Like Fuel to the Fire? Testing Reciprocity of Emotional Lability and Victimization at Ages 6, 8, and 10 – A Cohort Panel Study
Abstract
As of August 1st 2017, chapter 9a in the education act (Opplæringslova - oppll, 1998) was adjusted making it a statutory zero tolerance towards bullying in school, and the changes entail a clear responsibility for all employees at the school. Although there was a reduction of 0.5% of pupils being victimized (two or more times per month) between 2017 and 2018, the number in 2018 is still as high as 6.1% (Wendelborg, 2019). And when a growing body of research on the detrimental effects of victimization shows that these children have an increased risk for later health problems like anxiety, depression, psychosomatic disorders, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts (Espelage & Swearer, 2003; Klomek, Marrocco, Kleinman, Schonfeld, & Gould, 2007), it is a vital to stop or reduce such negative actions. More knowledge within the field is necessary, and knowledge must also be passed on to schools and other instances where victimization takes place. In a report assigned from the Norwegian government, the Centre for Learning Environment and the Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare made a litterature review about the consequences and measures for children who are exposed to bullying (Breivik et al., 2017). At the end of this report they recommend areas of further research. Some of the areas that needed more research was longitudinal studies with larger selections, and studies where younger children were in focus (most of the studies have been done on children from 10 years and older). Self-regulation as a potential prediction factor and further studies of Norwegian children were also mentioned as areas that needed more research (Breivik et al., 2017). In the present study, our primary purpose was to establish the impact of emotional regulation and victimization by peers in a longitudinal perspective, using a three-wave longitudinal design, including a large sample population of children from age 6 to 10 years. The primary hypotheses of the study were as follows: (1) Emotional lability at age 6 would predict increased vulnerability for victimization from age 6 to age 8 and with the same pattern from age 8 to age 10. (2) Victimization at age 6 would predict increased emotional lability from age 6 to age 8, and the same from age 8 to age 10. As such, we predict a reciprocal relationship of emotional lability and victimization, investigated in a cross-lagged panel design. These development relations are according to Breivik et al. (2017), in need of further research, and we therefore hope that this project will contribute in some manner to the 2 research field. This will in turn help schools to guide and support children, and thus come closer to the zero tolerance towards bullying in school. In the next part, I will go through some historical and theoretical foundations of victimization and emotion regulation before I look at some scientific consequences of this research. Lastly, the article, which follows the guidelines of Child Development, will be presented. The paper format, style and manuscript structure are written in accordance to Society of Research in Child Development (2019).