Tomlinson, Lisa Anne
(2022)
Early Identification and Treatment of Subgroups of Sibling Bullies whose Aggression Persisted Over Contexts and with a Degree of Callousness.
Doctor of Clinical Psychology thesis, University of Liverpool.
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Abstract
Background: There is a proposed theory that there are two subgroups of bullies: generalists (across contexts) and specialists (e.g., siblings or peers). Children with callous-unemotional (CU) behaviours are at risk of developing severe aggressive form of antisocial behaviour, that occurs across contexts and persists over time. Sibling bullying is an important marker or contributing factor along the developmental pathway which leads to antisocial behaviour. The study aimed to identify subgroups of sibling bullies whose aggression persisted over contexts and with a degree of callous-ness, and to identify precursors. Methods: The study took cross-sectional observations at 9 month, 3, 5, 7, 11 and 14 years old. Participants were approximately 19, 000 children recruited as part of the Millennium Cohort Study. Latent profile analysis identified subgroups of bullies. Multilevel mixed-effects regression investigated the change in social development over time. A multinominal logistic regression predicted the bullying classes based on temperament and parenting factors. Results: A four-class model was selected: non-bullies, occasional bullies, generalist bullies and sibling bullies. The level of CU behaviours appeared to increase as the frequency of sibling bulling increased. The sibling bullies had a lack of fear (new people or situations) and experienced less parental engage-ment. All the bullying subgroups experienced more harsh parenting compared to non-bullies. The bullying subgroups had less prosocial behaviours at 14 years old than the non-bullies. The children that bullied more frequently and had high levels of CU behaviours also had more externalising and internalising behaviours at 14 years old. Conclusions: Children with high CU behaviours tended to bully their siblings more. CU behaviours develop early in childhood. Further research into sibling bullying could explore other factors which may be contributing, such as dynamics between siblings, attachment difficulties which influence the sibling’s relationship, differing relationships with parents or differences in sibling temperaments.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctor of Clinical Psychology) |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Population Health |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Jan 2022 09:05 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Jan 2023 21:16 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/03146491 |
| Supervisors: |
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| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3146491 |
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