ACADEMIC INTEGRITY DECLARATION

Assignment Handling ServicesDivision of Information ServicesNathan CampusGRIFFITH UNIVERSITY   QLD   4111

ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

Please complete all sections below

Course Code:        

Course Name:        

Due Date:         Assessment Item #:        

Enrolment:  Off Campus ☐ On Campus ☐

Campus (Enrolled) Nathan  ☐ GC  ☐ Logan  ☐ Mt G  ☐ SB  ☐

Course Tutor:        

Course Convenor:        

Please provide your STUDENT NUMBER:        

Student Name:        

Breaches of academic integrity (cheating, plagiarism, falsification of data, collusion) seriously compromise student learning, as well as the University’s assessment of the effectiveness of that learning and the academic quality of the University’s awards. All breaches of academic integrity are taken seriously and could result in penalties including failure in the course and exclusion from the University.

Students should be aware that the University uses text-matching software to safeguard the quality of student learning and that your assignment will be checked using this software.  

I acknowledge and agree that the examiner of this assessment item may, for the purpose of marking this assessment item:

☐ reproduce this assessment item and provide a copy to another Griffith staff member; and/

☐ submit this assessment item to a text-matching service. This web-based service will retain a copy of this assessment item for checking the work of other students, but will not reproduce it in any form.

Examiners will only award marks for work within this assignment that is your own original work.

I, hereby certify that:

☐ Except where I have indicated, this assignment is my own work, based on my personal study and/or research.  

☐ I have acknowledged all materials and sources used in the preparation of this assignment whether they be books, articles, reports, lecture notes, or any other kind of document or personal communication.

☐ I have not colluded with another student or person in the production of this assessment item unless group work and collaboration is an expectation of the assessment item.

☐ this assignment has not been submitted for assessment in any other course at Griifith, or at any other University or at any other time in the same course without the permission of the relevant Course Convenor.

☐ I have not copied in part or in whole or otherwise plagiarised the work of other students and/or other persons.

☐ I haven’t made this piece of work available to another student without the permission of the Course Convenor.

Providing this declaration falsely is considered a breach of academic integrity. 

I have retained a copy of this assessment item for my own records. 

Acknowledged by:   Enter name Date:        

(Signature)

Where the item is submitted electronically Clicking “I Agree” constitutes an electronic signature for the purpose of assignment declaration compliance.

STUDENT CONSENT

(to be completed by the student before their essay, assignment or other work is uploaded to an internal/online learning University website or used for the purpose of moderation (not to be used if there is to be public access to the work)

At Griffith the use of assessment exemplars by academic staff is encouraged to inform students’ understanding of the performance standards associated with learning and achievement in the course. An assessment exemplar is an authentic example, actual sample or excerpt, of student work that has been annotated to illustrate the ways in which it demonstrates learning, achievement and quality in relation to the intended learning outcomes (including graduate outcomes) for the course. Assessment exemplars may be made available in a range of ways. In order to collect assessment exemplars students are asked to consent, on every assessment item submitted, for their work, without disclosure of the contributor’s identity, to be used, and reproduced as an assessment exemplar for standard setting and moderation activities.

I acknowledge that for the purpose of standard setting and moderation activities the examiner of this assessment item may wish to store, reproduce, annotate, and communicate my work to others, including future students, without disclosure of my identity.

☐ I consent to my Work, Enter title of Assignment item without disclosure of my personal details, being stored, reproduced annotated and communicated within the University’s secure online learning environment.

☐ I do not consent to my Work, Enter title of Assignment item being stored, reproduced annotated and communicated within the University’s secure online learning environment.

Acknowledged by:        Date:      

(insert name here)

Where the item is submitted electronically Clicking “I Agree” constitutes an electronic signature for the purpose of assignment declaration compliance.

Extension Requests:

Assessment Item Number:         Due Date:      

Extension Granted:   ☐ YES    ☐    NO Amended Due Date:      

Extension Approval Number:        

Extension Approved by:       Approval Date:      

Examiner’s Use Only: Tick Where Appropriate:

Name:         Submitted late without extension – returned to student to seek extension /special assessment.

Mark Given:         Suspected plagiarism: referred to the Course Convenor.

Second Examiner:         Returned to student to be resubmitted by:
(if required)       (date) for the following reasons: 

Mark Given:               

Examiner’s Comments:

1003PSY Research Methods and Statistics 1 Assignment

Due Date: 1:00pm Wednesday 12^th October, 2016

Bullying and its Psychological Effects on Students 

 [Insert name here]

[Insert student number here]

Word count: [Insert word count here]

Abstract

Vast research has embarked on assessing if bullying in schools had psychological and social impact among its victims. Bullying was associated with increased rates of personal stress, depressive disorder and loss of personal esteem.The study aimed at investigating if bullying was correlated with personal stress, depression and low self-esteem among students in Queensland primary school, Australia. Both descriptive and correlational research designs were adopted to investigate this social phenomenon. A sample of 139 students – selected through simple random technique in grades 5, 6 and 7 – were subjected to a survey that used questionnaire as the main instrument. Personal opinions and rating for the different questionnaire items were quantified using Likert and frequency scales. The results depicted that there was a weak correlation between depression vs. bullying (r=0.430; P=0.000); bullying vs. self-esteem (r=-0.382; P= 0.000) and bullying vs. personal stress (r=0.205; P=0.015). The study suggested of a more advanced statistical analysis technique (preferably regression analysis) to identify causal-effect relationships between these variables while more stringent measures should be implemented in schools against bullying. 

Key words: Bullying, personal stress, depression, self-esteem

Bullying and its Psychological Effects on Students 

The significant social impact of schoolyard bullying was vividly illustrated in August 2009 when Jai Morcom died as a result of a playground brawl at Mullumbimby High School (New South Wales, Australia). News of the 15 year-olds death led to public outcry and a mass protest by students and staff at the school (Stolz, 2009). A poll conducted by the Queensland newspaper The Courier Mail showed that 92% of the 604 respondents responded Yes to the question of Do you think bullying is out of control in our schools? While this sample is likely to be biased, placing doubts over the extent to which this opinion is shared by the general population, it does suggest a perception of a high incidence of bullying in Australian schools. Additional research conducted by the Queensland Education Department indicates that approximately five children in each class are verbally or physically bullied each week and that up to 70% of suspensions relate to bullying behaviour. Research conducted in other countries support these findings in reporting that 5 to 15% of primary school and 3 to 10% of secondary school children being the victims of bullying on at least a weekly basis (Olweus, 1994; Genta, Menesini, Fonzi, Costabile, & Smith, 1996). The high prevalence of bullying in schools indicates that more information is needed on what variables are associated with bullying and what impact it has on children. 

Prior research on the victims of bullying has revealed that several variables are associated with bullying. Boys are more likely to be bullied than girls (e.g., Slee & Rigby, 1993; Nansel et al., 2001), particularly when bullying includes physical harm and threats (Baldry, 1998). Younger children are also more likely to report being the victim of bullying than older children (Whitney & Smith, 1993). Victims also tend to be more introverted, passive, submissive, and lonely (Boulton & Smith, 1994; Mynard & Joseph, 1997). In victims, the amount of bullying received is positively associated with levels of anxiety (e.g., Bond, Carlin, Thomas, Rubin, & Patton, 2001) and depression (e.g., Abada, Hou, & Ram, 2008; Craig, 1998), and negatively associated with self-worth (e.g., Slee & Rigby, 1993), popularity (Olweus, 1978), and physical health (Abada et al., 2008). The negative psychological variables that are associated with bullying indicate that victimisation is likely to lead to considerable stress (Newman, Holden, & Delville, 2005) and be a risk factor for subsequent mental health problems (Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpelä, Rantanen, & Rimpelä, 2000).

Coggan, Bennett, Hooper, and Dickinson (2003) reported the findings of a large cross-sectional survey of 3,265 randomly selected secondary school students in New Zealand. The students were categorised as experiencing chronic bullying (physical violence, verbal teasing, sexual harassment, and racist comments) or not across a six month period. A comparison between the groups revealed significant differences on several psychological measures. Bullied children were less likely to feel good about themselves, had a lower self-esteem, more likely to have attempted self-harm and suicide, and more likely to have higher scores for depression, stress, and hopelessness. Coggan et al. argued that the findings indicated an association between chronic bullying and negative mental health outcomes in secondary school children. Further, the authors stressed that their findings highlight the need for positive youth development strategies in conjunction with prevention and intervention strategies to reduce bullying at school. 

The present study aimed to extend the findings of Coggan et al. (2003) in two main ways. First, we changed the sample of students that were studied. Students were sampled from primary schools in Queensland, Australia. Second, rather than treating bullying as a categorical variable (i.e., bullied versus not bullied), we treated it as a quantitative variable (i.e., frequency of bullying incidents). An analysis of the resulting data set will provide descriptive statistics on the extent of bullying in students and those psychological variables that might be associated with the extent of bullying. 

Research Hypothesis

H1: There is a positive correlation between Bullying and student depression

H2: Low self-esteem among the students is correlated with bullying

H3: Bullying among students contributes to significant personal stress

Method 

Participants

139 students from Queensland Primary School – selected through random sampling technique – were subjected to this study (n = 139). Accordingly, students were selected from three grades – grade 5, 6 and 7 who were between the ages of 9 and 12 years. On the other hand, 84 males (60.4%) and 55 females (39.6%) participated in the study. 39.6% of the participants were from grade 5, while 28.8% selected from grade 6 and grade 7 participants accounting for 31.7% of the total sample size. 

Gender
	Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	male	84	60.4	60.4	60.4
female	55	39.6	39.6	100.0
Total	139	100.0	100.0

Table 1: Gender of participants 

Descriptive Statistics
	N	Minimum	Maximum	Mean	Std. Deviation
Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	Std. Error	Statistic
Age	139	9	12	10.48	.083	.981
Valid N (listwise)	139

Table 2: Age summary of participants 

Grade
	Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	Grade 5	55	39.6	39.6	39.6
Grade 6	40	28.8	28.8	68.3
Grade 7	44	31.7	31.7	100.0
Total	139	100.0	100.0

Table 3: Summary statistics of grade of the participants 

Sampling method   

The methods used to sample the students and to measure the variables were given approval by the Institutional Research Ethics Committee. The target population was deemed to be Queensland primary school children in grades 5, 6, and 7. The potential participants were those students that were randomly selected to receive a survey pack that contained the self-report measurement instruments. To obtain the list of potential participants, five state schools in Queensland were first randomly selected to participate in the study. Each school consisted of a preparatory year and grades 1 to 7. The number of enrolments at the schools varied from 423 to 845 students. 

The enrolment list for each school was next obtained and 30 students in grades 5, 6, and 7 were randomly selected. These students became the potential participants and were each given a survey pack to take home. The pack included an information sheet and consent form that the parent or guardian was required to complete as acknowledgement of informed consent. In addition, the pack included the questionnaires to obtain information regarding demographic characteristics, frequency of bullying, perceived stress, depression, and self-esteem. The students were asked to return the completed questionnaires within one week. Of the 150 survey packs handed out, 92.7% were returned thus giving an actual sample of 139 students. 

Design

The study utilized both descriptive research and correlational research designs and integrated the use qualitative and quantitative approaches to collect and analyse its data. Accordingly, data collected from the students were categorical in nature as the research questionnaire focused on collecting the views and opinions of the students regarding bullying, depression, personal stress and self-esteem. However, respondents were to rate each of their opinions on a Likert scale or frequency scale to quantify the opinions for quantitative analysis and reporting. Data collected was recorded in a MS Excel sheet for screening process that involved identification of any outliers and missing data and subjected for a correlational analysis using SPSS v.19. Bullying was treated as the independent variable while depression, personal stress and self-esteem were treated as dependent variables. 

Materials and procedures 

Self-report measures were used to obtain demographic information and to measure each variable of bullying, perceived stress, depression, and self-esteem.

Demographic characteristics

 Three questions were used to obtain information about gender (male, female), age (in whole years), and grade level (5, 6, or 7). 

Frequency of bullying

 The amount of bullying experienced by a student was measured as the number of times the student reported being a victim of four possible behaviours. A question asked In school over the past week, how many times have you experienced each of the following? The four items were Another child was physically violent towards me, Another child teased me, Another child made racist comments to me, and Another child made sexually harassing comments to me. The number of times each incident occurred was summed across the four items to give a single measure of the frequency of bullying the child experienced over the past week. 

Perceived stress

 The level of stress perceived by the student was measured with four items. These were It is hard for me to tell people I am angry, I feel stressed by expectations to do well or better at school, I feel ‘stressed out’, and Difficulties seem to pile up so high that I feel that I cannot overcome them. Ratings were made on a scale that ranged from 1 to 25, where higher ratings indicate higher agreement with the statements. The sum of the ratings for all four items (maximum score = 100) provided the measure of perceived stress.

Depression

 The students’ depression was measured with the four items of I feel lonely, I feel that people dislike me, I feel depressed, and I feel that nobody truly cares about me. Students were asked to rate their level of agreement to each statement on a scale from 1 to 10, where higher ratings indicate higher agreement. The total score across the four items (maximum score = 40) provided the measure of depression.

Self-esteem

 Four items were used to measure self-esteem. The items were I feel that I have a number of good qualities, I certainly feel useless at times, I wish I could have more respect for myself, and I take a positive attitude toward myself. Each item was rated on a four-point scale of 1 to 4, where higher ratings indicate greater agreement with the statement. The sum of ratings across the four items (maximum score = 16) was used as the measure of the students’ self-esteem.

Data Analysis

After screening process, data was analysed using SPSS v.19 software using descriptive statistics and correlational analysis. The descriptive statistics of the participants’ demographics were presented in descriptive summary tables and bar graphs (for gender and grade). Additionally, each of the four variables of interest – bullying, depression, self-esteem and depression were summarized using descriptive statistics to capture the snapshot of their distributions. Lastly, correlational analysis was conducted to examine how each of the three dependent variables was associated with bullying and this gave the grounds to reject or accept each of the study hypotheses. 

Results

Descriptive Statistics

Bullying 

Bullying was treated as the independent variable that was hypothesized to have correlations with stress, depression and self-esteem. It was measured using the frequency that students reported any of the four bullying behavioural aspects including teasing, sexual harassment, racial mistreatment and physical assaults by other students. The incidences reported by each student were summed up to give the frequency of bullying or quantify the bullying by each student. 

Descriptive Statistics
	N	Minimum	Maximum	Mean	Std. Deviation
Bullying	139	4	20	10.76	3.487
Valid N (listwise)	139

Table 4: Bullying summary statistics 

Depression 

Perceived personal stress was treated as a dependent variable whereby, participants were to rate on a scale of 1-10 each of the four indicators of depression presented. Thereafter, the summation of the ratings on a scale of 40 was recorded to quantify depression per student. The summary statistics indicate that the mean depression for the participants was 20.30 with a standard deviation of 9.318. 

Descriptive Statistics
	N	Minimum	Maximum	Mean	Std. Deviation
Depression	139	2	39	20.30	9.318
Valid N (listwise)	139

Table 5: Summary statistics of depression 

Self-esteem

Four items of personal self-esteem were subjected to each participant to be rated on a scale of 1 – 4 and a summation collected to quantify self-esteem on a scale of 0 – 16. A high figure indicated individuals with low self-esteem which was hypothesized to be brought by bullying by other students. Notably, self-esteem was revealed to have a mean of 8.64 and a standard deviation of 3.135. 

Descriptive Statistics
	N	Minimum	Maximum	Mean	Std. Deviation
Self Esteem	139	1	16	8.64	3.135
Valid N (listwise)	139

Table 6: Summary statistics of self-esteem

Personal Stress

Perceived personal stress was treated as a dependent variable and each participant was to rate each of the four indicators of stress on a scale of 1 – 25. Afterwards, a summation of the ratings was added to quantify the variable on a 1 – 100 frequency scale. The summary statistics indicated that personal stress had a mean of 53.76 with a standard deviation of 15.336. 

Descriptive Statistics
	N	Minimum	Maximum	Mean	Std. Deviation
Personal Stress	139	10	95	53.76	15.336
Valid N (listwise)	139

Table 7: Summary statistics of stress

Variables Associated with Bullying – Correlation Analysis

Correlations
	Bullying	Personal Stress	Depression	Self Esteem
Bullying	Pearson Correlation	1	.205*	.430**	-.382**
Sig. (2-tailed)		.015	.000	.000
N	139	139	139	139
Personal Stress	Pearson Correlation	.205*	1	.091	.030
Sig. (2-tailed)	.015		.288	.722
N	139	139	139	139
Depression	Pearson Correlation	.430**	.091	1	-.166
Sig. (2-tailed)	.000	.288		.051
N	139	139	139	139
Self Esteem	Pearson Correlation	-.382**	.030	-.166	1
Sig. (2-tailed)	.000	.722	.051
N	139	139	139	139
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 8: Correlation analysis results 

A correlational analysis seeks to identify if there is any relationship between two or more variables and it does not indicates a causal-effect relationship (Mitchell and Jolley, 2007). However, it gives a suggestion that changes in one variable may explain the changes in another variable if the correlation is statistically significance. The sign associated with the correlation value (the R-value). Accordingly, personal stress among the students was hypothesized to be associated with bullying. From the results above, there is a weak positive correlation between the two variables (bullying and personal stress) identified by the R-value of 0.205. The direction of the correlation relationship is given by the fact that the R-value is positive (Mitchell and Jolley, 2007). The P-value is given as 0.015 which is less than alpha (0.05) indicating that the correlation is statistically significance at 0.05 or 5% significance level. Therefore, it can be concluded that bullying is correlated with personal stress among the affected students (victims to this antisocial behaviour). The correlation relationship can be also be identified through a scatter plot between the two variables. 

Figure 1: Scatter plot between bullying and personal stress

On the other hand, the study hypothesized that there was a correlation between bullying and depression among students. The correlation study depicted that, there is a week positive correlation between bullying and depression with R-value given as 0.430. Additionally, the p-value is given as 0.000 suggesting that the R-value is statistically significant at 0.01. Therefore, it can be concluded that student bullying is correlated with increased depression among the student. The correlation relationship may also be depicted through a scatter plot. 

Figure 2: Scatter plot between bullying and depression among students

Lastly, the study hypothesized that there was a correlation between bullying and low self-esteem. From the results above, there is a weak negative correlation between these two variables with R-value given as -0.382; P-value = 0.000 which is statistically significant at 1% significance level. Additionally, this relationship can be illustrated through a scatter plot as seen below. 

Figure 3: Scatter plot between bullying and self-esteem.

Discussion

The study aimed to assess if bullying in schools is associated with personal stress, depression and low self-esteem among the students. The study found a weak positive correlation between bullying and depression, as well as, personal stress. On the other hand, high incidents of bullying were revealed to be associated with low self-esteem. For instance, students may experience bullying under various circumstances or situations each having an adverse effect. Notably, Bond et al. (2001) argued that students who are bullied on racial or gender grounds may feel isolated and experience deteriorated self-esteem – victims feel that they are disrespected by others, hence a negative correlation. Therefore, students who experience high bullying incidents per week reported low self-esteem. Students may develop fear towards the bullying students after experiencing episodes of victimization. Such aspects causes social disturbance which may be translated into poor performance. Such an aspect indicates that victims of bullying may feel out of place if the behaviour prolongs or goes unreported with a high chance of developing stress and depression disorder (Bond et al. 2001). Therefore, this explains why these two variables had positive correlation with bullying. 

Apparently, the generalization of the study could be limited by the fact that a small sample size (n = 139) was used for large population (primary and secondary students in Australia. Hence, a larger sample size would offer more generalizable results. Additionally, the researcher considered just grade 5, 6 and 7 students for the study. Integrating other grades may offer a true picture on how bullying affects students across the different grades. Lastly, the use of correlation to identify the association of bullying and the three variables does not give the true figure of the causal factors of stress, depression and low self-esteem. A more practical statistical technique (such as regression) must be adopted to find out if these dependant variables had their effects caused by bullying. However, the study implies that more stringent actions should be implemented in schools to reduce stress levels, depression and boost students’ self-esteem. For instance, punishment as a behavioural reward may be used to reduce bullying incidents in schools for better mental health among the students. 

References

Abada, T., Hou, F., & Ram, B. (2008). The effects of harassment and victimization on self-rated health and mental health among Canadian adolescents. Social Science & Medicine, 557-567.

Baldry, A. C. (1998). Bullying among Italian middle school students. School Psychology International, 19, 361–374.

Bond, L., Carlin, J. B., Thomas, L., Rubin, K., & Patton, G. (2001). Does bullying cause emotional problems? A prospective study of young teenagers. British Medical Journal, 323, 480–484. 

Boulton, M. J., & Smith, P. K. (1994). Bully/victim problems in middle-school children: Stability, selfperceived competence, peer perceptions and peer acceptance. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 12, 315–329.

Coggan, C., Bennett, S., Hooper, R., & Dickinson, P. (2003). Association between bullying and mental health status in New Zealand adolescents. International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 5, 16-22.

Craig, W. M. (1998). The relationship among bullying, victimization, depression, anxiety, and aggression in elementary school children. Personality and Individual Differences, 24, 123–130.

Genta, M. L., Menesini, E., Fonzi, A., Costabile, A. & Smith, P. K. (1996). Bullies and victims in schools in central and southern Italy. European Journal of Psychology of Education, XI, 97–110.

Holmes, T. H., & Rahe, R. H. (1967). The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 11, 213-218.

Janis, I. L., & Mann, L. (1977). Decision making. New York: Free Press.

Kaltiala-Heino, R., Rimpelä, M., Rantanen, P., & Rimpelä, A. (2000). Bullying at school – an indicator of adolescents at risk for mental disorders. Journal of Adolescence, 23, 661-674.

Mynard, H., & Joseph, S. (1997). Bully/victim problems and their association with Eysenck’s personality dimensions in 8 to 13 year-olds. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 67, 51–54.

Mitchell, M. L., & Jolley, J. M. (2007). Research design explained. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Nansel, T. R., Overpeck, M., Pilla, R. S., Ruan, W. J., Simons-Morton, B., & Scheidt, P. (2001). Bullying behaviors among US youth: prevalence and association with psychosocial adjustment. JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association, 285, 2094.

Newman, M. L., Holden, G. W., & Delville, Y. (2005). Isolation and the stress of being bullied. Journal of Adolescence, 28, 343-357.

Olweus, D. (1978). Aggression in the schools: bullies and whipping boys. New York: Wiley.

Olweus, D. (1994). Annotation: Bullying at school: Basic facts and effects of a school based intervention program. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 35, 1171–1190.

Slee, P. T., & Rigby, K. (1993). Australian school children’s self-appraisal of interpersonal relations: the bullying experience. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 23, 273–282.

Stolz, G. (2009). Mullumbimby High School walkout over bullying. The Courier Mail. Accessed 10/10/09 from: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26002921 -953,00.html

Whitney, L., & Smith, P. K. (1993). A survey of the nature and extent of bullying in junior/middle and secondary schools. Educational Research, 35, 3–25.

Appendix

Find attached Raw Data and SPSS output of the analysis.