Research Presentation instructions Research Question andCitation.docx

Research Presentation instructions
Research Question andCitations
The Research Presentation begins with a research question and a
bibliographic search. You should identify 2 to 4 studies that
address the same research question. Please send
your References to me with citations written in APA style --see
APA Manual of Style, 6th ed. -- no later than the date listed in
the Calendar. I will use your Research Question to peruse the
titles to make sure they look like original reports of empirical
studies that are all on the same research question, and I will do
an APA check on one of your citations. No grade will be taken;
however, part of your presentation grade depends on using
appropriate articles and writing your References page in APA
style. If you are in doubt about whether a study is an "original
report of an empirical study," feel free to attach it to the
Citations and RQ email. Please start early on this assignment
and plan to spend several hours searching for the right kind of
articles that are all on the same research question. If you need
assistance with APA style, please consult the Kail and
Cavanaugh text References for many examples of APA-style
reference citations.
A sampling of possible topics is listed here, but please feel free
to examine other topics of interest. It helps to define your topic
in terms of the “effects of X on Y in Z population.” For
example:
Effects of X...
...on Y...
...in Z population
Example Research Questions
pretend play, parenting conflict, violence, divorce, alcoholism,
daycare, self-esteem, social isolation, untimely death of family
member, homelessness, early reading, eating disorders

intelligence, creativity, school achievement, social well-being
language development, attachment, identity, physical health,
dating practices
preschoolers, elementary school students, children, high school
students, infants, adolescents, seniors, young adults
1. What are the effects of pretend play on language development
in preschoolers?
2. What are the effects of pretend play on school achievement in
elementary school students.
3. What are the effects of family violence on social well-being
in adolescents?
4. What are the effects of peer pressure on academic
achievement in middle-schoolers?
NB: Please make sure that the items you choose for each
"variable" in your research question work together sensibly.
Examples of relevant journals at the ISU Cunningham Memorial
Library include: Developmental Psychology, Human
Development, Infancy, Adolescence, Child Development, Social
Development, Childhood and Adolescence, Family and
Community Health, Family Relations and Child Development,
Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, Journal of Experimental Child
Psychology, Journal of Educational Psychology, Journal of
Child Language. There are many other journals that also publish
empirical reports of studies on human development.
Increasingly, reputable journals are available online. If you
have a question about a given source, please ask. The best on-
line sources for locating topic-specific articles in this field are
PsycArticles, PsycInfo, Google Scholar, Inspire, and Proquest
Direct. Once you find a good article on your topic, the
reference section for that article may provide you with other
related articles. (Hint: In identifying a research study report,
look for headings labeled Methods, Results, Discussion, and
References in the article. If these titled sections are missing,
you most likely do not have a suitable research report.) Please
note that you must use the original report of the empirical
research study from a peer-reviewed journal. You may not use

someone else’s summary of the study for the Research
Presentation assignment.
RQ and Citation assignments that include your name, your
research question and 2 to 4 article citations (with no two
citations with the same authors) in APA style are due no later
than the date listed in the Calendar. PLEASE SEND BY
EMAIL.
The Actual Research Presentation
The Research Presentation should be focused on a comparative
analysis of the designs, methods, and results of the two most
closely related studies from your bibliography. One of the
purposes of this assignment is to develop your research
awareness as a consumer. How do we know when to believe a
research report? In order to take full advantage of the wealth of
research that is published on given topics, it helps to consider
the theoretical and methodological orientations of the authors.
The first task in this assignment is to summarize accurately the
studies (since your readers will not have access to the articles
themselves.) You should summarize the PURPOSE (include the
research hypotheses, if these are mentioned); the METHOD
(including the design, the participants, the materials, the data
collection procedures, and the data analysis procedures); the
RESULTS; and the DISCUSSION.
With regard to the design of the study (first item under method),
please explain why the design is experimental, quasi-
experimental, correlational, or qualitative. Experiments must
contain more than one group of participants, all of whom are
randomly assigned to their group by the researcher, and there
should be references to the control group versus treatment
group(s). A subset of experiments is quasi-experimental studies
that begin with the selection of different groups, but there is no
random assignment by the researcher to the groups (e.g.,
alcoholics vs. non-alcoholics). However, quasi-experimental

studies treat the non-random groups in an experimental fashion-
-with control and treatment groups. Correlational designs begin
with a single sample (which may include two or three groups,
e.g., students older than grade level, students right age for grade
level, and students younger than grade level), and look for
correlations among variables measured in common (e.g., self-
esteem and peer relations quality). A final design is qualitative,
ethnographic, or grounded theory. Qualitative designs typically
do not begin with hypotheses and depend on interviews or
extended observations. The goal is usually to explore why
people act as they do or to uncover different ways that people
approach an issue (in bereavement, for example).
Another dimension in studies that examine the effect of
development is the quality of the developmental design. There
are three broad categories: cross-sectional, longitudinal, and
sequential. Decide if your studies are utilizing a developmental
design and then explain why it is cross-sectional, longitudinal,
or sequential. Please note that many studies that are interesting
to us and that do meet the requirements of this assignment do
not have a specifically developmental focus. A developmental
focus requires focus on differences based on age.
If we apply scientific criteria, there are ideals. A scientific
study’s procedures should be a) objective, b) reliable, c) valid,
d) capable of being replicated, and e) have a sample that is
representative. One of your tasks in this assignment is to figure
out how close these studies’ methods come to the ideals and
explain why. Convince me that you understand what each
criterion consists of and why this study meets the criterion or
not.
Another important task in the assignment is to label and defend
the authors' perspective on development. I am specifically
looking for you to argue that a given study has been approached
from one of the following perspectives: a) organismic, b)
cognitive-developmental, c) behavioral/learning, d) contextual,
e) psychodynamic, or f) humanistic. Please include a thorough
defense of why you think the theory or perspective applies.

Think about what the author argues makes development happen
in each study. Consider the research question, the methods
used, and the interpretation of the findings in particular. Use
these sections (purpose, methods, and discussion) to defend the
label you've selected for the study's developmental perspective.
This analysis is worth 15% of the Research Presentation grade,
and it should be substantive. A label with one example is not
sufficient. What works well is to describe each study and then
insert an explanation about theoretical perspective on a slide
where you defend your decision based on the study's
purpose/hypotheses, on the the study's methods/measures, and
on the study's interpretations (usually framed out of the
Discussion section).
Finally, having read these two studies, what is the take-home
message? Summarizing across both studies, what information is
still needed? Which questions are left unresolved? How might
these aggregated research findings be applied to help real
people? Make sure you address three issues in your
comparative take-home message analysis: a) conclusions that
can be drawn from reading both of these studies, b) limitations
of the research, and c) future research.
My evaluation of the Research presentation will be based on
accuracy and coherence of summaries (including your design
[both basic and developmental], methodological and theoretical
perspective analyses), communicative effectiveness, and
analysis of the comparative take-home message (focused on
conclusions, limitations, and future research). A rubric for the
evaluation of presentations is located under Course Documents.
I take the rubric very seriously and use it to evaluate every
presentation. Please post the presentation under the appropriate
forum on the Discussion Board (the one labeled Research
Presentations).
Posting Your Research Presentation

Research presentations should be prepared in Power Point or in
Word. I recommend that you use Power Point for the following
reason: the presentation style (with bullets and phrases) is
helpful in moving you away from wholesale borrowing from the
research article you’re summarizing. Wholesale borrowing is
actually plagiarism without faithful page number citation, so
I’m urging you to move away from the narrative-like sentences
and paragraphs of the article write-ups. Please post research
presentations as attachments under the appropriate Discussion
Board Forum (use Start a New Thread, fill in the Title with the
topic and Message with the persons who worked on the
presentation, then scroll down to Attach--if you click on Browse
you should be able to locate your presentation file on your
computer).
The Research Presentation will be graded on a 100-pt scale, is
worth 23% of your course grade, and is due no later than
midnight on the date listed in the Calendar.
You may post your Research Presentation early (no later than
4/2/14) for a 6% bonus added to your Research Presentation
grade. This bonus is referred to as an Early Bird Bonus (EBB)
as is well worth the effort to meet the 4/2 deadline. It often
makes the difference for students between one course grade and
a higher course grade.
Effects of Parental Conflict on Adolescent Adjustment
Catherine Jewell
ESPY 621
Comparative Analysis
The purpose of this presentation is to compare two research
studies.

The topic of the comparison is the effect of parental conflict on
adolescent adjustment.
Research includes four studies of which two will be compared.
Study A – Forehand, McCombs, Long, Brody, and Fauber
Conducted by: Rex Forehand, Amanda McCombs, Nicholas
Long, Gene Brody, and Robert Fauber
Title: Early adolescent adjustment to recent parental divorce:
The role of interparental conflict and adolescent sex as
mediating variables
Date of study: December 30, 1987
Purpose of the study
To determine if a relationship exists between parental conflict
after divorce and adolescent adjustment and whether gender of
the child influences the outcome.
Study Summary
Studied 96 adolescents aged 11 – 15 years old.
Participants were equally divided between gender.
Used teacher completed measures of behavior to assess:
Social and social withdraw behavior.
Cognitive function.
Externalization of problems.
Study sought to determine if parental conflict was causal to
poor adolescent adjustment and if there were any differences

between male and female adolescents.
Study Design
This study was conducted using a correlational design.
Researchers conducted study to determine if relationships
between high parental conflict and adolescent adjustment
existed.
Researchers compared several groups of adolescents from
homes with intact parents, divorced parents, high conflict, and
low conflict to determine relationship.
No changes were made within the groups to affect an outcome.
Method
Original sample size: 170
Participants included: 96 adolescents equally divided by gender
and their mothers
Participants were recruited through notices, fliers, direct mail
advertising, and local media advertising.
Participants were selectively placed in eight groups of 12
students.
Groups were broken down by socioeconomic status, parental
marital status, parental conflict (high vs. low), and gender.
Parental conflict was determined using the O’Leary-Porter
Scale. High conflict was defined as means lower than 30; low
conflict was defined as means higher than 30.
Findings were based on surveys completed by the child, parent,
and teacher and observational sessions.

Method II
Several survey instruments were utilized in the study:
O’Leary-Porter Scale – determinant of level of parental conflict.
> 30 – High conflict family
< 30 – Low conflict family
Married family average mean – 30
Four groups were classified low conflict – mean 34
Four groups were classified high conflict – mean 24
Teacher’s Rating Scale of Child’s Actual Competence (TRS) –
assesses the teacher’s judgment of actual competence of the
child.
The Revised Behavior Problem Checklist Subscales Conduct
Disorder and Anxiety Withdrawal (RBPC) – used to assess
internalization and externalization of problems.
Method III
Independent variables
Parental marital status – married vs. divorced
Parental conflict – low vs. high
Gender of adolescent – male vs. female
Dependent variables
Cognitive functioning – GPA & TRS Cognitive Scale
Social Withdrawal – (RPBC Anxiety Withdrawal Scale,
behavioral ratings of social problem-solving, positive
communication, and depression.
Externalizing problems – RBPC Conduct Disorder Scale,
behavioral rating of conflict

Method IV
Videotaped observational data of mother/child interactions were
rated by observers unaware of study purpose.
Six observers used a Likert scale range from very little to very
much to rate the following:
Social problem-solving ability
Positive communication
Conflict
Adolescent’s level of depression
Observers’ mean score was used in analysis.
Reliability was calculated to overcome interrater variability.
Academic grades were noted.
Adolescents’ social studies teachers completed the Teacher’s
Rating Scale and the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist.
Method V
Researchers present a correlation matrix of dependent variables
to conduct an analysis of covariance.
Statistical calculations include:
Analysis of covariance.
Standard error of the sample
Standard deviation
Mean
Multivariate analysis of variance
The researchers conducted a similar study with different
participants but similar results to provide replication results.

Review of Method
Researchers offered payment to participants which questions
validity of the sample.
Observation time was only 3 minutes which limits validity and
reliability.
Inter-rater reliability was overcome by using six different
observers who have no knowledge of study focus.
Generalization is questionable due to restrictions in the study.
Sampling is questionable due to methodology used to find
participants.
Study Findings
Researchers did find correlations between parental conflict and
Little support for findings that divorce causes negative
Study provided evidence that high parental conflict is
detrimental to cognitive functioning of the adolescents resulting
in reduced grade point averages.
Gender did not mediate effects of parental conflict.
Conclusions
Study determined that high parental conflict is detrimental to
both cognitive and social functioning of early adolescents.
Both boys and girls suffer from increased social withdrawal,
depression, and reduced grades when parental conflict is high.

Theoretical Perspective
The researcher’s hypothesis that high parental conflict causes
poor functioning among early adolescents shows a contextual
perspective.
Contextual theorists believe that the environment must factor
into development. This study seeks to show a negative
environment caused by parental conflict negatively impacts
adolescent development.
In my opinion, the environment does impact development and
this study is an excellent example of one mitigating negative
impact, parental conflict and its impact on the adolescent’s
development.
Citation
Forehand, R., McCombs, A., Long, N., Brody, G., & Fauber, R.
(1988). Early adolescent adjustment to recent parental
divorce: The role of interparental conflict and adolescent
sex as mediating variables. Journal of Consulting and
Clinical Psychology, 56(4), 624-627. doi: 10.1037/0022-
006x.56.4.624
Study B – Davies and Lindsay
Conducted by Patrick T. Davies and Lisa L. Lindsay
Title: Interparental conflict and adolescent adjustment: Why
does gender moderate early adolescent vulnerability?
Date of study: May 13, 2003

Purpose of study
To determine what role gender plays in adolescent adjustment
of children from homes where high parental conflict is present.
Hypothesis
Maladjustment is higher among girls than boys when parental
conflict is high.
Study Summary
Studied 270 children aged 10 – 15 years old.
Children completed survey packets at school with a trained
research assistant.
Parents were asked to complete mailed surveys which assessed
levels of conflict and child functioning within the home.
To address adolescent adjustment, children completed the Youth
Self-Report; parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist.
Study sought determine if adolescent adjustment varied between
gender in cases with interparental conflict present.
Study Design
The study was conducted using a correlational design.
Researchers conducted study to determine if a relationship
existed between adolescent development and parental conflict.
Researchers compared groups of children and parents to
determine conflict and adjustment levels.
No changes were made to the groups.

Method
Original sample size: 1,032 students
Participants included: 270 children divided equally between
gender.
Used parental and child self-reported surveys to assess:
Interparental conflict
Child functioning
Study sought to determine if moderate levels of parental
conflict negatively impacted adolescent adjustment and if there
were any differences between gender.
Method II
Several survey instrument were utilized in the study:
Children completed:
The Frequency, Intensity, Resolution, and Content subscales of
the Children’s Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale
Children’s Sex Role Inventory
Anxious/Depressed, Withdrawn, Delinquent Behavior, and
Aggressive Behavior scales from the Youth Self-Report and
Child Behavior Checklist
Parents completed:
Comparable subscales from the Conflict and Problem-Solving
Scales & the Verbal Aggression, Physical Aggression, and Child
Involvement subscales.
Anxious/Depressed, Withdrawn, Delinquent Behavior, and
Aggressive Behavior scales from the Youth Self-Report and
Child Behavior Checklist

Method III
Independent Variables
Parental marital status – married, separated, divorced
Parental conflict – low vs. high
Gender of adolescent – male vs. female
Dependent Variables
Internalizing problems – Withdrawn and Anxious/Depressed
Scale
Externalizing problems – Delinquent and Aggressive Behavior
Scale
Method IV
Researchers provide substantial statistical information for each
factor.
Statistical calculations include:
Alpha Coefficient
Mean
Standard Deviation
Intercorrelation
Researchers include information for replication, internal
consistency, reliability, and validity.
Review of Method
Researchers offered rewards for participation to both the
parents and children which calls motive into question.
Researchers include information to show that reward did not
distinguish those included in the sample and those who did not
participate.
Researchers provide statistical evidence of internal consistency,

reliability, and validity for each measure.
Generalization is questionable due to limitations of the study
including limited ethnic and socioeconomic diversity.
Sampling is questionable because study only used one
geographic area with little ethnic or socioeconomic diversity.
Study Findings
Researchers did find evidence of relationship between high
parental conflict and problems in adolescent adjustment.
Study determined girls internalize issues while boys externalize.
Researchers encourage the use of the study to assist teachers,
parents, and psychologists in helping adolescents adjust to
divorce and continued parental conflict.
Study encourages using different techniques for teaching boys
and girls coping skills.
Conclusions
Study determined that girls and boys do develop different
adaptive skills when dealing with high parental conflict.
Both boys and girls struggle with adjustment when homes
include high amounts of parental conflict.
Understanding these differences will allow teachers, parents,
and psychologists to assist in teaching productive coping and
problem-solving skills.
Theoretical Perspective
The hypothesis that high conflict homes cause differences in

development between boys and girls shows a contextual
perspective.
Contextual theorists believe that environmental factors
influence and impact development.
The study determined the negative environment of high parental
conflict negatively impacts both male and female adolescent
development.
In my opinion, this study offers substantial evidence that
negative environment can create adjustment problems for
children which is the key theory of contextual development.
Citation
Davies, P., & Lindsay, L. (2004). Interparental conflict and
adolescent adjustment: Why does gender moderate early
adolescent vulnerability. Journal of Family Psychology,
18(1), 160-170. doi: 10.1037/0893-3200.18.1.160
Take Home Message
Both studies show a correlation between high parental conflict
and adolescent adjustment and depression.
As instructors, psychologists, and child-development experts
this information needs to be incorporated into school counselor
programs and family courts.
While more study needs to be done, I believe the results of both
studies agree that parental conflict needs to be controlled if
adolescent development is to occur in a positive manner.
Strategies need to be implemented in schools to realize the
impact high parental conflict has and to recognize the issue in
students.

References
Davies, P., & Lindsay, L. (2004). Interparental conflict and
adolescent adjustment: Why does gender moderate early
adolescent vulnerability. Journal of Family Psychology,
18(1), 160-170. doi: 10.1037/0893-3200.18.1.160
Forehand, R., McCombs, A., Long, N., Brody, G., & Fauber, R.
(1988). Early adolescent adjustment to recent parental divorce:
The role of interparental conflict and adolescent sex as
mediating variables. Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology, 56(4), 624-627. doi: 10.1037/0022-
006x.56.4.624
Johnson, P., Thorngren, J., & Smith, A. (2001). Parental divorce
and family functioning: Effects on differentiation levels of
young adults. The Family Journal, 9(3), 265-272. doi:
10.1177/1066480701093005
Long, N., Slater, E., Forehand, R., & Fauber, R. (1988).
Continued high or reduced interparental conflict following
divorce: Relation to young adolescent adjustment. Journal of
Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56(3), 467-469. doi:
10.1037/0022-006x.56.3.467
Rubric
Evaluation Rubric for Research Presentation
Total Assignment = 100 pts (=23% of course grade)
10 pts -- Your research question/ appropriate selection of
articles and presentation length--total presentation should be no
shorter than 20 and no longer than 40 slides

45 pts -- Summary of each study; please include for each study
the following.
a. Purpose of Study--what are the study's research questions? (6
pts)
b. Design --First, answer this question: is this study
experimental?, quasi-experimental?, or correlational?
Experimental=are there randomly assigned groups that were
treated differently?, Quasi-Experimental--are there groups that
naturally occurred--e.g., smokers vs. non-smokers--that were
treated differently by the researcher?, Correlational--a group is
described and the results show differences among the group
members? Second, IF the study has a developmental focus,
analyze the developmental design: cross-sectional, longitudinal,
or sequential. (6 pts)
c. Methods--include participants, materials/instruments, data
collection techniques, and data analysis techniques. After
summarizing the methods, analyze what the researchers did in
terms of the criteria of 1) objectivity, 2) reliability, 3) validity,
4) representative sampling, and 5) replication. (21 pts)
Rubric II
d. Findings--look for information indicating significant
differences--connect the findings back to the research
hypotheses. The findings should be contained in the Results
section of the paper (6 pts)
e. Conclusions--summary of authors' interpretations from
Discussion section (6 pts)
15 pts--Theoretical Perspective--what are the researchers'
(probably implicit) perspectives on human development?--

defend your decisions for each study with reasons (from the
purpose, design, data collection and analysis, results, and
interpretation); you should 1) identify (2 pts), 2) explain (5 pts),
and 3) defend (8 pts) whether the perspective of each study is
organismic, cognitive-developmental, cognitive-learning,
behavioral, psychodynamic, contextual, or humanistic. If
possible to determine the specific theory being tested by the
study, further analyze the origins of the developmental approach
being used. Be sure to defend your point of view.
15 pts -- Take Home Message--having read these two studies
(notice this is a comparative analysis), what do you now
believe? (=conclusions, 5 pts) What other questions do you
have? (=future research questions, 5 pts) What can you not
know for sure? (=limitations, 5 pts)
Rubric III
15 pts -- Communicative Effectiveness
a. Presence of a brief introduction and conclusion (2 pts)
b. Does paper flow? (please use headings) (3 pts)
c. Are words misspelled or used incorrectly, are subject-verb
agreements correct? (4 pts)
d. Correct use of in-text citation (e.g., refer to studies by the
authors' last names and year of publication)--please note that
the only proper way to refer to a study in formal writing is by
the last names of the authors and the year of publication. No
article titles should appear in the narrative. (3 pts)
e. Style of references (3 pts)
For both d. and e. please follow the APA Manual of Style, 6th

ed. An APA tutorial is available under the Cunningham
Memorial Library's home page (see online tutorials).
Please post your presentation as an attachment (with document
in Power Point or Word or rtf, preferably) under the Research
Presentations Forum of the Discussion Board by the due date
listed in the Calendar (under Tools).
Does Early Childhood Reading Influence Mathematics
Achievement among elementary school children's
Jiss Mathew
EPSY 621
November 13th, 2013
Dr. Linda Sperry

Grimm, K. J. (2008). Longitudinal associations between reading
and mathematics achievement. Developmental
Neuropsychology, 33(3), 410-426.
Hooper, S. R., Roberts, J., Sideris, J., Burchinal, M., & Zeisel,
S. (2010). Longitudinal predictors of reading and math
trajectories through middle school for african american versus
caucasian students across two samples. Developmental
Psychology, 46(5), 1018-1029.
Comparative Analysis
Summary
Purpose
Identify relationship between early reading and Mathematical
achievements
Hypothesis
Children who read well in the early grade will have higher
achievement in Mathematic compared to children who do
engage in early reading.
Article #1
Longitudinal Associations Between
Reading and Mathematics Achievement

Design
It is a co-relational study
The researcher conducted the study and identify relationship
between early reading and Mathematical ability of elementary
school children’s
Method
The researcher compared sample groups based on the ethnicity.
Source of achievement measure- Iowa Test of Basic Skills
(ITBS); a standardized measure developed at the University of
Iowa

Participants
Sample size-46,373
Age range- 3rd to 8th grade students
Number of boys- 24,098
Number of girls- 22,275
Ethnic breakup of sample
African-American- 25,799, 56% of sample
Hispanic- 14,200, 31% of sample
White/Non-Hispanic -4,936, 11% of sample
Asian- 1,342, 3% of sample
Native Americans- 96, <1% of sample

The students’ third grade reading achievement scores were
positively related to the rate of change for each mathematics
component to varying degrees.
The strongest effect was for Problem, Solving and Data
Interpretation, followed by Math Concepts and Estimation, and
Mathematical Computation.
Results
Early reading does have influence in applications and
conceptual understanding of mathematics, same time early
reading does not influence in performing mathematical
operations.
Mathematics achievement involves the use of a diverse
collection of skills such as reasoning, executive functioning,
working memory, short-term memory, processing speed, and
phonological processing.
Students who have greater reading capacity in third grade

tended to show greater increases in mathematics skills for a
given level of early mathematics achievement.
Conclusion
Purpose
This study’s primary purpose was to examine the relative
contribution of social-behavioral predictors to reading and math
skills.
Hypothesis
The early social-behavioral functions is related later academic
skills.
Article #2
Longitudinal Predictors of Reading and Math Trajectories
Through Middle School for African American Versus Caucasian
Students Across Two Samples
Design
It is a co-relational study
The researcher attempts to identify the relationship between
early reading and Mathematical ability of elementary school

children’s for 1st grade to 9th grade students
The research sample groups based was formulated based on
education level of mothers.
Participants
Sample size-1,364
Age range- 1rd to 9th grade students
Equal representation of Boy’s and girl’s
Ethnic breakup of sample
Caucasian
African American
Result
Reading out come
Early reading, mathematics, and expressive language skill are
positively related to later reading skill.
Social skills, aggressive behavior and attention were not related
to later reading growth.
Inverse relation between early mathematics skill related to later
reading skill.

Results
Mathematic out come
Early expressive language skill is positively related to lather
mathematic scores.
No significant evidence of early social skills positively related
to later mathematics ability.
Early reading and early mathematics skills both positively
related to later mathematics outcome.
Significant correlation found between early internalizing
behavior and later mathematics skill.
Conclusion
Early expressive language has positive influence on early
reading and later mathematical skills.
Theoretical perspective

Mathematical skill is a combination of different intelligence
Naturalist Intelligence (“Nature Smart”)
It is the human ability to discriminate among living things
(plants, animals) as well as sensitivity to other features of the
natural world (clouds, rock configurations).
Logical-Mathematical Intelligence (Number/Reasoning Smart)
Logical-mathematical intelligence is the ability to calculate,
quantify, consider propositions and hypotheses, and carry out
complete mathematical operations.
Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart)
* Linguistic intelligence is the ability to think in words and to
use language to express and appreciate complex meanings.
Spatial Intelligence (“Picture Smart”)
Spatial intelligence is the ability to think. The Core capacities
include mental imagery, spatial reasoning, image manipulation,
graphic and artistic skills, and an active imagination.
Further Questions

Does all children’s with early reading ability could have strong
mathematical skills?
Why some children’s are interested in mathematics and some
are not?
In human life does linguistic ability or mathematical ability
begins first?
Off the radar and ubiquitous: text messaging and its relationship
to ‘drama’ and cyberbullying in an affluent, academically
rigorous US
high school
Kathleen P. Allen*
University of Rochester, Warner Graduate School of Education
and Human Development,
Rochester, NY, USA
(Received 16 February 2011; final version received 22
September 2011)
This mixed methods study explores text messaging in a

suburban US high school.
Survey questions were answered by students (mean age 16.0;
SD � 1.23)
regarding the prevalence of bullying and victimization via text
messaging.
Students and staff members responded to a survey item
regarding perceptions
of hostile text messaging. Both students and staff members
participated in
interviews or focus groups where they discussed bullying,
student peer interac-
tions, and social conflict. Prevalence for text messaging that
was viewed as
bullying was considerably lower than other published rates.
Female students
perceived more hostile text messaging than male students.
Analysis of qualitative
data suggests that texting contributes to conflict and to a
phenomenon called
‘drama,’ and that conflict or ‘drama’ may lead to bullying.
Keywords: cyberbullying; adolescent bullying; adolescent
aggression; technically
mediated communication; text message; texting
Introduction
Concern over the misuse of electronic communication among
youth is on the rise. Of
particular interest is communication using text messaging on
cell phones. Text
messaging offers a private way of communicating that is not
overheard, and like

email or a written letter, allows a person to communicate
without seeing or
experiencing the recipient’s response. These forms of
communication are in contrast
to face-to-face or telephone conversations where the affect of
the other person is
more obvious. As with emails, text messages can be forwarded
to others, increasing
the possibility of having private, damaging, or hostile
information disseminated to
multiple recipients. Additionally, text messages lack context
and are thus subject to
misinterpretation and misconstrued meanings, which can
contribute to interpersonal
conflict and damaged relationships whether intentional or not.
Text messaging can
qualify as aggression (i.e., intentionally causing harm), and
when it is repeated and
exploits an imbalance of power, meets the criteria for
cyberbullying, which has been
defined as ‘willful and repeated harm inflicted through the
medium of electronic text’
(Patchin and Hinduja 2006, p. 152). Text messaging has become
an embedded social

practice in the lives of adolescents and thus merits further
study.
*Email: [email protected]
Journal of Youth Studies
Vol. 15, No. 1, February 2012, 99�117
ISSN 1367-6261 print/ISSN 1469-9680 online
# 2011 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2011.630994
http://www.tandfonline.com
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2011.630994
http://www.tandfonline.com
Purpose of the study
The first purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of
bullying as
perpetrated and experienced through text messaging in an
affluent, suburban US
high school, as well as to determine students’ and staff
members’ perceptions of how
much hostile text messaging occurs among adolescents (aged
14�19) within a high
school setting in the US. The second purpose of this study is to
explore how text

messaging is viewed by students and staff members as it relates
to social conflict,
aggression, and bullying among students in a high school
setting.
Research questions
This study seeks to answer the following questions:
� What percentage of students experience or perpetrate bullying
via text
messaging? Does it differ by gender or by grade level?
� What are students’ and staff members’ perceptions of the
prevalence of hostile
text messaging? Are there differences between students’ and
staff members’
perceptions? Are there differences between males’ and females’
perceptions?
Are there differences in perceptions by grade level?
� How do subjects view text messaging as it relates to social
conflict, aggression,
and bullying in this high school setting?
Theoretical framework
Conceptually, this study is positioned at the intersection of
three interconnected but
separate fields of study: mediated communication, adolescent
development and peer

relationships, and theories of aggression.
Technically mediated interpersonal communication (Thimm
2010), as opposed to
face-to-face speech, is communication that employs the use of
an external item or
device (e.g., a handwritten letter, a mobile telephone, and a
computer) which acts as a
tool in the facilitation of communication. Mediated
communication can be
synchronous (both communicators are involved at the same
time, as in a telephone
call or instant messaging) or asynchronous (the communicators
do not have to
participate simultaneously as in the writing�reading of a letter
or an email). Text
messaging is mediated communication conducted through a cell
phone that can be
synchronous or asynchronous. While the first strand in this
theoretical framework
involves communication, the second strand invokes theories of
adolescent develop-
ment and peer relationships.
A well-developed literature on adolescent development suggests
that adolescence
is a time of increasing independence from parents and a

movement toward greater
numbers of and stronger affiliations with peers. According to
Ling (2008) technology,
in the form of mobile communication, is reconfiguring the way
that adolescents and
adults negotiate this ‘emancipation process’ (p. 50). Ling claims
that mobile
communication has given adolescents access to the world
beyond their parents’
control in ways that are new to this cohort, and that it has
allowed teens closer
interaction with their peers on multiple levels. Licoppe (2004)
refers to this ‘closer
100 K.P. Allen
interaction’ as ‘connected presence’ (p. 135) and suggests that
texting offers
adolescents a sense that they are permanently connected to their
friends because a
text message can be sent or received at any time in any location
and can be
experienced as a continuous flow of communication.
The third strand in this theoretical framework touches on
aggression and its

manifestation in adolescence through various forms of
communication both
mediated and non-mediated. Several researchers have proposed
that there is a
developmental progression with regards to aggression such that
early expressions
tend to be physical but as youth develop cognitive and social
competencies
manifestations of aggression tend to become first verbal and
direct, and then
indirect (Bjorkqvist et al. 1992, Craig and Pepler 2003, Miller
et al. 2008). Thus by
middle school and certainly high school, students who aggress
are more likely to do
so in ways that are indirect or at least not face-to-face, making
mediated
communication an attractive and viable alternative to face-to-
face aggression.
A second aspect to the discussion of aggression is offered
through the literature
on adolescence and conflict within close relationships (Collins
and Laursen 1992,
Hartup 1992, Laursen 1993, Laursen and Collins 1994, Laursen
et al. 1996). Within
this framework, conflict is seen as a social interaction which

may or may not involve
aggression. A key feature of conflict and its resolution is
communication. This
essentially returns us to the first strand invoked in this
theoretical framework,
mediated communication. In summary, three theoretical strands
frame this study:
mediated communication (texting), adolescent peer
relationships, and adolescent
aggression and interpersonal conflict. Together they suggest
that texting may play a
crucial role in how adolescents communicate, form and maintain
social relationships,
resolve conflict, and at times, aggress against one another.
Literature review
A central finding of a recent study (Lenhart et al. 2010) on
teens and mobile phones
found that texting is a major component of adolescent
communication among
friends, with 75% of 12- to 17-year olds owning cell phones,
and 88% of those youth
being text-messagers (p. 2). The typical teen sends and receives
50 texts per day
(p. 31) and most of those are with friends. Teens report that

texting is often preferred
to talking because it can be asynchronous and because it is more
discrete (p. 47).
They also acknowledge that it is ‘safer’ in that it can be done in
ways such that adults
are unaware of the communication (p. 47). Teens also report
that cell phones, and
particularly texting can be used to harass and bully others with
26% of respondents
indicating that they had been harassed through their cell phone
and 47% reporting
that they had sent texts that they later regretted sending (p. 88).
Bullying and harassment via text messaging has been studied,
sometimes alone
and sometimes as a component of research that considers
cyberbullying more
broadly
1
. Raskauskas (2010) found that 43% of students aged 11�18 had
experienced
at least one incident of text-bullying with 23% reporting
repeated text-bullying. In
another study, Marsh et al. (2010) found that 11% of students
aged 15 reported being
text-bullied and 7% reported text-bullying others. In a study of
youth aged 11�16 by

Smith et al. (2008), bullying/cyberbullying was experienced by
14.1% of students and
was perpetrated by 9.2% with the most frequent form of
cyberbullying being text
messaging. Another study reported that 17.6% of students were
cyber-bullied and
Journal of Youth Studies 101
11.9% perpetrated cyberbullying with 4.8% experiencing text-
bullying and 2.4%
perpetrating text bullying (Slonje and Smith 2008). Thus while
not all cyberbullying
takes the form of hostile text messaging, youth report that it
does take place, often as
part a pattern of other forms of bullying.
Several researchers have described the negative effects of
cyberbullying which
include feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and powerlessness
(Raskauskas and Stoltz
2007), feeling emotionally distressed (Ybarra and Mitchell
2004), feeling anxious,
feeling bad about oneself, feeling depressed, and not trusting
other people

(Raskauskas 2010), and feeling frustrated, angry or sad (Patchin
and Hinduja
2006). While these studies did not distinguish between Internet
and text-message
bullying, one study in particular did look at the effects of
ostracism via text
messaging with college students. These effects included worse
mood, lower levels of
belonging, control, self-esteem, and meaningful existence
(Smith and Williams 2004).
Perhaps most interesting, however, was the finding that
ostracized subjects wrote
more provocative or hostile text messages in response to their
experiences than did
subjects who were not ostracized. This finding suggests that
while text messaging can
be hostile and aggressive, it can also provoke aggressive
retaliation via text
messaging.
A substantial literature on aggression and bullying has
developed over the past
30 years. This research suggests that bullying is a subset of
aggression that carries
the features of intentionality and harm, but also involves

repetition and the
exploitation of power (Olweus 1993, Olweus 2010).
Cyberbullying has recently
come under study as either a new form of bullying or as a new
way to bully
(Li 2007, Wolak et al. 2007, Smith et al. 2008, Vandebosch and
Van Cleemput
2008). Research on bullying has established that bullying can be
indirect or direct,
as well as socially or relationally aggressive and that there are
some gender
differences (Crick et al. 1996, Galen and Underwood 1997,
Paquette and Under-
wood 1999, Owens et al. 2000). Thus far, research on
cyberbullying, like that on
bullying, has found that cyberbullying can be direct or indirect,
may qualify as
socially or relationally aggressive, and may be perpetrated
differently by males and
females (Li 2006, Lenhart et al. 2010).
In summary, text messaging has become a popular form of
electronically
mediated communication among teens that can also qualify as
bullying. When

texting rises to the level of bullying it qualifies as
cyberbullying, a serious problem for
youth that has been found to contribute to adolescent suicide
(Hinduja and Patchin
2010). This study seeks to develop further knowledge about text
messaging among
teens particularly as it relates to the development and
maintenance of social
relationships and with regards to adolescent conflict,
aggression, and bullying in a
high school setting.
Theoretical perspective
This study followed a mixed methods design using a concurrent
triangulation format.
As such, the quantitative and qualitative data were collected
concurrently, analyzed
separately, and then merged during interpretation to better
understand the research
problem (Creswell and Plano Clark 2007, pp. 63�64). A
strength of a mixed
methodological approach is that it provides complementarity,
defined as seeking ‘to
102 K.P. Allen

measure overlapping but also different facets of a phenomenon,
yielding an enriched,
elaborated understanding of that phenomenon’ (Greene et al.
1989, p. 258).
Methods
The first two research questions on prevalence of bullying and
perceptions of hostile
text messaging will be answered using survey data. The third
research question on
how subjects view text messaging as related to social conflict,
aggression, and
bullying will be answered using interview and focus group data.
Participants
Participants for this study (see Table 1) were from a high school
located in an affluent
suburb outside of a mid-sized city in the northeastern United
States. Total student
enrollment for the 2008�2009 school year at Meliora Public
Academy (a pseudonym)
was 991 (48.6% male), with 1.8% of students qualifying for free
or reduced lunch.
Student enrollment by race/ethnicity was: Asian, 6.6%; Black,
3.1%; Hispanic, 1.3%;

and White, 88.9%. Students’ ages ranged from 14 to 19 with an
average of 16.0
(SD � 1.23).
The high school employed 154 staff members (33.7% male)
during the 2008�2009
school year. The racial/ethnic composition of staff members was
Asian, 1.2%; Black,
1.2%; Hispanic, 1.2%; and White, 96.7%.
Measures
Surveys were completed by approximately 820 students and 77
staff members. Sixty-
eight students participated in interviews or focus groups and 38
staff members
participated in interviews.
Table 1. Study participants.
Surveys
Staff members
Males 27
Females 50
Students 9th grade 10th grade 11th grade 12th grade
Males 107 93 97 78

Females 119 117 101 95
Interviews and focus groups
Staff member interviews (N �38)
Males 13
Females 25
Student interviews (N �13) 9th grade 10th grade 11th grade
12th grade
Males 0 1 3 1
Females 0 3 3 2
Student focus groups (N �12)
Males 0 2 3 18
Females 0 2 1 29
Surveys
Students. As part of a larger survey containing 125 items that
collected information
on school climate, respect, aggression, and bullying, students
answered three
questions about text messaging. The first question asked if they
had been bullied
or harassed by someone from school using text messages. The

responses included: (1)
It has not happened to me in the past couple of months, (2) Only
once or twice, (3) 2
or 3 times a month, (4) About once a week, or (5) Several times
a week. The second
question was like the first except that it asked if students had
bullied someone using
text messaging. The first response was modified to reflect this
change. (i.e., I haven’t
bullied anyone . . . ) The third question asked students to
determine how often hostile
text messaging happens among students at our school or at
school sponsored
activities. The responses were 1�5 with 1 � Not at all and 5 �
Very often.
Staff. As part of a larger survey containing 75 items that also
collected information
on school climate, respect, aggression, and bullying, staff
members answered the
third question that students answered regarding perceptions of
the prevalence of
hostile text messaging among students.
Interviews and focus groups
Students. Students participated in semi-structured interviews
and focus groups. A

range of topics were explored including: definitions and
examples of bullying, the
role of text messaging in bullying and conflict, how students
respond to peer conflict,
the interconnection of conflict, bullying, and ‘drama,’
2
the role of gossip, spreading
rumors and talking behind people’s backs, and the influence of
status and popularity
on peer interactions.
Staff. Staff members were asked to respond to a similar set of
questions about
students during their semi-structured interviews. In particular,
staff were asked to
talk about their knowledge of student interactions with regards
to conflict,
aggression, and bullying.
Procedures
Data were collected in the school during the second half of the
2008�2009 academic
year, beginning in February, 2009 and ending in June, 2009.
Surveys. Data collection for this study involved the
administration of anonymous

surveys to students and adult staff members. Students completed
their surveys during a
homeroom period overseen by teachers. Staff members
completed their surveys at a
faculty meeting overseen by school administrators. The
principal investigator (PI) was
not present for nor involved in the administration of these
surveys.
Interview and focus groups. Students participated in interviews
and focus groups.
Students who were interviewed were volunteers and were
recruited in one of several
ways:
104 K.P. Allen
1. All but three of the students who were interviewed for this
study had
participated in interviews during a pilot study.
2. One student was invited to participate in an interview by a
teacher because he
had been the target of bullying for most of his high school
career.
3. One student was perplexed by the definition of bullying on
the student survey

and following a discussion about it with his homeroom teacher,
was referred to
the PI for an interview.
4. One student who participated in a focus group was invited to
participate in an
interview because of her own experiences as a target.
Students who participated in focus groups were recruited in one
of two ways:
1. They were required to do so by their English teachers as part
of a class activity.
2. They were students who had participated in a pilot study in
interviews or focus
groups and they were invited back to participate a second time.
All students were assured that their comments would be held in
confidence by the PI,
and that no one from the school would ever have access to the
audio or visual records
or written transcripts.
Staff members participated in interviews and were recruited in
one of three ways:
1. They responded to a flyer that invited them to participate in
an interview that
was included at the end of the survey that they completed.

2. They responded to a casual invitation from the principal.
3. They were invited by the PI because another staff member
had suggested that
they would have valuable information to share on the topic of
bullying.
As with the student interviews, all staff interviews were tape-
recorded. Staff members
were assured that their comments would be held in confidence
by the interviewer,
that no one from the school would ever have access to the audio
records, and that
no one from the school would ever see the transcripts of these
sessions. Participants
were also assured that any comments that were included in
research reports would be
de-identified.
Interviews and focus groups with students were conducted by
the author in a
secluded room off the library of the high school. Staff members
were interviewed in
one of several places: (1) their own classroom which was empty
of students at the
time, (2) the secluded room off the library, or (3) a conference

room off the main
office suite. In all cases, the doors to the rooms were closed
during the interviews and
focus groups, affording a high degree of privacy. Interviews
were tape-recorded and
focus groups were tape-recorded and video recorded for ease of
transcription. The
length of time for interviews and focus groups was generally
limited to the length of a
period, thus the time varied from approximately 25�40 minutes.
The superintendent of the school district provided a letter of
commitment to
the PI indicating that all data collected could be used for
research purposes. The
University of Rochester Human Subjects Review Board
approved the use of the
secondary data for research purposes.
Analysis
Surveys. The two student questions on victimization and
bullying through the use of
text messages were recoded into binary variables that indicated

involvement or non-
involvement. If students indicated that they had not bullied or
been victimized, or if it
had only happened ‘once or twice,’ then they were not
considered to have been a victim
or a perpetrator. If they responded that the behavior had
occurred 2�3 times a month
or more, they were considered to have been a victim or a
perpetrator. This recoding is
in keeping with Solberg and Olweus (2003) for cut-off points to
determine prevalence.
Frequencies were calculated for victimization and bullying for
the entire group,
for males and females, and for students by grade level. A chi-
square test of
independence was calculated to determine if there were
differences between males
and females. A Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric test was
performed to determine if
there were differences by grade level.
Students and staff members both answered the third question
regarding
perceptions of frequencies with regards to hostile text
messaging. Frequencies and
means were calculated for students’ and staff members’

responses. An independent
samples t-test was performed to determine if there were
differences between students’
and staff members’ perceptions of hostile text messaging among
students. For
students only, frequencies and means were calculated for males
and females, and for
students by grade level. An independent samples t-test was
performed to determine if
there was a difference between males’ and females’ perceptions.
A one-way ANOVA
was conducted to determine if there were differences among
grade levels with regards
to perceptions of hostile text messaging.
Interviews and focus groups. The interview and focus group
data were analyzed using a
grounded theory approach (Charmaz 2006). The tape-recorded
interviews and focus
groups were transcribed, coded, and categorized. During
transcription and coding,
the PI engaged in memoing. Memo-writing is a process where
the researcher
constructs analytic notes which link codes and categories and
makes comparisons

between ‘data and data, data and codes . . . codes and
categories, and categories and
concepts . . . [for the purpose of] articulating conjectures’
(Charmaz 2006, pp. 72�73).
Along with and after the process of memo-writing and coding,
the PI developed
‘theoretical codes’ (p. 63) which link categories and concepts to
themes that establish
relationships between categories. Through the process of
defining codes and
categories and organizing them into concepts, theoretical
sampling also occurs.
‘Theoretical sampling’ is a process of fitting ‘emerging theories
with . . . data’ (p. 101)
not ‘about representing a population or increasing the statistical
generalizability of
your results’ (p. 101). Theoretical sampling involves movement
to more abstract levels
of analysis which link categories and themes through the
emergence of hypotheses and
inferences. Lastly, the data were analyzed to develop ‘grounded
theories’ which are
hypotheses and inferences that explain or elaborate subjects’
views of text messaging
as it is related to social conflict, aggression, and bullying
among students.
Results: surveys

Students. Data are reported for all students aggregated, by
gender and by grade level
(see Table 2). A chi-square test of independence indicated that
there was no
106 K.P. Allen
statistically significant difference in reported victimization
when comparing males to
females (x2(1) � 1.35, p�.05). A chi-square test of
independence for perpetrating
bullying also found no statistically significant difference
between males and females
(x2(1) � 2.63, p�.05). A Kruskal-Wallis test determined that
there were no
statistically significant differences for either bullying (H(1) �
0.00, p�.05) or for
victimization (H(1) � 0.05, p�.05) by grade level.
Students also responded to a question on how often they think
students engage in
hostile text messaging. Means, standard deviations, and
frequencies are located in
Table 3. An independent samples t-test determined that there
was a statistically
significant difference in perceptions between males and females
(t(800) � � 5.63,
pB.05) with females reporting more than males that students

engage in hostile text
messaging. A one-way ANOVA determined that there were no
differences among
grade levels (p�.05).
Students and staff members. Means, standard deviations, and
frequencies are
reported in Table 3 for staff members’ perceptions of student
use of hostile text
messaging. An independent samples t-test determined that there
were no statistically
significant differences in the means between students and staff
members
(t(881) � �.210, p�.05).
Table 2. Percentages of students reporting victimization by
bullying and bullying by someone
at school using text messages, aggregated, by gender and by
grade level.
Victimization: I was bullied by
someone at school using text messages
Bullying: I bullied someone at
school using text messages
Students (aggregated) 3.2% 1.0%

Males 4.0% 1.6%
Females 2.5% 0.5%
9th graders 3.5% 0.4%
Table 3. Means, standard deviations, and percentages of
students (aggregated, by gender,
and by grade level), and staff members reporting that hostile
text messaging occurs at school
or at school sponsored events.
How often does hostile text messaging occur?
Not at all Very often
Means (SD) 1 2 3 4 5
Students (aggregated) 2.62 (1.30) 25.2% 25.2% 21.9% 17.5%
10.2%
Males 2.34 (1.26) 32.0% 29.0% 19.4% 11.3% 8.3%
Females 2.86 (1.29) 19.3% 22.1% 23.7% 23.0% 11.9%
9th graders 2.74 (1.32) 20.9% 27.6% 21.8% 16.0% 13.8%

10th graders 2.51 (1.23) 26.7% 26.7% 21.0% 20.0% 5.7%
11th graders 2.61 (1.31) 26.3% 24.2% 22.2% 16.7% 10.6%
12th graders 2.62 (1.33) 27.3% 21.5% 22.7% 18.0% 10.5%
Staff members 2.65 (0.91) 9.6% 32.9% 42.5% 12.3% 2.7%
Results: interviews and focus groups
The third question for this study, How do subjects view text
messaging as it relates to
social conflict, aggression, and bullying in this high school
setting?, has been
explored through the use of interviews and focus groups. A
number of themes
emerged and are discussed below.
Grounded theory #1: Cell phones are ubiquitous and text
messaging is common,
and in some instances replaces verbal speech. Staff members
report that cell phones
are ever-present. As one teacher in her early thirties
acknowledges:
I didn’t have a cell phone in high school. I didn’t have a cell
phone in college. They [our

students] are joined with them and it’s a constant . . . there’s
never any escape from it and
so I think they have access to each other all the time. Four in
the morning and they can
be texting each other and their parents don’t know.
Another teacher who has observed student behavior thinks that
face-to-face speech
is being replaced by texting:
I used to each lunch with the kids, and I still do it a little bit.
And they’re sitting there,
and they’re not even talking. They’re all sitting there texting on
their phones. Maybe
they’re texting the person right next to them. It’s strange. They
don’t talk anymore; they
just text.
A student also described a situation where she texted a girl
when they were with a
larger group of friends because she wanted to tell her friend
something that she didn’t
want the whole group to know or overhear. The outcome,
however, was that another
friend who observed the exchange thought that she was being
talked about behind
her back and got upset.
Lastly, one student suggested that texting is altering human
communication:

. . . the guy breaks up with a girl by giving her a text message .
. . texting is an easy way for
people to be lazy. They don’t have the guts to do it face-to-face.
They (texting/mediated
forms of communication) are tools for people to be lazy
socially. They think they can get
away with more by texting or Facebook. Texting is taking away
the human aspect of
talking to someone.
This student’s comment echoes the thoughts of the teacher who
sees students texting
when speech is an option. In other words, when synchronous,
face-to-face
communication is possible, students sometimes choose a
mediated-form of commu-
nication.
Grounded theory #2: Gossiping, rumor spreading, and talking
behind people’s backs
are common and contribute to conflict. Repeatedly, students
indicated that texting was
a way to spread gossip, repeat rumors, and talk behind people’s
backs, and along
with these observations, students said that texting of this sort
caused social problems
among friends. One way was for students to pass around a text
message that might

have said something unflattering about another student.
Regarding the spreading of
rumors, one student explained how it worked:
[You might hear] ‘‘oh, this person hooked up with this person
while they were dating
X.’’ And then it turns out it’s not true at all and it gets spread
around and everybody
108 K.P. Allen
hears about it. Especially when it’s text messaging because
there’s no body language and
you can’t tell if it’s sarcastic. That’s a problem I’ve seen. You
can’t tell if someone is
insulting you.
This comment also brings up the problem of how text messages
can easily be
misunderstand or misconstrued. Along this line, another student
commented, ‘A text
message can be interpreted in so many ways. Sometimes they
sound mean and you
didn’t mean it that way.’
One female student said the following in a response to a
question about text
messaging being a problem:

People play their conflicts out using text messaging. My mom
has a rule to talk to
people, because tone of voice is not read in a text message.
People can misinterpret the
tone of a text. I don’t use texting to solve a problem. I call the
person on the phone. If I
need to make plans, I talk to them so I can hear their tone of
voice . . . Teachers and
parents can’t read text messages. Kids can hide text messages
from parents. There’s no
third person listening in. Texting the message on to other people
makes the fight
3
get
bigger. It’s like trying to get someone on your side.
Thus, texting contributes to peer conflict because it can be
misused, misunderstood,
or misconstrued. Additionally, because of its secretive nature,
students are perhaps
more likely to say things in a text that they would not verbally
speak in the presence
of an adult. Lastly, this student alludes to a form of social-
relational aggression
referred to as ‘alliance building’ where one student tries to get a
group of friends to
dislike or exclude another person, certainly a behavior that
contributes to conflict

and may qualify as aggression or even bullying.
Grounded theory #3: Students and staff members claim that
bullying doesn’t occur
in their school, but that ‘drama,’ which involves gossiping and
talking behind people’s
backs is very common. However, students and staff
acknowledge that texting
contributes to conflict, and ‘drama,’ and that either can lead to
bullying. Students of
all ages and both genders, as well as most staff members talked
about ‘drama,’ a
construct which is not defined in the literature, but which is part
of the adolescent
lexicon (Hoffman 2010, Lenhart et al. 2010). What follows is a
description of drama
and its relationships to conflict, aggression, and bullying, as it
is understood by the
students and staff members from Meliora Public Academy.
Drama is social interaction that can lead to conflict or it can
grow out of conflict
that is ‘normal’ or ‘regular’ (Remboldt and Zimman 1996, Doll
et al. 2004). Normal
or regular conflict involves honest disagreements between
individuals who have

conflicting needs, wants, goals, or opinions. Normal conflict is
usually resolved
without aggressive interactions among individuals who do not
intentionally harm
one another and who do not exploit power imbalances.
Drama is social interaction that is characterized by overreaction
and excessive
emotionality. With drama, the substance of the issue tends to be
trivial or
insignificant relative to the immediate circumstances (In other
words, the relevance
of the issue is inflated.), or the level of upset being experienced
by one or more of the
parties is greater than would be expected for the given situation.
Because drama is
characterized by inflated relevance, it is generally short-lived.
Drama involves situations where excessive time and attention
may be devoted to
the issue, where extraneous people become involved in the
issue, or where overreaction
and excessive emotionality may be intentionally prolonged by

individuals, who are
either intimately or peripherally involved with the situation.
Drama often moves
beyond the original individuals to include others who may have
little stake in the
original situation which sometimes adds to the intensity of the
drama.
Drama is characterized by many of the same behaviors that can
also be bullying,
such as gossiping, spreading rumors, and talking (or texting)
behind people’s backs.
Drama that makes use of electronically mediated communication
such as text
messaging, IMing, email, Internet social networking sites, chat
rooms, or Internet
postings qualify as ‘cyberdrama’ (Hoffman 2010).
Behavioral choices and responses determine if conflict becomes
drama, or if
drama becomes conflict, or if either becomes bullying. The
specific features of
drama: overreaction, excessive emotionality, prolongation,
involvement of extra-
neous individuals, and inflated relevance would seem to
indicate that drama is a

construct separate from normal (regular) conflict and bullying.
Students linked texting to drama. One student referred to
texting as a ‘drama
starter.’ Other students said that texting was a way to start or
spread rumors which
were part of drama. The following exchange described how
texting can be implicated
in drama that can become conflict:
Interviewer: What makes something drama?
Student: Breaking up with your boyfriend. Not wearing the right
clothes. Talking about
people. Phone calls. Text messages. Drama is before a fight (a
non-physical conflict) and
can lead to a fight. It’s talking behind someone’s back, or
saying things face-to-face that
are critical. Then saying, ‘You can’t hang with us anymore.’
That would be a fight.
Several students offered comments that explained how texting
contributes to conflict
primarily because it is easy to misinterpret. ‘A lot of things in
texting . . . you don’t
know, like the emotion. It happens with friends . . . You don’t
know their expression.
Is it sarcastic or not? You can’t tell excitement in a text
message. Maybe it’s like a
mask they can put on and they can be rude.’ ‘A text message

can be interpreted in so
many ways. Sometimes they sound mean and you didn’t mean it
that way.’
One other way that texting contributes to conflict or drama is
when students
show a negative text to the person who is the subject of the
negative text. In other
words, a text becomes a permanent record of something
disparaging about another
person that can be shown to that person, which can cause
conflict or drama. ‘Other
people read the text. It gets passed around.’ ‘Texting is like
backs, but that’s [showing the text] worse because the person
shows the person
[whom the text is about] the text . . . and [then he/she knows]
who said it.’
Lastly, students implicated texting in conflict or drama that they
saw as bullying:
Start with texting and say something that upsets someone,
criticizes them in some way
between friends. It can turn into a fight (non-physical conflict)
because the person won’t
want to take it anymore. Accusations happen. Then it can
become bullying.
Another student said the following:

I think there is a very, very fine line between drama and
bullying. I think drama is what
happens but bullying is what comes out of it. Something will
happen and it will lead to
110 K.P. Allen
something else and then it will turn into an evil text message
here . . . a Facebook
message there. People don’t usually see that as bullying, but
I’ve been caught up in some
drama, and I’ve heard people talking about me and I really think
that that’s bullying
because it’s hurtful because it’s coming from your friends and I
just think that bullying
comes out of drama.
In summary, students talked about conflict and drama as
separate phenomena which
could evolve into bullying. Most of these instances of conflict
or drama occurred
within friendships or friendship groups, with text messaging
facilitating the passing
of negative information or comments about individuals or
situations. Students
alluded to the fact that texters sometimes felt anonymous even
though their phone
number identified them. Texting could result in hurting people,

thus precipitating
conflict or drama, and either form of social interaction could
escalate to bullying.
Grounded theory #4: Text messaging is a private form of
communication that is
easily hidden from adults. This secrecy allows students to
interact in hurtful ways that
adults are unaware of. Students see great benefit in the secrecy
afforded in
communicating through texting. As one student said:
And a lot of the things the kids are getting good at . . . [like]
keeping it away from
teachers. There’s texting now. Texting has opened a whole new
realm of bullying,
because it’s harder for the teachers to find out . . . because they
don’t know.
Adults endorsed the position that they have little knowledge
about student
interactions that include text messaging. In essence, they say
that students have
become skilled at deception and that unless a student shows
them a hostile text
message, they would have no way of knowing about this
aggression:
I’m not hearing that it’s [texting] a big problem here. I think a

lot of it is underground.
It’s only if a kid confides in a teacher or we actually happen to
overhear it, or we hear
kids say, ‘He got my text and now he’s mad.’
Other teachers commented, ‘Some of that cyberbullying, text-
bullying stuff . . . I
think there’s way more of that than we realize . . . they do it out
of our range
intentionally.’ Regarding texting, ‘It’s a really hard one unless
you overhear someone
talking about texting . . . you have no way of knowing.’ ‘Now a
lot of the bullying,
we’re not seeing [it]. They’re smart enough not to do it in front
of us. So it’s
happening online . . . texting.’
The teacher who made this last comment described how an
incident that
happened in the locker room where two friends engaged in
horseplay resulted in an
accident where one student got seriously hurt. It was
unintentional, but because
texting became the vehicle for disseminating information, the
situation ‘got blown
out of proportion’ and became so twisted that students thought
there had been an
intentional attack. The teacher added that the volume and
intensity of the gossip that

was communicated via texting increased the stress of the
situation, and that the
rumors spread faster with texting than they would have if they
were only being
communicated through speech.
There is a sense among adult staff that they have lost control of
their ability to
influence students because students have been able to
disconnect from adults via
technically mediated communication to which they are often not
privy. ‘ . . . they’re so
good at not showing or not coming to you, and hiding things.
Things that you might
see in a classroom or in the halls . . . have gone into that whole
other world.’ This
veteran teacher feels more disconnected from students than ever
because students
can interact with their peers in ways that are totally hidden from
adults.
This same teacher speaks of texting and drama:
Texting facilitates the drama. The messages go and it becomes a
big deal and

everybody’s got to talk about it. It’s a lot more interesting than
what they’re learning
in school sometimes . . . the little soap opera that they have fun
with. I teach boys and
girls and my comments are about both of them.
Thus, for students, the ability to say and do things that adults
would disapprove of is
increased when students can communicate via text messaging.
Comments from
adults and students indicate that texting and the secrecy it
affords contributes to
drama and conflict, and makes it more difficult for adults to
respond to students who
are involved in damaging social interactions.
Discussion
It is surprising how little bullying or victimization via text
messaging is reported in
this school. Just over 3% of students indicated that they are
victimized and only 1%
say they bully using text messages. This is in comparison to
Raskauskas’s (2010) 23%
or Marsh et al.’s (2010) 11% reports of the frequencies for
victimization, or Marsh
et al.’s (2010) 7% report for the frequency of bullying, via text
messaging. Although

males report more victimization and bullying by text messaging
than females in this
study, these differences were not statistically significant.
Likewise, there were no
differences in either bullying or victimization by grade level.
These findings suggest
that bullying via text messaging is a minor problem in this
school. This is perhaps
explained by the repeated comment made by students and staff
that ‘we don’t have
bullying here.’ Thus, when asked about bullying via text
messaging, subjects just
don’t see hostile text messaging as a behavior that corresponds
to their under-
standing of bullying, and therefore they don’t report it as such.
In addition to actual prevalence, subjects were asked about their
perceptions of
the prevalence of hostile text messaging. Responses indicated
that students thought
there was more ‘hostile text messaging’ than actual reported
bullying or victimization
through text messaging. There was also a statistically
significant difference by gender

for students for perceptions of hostile texting, with females
indicating that they
thought there was more of this behavior than males. This
perception, which seems to
contradict actual prevalence data, reflects research that suggests
that females prefer
tactics which are more indirectly, socially, or relationally
aggressive as compared to
males who may aggress in more direct ways (Crick et al. 1996,
Galen and Underwood
1997, Paquette and Underwood 1999, Owens et al. 2000). In this
case, perceptions
may be reflecting the attitudes of females toward indirect,
social, or relational
aggression. In other words, because they prefer this kind of
aggression, females may
think there is more of it. Another reason for the finding that
females perceive more
hostile texting than males may be found in the fact that females
text more than males
do (Lenhart et al. 2010), providing them more opportunities for
sending nasty texts.
112 K.P. Allen

While the independent samples t-test did not indicate that the
mean difference
between student and staff perceptions of hostile text messaging
was statistically
significant, it is interesting to consider the frequencies reported
by students and staff
(see Table 3). Just over 25% of students felt that hostile text
messaging happened ‘not
at all,’ whereas 9.6% of staff members thought it happened ‘not
at all.’ This would
seem to indicate that adults perceive texting to be more of a
problem than students.
In contrast, just over 10% of students said that hostile text
messaging happened ‘very
often,’ whereas only 2.7% of staff members said it happened
‘very often.’ This seems
to indicate the opposite, that students perceive texting to be
more of a problem than
adults. Given the secretive nature of texting and the fact that
research indicates that
bullying is more apparent to students than it is to school staff
(Craig and Pepler
1997, Atlas and Pepler 1998), one would expect that there
would be a clear-cut

indication that students perceive texting to be a greater problem
than adults do,
but this is not indicated by the t-tests and by the number of
students who indicate
that texting does not happen at all. This discrepancy is further
difficult to explain in
light of the qualitative data suggesting that staff members feel
they have little
knowledge of students’ text messaging behaviors. Perhaps such
findings are related to
the fact that there is generally little aggression expressed
through text messaging in
this school.
The most compelling question revolves around why this high
school would have
such low rates of bullying and victimization by text messaging
in comparison to
studies conducted elsewhere. A possible answer to that question
lies in a contextual
feature of this school which reflects an additional grounded
theory not previously
discussed.
Meliora Public Academy resides in an affluent community and
is a school which

offers a highly rigorous academic programme. Status in this
school is achieved by
taking a full load of Advanced Placement courses, doing well in
them, and then
getting into a prestigious college or university. Failure to attend
school, complete
assignments, or treat teachers with respect is unacceptable, and
students enforce
these norms among their peers. One student viewed bullying
peers who were slacking
as a positive form of social pressure that could have a good
outcome for the target by
getting the target to become more focused on school work.
Thus, the additional
grounded theory related to this finding might be the following:
With academic
success as the main focus, students view themselves as superior
to students elsewhere.
Maintenance of this identity requires that students not overtly
aggress against each
other or adult staff (because doing so would jeopardize
academic success and the status
that comes with it), hence the perception and perhaps legitimate
conclusion that ‘we

don’t have bullying here.’
Students viewed those who were physically aggressive as
‘losers,’ and teachers
quite consistently spoke of how ‘nice,’ tolerant, hardworking,
and respectful students
at Meliora are. When students spoke of aggression among their
peers, it was almost
always a form of indirect aggression which included gossip,
backs, or spreading rumors. Because status seemed to be
achieved in part in this
school from being a successful student as opposed to being
sociometrically popular,
there was less competition for social status and the often cruel
and vicious
interactions that accompany it. In other words, it is possible that
the strong
academic culture suppressed some of the behaviors that would
be more typical of a
school where social hierarchy and popularity were of greater
value to students. This

might explain the low levels of bullying via text messaging, and
it would also explain
the way that students hide their negative behaviors from adults,
with texting being a
very convenient method of doing so.
Strengths, limitations, and future research
One of the strengths of this research is that it is a mixed
methods study. Research on
bullying and aggression has tended to be quantitative in nature
and the methodo-
logical approach of this study suggests that greater access to
knowledge may be
available through an expansion of research methods in this
field.
There are several limitations. One is that this study was
conducted in a single high
school, and thus the sample was not random. Additionally, the
high school is not
representative of high schools across the United States. These
two features of the
data would indicate that the results are not generalizable.
Finally, these data are two
and a half years old and when considered in light of the speed
with which youth

adopt new communication technologies, the findings may be
called into question
with regards to their applicability to youth now.
The findings from this study suggest that future research should
consider
studying ‘drama’ as a construct separate from conflict and
bullying. Peer relations
research would benefit from further exploration of how drama
relates to bullying and
conflict, as well as the nature and impact of drama on the
relationships and social
interactions of youth.
Conclusions
While this study originally posed questions about text
messaging in a high school and
how it relates to social conflict, aggression, and bullying, the
real value of the
knowledge that was uncovered lies in the perceptions of
students and staff regarding
conflict, drama, and bullying. The findings suggest a
complicated set of social
dynamics where texting plays a role in the development of
conflict, and of a
phenomenon not previously described in the literature which is
referred to as ‘drama.’

Both conflict and drama may develop into the other, and either
can evolve into bullying
with technically mediated communication contributing to all
three phenomena.
Research from the fields of peer relations and bullying seldom
links the constructs
of conflict and bullying, and as previously stated, there is no
mention of drama in the
literature at all. This may be due to the fact that most research
is quantitative, reflecting
a perspective which values parsimony and begins, rather than
ends with the
development of hypotheses. The current study, because of its
mixed methods approach,
was able to explore how students and staff perceive peer
relationships that include
conflict, drama, and bullying in an, up to this point, rare
approach to studying peer
relationships, conflict, and bullying.
An additional concern which arises from the qualitative data
addresses the
connection between cyberbullying, of which texting is a form,
and suicide. Students
and staff clearly suggested that text messaging was increasingly

allowing students to
remove themselves from the ‘prying eyes’ of adults. When the
literature on
cyberbullying and suicide is considered, it is apparent that one
of the risks of youth
putting greater distance between themselves and adults is that
adults may have no
awareness of the aggressive experiences of youth and the fragile
mental health to which
114 K.P. Allen
it has contributed. Thus, not only has technology afforded youth
the ability to aggress
secretly, but it may also hide from adults the signs of
deteriorating mental health that
contribute to suicide.
Technically mediated communication seems to factor into the
ways that
adolescents communicate, relate, and aggress, with text
messaging being a favored
form at the moment. Given the concern over bullying and
cyberbullying in schools,
continued study of adolescent adoption and use of technically
mediated communica-

tion is strongly warranted.
Notes
1. Cyberbullying includes bullying which uses cell phones and
computers. While text
messaging does not make use of the Internet, communication
through computers does.
Some cell phones have Internet access and thus bullying via the
Internet can occur through
the use of these mobile devices.
2. Students spontaneously talked about ‘drama’ when they were
discussing how students get
along with each other, what types of interactions produce
conflict, and how they manage
these issues.
3. In this context the word ‘fight’ refers to a non-physical
conflict.
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The relationship between adolescents' well-being and their
wireless phone use:
a cross-sectional study
Environmental Health 2013, 12:90 doi:10.1186/1476-069X-12-
90
Mary Redmayne ([email protected])
Euan Smith ([email protected])
Michael J Abramson ([email protected])
ISSN 1476-069X
Article type Research
Submission date 20 March 2013
Acceptance date 18 October 2013
Publication date 22 October 2013

Article URL http://www.ehjournal.net/content/12/1/90
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The relationship between adolescents’ well-being
and their wireless phone use: a cross-sectional study
Mary Redmayne1*
* Corresponding author
Email: [email protected]
Euan Smith1
Michael J Abramson2
1 School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences,
Victoria University of
Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand
2 Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School
of Public Health
& Preventive Medicine, Monash University, The Alfred,
Melbourne, VIC 3004,
Australia
Abstract
Background
The exposure of young people to radiofrequency
electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) has
increased rapidly in recent years with their increased use of
cellphones and use of cordless
phones and WiFi. We sought to ascertain associations between
New Zealand early-
adolescents’ subjective well-being and self-reported use of, or
exposure to, wireless
telephone and internet technology.

Methods
In this cross-sectional survey, participants completed
questionnaires in class about their
cellphone and cordless phone use, their self-reported well-
being, and possible confounding
information such as whether they had had influenza recently or
had a television in the
bedroom. Parental questionnaires provided data on whether they
had WiFi at home and
cordless phone ownership and model. Data were analysed with
Ordinal Logistic Regression
adjusting for common confounders. Odds ratios (OR) and 95%
confidence intervals were
calculated.
Results
The number and duration of cellphone and cordless phone calls
were associated with
increased risk of headaches (>6 cellphone calls over 10 minutes
weekly, adjusted OR 2.4, CI
1.2-4.8; >15 minutes cordless use daily adjusted OR 1.74, CI
1.1-2.9)). Texting and extended
use of wireless phones was related to having a painful ‘texting’
thumb). Using a wired
cellphone headset was associated with tinnitus (adjusted OR
1.8, CI 1.0-3.3), while wireless
headsets were associated with headache (adjusted OR 2.2, CI
1.1-4.5), feeling
down/depressed (adjusted OR 2.0, CI 1.1-3.8), and waking in
the night (adjusted OR 2.4, CI

1.2-4.8). Several cordless phone frequencies bands were related
to tinnitus, feeling
down/depressed and sleepiness at school, while the last of these
was also related to
modulation. Waking nightly was less likely for those with WiFi
at home (adjusted OR 0.7, CI
0.4-0.99). Being woken at night by a cellphone was strongly
related to tiredness at school
(OR 4.1, CI 2.2-7.7).
Conclusions
There were more statistically significant associations (36%)
than could be expected by
chance (5%). Several were dose-dependent relationships. To
safeguard young people’s well-
being, we suggest limiting their use of cellphones and cordless
phones to less than 15 minutes
daily, and employing a speaker-phone device for longer daily
use. We recommend parental
measures are taken to prevent young people being woken by
their cellphones.
Keywords
Cellular telephone, Cordless telephone, Headache, Tinnitus,
Sleep, Depression, Frequency-
specific, Headset
Background
The exposure of young people to radiofrequencies (RF-EMFs)
has increased rapidly in recent
years with their increased use of cellphones, use of cordless
phones and pervasive presence of
WiFi, often both at home and at school. Several official bodies

and researchers have
expressed caution about possible health outcomes from this
increasing exposure to RF-EMFs
and the accompanying extra low frequencies resulting from
modulation. These concerns are
due to the young usually having a higher susceptibility to
environmental ‘toxins’ and
stressors. Although several countries have issued warnings
suggesting reduced use of
cellphones by children as a precautionary measure, New
Zealand has not followed suit. There
are still limited studies of general health and well-being
outcomes of young people’s
exposure to cellphones, cordless phones, or WiFi.
Health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-
being, and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity” [1]. One basic requirement for
general well-being is
sufficient good quality sleep. In a study of children aged 9 and
10 years, owning a mobile
phone has been associated with settling to sleep after 9 pm, with
a quarter of the age group
getting less than the 10 hours’ sleep the authors cite as
necessary to maintain children’s good
health [2]. Preliminary results of a 4-year longitudinal study of
mobile communication use by
children aged 7-12 years identified related trends including
increased fatigue [3]. A European
study found tiredness among teenagers associated with
increasing cellphone use after lights
out, with odds ratios of 1.8 for use less than once a month to 5.1
for more than once weekly
[4]. Fatigue was also reported by participants in a German study
of 8-12 year olds which
measured all daytime RF-EMFs exposures [5]. In this case no

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