Abstract

1. Perception of thequality of attachmentrelationships, selfesteemlevels and bullyingexperiences in a sample of adolescents at social risk. Genevieve A. Barb * Recommendations Because of the limitations of this study, it would be appropriate to recommend for future studies to use a larger sample and more diverse (attending to sex differences, schooling level, as well as considering private and public schools and instituitionalized adolescents in the sampling). Another recommendation will be to analyze if the idealized perception of the relationship of these adolescents with their mothers is related to their mind states with respect to attachment using other instruments like for example the AAI. (Table 1) Abstract Method Forthisstudy, a sample of 11 maleadolescents(age 13 to 17 yrs.) at social riskthatreceivesupportfrom a local NGO, wasselectedfrom 24 de Diciembre county at Panama City, R.P. Themainobjective of thisreseachwas to findananswer to thefollowingquestion: ¿Isthereanyrelationshipbetweenself-esteemlevelsfromadolescentsthathaveexperiencedbullying and thequalityof theirattachmentrelationships to theirparents and peers? Previousresearch in thisareasuggeststhatadolescentsthatreport a worseperception in thequality of theattachmentrelationship to theirparents and peers, will show lowerself-esteemlevels and will be more prone to sufferbullyingexperiences at theirschools. Instruments: Cuestionario de MaltratoporAbuso de Poder entre Escolares (IDP-U, 2006) Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (Armsden & Greenberg ,1987/ trad. y val. Pardo et al. 2006 Procedure: Six institutions that work with adolescents at social risk were contacted (2 NGO’s, 3 high schools and a church) to inform them about the study and ask for permission to work with their young. Only one institution (NGO “FundaciónAyudando a Vivir”) approved the permission to start project with their adolescents. Due mainly to the researchers schedules, this was carried out on Saturday mornings during the months of August to November 2013. Information from the adolescents that complied with the age and school criteria for the study (convenience sampling to ensure homogeneity) was included in a database. Potential participants were appointed for group meetings in which they were explained about the objectives and purpose of the study, and emphasizing in the voluntary and non remunerable character of it. (25 adolescents expressed their interest in participating from the study.) Due to logistic reasons, an assessment protocol was established for all the adolescents. It consisted of 4 sessions of 45mins. each one, once per week, for a period of four weeks. At the end of every assessment session, a snack was offered to the adolescents. References Balsells, M.A. (2003). La infancia en riesgo social desde la sociedad del bienestar. Teorías de la Educación en la Sociedad de la Información. 4, Artículo 4. Extraído el 25 de junio de 2013 de http://campus.usal.es/~teoriaeducacion/rev_numero_04/n4_art_balsells.htm. Greenberg, M.T. (1999). Attachment and psychopathology in childhood. In J. Cassidy & P. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment theory and research pp. 469-496. New York:Guilford Press. Herrera Santi, P. (1999) Factores de Riesgo Psicológicos y Sociales en el Adolescente.Rev Cubana Pediatr 71(1):39-42 Immele, Annalies (2000) The Role of Adolescents’ Representatons of Attachment and Peer Relationships in thePrediction of Delinquency.Masters’ Thesis. University of Vrginia. Olweus, D. (1998) Conductas de acoso y amenaza entre escolares. Madrid: Morata. Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Violencia Escolar: El Maltrato Entre Iguales en la Educación Secundaria Obligatoria. 1999-2006 (2007). Defensor del Pueblo-Madrid: Defensor del Pueblo. Weinfield, N.S., Sroufe, L.A., Egeland, B., & Carlson, E. (1999). The nature of individual differences in infant-caregiver attachment. In J. Cassidy & P. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp.64-86). New York: Guilford Press. (Table 2) Introduction An adolescent is considered to be at social risk if he/she belongs to an environment that presents economic, cultural, or inappropriate family climate, abnormal behaviors and other personal, social or family circumstances that affect caring and attention they receive (Herrera Santi, 1999), orif he/sheisexposed to riskfactorslikecircumstancesthatgenerateoverthedifferentsocializingagents in adolescence, likeforexample, bullying(Balsells, 2003). Thetypicalbullyingvictimwill be a more anxious and insecurestudent tan his/herclassmates, (Olweus,1998) sensible, calm, with a lowselfesteem and generallywithnot a single goodfriend in class. Besidesthat, bulliestend to show a strongneed to dominate and subdueotherclassmates and alwaysgetawaywithwhattheywant, they’reimpulsive, and easy to getangry, theydon´t show anysolidaritywiththeirvictimizedpeers and they’redefying and agressivewiththeadults, parents and teachers inclusive. It has beendemonstratedthatthequality of theattachmentformed in a personwillinfluencetheappearingornot, of behaviorproblems in childhood and adolescence. (Immele, 2000) Analysis Table 1 shows scores regarding witness (W), victim (V) and bully (B) status and self esteem (Au) for each subject respectively (n=11). Table 2 shows scores regarding IPPA subscales trust, communication and alienation for mother and peers respectively and scales for total attachment to mother (Total M) and peers (Total P). Due to sample size the data obtained were analyzed using the Spearman correlation coefficient, and the hypothesis was tested using an α=.10 fortwotails. Thisanalysisbroughtan r =0.7273 forthecorrelationexistingbetween Total Peer attachment score and selfesteem score. Fortherest of thescalesanalyzed, r valuesfoundwere in therange-0.5273 ≤ r ≤ 0.5273. Acknowledgements To FundaciónAyudando a Vivirfor their collaboration in the process of conducting this study, as well as to the following Psychology students from Universidad Interamericana de Panamá, that participated in the capture of the initial data and the assessments: Eugenia Díaz, MiroslavaOrdóñez, Lilian García, LinetteGovea, Karina Guizado, Gloria Reyna, AdelaidaGonzález and KatherinneAndrades. Results A total of 11 adolescents from an initial sample of 25 finished completing the assessment protocol in its whole (2 in a partial way and 12 did not present to any of the appointments scheduled and were considered to have abandoned the interest in participating in the study. From the remaining 11 adolescents in the sample, only 9 completed answers regarding the IPPA father scale and sub scales. Due to this reason it was not considered for the data analysis for the whole group. The adolescents that reported themselves as witnesses in a bullying situation, were found not to adopt a permanent witness role but to act both as a bully and a victim depending on the situation (in a lower frequency than acting exclusively as a witness, or solely as a bully or victim). Objectives Contact Information 1. To determine the status of the bullying experiences lived by adolescents from the sample (victim, bully, witness, bully-victim or none). 2. To measure self esteem levels in adolescents from the sample. 3. To determine the quality of the attachment relationships in the adolescents from the sample with their parents and peers.. 4. To determine if self esteem levels and the quality of the attachment relationships are related. *Child and adolescent clinical psychologist / Associate professor School of Psychology UIP. E-mail: genevieve.barb@gmail.com Cel. 507-6406-2327 Conclusions The data analysis suggests a correlation existing between self esteem levels of these adolescents and the quality of the attachment reported with their peers. However the analysis between the attachment to the mother scale and its corresponding sub scales and the self esteem scores could suggest that these subjects may have an idealized perception of their relationship with their mothers. The aggressions and victimizations suffered among the subjects in a witness role in this sample could suggest that there may exist other factors besides self esteem levels in each one and the quality perceived in their relationships with their peers that can interfere in the occurrenceof bully and victim behaviors.