A cross national study of bullying experienced by British and American schoolchildren: Determining a typology of stressors and symptoms

This retrospective study examined the nature and extent of stress responses to different types of self-reported worst grade school experiences with a particular emphasis on the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSD). Information on stressors and symptoms was collected from 1007 American and 373 British University students using the Student Alienation and Trauma Scale-Revised (SATS-R). Factor analysis of the 58 specific negative school experiences resulted in 12 types of school stressor. The most commonly reported types of negative and worst school experiences, prevalence of PTSD (US = 2.9%, UK = 3.9%), and levels of other stress symptoms were similar across countries. Relational forms of victimization were the most commonly identified negative and worst school experiences. Sexual victimization and physical victimization resulted in significantly higher PTSD rates in the American sample. No significant differences between type of stressor and PTSD emerged in the British sample. However, in both the US and UK the majority of PTSD cases were in response to relational victimization. In both countries, sexual victimization generally resulted in higher scores on all symptom sub-scale. Here, effect sizes were small on all but the depression scale in the British sample. No other differences between the type of stressor and resultant symptoms were found. In both countries, stress symptoms and PTSD rates increased with the frequency of the worst experience, but were not affected by either the age of the worst experience or the perpetrator (peer or staff). In both countries, the types of negative experiences did not vary significantly by gender, with the exception of higher physical victimization rates for American males. Worst experiences did vary by gender, with more females identifying relational victimization and more males identifying physical victimization. Gender differences were also noted in the development of stress responses. Overall, American males had significantly higher rates of PTSD At-Risk symptoms than other groups. In both countries, females scored either higher than, or the same as males on all other symptom subscales. Results are discussed in relation to present bullying constructs, gender differences in school victimization, and current PTSD diagnostic criteria.