Long-Term Outcomes of Bullying Victimization With a Specific Focus on Emerging Adulthood and Resilience

Abstract

Bullying victimization in school is not only an experience at the time of victimization; the impact of these experiences has been found to be connected to long-term outcomes well into adulthood. The overall aim of this licentiate thesis is to broaden the understanding of long-term outcomes from experiencing bullying victimization in school, related to the developmental period of emerging adulthood and how it can be understood in terms of resilience. It includes two studies with participants recruited from the longitudinal study MoS (Mobbning och Skola [Bullying and School]). More specifically, Study I investigated how a sample of emerging adults (nine women and six men, Mage=29.00, SD=0.37), subjected to bullying victimization in school and suffering from poor psychological health in emerging adulthood, described their victimization experiences and perceived long-term consequences of these experiences. The findings revealed experiences of a long duration of victimization, problems adjusting to the bullying, experiences of not receiving help from school personnel, and depression, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts at the time of victimization. In terms of long-term outcomes, the emerging adults perceived feelings of insecurity; actively avoiding social situations; an identity formed into viewing oneself as worthless; and body image problems. Together, the long-term consequences they described were found to have the potential to impair their developmental processes in emerging adulthood. Study II investigated how resilience was manifested in the experiences of a group of emerging adults (ten men and five women, Mage=29.13, SD=0.52) with good psychological health despite experiences of childhood bullying victimization. Interviews were deductively analysed using concepts from the framework of resilience: protective factors, promotive factors, outcomes, and resilience as a dynamic process over time. In relation to the concept of protective factors, it was found that the participants had used whatever means possible in handling the victimization. The findings regarding the concept of promotive factors revealed that they had sources of social support who were prepared to help. The coding concept of outcomes revealed that these emerging adults were not only well adjusted but had also been able to use their victimization experiences to help others. In relation to the concept of resilience as a dynamic process over time, it was found that experiences of handling the victimization were perceived as learning experiences that could be used in difficult situations as emerging adults. These findings indicate that resilience in relation to experiences of bullying victimization is best understood as a dynamic process over time, whereby the individual interacts with their environment in an adaptive process, leading to positive development over time. In sum, this licentiate thesis highlights the dynamic process between bullying victimization in school and long-term outcomes related to these experiences.