A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Navigating the Healthy Context Paradox: Identifying Classroom Characteristics that Improve the Psychological Adjustment of Bullying Victims
Authors: Hye-Young Yun, Jaana Juvonen
Publisher: SPRINGER/PLENUM PUBLISHERS
Publication year: 2020
Journal:Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Journal name in sourceJOURNAL OF YOUTH AND ADOLESCENCE
Journal acronym: J YOUTH ADOLESCENCE
Volume: 49
Issue: 11
First page : 2203
Last page: 2213
Number of pages: 11
ISSN: 0047-2891
eISSN: 1573-6601
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01300-3
Web address : https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-020-01300-3#Sec5
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/49567770
The healthy context paradox-an unexpected pattern in which victims' psychological adjustment worsens as the overall level of victimization in a classroom or school declines-implies that reducing the frequency of bullying or victimization incidents does not do enough to help victims of bullying. In light of this finding, it is imperative to identify protective factors that alleviate victimization-related distress in the peer ecology. The current study examines classroom-level peer victimization and peer-defending behaviors as moderators of the association between individual-level victimization and psychological adjustment. These classroom-level moderators were tested with a sample of 1373 adolescents (40% girls,M-age: 14 years) from 54 classrooms in South Korean middle schools. Consistent with past findings documenting the healthy context paradox, the results of multilevel modeling indicated that victimized youth experienced a lower level of depressive symptoms in classrooms where victimization was more common. Most importantly, bullied students reported fewer depressive symptoms, on average, in classrooms with relatively high levels of bully-oriented (i.e., confronting the bully), rather than victim-oriented (i.e., comforting the victim), defending behavior. These findings provide a more nuanced understanding of the role of peers' defending behaviors toward bullied adolescents and have significant implications for anti-bullying interventions.
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