Correlates of Help-Seeking Behaviour in Adolescents Who Experience Bullying Victimisation

Abstract

A commonly suggested strategy for addressing bullying is for victims to seek help from a trusted person. Despite this recommendation, there are a group of adolescent victims who choose not to seek help. This study aimed to identify factors associated with not seeking help among adolescents who experienced bullying victimisation. A sub-sample of youth who self-reported being bullied (N = 652) was drawn from an Australian nationally representative household survey of adolescents aged 11-17 years (N = 2,967). Adolescent participants and their parents completed survey items on demographics, bullying experiences, mental health, school, and family characteristics. Overall, 45.3% of bullied adolescents did not seek help. Neither the type, frequency, nor levels of distress caused by the bullying victimisation were associated with helpseeking. Age was no longer associated with increased odds of not seeking help for bullying victimisation, after controlling for mental health, social, and interpersonal functioning. In a multivariate logistic regression model examining demographic, mental health, social, and interpersonal factors, those with poorer prosocial skills, lower perceived social support, and higher internet use had increased odds of not seeking help for bullying victimisation (

The impact of gender and age on bullying role, self-harm and suicide: Evidence from a cohort study of Australian children

“…From the interpersonal theory lens, victims of bullying normally experience lower belongingness which is a direct cause of their desire for death [ 42 , 43 ]. However, emerging evidence suggests that a key contributing factor could be the reluctance of this particular group to seek help [ 44 ].…”

Evaluating the psychometrics of the SSIS SEL in a socio‐economically diverse sample

“…These advocacy skills showcase a unique set of strengths that have received limited attention in formulating models of SEL, despite their potential value for children's socio‐moral development (e.g., early indicators of personal and social activism) and creating safer classrooms. Help‐seeking communication skills and bystander interventions have been shown to be important in reducing bullying behaviours (Matuschka et al., 2022; Polanin et al., 2012), suggesting that teaching children communication skills to seek adult support in unsafe situations or standing up for a peer might be important in creating healthier classroom climate and should be also specifically targeted through SEL programs in the classroom. Hence, it might be worthwhile for future researchers to expand on the advocacy subscale or develop adjacent measures to expand our understanding of how children develop critical self‐awareness, values and actions that align with their personal and community values; these skills have been identified to be critical peer‐skills in promoting the wellbeing of children who are marginalized (Crooks et al., 2021; Sun et al., 2022).…”

The role of basic psychological needs in bullying victimisation in the family and at school

“…Moreover, future research may include further measures of both aggression and victimisation types (e.g., Hubbard et al, 2002;Seixas et al, 2013) in order to elucidate the complex and reciprocal nature of daily relationships between people who bully others and people who have been subjected to victimisation. In this respect, variables directly reflecting daily social interactions and/or expectations, such as information processing patterns and help-seeking (e.g., Matuschka et al, 2021;Ziv et al, 2013), could be appropriate for addressing the question of proximate causation.…”