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Contact:
Sherry Van Blyderveen, 604.291.3354, svanblyd@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, Media & PR, 604291.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca

Sherry Van Blyderveen’s masters of arts thesis in psychology is already changing conventionally held beliefs about school bullying. Even before the graduand has crossed the convocation floor to receive her degree, she is fielding media and research queries about Peer Victimization in British Columbia Youth. Her study is one of the first to look at several novel risk factors and outcomes associated with youth becoming victims of their peers. The bulk of existing research looks at why youth bully their peers.

Van Blyderveen, a Burnaby resident originally from Burgessville, Ontario, found that ethnicity, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status are not key risk factors for peer victimization. That contradicts what the media often portray as the cause of high profile, sometimes fatal peer victimization. "I think all of us tend to theorize why youth are bullied by their peers based on what we believe are risk factors," says Van Blyderveen. "My study tested those beliefs."

Van Blyderveen’s research is the first to isolate disability and body size as risk factors. Her conclusions are based on an analysis of an adolescent health survey conducted every few years by the McCreary Centre Society, a non-profit organization researching youth health in BC. The society’s sample size was about 10 percent of BC's student population. Van Blyderveen is one of the first researchers to study changes in peer victimization specifically among youth in grades 7-12. She found that peer victimization peaks in grade nine, when students are usually aged 14.

The SFU grad notes that victims of bullying are more likely than their peers who are not bullied to display problems. They include suicidal thoughts, depression, anxiety, poor general physical health, drug use, poor body image, eating disorders and poor academic performance.

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Electronic photo available upon request