Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 3, 2025

Chronic Social Defeat Stress in Early Adolescent Male Mice
Published on: January 24, 2025
The relationship between peer bullying and PTSS in refugee schoolchildren
Jalal K Damra1, Mutasem Mohammad Akour1, Thaer A Ghbari1
1Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Hashemite University.
Objective:
This study explored the relationship between Peer bullying (PB) and Posttraumatic Stress Symptomatology (PTSS) in a sample of refugee Syrian schoolchildren in Jordanian schools.
Method:
The study sample was composed of 116 Syrian refugees (female = 62, 53.4% male = 54, 46.6%) ages 9-18 years with a mean age of 14.5 years (SD 1.18) who had been in Jordan for at least 3 years and were studying in five public schools (three for females and two for males) located in Irbid and Mafraq governorates in the northern area of Jordan between the June 14, 2018 and the March 20, 2019.
Results:
The results indicated that 116 children out of 180 (64.4%) suffer from high levels of PB (physical M = 1.47, verbal M = 1.41, and relational M = 1.35). The most prevailing type of bullying was the physical type, followed by the verbal and the relational types. Moreover, the three types of PB were positively and significantly correlated with PTSS (physical, r = .20, p < .05, verbal, r = .26, p < .01, relational, r = .22, p < .05), and (total PB, r = .43, p < .05). PB accounted for 14% of the variability in PTSS. Finally, the results did not indicate any significant differences in PB by gender, age, length of exposure to PB, living conditions, or disability.
Conclusions:
This study may provide a deeper understanding of the need to develop more thorough, institutionalized as well individualized, interventions to reduce PB against schoolchildren from a refugee background in schools. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Related Concept Videos
Bullying
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
Symptoms and Behavioral Manifestations
A spectrum of distressing symptoms characterizes PTSD. Recurrent flashbacks, where individuals involuntarily relive traumatic events,...
Influence of Parents and Peers on Identity
Parental Influence on Identity Development
Parents serve as primary guides and managers in an adolescent's life, offering support instrumental in decision-making and personal growth....
Ethnic Identity within a Larger Culture
Psychological and Sociocultural Causes of Schizophrenia
Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development

