Leiden University Student Repository

Ouska, Finn (2022)

Untangling the Web: A Network Approach to the Correlates of Bullying

Master thesis | Psychology (MSc)

Bullying is a phenomenon that is widespread in schools and workplace but is also occurring online in the form of cyberbullying. Previous studies have indicated that bullying is negatively related to social support and self-esteem. Social support and self-esteem thus constitute protective factors in the relation to bullying. Further, it was expected that bullying will be positively related to the negative mental health outcomes loneliness, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. To investigate the relations between bullying and social support, self-esteem, loneliness, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation the present study used the network approach to integrate all the variables and visualize their relations. The data was taken from the WARN-D project, where 453 participants aged between 18 and 53 (M = 22.7, SD = 4) filled out questionnaires about various mental health aspects including the seven variables used in the present study. Results show that the hypothesized...Show moreBullying is a phenomenon that is widespread in schools and workplace but is also occurring online in the form of cyberbullying. Previous studies have indicated that bullying is negatively related to social support and self-esteem. Social support and self-esteem thus constitute protective factors in the relation to bullying. Further, it was expected that bullying will be positively related to the negative mental health outcomes loneliness, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. To investigate the relations between bullying and social support, self-esteem, loneliness, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation the present study used the network approach to integrate all the variables and visualize their relations. The data was taken from the WARN-D project, where 453 participants aged between 18 and 53 (M = 22.7, SD = 4) filled out questionnaires about various mental health aspects including the seven variables used in the present study. Results show that the hypothesized positive relationships between bullying and mental health outcomes are present in the network. The same holds for the negative relationships between bullying and the protective factors. In conclusion, the present study provides an important framework for theory development and further use of the network approach in the field of bullying.Show less

bullying

network analysis

depression

anxiety

suicidal ideation

self-esteem

social support

loneliness

Author

Ouska, Finn

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Clinical Psychology

Supervisors

Myrthe Veenman

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en