Social Development · 2000 · 312 citations · 21 references
EducationEducational PsychologyPsychologyChild DevelopmentEmotional DevelopmentSocial-emotional DevelopmentAggressionBullyingCoping StrategiesEmotion RegulationEmotional ExpressionEmotional RegulationAdolescent Emotional RegulationCoping StylesCoping With VictimizationEmotional Regulation DifficultiesEmotional Regulation SkillsEmotionsMaladaptive Emotion RegulationStudent Bullying
Research suggests that bullying victims may lack emotional regulation skills, which help cope with provocative situations and reduce stress from negative emotions. The study examined emotional regulation and display patterns of classroom bullying victims. Children in grades one through six were observed during free play in winter and spring across three consecutive school years. Victims’ coping styles cluster into problem‑solving strategies that de‑escalate bullying and aggressive strategies that perpetuate it, and their emotional displays parallel those of bullies, indicating maladaptive regulation may risk chronic victimization.
Research suggests that victims of bullying may lack skills in emotional regulation, a process which facilitates coping with provocative situations to lessen the stress of negative emotions (Cicchetti, Ackerman, & Izard, 1995). The present study examined the emotional regulation and display patterns of victims during classroom bullying episodes. Children in grades one through six were observed during free play in the winter and spring of three consecutive school years. Results of the study indicated that the coping styles observed in victims of bullying can be grouped into two distinct clusters: 1) problem‐solving strategies that are associated with the de‐escalation and resolution of bullying episodes; and 2) aggressive strategies that tend to perpetuate and escalate the bullying interaction. Parallels were found between victims’ and bullies’ emotional displays. Results are discussed in the context of how maladaptive emotional regulation processes may act as risk factors for chronic victimization.
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