How Can Bullying Victimisation Lead to Lower Academic Achievement? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Mediating Role of Cognitive-Motivational Factors.

Bullying involvement may have an adverse effect on children's educational outcomes, particularly academic achievement. However, the underlying mechanisms and factors behind this association are not well-understood. Previous meta-analyses have not investigated mediation factors between bullying and academic achievement. This meta-analysis examines the mediation effect of cognitive-motivational factors on the relationship between peer victimization and academic achievement. A systematic search was performed using specific search terms and search engines to identify relevant studies that were selected according to specific criteria resulting in 11 studies encompassing a sample total of 257,247 children (10 years and younger) and adolescents (11 years and older) (48-59% female). Some studies were longitudinal and some cross sectional and the assessment for each factor was performed by various methods (self, peer, teacher, school and mixed reports). Children involved in bullying behaviour were less likely to be academically engaged (k = 4) (OR = 0.571, 95% CI [0.43, 0.77], p = 0.000), to be less motivated (k = 7) (OR = 0.82, 95% CI [0.69, 0.97], p = 0.021), to have lower self-esteem (k = 1) (OR = 0.12, 95% CI [0.07, 0.20], p = 0.000) and lower academic achievement (k = 14) (OR = 0.62, 95% CI [0.49, 0.79], p = 0.000). Bullying involvement was also significantly related to overall cognitive-motivational factors (k = 17, OR = 0.67, 95% CI [0.59, 0.76], p = 0.000). Cognitive-motivational factors, taken together, mediated the association between bullying victimisation and academic achievement (k = 8, OR = 0.74, 95% CI (0.72, 0.77), p = 0.000). Bullying victimisation was negatively related to cognitive-motivational factors, which, in turn, was associated with poorer academic achievement. These findings were moderated by the design of the studies, assessment methods for the bullying reports, mediators and outcomes, country, age of children in the sample and/or types of bullying. The findings are of relevance for practitioners, parents, and schools, and can be used to guide bullying interventions. Interventions should focus on improving internal and external motivational factors including components of positive reinforcement, encouragement, and programs for enhancing academic engagement and achievement amongst children and adolescents.

Prognostic factors of Hodgkin's lymphoma and their impact on response to chemotherapy and survival.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the standard prognostic factors of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) in relation to response to first line chemotherapy, disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was performed on a group of 100 adult patients diagnosed as HL and who were treated and followed-up in the years 1999 to 2001, in the Medical Oncology Department at National Cancer Institute (NCI), Cairo. The first line chemotherapy was COPP in 40%, ABVD in 35% and COPP/ABV hybrid in 25%. Patients were classified into early stage disease: Stages I, IIA and IIB without poor risk factors, n=43 and advanced stage disease: Stages III, IV and IIB with poor risk factors, n=57 analysis of the prognostic factors for early versus advanced-stage disease was done by univariate and multivariate regression analysis. RESULTS: Complete remission (CR) was attained in 69% of the patients after first line chemotherapy; being 87.8 % and 54.7% for early and advanced disease, respectively, (p=0.0001). The CR rates after different chemotherapy regimens were 81.8%, 90% and 90% for the ABVD, COPP and COPP/ABV hybrid regimens in the early-disease group; respectively; in contrast to the corresponding figures of 54.5%, 50% and 61.5% in the advanced- stage group. The DFS at 4 years, was 94 %, 55% and 54.5% for the patients treated with ABVD, COPP and COPP/ABV hybrid, respectively (p=0.2). The DFS and OS in this series of patients were 61.3% and 53.7%, being 69.8% and 70.7% for the early and 45.1% and 38.9% for the advanced-disease, respectively The OS of the whole group was significantly related to age (p=0.04), sex (p=0.005), early versus advanced disease (p=0.0001) and B symptoms (p=0.0006). CONCLUSIONS: The adequate response and DFS of the early compared to the advanced-stage disease supported the evolving role of risk adapted chemotherapy for HL. The prognostic factors proved to be of significant impact in our series. The results of this study pointed to the need for an improved treatment strategy in this potentially curable disease,especially for the advanced disease.

Segregation, ethnic labour market and the occupational expectations of Palestinian students in Israel.

Using data from a large national representative survey of Palestinian high school students in Israel, this study examines the effect of the local labour market and the internal ethnic/religious segregation between Muslims, Christians and Druze, on students' occupational expectations. The data, which were collected in spring 1997, consisted of two types, these being data regarding students, and data regarding schools. The findings show that despite the disadvantages of the Palestinian minority as a whole within Israeli society, students tend to develop high occupational expectations. While the general level of their expectations can be explained by their educational and residential segregation from the Jewish majority, the multi-level analyses suggests that the internal segregation facilitates differential access to socio-economic resources, which generate different levels of occupational expectations between students from various ethnic/religious groups. More specifically, the findings demonstrate that the social and economic differences between Muslims, Christians and Druze are playing a central role in determining students' expectations, acting as a mechanism to preserve social inequality. The gender dimension of the occupational expectations and the influence of die segregation between Palestinian and Jewish students, are also discussed.