  Two competing conceptualisations of sexual harassment are identified, that of ‘natural unreciprocated desire’, whilst English respondents are more likely to understand sexual harassment as the ‘power to discriminate’.  The study also finds particular cross-national differences in the narratives.  French respondents were more likely to express a preference for male bosses and colleagues than did the British respondents.  They also reported less concern regarding intimate relationships at work than respondents in England.  In addition, French respondents were more likely to blame women’s dress and behaviour for sexual harassment.  The empirical data identifies some overlap in conceptualisations of respondents within each country, which indicated that competing understandings co-exist and there is the potential for change.

This thesis explores heterosexual, lesbian and gay sexualities in two secondary schools in the North East of England. By applying anthropological theories about social rules and pollution rituals, it broadens our understanding of the complex and contradictory experiences of and responses to harassment and bullying adopted by different professionals (teachers, education social workers, youth workers and a school nurse) and by young people. Inspired by professional experiences as a social worker with young people, and by the writings of Mary Douglas, the research began with a six-month work placement and exploratory study in a local authority education department. Subsequently, data was gathered from sixteen individual in-depth interviews with professionals and three group interviews with nineteen young people. Results revealed a range of contradictory understandings and responses to the harassment and bullying of many lesbians and gay people.  Professionals and young people highlighted a number of recurring themes around communication and appearance, the formal and informal curriculum, and invisibility.  There were considerable parallels between the results and the literature in relation to language, bullying, sex education and compulsory heterosexuality. Participants felt that gender and age differences were important as well as sexuality differences, and made comparisons between boys and girls, young people and adults, and heterosexuals and homosexuals.  Other differences were also found to be important. Teachers were more fearful than everyone else (the education social workers, youth workers, school nurse and young people) about lesbian and gay issues.  Teachers had less contact with lesbian and gay young people than did the other professionals (education social workers, youth workers and school nurse). Professionals expressed less homophobia than young people. Applying Mary Douglas’ analyses of social rituals and rules about pollution and danger to these results provided a new perspective for understanding the harassment and bullying of young lesbian and gay men in schools.  Her theories offer an explanation for the ambiguities and dissonance that the professionals and young people experienced in their schools. This explanation forms the basis of a new understanding on which to build a more coherent and useful context for future research and professional practice.  For example, researchers might strategically and specifically examine the ambiguities in sexual language, and professionals could incorporate ideas about minimising differences and managing ambiguity in their training.

This work has focused on the antecedents of sexual harassment as a whole, setting aside the examination of differential antecedents for the different behavioural categories of sexual harassment (gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention and sexual coercion) although different categories may be differentially determined, especially when considering the variety of behaviours involved within these. The present study aims to: (a) investigate each category of sexual harassment separately, (b) explore what person and what organisational characteristics contribute to each type of harassment, (c) examine differences in the dynamics behind perpetrating and experiencing each type, (d) examine how individual responses to harassment mediate outcomes, as well as (e) what role organisational context has in predicting responses or outcomes of harassment, and (f) to investigate gender differences within this framework. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to develop models tested on a male dominated police organisation (135 male and 125 female police officers and support staff) in the UK in the first instance, and subsequently on a more gender balanced academic institution (118 male and 84 female academics and support staff). Results suggested that, for the most part, relationships generalised across organisations, such that, male perpetrating, for both categories of harassment, was predicted by attitudes alone, while among females gender harassment was predicted by job gender context and attitudes, and unwanted sexual attention was predicted by agreeables. Experiencing harassment was a function of organisational tolerance and personality characteristics, with different patterns emerging for males and for females. The most consistent finding in outcome models was the negative impact of internal coping on psychological health.

This thesis investigates three issues in relation to governments’ policies towards the Further Education (FE) sector between 1992 and 2003.  This investigation entails using lengthy, semi-structured interviews with four senior post- holders within the FE sector (all of whom were influential during the period of the changes) and a comparison of their views with those from government policy documents, policy statements and secondary literature.  This data explores first, the ideologies behind the incorporation of the FE college sector, as FE colleges were taken out of Local Authority control and incorporated into their own independent organisations.  This ideology is found to be centred on the concept of new managerisalism, which postulates that managers should be allowed to manage.  This means that any democratic accountability structures and other controls that are perceived to inhibit management freedom in the public sector have to be removed.  Secondly, this thesis analyses the ideologies of incorporation, and reviews the motivators that persuaded the newly elected Labour Government in 1997 that there needed to be a change from the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) model of FE to that of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) model.  The dominant motivators cited by the respondents for this phenomena were the problems in some FE colleges of bullying and mismanagement, sleaze, uncontrolled expansion of franchised provision and a failure of the governors in many FE colleges to make their senior management accountable.  Thirdly, the thesis seeks views on the likely effects of the LSC on the FE sector and the possible effectiveness of the different ideologies of the LSC, compared with those of the FEFC.  Respondents felt that the LSC planning model proposed, might not work in practice in the way that the LSC intended, as they felt it was extremely difficult to obtain accurate data on skill needs from which FE colleges could work.  The thesis also shows that the senior post holders’ views strongly reinforced the expectations of the secondary literature and government policies.  There is also a concurrence among the interviewees, that the structural changes made by Government in the FE college sector since 1992, have brought (and may bring) some negative consequences for FE colleges.

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.

Bullying occurs in most schools to a certain extent. However, this does not mean bully-victim relationships should be considered to be acceptable.  Being the victim of bullying has been associated with a range of maladjustment variables in children, including depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and post-traumatic stress.  Depression is the internalising symptom that has been most strongly associated with victimization (Hawker and Boulton, 2002).  Yet there has been little research into either protective or risk factors for depression in victimized children.  Theories of depression following stressful life events would suggest that social support and cognitive vulnerabilities are two important factors to investigate.  The first paper explores the literature on bullying and theories of depression in children.  The review brings these two areas of research together by examining social support and cognitive vulnerabilities in children. The current study had two aims.  Firstly, to investigate whether social support protected children from depression and secondly, to investigate whether cognitive errors were a risk factor for depression in victimized children.  A cross-sectional design was used to compare victims and non-victims.  Victimization was assessed by peer nomination and depression, cognitive errors and social support were assessed by self-report.  Data were analysed using t-tests, analysis of covariance and correlations.  Results supported the hypothesis that depression is associated with victimization.  When cognitive errors were controlled the difference in depression scores between victims and non-victims was reduced.  Social support had different effects in boys and girls.  Limitations of the study and implications for future research are discussed.

The primary aim of this study was the development and validation of a new instrument, the School Life Survey, to establish differentiated rates for the different types of bullying and victimization locally. A total of 562 inner-city grade 1 to 8 school children from two schools in Toronto participated with parental consent, in addition to another sample from the pilot study. High whole-school participation rates were achieved. The validity and reliability of the new instrument received extensive investigation, with excellent Pearson test-retest ratings obtained for both the SLS Bullying Scale and the SLS Victimization Scale. The feasibility of the School Life Survey as a non-anonymous tool was tested and confirmed using a balanced experimental design. The availability of norms for the School Life Survey allows it to be used psychometrically to differentiate levels of severity, and to identify bullying and victimization with greater accuracy and confidence. The study reviewed the conceptual and methodological issues in the definition and measurement of bullying and victimization. A number of hypotheses were set up in respect of the gender and age trends, and comparisons were made with the literature’s existing database. The phenomenon of serial bullying, multiple victimization and familial patterns of bullying were discussed in the context of a new nomination procedure for identifying bullies. Limitations of the study were pointed out, along with directions for future research. Implications for effective interventions and the role of the school psychologist in bringing about innovative changes were discussed.

In this thesis, I explore the construction of lesbian and gay parenting in psychology (Part 1), in the media (Part 2), and in lesbian and gay parents’ talk (Part 3). My research brings together a diverse range of influences and ideas from lesbian and gay psychology, feminist psychology, and constructionist and discursive research. I draw on varied data sources: the psychological and lesbian feminist literature on lesbian (and gay) parenting, television talk shows, documentaries and newspaper articles, and research interviews with lesbian and gay parents. These data are analysed within a feminist constructionist framework, using discourse analysis. The thesis is divided into three parts. In Part 1.1 present my analysis of the psychological and lesbian feminist literature on lesbian (and gay) parenting. In this part of the thesis, I treat the literature as data and explore what it reveals about the social construction of lesbian and gay parenting. First, I provide a historical overview of the literature on lesbians and parenting over the last one hundred years. Then, I focus in detail on how discourses of sameness and difference and discourses of science inform the construction of lesbian (and gay) parenting in the literature. In Part 2, I analyse media constructions of lesbian and gay parenting. First, I identify arguments against lesbian and gay parenting in talk shows and in newspaper articles. Second, I focus specifically on talk show debates and analyse how these debates are constructed and identify the key themes informing pro-lesbian/gay parenting discourse on talk shows. In Part 3, I focus in detail on lesbian and gay parents’ talk about two issues that significantly inform psychological and media debates about their fitness to parent: homophobic bullying and male role models. I explore how lesbian and gay parents engage with anti-lesbian/gay claims about homophobic bullying and male role models, and the ways in which they construct bullying and role models in the process of discursively managing their identity as ‘bad’ parents. In the final chapter, I discuss the contributions and implications of my research, and indicate some future developments for research on lesbian and gay parenting and for lesbian and gay psychology.

This research aimed to explore issues surrounding the discrimination of students on supervised work experience undertaken as part of their HND or degree courses in tourism, hospitality and leisure. The research questions centred on whether such students experienced discrimination and, if so whether this affected their learning and career choices and whether they could offer any suggestions for appropriate support strategies. The research was conducted within a social constructionist framework and the research design comprised over three hundred questionnaires and fourteen interviews with students at a university in South East England. These were conducted during 1998 and 1999 as the students returned from placement in a wide variety of establishments within the international tourism, hospitality and leisure industries. The questionnaire aimed to generate possible areas for future discussion and to identify possible discriminatory factors in the macro environment such as rates of pay, conditions of work, opportunities and student attitudes to their placements. The interviews focused on personal experiences and the effects of unfair treatment as perceived by the students. Analysis was undertaken using SPSS software for the questionnaire and NUDIST software for the interview data. A substantial minority of students considered that they had been unfairly treated. They considered this to be due to their conditions of work and poor management style and skills. These factors had an appreciable effect on learning opportunities and efficacy. A smaller number of students reported experiencing or witnessing various forms of discrimination. The additional effect of discrimination on learning was to affect self-efficacy and reduce self-confidence. There appeared to be no significant effect on career choices. Students wanted to resolve issues independently at work, were reluctant to report discrimination to tutors but welcomed academic support. However, in all cases where racial discrimination or sexual harassment was reported to an employer, no action was taken.

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.

The issue of workplace bullying has received considerable attention in the UK in recent years. Despite a handful of surveys undertaken on the issue, no attempt has been made systematically to investigate its prevalence and nature, antecedents and outcomes, across occupations and sectors. This thesis attempts to fill this gap and presents an epidemiological investigation of workplace bullying in Great Britain. Following identification of a large-scale, random sample across a variety of sectors and occupations, objectives that emerged from a review of the literature are examined by means of a quantitative survey. Prevalence-rates of self-reported bullying are established, the nature of the behaviours revealed, and particular risk-groups identified. By means of a factor analysis of an inventory of negative behaviour identified with bullying in Britain, four underlying constructs are revealed: work-related bullying; personal bullying; managerial bullying; and intimidation. An investigation of possible predictors of bullying and negative behaviours reveals that bullying was particularly associated with a particular style of leadership utilising punishment in a non-contingent manner, i.e. unrelated to target behaviour, and where social relationships, particularly with supervisors, were strained. Following analysis, bullying and negative behaviour are found to be associated with negative effects on health and well-being as well as negative organisational outcomes, e.g. absenteeism, reduced productivity and, in particular, increased intention to leave. On average, targets of recent bullying report worst outcomes, followed by previous targets, witnesses of bullying and those who had neither been bullied nor had witnessed bullying. In discussing the results, a distinction is made between bullying processes and negative behaviour. It is argued that, when the local context and demographic factors, e.g. gender, age, race and organisational level, are taken into consideration, overall findings often masked important underlying differences. This highlights the varying meaning of the bullying experience. The complexity and multi-causality of the phenomenon is highlighted, with implications for stress-theory, suggesting that several factors may need to be considered simultaneously, as risk-factors may be the result of an interaction between two or more factors.

Workplace bullying has been increasingly reported amongst a range of commentators as an organizational phenomenon that is on the increase. Narratives and accounts of workplace bullying have appeared from a range of sources that might lead some observers to suggest that bullying is a product of the activities of moral entrepreneurs or is the result of the workplace being perceived as a place of increased risk. This thesis is based on a triangulated pan-Wales study of full and part-time lecturers working in further (FE) and selected higher education (HE) institutions in Wales. The study encompasses unstructured interviews with lecturers who have been bullied; semi-structured interviews with human resource managers and trade union representatives; and a postal questionnaire survey of members of a trade union representing the further and higher education sectors. The study has sought to investigate how lecturers working in FE and HE in Wales have constructed certain behaviours as workplace bullying. By comparing the accounts of victims, ordinary lecturers and key informants such as human resource managers and trade union representatives, we find multiple interpretations and repertoires for bullying in work. For some, bullying is organizational and/or managerial while for others, bullying is the product of individualised conflicts. The lack of direct exposure to accounts of bullying for some participants has resulted in collectivising and shared paradigms, while for others, bullying is perceived as something more akin to school playgrounds. The evidence in this study points to a rejection of bullying at work as a product of moral entrepreneurs and other external labelling sources. Instead, the main finding from this study is that workplace colleagues’ play a central and pivotal role in the social construction processes for workplace bullying. The activities of work colleagues are consistently shown to be at the heart of bullying experiences at work. This is most likely to be in a validating or affirmatory role where they help label managers and the activities of the organization in the localised social constructions of bullying.