History of Bullying and Victimisation Behaviour of Children with Language Disorders and Maternal Burden

ABSTRACT

Language disorders may negatively affect children’s behaviour and the maternal burden situation. This recent study examines the history of bullying and victimisation behaviour of children with language disorders and maternal burden in comparison to a reference group of typically developed peers. We measured the bullying and victimisation behaviour and maternal burden of a sample of N= 81 children with and without language disorders and their mothers at two measurement times. The results indicate that mothers of children with language disorders demonstrated high levels of burden, and the children are at higher risk of being victimised and involved in bullying as perpetrators. Furthermore, the maternal burden situation and children’s behavioural problems decrease over time. From a long-term perspective, it seems important to identify children’s behavioural problems and parental causes of stress to successfully support the entire family.

KEYWORDS:

• Social competence
• bullying
• maternal burden
• maternal stress
• language problems
• language skills
• social difficulties
• specific language disorder
• victimisation
• behavioral problems

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Centre for Clinical Psychology and Rehabilitation of the University of Bremen for the opportunity to realise this project. The authors also thank the participants and their families for their long-term commitment to this study.

Disclosure Statement

There is no conflict of interest to declare.