From 2011 to 2012, 1.1 million workers were impacted by work related stress, lack of professional support and bullying (Health and Safety Executive, 2013). “Burnout” is not easily defined but it can be described as a phenomenon that affects both the personal and professional dimensions of an individual’s life. This study investigates counselling psychologists’ experience and management of “burnout” using the qualitative method of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Six qualified counselling psychologists from the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States of America were interviewed via telephone. The three main themes that were found are: (1) “batteries run out” which includes the physical and emotional effects, as well as the disillusionment of the reality of the profession, (2) “Prisoner of an eroding system” describes the professional dimension of the experience such as locus of control, effect on client work, boundaries and values, and (3) “Recharging the batteries” which gives an insight into how the participants managed their experience, such as their personal view of “burnout”, the issue of reclaiming their space and time, as well as the role of support. Overall, there was an underlying sense that the participants wanted to be taken care of by others but were unable to ask for help. The relevance of this study to the field of Counselling Psychology is discussed in relation to theory and professional practise. The limitations and shortcomings of this investigation are highlighted and suggestions for future research are made.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is characterised by symptoms of hyperactivity, impulsivity and attentional difficulties. Originally thought to be a condition of childhood, ADHD has now been recognised in adults. One of the main theoretical explanations of ADHD is related to deficits in Executive Functioning (EF). The state of current knowledge regarding the relationship between EF and ADHD was reviewed. Findings suggest that adults with ADHD are likely to exhibit deficits in EF mainly related to response inhibition, set-shifting or working memory. Deficits in EF as shown on neuropsychological tests may help to identify people who are at risk of under achieving in various life domains such as education or occupation. Tests of EF which are more ecologically valid may be more sensitive to EF dysfunction than traditional measures. The experience of having adult ADHD and preferences for support were explored using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Four super- ordinate themes emerged from five interviews: ‘Process of adapting to ADHD’, ‘Social Appraisal’, ‘Self-regulation’ and ‘Coping’. Participants described an adjustment process which impacted on their identity and the impact on self-perception was evident. ADHD was not understood well by others and some participants experienced stigma and bullying. A range of coping strategies were identified and clinical implications and limitations of the study were discussed. Finally, a commentary and reflexive analysis of the research process was offered and factors influential to the research were discussed.

Since the 1970s women have clearly made great advances toward equality in education and in the resultant employment opportunities afforded by an excellent education. Today women are graduating from universities at a rate unparalleled in history (Mitchell 2012:56; Townsend & Twombly 2007:208), and are also entering management positions at a greater rate than we have ever seen (Cejda 2008:172). While the rate of women university graduates taking up entry level management positions is almost on a par with men (Bosak & Sczesny 2011:254), the rate of women professionals who move into senior management positions decreases as the position becomes more senior until, at the highest level management positions, women hold only between 3% and 5% of the top posts. (Mitchell 2012:56). Through the analysis of in depth interviews of women holding higher level management positions (including President, Chancellor, or Vice Chancellor,) at universities in four different English speaking countries, the study sought to investigate the reasons why there are so few women found in top management positions in universities. The results of the study indicate that the factors having the greatest effect on the success of women managers at university are those of identity; being able to overcome academic bullying in the workplace; having key support at critical times, especially from a spouse or from family; and developing the strategies to overcome career obstacles through the use of metacognition. The study also found that informal, multiple, mixed gender mentoring was the most effective type of mentoring for women. As a result of the study findings, new theory is proposed for advancement of women managers that offers the concept of identity as a lynchpin factor. Identity develops concurrently with sets of personal and management skills that are interwoven into the experiences of women as they work in management.

Psychological research into bullying has highlighted the importance of considering the role of bystanders within this complex social interaction (see literature review). The aim of this paper was to apply this research to develop an anti-bullying intervention programme that increases pro-defending attitudes and behaviour, and consequently reduces bullying. The methodology was a design experiment; in this first iteration, the intervention programme was designed, implemented, and evaluated in collaboration with staff and students at a secondary school. Data were collected using a mixed methods approach via questionnaires, focus groups, an interview, and observation. The results showed that there was no significant difference in prevalence estimates of defending or bullying pre and post intervention. However, two thirds of participants reported that their attitudes and behaviour had become more supportive of defending victims since the intervention. Qualitative data revealed a diversity of perspectives regarding the effects and value of the programme. A model outlining factors that influence decisions to defend a victim of bullying was developed from the results and previous literature. The findings from this paper were used to inform modifications to the design of the intervention programme for implementation in the second iteration in paper 2.

This thesis examines the figure of the wandering adolescent, prominently visible in Japanese television anime and videogames produced from 1995 to the present. Japan in the 1990s and at the millennium experienced intense economic and social change, as the collapse of the ‘bubble’ economy of the 1980s resulted in a financial recession from which the country has yet to recover. At the close of the decade, the national experience was characterised in media descriptions of malaise and disenfranchisement, and the loss of perceived core traditional cultural values. Arguably in this period the figure of the adolescent changed qualitatively in Japanese culture, rising to prominence within youth panic discourses circulated by the Japanese news media. These concerned the perceived rise in antisocial and problematic teenage behaviour, including the otaku, the hikikomori shut-in, classroom disobedience, bullying, and prostitution, while multiple cases of brutal murder perpetrated by teenagers became the focus of extensive media coverage. Public discourse expressed alarm at the perceived breakdown of the traditional family and the growing commodification of childhood in Japanese culture. This thesis develops understanding of the shifting attitude in Japan towards adolescence within the context of these cultural anxieties, and through the analysis of anime and videogames suggests strategies that are at work within popular cultural texts that are the product of, contribute to and reorient debates about the position of the suddenly and inescapably visible teenager in Japanese society. Through analysis of discourses relating to the shifting representation of the wandering adolescent as it moves across cultural texts and media forms, the thesis forms an original contribution to knowledge and understanding of Japanese anime and videogames through illumination of a prominent motif that to date remains unexamined.

This thesis addressed the bystander intervention gap in the workplace bullying literature. Bystanders are employees, other than the bully or target, who are present when bullying occurs. They are well placed to intervene but often they do not. Previous research suggested that increased bystander intervention may lead to a reduction in workplace bullying. Although suggestions for bystander intervention in workplace bullying were found in the literature none had been implemented or measured. As field research this thesis addressed a real-world problem. The participating employees were from a large, mainland UK organisation where workplace verbal bullying had been identified as a problem. Therefore a strategy for bystander intervention in workplace verbal bullying was designed, implemented and measured. The new Responsible Intervention Decision Strategy (RIDS)model combined existing theories on the bystanders’ decision process and responsibility to support bystander intervention. This quantitative study developed and validated a new 15 item Responsible Bystander Intervention in Verbal Bullying (RBI-VB) metric. The concise metric was incorporated into a practical, single-page survey to test the RIDS model in the field. Shop-floor employees participated in pre and post-intervention surveys (N = 1501) and one of four conditions. The RBI-VB metric demonstrated that responsible bystander intervention was positively correlated to bystander willingness to intervene in workplace verbal bullying. This could be increased with RIDS-based training or the in-house campaign; and was positively correlated to self-reported bystander intervention. The study is limited as it took place within a single UK organisation. However, the findings demonstrated the efficacy of the RIDS model and the practical application of the RBI-VB metric for baseline measurements, monitoring and to assess bystander intervention programmes. Willingness to intervene can be increased and this relates to actual intervention but most bystander intervention was carried out by previous targets of workplace verbal bullying. The implications are discussed.

This thesis considers how sexual and romantic relationships between academic faculty and students in higher education are governed. Using analytic techniques drawn from Foucault and discursive psychology to interpret a corpus of texts, which includes policy documents, interview transcripts, fictional accounts, newspaper articles, and computer mediated discourse, I explore how five discourses are mobilized to frame faculty student relationships. I find that harassment discourse, which emerges as the dominant frame of reference in scholarly accounts, is taken up less readily in the accounts studied here. Rather, discourses foregrounding four alternative, but often imbricated, themes are more extensively mobilized: infantilization; religiosity; health, safety, and hygiene; and professionalism. These discourses reinforce elements of the truth claims propounded by harassment discourses; notably, their gendered and heterosexist assumptions, and their insertion of a gap between academic and student, albeit one configured along subtly different lines. However, they also challenge them, positing alternative claims to truth, recasting the subject positions of academic and student, and re-orienting relations between the two. For example, infantilization discourses construct faculty-student relationships as a horrific relation between adult or parent and child which must be monitored, whereas religious discourses construct a pastor-flock relation, articulating relationships as a temptation to be resisted or atoned for. The thesis offers contributions to research on faculty-student relationships per se, and is also understood as opening up analysis of organizational sexuality and the university more generally by arguing for the usefulness of a government approach to these phenomena.

Research exploring the psychological consequences of workplace bullying has demonstrated that exposure to bullying may have devastating effects on the health and well-being of those who experience it. However, the nature of this relationship remains virtually unknown and there is an increasing call for researchers to undertake a more interpretive and individualised orientation to the bullying phenomenon. There is little research into workplace bullying from a counselling psychology perspective and yet research developing therapeutic guidelines for models of intervention with targets of workplace bullying is essential given the impact of bullying upon psychological health. The current study therefore aims to consider the therapeutic needs’ of targets of workplace bullying by exploring how targets make sense of and give meaning to their experiences. It is hoped that this will provide insights into the ways in which workplace bullying can have detrimental psychological effects and point to potential interventions that may be utilised when working therapeutically with targets of workplace bullying. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, the current study explores in-depth the experiences of eight self-labelled targets of workplace bullying. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken to explore: how participants have experienced workplace bullying, how they have made sense of their experience, how they perceive effects on their psychological health, how they might explain such effects, and how they have coped with their experience. The findings comprise of four superordinate themes: ‘Bullying as a Powerful Experience’, ‘Psychological Consequences of Workplace Bullying’, ‘Impact of Workplace Bullying on Identity’ and ‘Coping with the Experience of Being Bullied’. These support the conceptualisation of workplace bullying as a traumatic experience with devastating impacts upon targets ‘ sense of self. A rich description of the participants’ experiences of psychological distress following being bullied at work is presented and discussed. Implications and applications for the clinical practice of counselling psychology are subsequently highlighted.

The aetiology and impact of inappropriate behaviour in Malaysia is not well understood. This study was designed to explore inappropriate behaviour at work in Malaysia among health care employees. In this research, inappropriate behaviour was defined as harassment, bullying or mobbing, according to the definitions from the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland and Labour Relations Agency (2006). The research was conducted in three stages: an explanatory study; a large-scale quantitative survey; and an interview-based qualitative study. Results indicated that 42.6% of employees experience inappropriate behaviour in the.workplace. The inappropriate behaviour perpetrators are both superiors and co-workers, but the pattern of findings suggests that there is no association between demographics and the reports of inappropriate behaviour. This suggests that inappropriate behaviour occurs throughout the workforce. However, there was little variation in ethnicity in the sample, so conclusions about this variable are tenuous. When compared to participants who had not experienced harassment, those who did were less satisfied with the support provided by the organisation in this situation and were less satisfied at work, according to scores on the Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS). Additionally, the research suggests that the factor structure of the JSS may not be appropriate in a Malaysian sample and an alternative factor structure is proposed. In the final qualitative study, participants from different professions expressed feelings of frustration at their experiences of inappropriate behaviour and a sense of helplessness/hopelessness that anything could be done to remedy this situation. Consequently, participants found themselves in a situation where they felt forced to tolerate the inappropriate behaviour because they feared the adverse consequences of making a complaint about their experiences. Overall, these findings contribute to an awareness of inappropriate behaviour at work, its enablers and its consequences in a culturally diverse, non-Western society.

Existing research into cyberbullying has tended to utilise surveys in order to understand the extent to which cyberbullying is experienced by young people in society. However, there has been little homogeneity between researchers when attempting to define cyberbullying and consequently there is disparity in how it has been operationalised. As well as this, recycling of the term ‘bullying’ brings with it certain presumptions and qualifications which may not be apt for social interactions in the new and ever evolving virtual world. Furthermore, it implicitly assumes that cyberbullying will bother young people, whilst simultaneously failing to acknowledge the situations which may bother young people but which do not constitute cyberbullying. In the present study the word ‘cyberbullying’ was thus omitted from use with participants in an attempt to circumvent the ‘trouble’ inherent with the term. The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of what bothers young people when on Facebook. A research methodology was sought which minimised the potential for researcher bias and maximised the opportunity for young people to give their personal account. Accordingly, Q methodology was employed to explore how 41 young people ranked 54 statements depicting hypothetical problem scenarios on Facebook. Participants sorted the statements according to personal significance from most agree (would bother) to most disagree (would not bother). The overall configuration of statements was subjected to factor analysis, from which a four factor solution was identified; ‘I want to protect others’; ‘I am worried about the dangers on Facebook’; ‘I know who I am and what I’m doing’; and ‘I don’t want any trouble’. The emergent social viewpoints were discussed further with four young people and an understanding was gained of what they perceived of Facebook; what action they would take if they experienced something negative on Facebook and what role they felt school should play in such situations. The findings were discussed in relation to existing literature, and the potential roles of schools and Educational Psychologists were considered. Limitations were acknowledged and recommendations for further research suggested.

Building on a small body of research, the present study explores the perceptions of teaching staff about their work with Gypsy, Roma, Traveller (GRT) children and young people. Specifically the research is concerned with participants’ views about the relationship between GRT children and schools in relation to attainment, social inclusion, the GRT culture and lifestyle and wider systemic factors. Existing literature and research about the educational experiences of GRT children and young people is explored. Situated within a critical realist epistemology, the present study utilises semi-structured interviews with 13 members of teaching staff across five schools in Greenshire County Council (pseudonym). Transcripts were subjected to thematic analysis following the model proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006). Six superordinate themes (educational outcomes; barriers to education; GRT parents; social inclusion; cultural dissonance and inclusive practices) were identified. Findings are explored in relation to previous research. One key finding concerns the views participants expressed about GRT children’s reports of bullying or racism. Implications for practice and future research are considered.

Throughout the last twenty years, following accession to the European Union (EU), legal economic migrants (and their families) have the right to live and work in European member states. Economic migrants who are European citizens of member states now assume immigrant status and co-exist in countries with pre-existing immigrant communities that have affiliations to the former British Empire. With demographic composition changes of immigrant communities in Europe, difference and discrimination of populations from diverse cultural backgrounds has become a focal issue for European societies. A new, multi-ethnic Europe has thus emerged as one context for understanding cultural uncertainties associated with youth and migration at the end of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty first century. These uncertainties are often associated with the impact of new nationalisms and xenophobic anxieties which impact mobility, young people, and their families (Ahmed, 2008; Blunt, 2005). In this dissertation I seek to examine young peoples’ experiences of migration and school exclusion as they pertain to particular groups of immigrant and minority ethnic groups in England. In particular, the study explores the perceptions and experiences of two groups of diverse young people: British ‘minority ethnic’ and more recently migrated Eastern European ‘immigrant’ youth between the ages of 12-16. It provides some account of the ways in which migrant youth’s experiences with both potential inclusion and exclusion within the English educational system, particularly in relation to the comparative and temporal dimensions of migration. Young people’s opinions of inclusion and exclusion within the English educational system are explored in particular, drawing, in part, upon the framework of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other theoretical positions on ethnicity and migration in order to paint a picture of contemporary race relations and migration in Buckinghamshire county schools. The methodological approach is ethnographic and was carried out using qualitative ethnographic methods in two case secondary schools. The experiences and perceptions of 30 young people were examined for this research. Altogether, 11 student participants had Eastern European immigrant backgrounds and 19 had British minority ethnic backgrounds (e.g. Afro Caribbean heritage, Pakistani/South Asia heritage, and African heritage). The methods used to elicit data included focus groups, field observations, diaries, photo elicitation, and semi-structured interviews. Pseudonyms are used throughout to ensure the anonymity of participants and to consider the sensitivity of the socio-cultural context showcased in this dissertation. Findings of the study revealed that Eastern European immigrants and British minority ethnic young people express diverse experiences of inclusion and exclusion in their schooling and local communities, as well as different patterns of racism and desires to be connected to the nation. The denial of racism and the acceptance of British norms were dominant strategies for seeking approval amongst peers in the Eastern European context. Many of the Eastern European immigrant young people offered stories of hardship, boredom and insecurity when reflecting on their memories of post-communist migration. In contrast, British minority ethnic young people identified culture shock and idealised diasporic family tales when reflecting on their memories of their families’ experiences of post-colonial migration. In the schooling environment both Eastern European immigrants and British minority ethnic young people experienced exclusion through the use of racist humour. Moreover, language and accents formed the basis for racial bullying towards Eastern European immigrant young people. While Eastern European immigrant youths wanted to forget their EU past, British minority ethnic young people experienced racial bullying with respect to being a visible minority, as well as in relation to the cultural inheritance of language and accents. The main findings of the research are that British minority ethnic young people and Eastern European immigrant young people conceptualise race and race relations in English schools in terms of their historical experiences of migration and in relation to their need to belong and to be recognised, primarily as English, which is arguably something that seems to reflect a stronghold of nationalist ideals in many EU countries as well as the United Kingdom (UK). Both of these contemporary groups of young people attempted both, paradoxically, to deny and accept what seems to them as the natural consequences of racism: that is racism as a national norm. The findings of this study ultimately point towards the conflicts between the politics of borderland mentalities emerging in the EU and the ways in which any given country addresses the idea of the legitimate citizen and the ‘immigrant’ as deeply inherited and often sedimented nationalist norms which remain, in many cases, as traces of earlier notions of empire (W. Brown, 2010; Maylor, 2010; A. Pilkington, 2003; H. Pilkington, Omel’chenko, & Garifzianova, 2010).

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.

This research was motivated by the limited penetration of the Internet within emerging economies and the ‘mobile miracle’, which refers to a steep increase of mobile phone penetration. In the context of the developing world, harnessing the ‘mobile miracle’ to improve Internet access can leverage the potential of the Web. However, no comprehensive model exists, which can identify and measure indicators of Mobile Web uptake. The absence of such a model creates problems in understanding the impact of the Mobile Web. This has generated the key question under study in this thesis: “What is a suitable model for Mobile Web uptake and its impact in the developing world?” In order to address the research question, the Model of Mobile Web Uptake in the Developing World (MMWUDW) was created. It was informed by a literature review, pilot study in Kenya and expert reviews. The MMWUDW was evaluated using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with the primary data that consisted of the questionnaire and interview data from Indonesia. The SEM analysis was triangulated with the questionnaire results and interview findings. Examining the primary data to evaluate the MMWUDW was essential to understand why people used mobile phones to make or follow links on the Web. The MMWUDW has three main factors. These are Mobile Web maturity, uptake and impact. The results of the SEM suggested that mobile networks, percentage of income for mobile credits, literacy and digital literacy did not affect Mobile Web uptake. In contrast, web-enabled phones, Web applications or contents, and mobile operator services strongly indicated Mobile Web maturity, which was a prerequisite for Mobile Web uptake. The uptake then created Mobile Web impact, which included both positive and negative features; ease of access to information and a convenient way to communicate; being entertained and empowered; maintaining of social cohesion and economic benefits, as well as wasting time and money, and being exposed to cyber bullying. Moreover, the research identified areas for improvement in the Mobile Web and regression equations to measure the factors and indicators of the MMWUDW. Possible future work comprises advancement of the MMWUDW and new Web Science research on the Mobile Web in developing countries.

A body of research has focused on exploring educational attainment and links between outcomes from one generation to the next, with a complex array of factors revealed. One influential factor linked to outcomes is the aspirations that parents have about school for their children. Research to date however has provided only limited insight into the ways parents, or mothers in particular view school for their child, based on their own experiences. This study aimed to understand more about what a negative school experience meant to a group , mothers of children 3 years and under. It also sought to elicit their views about their children’s schooling. Through a process of interpretative phenomenological analysis of the semi-structured interviews, this study identified factors that served to help and support them around their school days, and what could potentially help them gain more confidence in their children’s education. The key super-ordinate theme to emerge was the power of their negative experience to cloud what was positive about their school days. What became apparent was the degree to which for three mothers, this centred on persistent, inescapable bullying. Additional factors (and sub-themes) identified included: being ignored and left to get on with learning; not being heard by teachers and parents; and the power of all these negative experiences to undermine confidence, self-worth and future pathways in life. However, an additional super-ordinate theme focused on positive factors that had helped them cope in school. Two further super-ordinate themes identified the conflicting emotions felt about school for their child, and how they had given great thought to the future education of their children. Within these factors emerged a strong desire for them to have a different, more enjoyable experience of school and how they considered their role to be a protective influence in their lives. This thesis offers an insight into the ways educational professionals, including psychologists, can provide support to parents with negative school experiences, helping to build confidence and trust in a positive future for their children in school.

Behaviour difficulties displayed in childhood and adolescence have pervasive and long term effects into adulthood and across various domains of functioning (Healey, et al. 2004, Woodward, et al. 2002). The numbers of children who suffer with them remain worryingly high (Green et al. 2005). Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are considered particularly at risk of displaying behaviour difficulties; however, despite representing around one fifth of the school population (DfE 2011), little research to date has explicitly investigated these problems in this population. The present study therefore aimed to investigate risk, promotive and protective factors for behaviour difficulties in children with SEND across multiple ecological levels. Data were collected through a concurrent research project evaluating Achievement for All (Humphrey et al. 2011). The sample comprised children identified with SEND in years 1, 5, 7 and 10, from ten local authorities deemed representative of England. A final sample consisted of 2660 primary pupils nested in 248 primary schools and 1628 secondary pupils nested within 57 secondary schools. Predictor variables were measured at the individual and school levels at baseline, along with a teacher reported measure of behaviour difficulties which was assessed again eighteen months later. Analyses were carried out using multi-level modelling revealing that primary schools accounted for 15% and secondary schools 13% of the total variance in behaviour difficulties, with the remainder being at the individual level. Significant risk factors for these problems across both school types were: being male; eligibility for FSM; and being a bully. Risk factors specific to primary schools included being autumn born, being older in the school, having poor positive relationships, and attending schools with lower levels of academic achievement. Risk factors specific to secondary schools included being younger in the school, having poor attendance, having poor academic achievement, being a bystander to bullying and attending a larger school. Results showed evidence for a cumulative risk effect that increasing numbers of contextual risk factors, regardless of their exact nature, resulted in heightened behaviour difficulties. This relationship was non-linear with increasing risk factors in an individual’s background having a disproportional and detrimental increase in behaviour difficulties displayed. The specific type of risk was however, more important than number of risk factors present in an individual’s background in accounting for behaviour difficulties displayed. Finally, results revealed significant protective factors at the school level; specifically attending primary schools with high academic achievement and with more children on the SEND register at school action can protect against the display of behaviour difficulties when these children are at risk in terms of having poor positive relationships. Attending urban secondary schools can also protect against the display of behaviour difficulties, when these children are at risk in terms of having poor academic achievement. The implications of these findings are discussed along with directions for future research.

Research in the field of bisexuality has identified that bisexuals experience a unique kind of phobia, in that phobic responses to their sexual preferences appear from both mainstream and LGBT communities. However, little research in the UK has been conducted within the arena of sport culture to cater for the particular welfare needs of bisexual athletes. As an additional consequence, there is little theorisation of bisexuality available within the context of sport sociology. This research contributes to debates in the politics of identity by exploring a fairly new landscape within sport culture using a Foucauldian analysis of power. Discourse analyses have been utilised to interpret thirteen semi-structured interviews conducted with British athletes on the topics of bi-invisibility and the general problem of homophobia. This research also contributes to discussions concerning the mobilisation of power through discourse – certain discursive practices function to legitimize normative over non-normative sexualities and queer/fluid/bisexual identities are further stigmatized and othered. The main findings suggest that exclusions are mobilised most effectively, ironically, through sport cultural practices of inclusion, in that they are almost exclusively sexual identity-based. Additionally, this study offers a theoretical explanation for the peripheralisation of bisexuality in sport culture which can shed new light on bisexual theory in mainstream culture. It makes important suggestions as to the new directions future research can take in order to advance the current knowledge bases concerning the effects of bantering. This research proposes that practices of bantering can be just as marginalising as those of bullying. In the resultant climate of covert exclusions, organizational sporting bodies could benefit from paying close attention to the disempowering effects of biphobic and homophobic language, whether humorously intended or otherwise. This is with particular respect to youth footballing academies and spectator communities.

aBackground: Puberty is considered to be delayed if sexual maturation occurs beyond 13 years in girls and 14 years in boys. Physical consequences of delayed puberty include short stature and immature appearance, relative to their chronological age. Psychosocial consequences include social withdrawal and isolation, teasing and bullying, parental over protection, poor body image, low self-esteem and declining academic performance. Research findings in this area can be conflicting with most of the focus being upon delayed growth. Consequently, the psychosocial impact of delayed puberty remains unclear. This study aimed to explore adolescents’ experiences of delayed puberty from a psychosocial perspective. Method: Five adolescents with delayed puberty attending the Royal Hospital for Sick Children were recruited to the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, recorded and transcribed. The data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Results: Analysis identified five super-ordinate themes: Confusion Surrounding Diagnosis, Adolescents’ Internal Experience, Adolescents’ External Experience, Coping and Future Prognosis. They reported a range of emotional, behavioural, social and psychological affects. Adolescents utilised various maladaptive and adaptive coping strategies to help them manage the consequences they experience. They reported feelings of confusion and uncertainty surrounding their diagnosis and treatment which may be contributing to the emotional and psychological symptoms. Conclusion: Adolescents reported that delayed puberty only affects certain areas of their life and that they are generally happy with who they are. This study emphasises the importance of adolescents receiving clear information about delayed puberty and its treatment as soon as possible when they first attend the endocrine clinic to help manage the psychological and emotional consequences reported.

This research was conducted with the major purpose of contributing to the understanding of definitions, perceptions and concepts of cyber aggression with particular emphasis on cyber-bullying. Seven studies were conducted in total. The term ‘cyber-bullying’ was examined in focus groups and individual interviews (Study 1: N = 32; 8–54 years old). Qualitative thematic findings showed that the term is ambiguous and highlighted the need for further examination of its general use and perception within online aggression. Typical exemplars that were common to cyber-bullying were examined (Study 2: N=136; 18-30 years old) and rated for centrality (Study 3: N=132, 18-30 years old) using the prototype approach by Rosch, 1972, Rosch, 1975. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) validated the exemplars. Hypotheses that exemplars would correlate with their given (Study 2) frequencies and mean ratings were accepted. Typical/central cyber-bullying exemplars were also determined (Study 4: N=89, 18-30 years old) in a recall and recognition memory task experiment, following the hypotheses that central exemplars of cyber-bullying would be recalled more than non-central exemplars of cyber-bullying. Furthermore, motivating factors of cyber-bullying were examined (Study 5: N=10; 14-18 years old) using Grounded Theory (GT). GT revealed clusters of goaded and groundless motivators of cyber-bullying. Further validation of prototypes were carried out in a commonality triangulation (Study 6: N=114, 18-30 years old). Core exemplars of cyber-bullying from generated GT themes were determined in terminological categorisation study (Study 7: N=132, 18-30) where CB was differentiated from cyber-harassment, cyber-abuse and cyber-stalking. The implications of the findings including the need for various preventative measures (e.g. psychosocial therapies) to be applied to instances of bullying/victim and cyber-bullying/victim were suggested.

This research embraces an eco-systemic perspective of human behaviour (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and uses participatory action research methodology to explore with young people, and those ‘immersed in the system’ (Carr & Kemmis, 1986) of education, their views and school experiences, to facilitate increased participation, empowerment and professional collaboration to support future school transitions. This study has been carried out in the South-West of England (inner-city and suburban areas), involving young people and their families, schools, alternative placement providers and multi-agency professionals. The following research aims were addressed: 1) To improve our understanding of the views and perspective of young people who have experienced school exclusion. 2) To explore multiple stakeholder perspectives of using a person-centred planning (PCP) approach to support school transition/re-integration and the perceived ‘supports’ and ‘barriers’ to implementation. 3) To explore the use of PCP in supporting positive outcomes for young people, ‘post transition/re-integration’ to mainstream school. 4) To consider the implications for future practice and research. This was a two part study, consisting of two research papers. The participants in paper one of the study were young people (N=12) identified by their settings as having experienced prior school exclusion, with an impending transition (or re-integration) to mainstream education. Paper one explored young people’s perspective to better understand the supports and barriers that have impacted upon their educational journeys, what they attribute as causes for their school exclusion and what they believe will help them in their future. A person-centred planning approach informed the data gathering process (Smull, Sanderson, Sweeney, Skelhorn, George & Bourne, 2005) and semi-structured interviews were analysed using thematic analysis based on Braun and Clarke’s (2006) framework. The individual interviews explored ‘with’ each young person, their views and perspective, and contributed towards the ‘preparing to plan’ stage of Person Centred Planning (PCP) being implemented in paper two. Paper two explored the use of Person Centred Planning (PCP) in supporting young people (N=6) in their school transition/re-integration to mainstream education. This involved young people from study one and a range of stakeholders including their family, friends, school/placement staff and multi-agency professionals. This focussed on exploring multiple stakeholder experiences of the ‘supports’ and ‘barriers’ of using a PCP approach in ‘real life’ practice. It also explored perceptions of the impact and efficacy of the approach over time in supporting young people across key outcome areas, ‘post’ transition/re-integration. Findings from paper one indicated young people’s capacity to express themselves clearly and reflect meaningfully upon their educational journeys. Each young person made their own decision as to how they would participate and contribute their views and how the information would be used. Key findings indicated a range of perceived ‘supports’ and ‘barriers’ that young people identified as having impacted upon them. These encompassed the systems of school, family and community and, consistent with existing research, highlighted the significance of positive and caring relationships, access to help and support and experiencing a sense of belonging (Lown, 2005; Mainwaring & Hallam, 2010; O’Connor, Hodkinson, Burton & Torstensson, 2011).Young people’s causal attributions referred to negative teacher relationships, peer bullying, rejection and perceived injustice. A distinct finding from this study referred to young people’s sense of isolation when they felt that help was being denied at a time when they were experiencing negativity across the contexts of family, school and community. Young people referred to not feeling understood and supported and reflected upon this impacting on their behaviour in school. Findings also indicated that whole school behavioural systems posed a barrier to young people being able to access the help and support of key adults they had identified and to their inclusion in the wider school community. Findings from paper two indicated positive support from all stakeholder groups that PCP enabled the young person to be fully involved in their transition planning, facilitating a positive ethos that embraced equality and collaboration. Exploration of stakeholder views highlighted some negative reflections on the use of PCP, particularly in relation to its ‘time consuming’ nature and a range of key factors were identified as supportive and/or obstructive to implementing PCP in practice. When exploring perceptions of impact and efficacy over time, there were clear indications of positive development for each young person across key outcome areas. The majority of positive reflections were consistent across stakeholders groups and related to increased school attendance, improved emotional understanding, social interaction and academic progress. All individual targets were reviewed ‘post transition/re-integration’ and were deemed to have ‘met’ or ‘exceeded’ the expected levels. Furthermore, there have been clear references to changes made at a systems and environmental level that have underpinned these positive changes and emphasised the role that others play as ‘agents of change’ (Fielding, 2001). These findings have been assimilated and the implications for educational psychology practice and research considered.