Bullying Psychosocial Health Among Young Victims and Offenders of Direct and IndirectParticipants. A total of 4811 children aged 9 to 13. Results. Depression and suicidal ideation are common outcomes of being bullied in both boys and girls. These associations are stronger for indirect than direct bullying. After correction, direct bullying had a significant effect on depression and suicidal ideation in girls, but not in boys. Boy and girl offenders of bullying far more often reported delinquent behavior. Bullying others directly is a much greater risk factor for delinquent behavior than bullying others indirectly. This was true for both boys and girls. Boy and girl offenders of bullying also more often reported depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. However, after correction for both sexes only a significant association still existed between bullying others directly and suicidal ideation.Conclusions. The association between bullying and psychosocial health differs notably between girls and boys as well as between direct and indirect forms of bullying. Interventions to stop bullying must pay attention to these differences to enhance effectiveness. Pediatrics 2003;111:1312-1317; bullying, depression, suicidal ideation, delinquency, children.

Recent studies have suggested the existence of three personality types: resilients, overcontrollers, and undercontrollers. In this article, we searched for subtypes within each of the three main personality types. Using cluster analysis on the Big Five personality self-descriptions of 3,284 Dutch adolescent boys and girls, we distinguished communal and agentic resilients, vulnerable and achieving overcontrollers, and impulsive and oppositional undercontrollers. About two-thirds of the communal resilients and vulnerable overcontrollers were girls; agentic resilients and oppositional undercontrollers were mainly boys. The personality subtypes were further validated on a comprehensive set of self-and peer-reported adjustment measures, including perceived relational support, psychological wellbeing, delinquency, bullying involvement, peer acceptance and rejection, and peer-reported behavior. The personality subtypes were associated with very distinctive adjustment patterns.During the last decade, the person-centered approach in the study of personality (cf. Magnusson, 1990) has rapidly complemented the long-standing variable-centered approach. In the variable-centered approach, personality traits are classified into dimensions that are thought to reflect the basic structure of personality. Persons are distinguished from each other on the basis of their scores on these dimensions, and external correlates of personality are studied by examining the associations between separate personality dimensions and dependent variables (Stern, 1911). Despite relevant criticisms (e.g., Block,

This study examined cognitive correlates of dental anxiety among 24 highly anxious patients and 17 low-anxious patients. In both groups, anxiety expectations, dental trait anxiety, and state anxiety (in the waiting room and in the dental chair) were rated. Negative cognitions and cognitive control were also assessed. It was found that dentally high-anxious patients claimed to experience more negative thoughts than those with low anxiety (p < 0.001). None of the highly anxious patients reported relatively few negative cognitions, and none of the patients in the low-anxiety group reported relatively numerous negative cognitions. While patients from both groups reported that cognitive control declined with the imminence of treatment, highly anxious patients were found to have less control over their negative thoughts (p < 0.001). A series of stepwise regression analyses revealed that both the number of negative cognitions and perceived cognitive control accounted for 75% of the variance in dental trait anxiety. The results of the present study suggest that cognitive activities, such as negative thinking (catastrophizing) and cognitive control, are important moderators of dental anxiety.

Differences between depressed and nondepressed children were most prominent during the play narratives and were particularly striking when a sad mood was presented.

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