294 Chapter 35
controlling for behavioural and depressive symptoms; whereas in females
early victimisation did predict later suicidal behaviour even after allowing
for behavioural and depressive symptoms.
Systematic interventions can reduce the rate of victimisation in schools
(by about 50% in one carefully planned intervention in Norway). The
unacceptability of victimisation has to be made clear to all pupils, and the
policy must be backed up by adequate supervision, and by firm but non-
hostile sanctions. Victims need to know that they will get the backing of
the school, their parents and their class if they report bullying.
Peer popularity and unpopularity
The most common technique for assessing peer relationships is ‘sociom-
etry’, which commonly includes asking each pupil in a class in private
which three classmates they would most want to play with (‘positive nom-
inations’) and which three they would least want to play with (‘negative
nominations’). They may also be asked about other characteristics, for
example, which three of their classmates fight most.
At one stage, popularity and unpopularity were viewed as the opposite
end of a single dimension, as if a low number of positive nominations
and a high number of negative nominations had the same meaning.
Nowadays, it is more common to view popularity and unpopularity as
different dimensions, generating a wider range of associated categories,
shown in Box 35.1.
Box 35.1Sociometric categories based on popularity and
unpopularityRejectedNeglectedPOPULARITYUNPOPULARITYFew positive
nominationsFew negative
nominationsMany negative
nominationsMany positive
nominationsAveragePopularControversialIn the past, studies of ‘unpopular’ pupils typically lumped together
rejected and neglected children even though these two groups differ in
several important respects. The peer problems of rejected children and
adolescents are more persistent, and more often associated with aggressive