To Tell or Not to Tell? A Multi-Method Study of Youth's Help-Seeking for Peer Victimization

Abstract

This dissertation is composed of three multi-method studies (e.g., survey, daily diary, experiment) that examined the relationships among youth’s beliefs about help-seeking, emotions, teacher responses to bullying situations, and help-seeking intentions. Social-cognitive, stress-coping, and socialization theories were applied to examine help-seeking as an adaptive coping response to bullying shaped by both intrapersonal (e.g., beliefs, emotions) and interpersonal (e.g., teacher responses to bullying) factors. In Study 1, we developed and validated a youth self-report measure of perceived outcomes of help-seeking for bullying victimization, the Victimization Help-Seeking Outcomes Scale, in a sample of adolescents (n = 585). Results supported a three-factor model consisting of help-seeking benefits, personal/social costs, and situational costs. Boys and younger adolescents perceived greater social costs to seeking help than girls and older adolescents, respectively. In Study 2, we examined the daily associations between adolescents’ affect and coping with peer victimization, including help-seeking, using daily diary data collected from adolescents (n = 165) across 11 days. Help-seeking was associated with greater levels of next-day positive affect among victimized youth. Finally, in Study 3, we used a virtual-reality modification of an experimental paradigm of social exclusion (i.e., Cyberball-VR) to examine how different teacher responses to bullying influence early adolescents’ help-seeking intention and discrete emotions (n = 123). Results indicated that active teacher response to social exclusion was associated with increase in victimized youths’ satisfaction and fear. Although victimized youth may feel satisfied with active teacher responses to bullying, they may also perceive help-seeking to be “risky”, and fear potential negative social consequences, such as future victimization and social judgment. The results of these studies suggest that the choice to seek help from teachers is a complex process. While help-seeking may be an adaptive way to cope with emotional distress, adolescents fear possible retribution and the negative impact on their social standing if they seek help. Adolescents may feel particularly vulnerable and fearful when teachers take an active approach to addressing the bullying. Findings from these studies can inform bullying prevention efforts that aim to promote help-seeking.