Psychosocial Risk Factors for Involvement in Bullying Behaviors: Empirical Comparison Between Cyberbullying and Social Bullying Victims and Bullies

Social anxiety and bullying victimization: A three-level meta-analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies

BACKGROUND

Numerous studies have explored the association between social anxiety and bullying victimization. However, inconsistency are found regarding the strength and the direction of this relationship. Moreover, it remains unclear how different subtypes of bullying victimization associate with social anxiety.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis to systematically investigate the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between social anxiety and bullying victimization.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Individuals experiencing social anxiety and bullying victimization.

METHODS

The present study employed three-level random effects model to combine the correlation coefficients r to indicate the strength of the cross-sectional association between social anxiety and bullying victimization. Cross-lagged regressions were utilized to examine the prospective relationship between both variables.

RESULTS

A total of 133 cross-sectional studies reporting 220 effect sizes were included in the meta-analysis, and the results showed a significant moderate association between social anxiety and bullying victimization (r = 0.268, 95 % CI [0.244, 0.292]). Nineteen longitudinal studies were also identified, revealing that social anxiety at Time 1 significantly predicted bullying victimization at Time 2 (β = 0.067, 95 % CI [0.038, 0.096]). However, bullying victimization did not significantly predict subsequent social anxiety (β = 0.012, 95 % CI [-0.026, 0.049]). Subgroup analyses revealed that social anxiety had the strongest association with relational victimization (r = 0.382, 95 % CI [0.335, 0.430]), followed by reputational victimization (r = 0.254, 95 % CI [-0.171, 0.337]), physical victimization (r = 0.226, 95 % CI [0.144, 0.308]) and overt victimization (r = 0.202, 95 % CI [0.146, 0.257]). Social anxiety was significantly more associated with traditional bullying victimization (r = 0.281, 95 % CI [0.233, 0.328]) than cyberbullying victimization (r = 0.177, 95 % CI [0.137, 0.218]; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Social anxiety was found to be moderately associated with and prospectively predict bullying victimization. Future research and interventions could focus on reducing social anxiety to prevent bullying victimization.

School bullying and peer relationships in children with chronic pain

ABSTRACT

Preliminary evidence suggests that there are significant associations between bullying and chronic pain, as well as between the quality of peer relationships and psychological function in youth with chronic pain. However, these findings have yet to be replicated, and the role that bullying plays in anxiety in children and adolescents with chronic pain has not yet been examined. This study sought to expand our understanding of the associations between measures of bullying and quality of peer relationships and pain-related function domains in a community sample of schoolchildren with chronic pain. One thousand one hundred fifteen schoolchildren participated in this study; 57% were girls, the mean age of the study sample was 11.67 years (SD = 2.47), and 46% reported having chronic pain. Participants completed measures of pain characteristics, pain interference, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, bullying (past and current), and quality of peer relationships. Youth with chronic pain reported a significantly higher percentage of being bullied in the past compared with youth without chronic pain. In the group of youth with chronic pain, the measures of past and current bullying, and quality of peer relationships, were not significantly associated with pain intensity, pain interference, or anxiety. However, having a history of being bullied and the quality of peer relationships were significantly associated with depressive symptom severity. The findings indicate that research to evaluate the potential causal role of bullying and the quality of peer relationships on pain-related function domains in youth with chronic pain is warranted.

Psycho-Social Correlates of Cyberbullying among Polish Adolescents

Cyberbullying has recently attracted attention due to its increasing prevalence and serious consequences for both victims and perpetrators. The objective of this population-based study was to examine the determinants of a person becoming a perpetrator of cyberbullying, including personal resources (emotional self-regulation, self-esteem, internal locus of control, optimism), social skills (prosocial behavior, assertiveness, cognitive empathy, cooperation), peer relationships (peer support, threats from peers, peer rejection, dislike of peers), and problematic Internet use (excessive Internet use, impulsive reactions to Internet deprivation). Participants (N = 541) were students at elementary schools (age 14-15) in Ostroleka, a city in central-eastern Poland. Two-part regression was used to explore protective/risk factors of the likelihood of an individual using cyberviolence (dichotomous part: involvement in violence) and how often it is used (continuous part: frequency of cyberbullying). The results showed that the emotional component is crucial to cyberbullying, as indicated by the importance of emotional self-control, which reduces the frequency of cyberbullying. Other important factors are assertiveness, impulsive response to limited Internet access (which increases the likelihood of engaging in cyberbullying) and fear of peers (which reduces its frequency). In turn, the importance of pro-sociality (which inhibits engagement) and peer support (which promotes engagement) points to the second important component of cyberbullying-that is, group mechanisms. At the same time, the results indicate that while the importance of Internet addiction as a risk factor for cyberbullying should not be underestimated, the amount of time spent online cannot be seen as the source of the problem. The study leads to the conclusion that effective interventions targeting cyberbullying should focus on the development of more adaptive styles of coping with emotions.

Effective coping with cyberbullying in boys and girls: the mediating role of self-awareness, responsible decision-making, and social support

There is sufficient evidence on the negative consequences of cyberbullying victimisation depending on the coping styles. Social support seeking is among the most effective strategies for coping with cybervictimisation, but it is scarcely used. The robust Maximum Likelihood (ML) method was used to test the potential mediating role of individual (self-awareness, and responsible decision-making) and contextual variables (self-perceived parental and peer support) in the relationship between cybervictimisation and social support seeking in boys and girls. This cross-sectional study collected data from 1,276 Spanish secondary school students (51.2% boys, 48.8% girls) aged 11–18 (M = 13.88, SD = 1.42). Structural equation modelling (SEM) results pointed out responsible decision-making and self-perceived parental support as relevant mediating factors for girls. By contrast, the model was not significant for boys. These findings highlight the importance of both individual and contextual variables in helping adolescents cope with cyberaggressions, considering gender differences.

Epidemiology of peer cybervictimization and its relationship with health‐related quality of life in adolescents: A prospective study

INTRODUCTION

Research focused on the association between peer cybervictimization and declining health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is scarce. Currently, few longitudinal studies find an association between these phenomena, and none focus on cybervictimization profiles. The main objectives are: (1) to analyze the point and period prevalence, and incidence of cybervictimization profiles (uninvolved, new, ceased, intermittent, and stable cybervictims); (2) to study the relationship between cybervictimization and HRQoL over time; (3) to determine the longitudinal impact on the HRQoL of each type of profile.

METHODS

A prospective study was conducted in three waves over 13 months. A total of 1142 adolescents aged 11-18 years participated in all the waves (630 girls, 55.2%).

RESULTS

The prevalence of victimization for the three waves was 21.6% (Wave 1; W1), 23.5% (W2), and 19.6% (W3), respectively. The period prevalence was 41.3%, and the accumulated incidence was 25.1%. It was found that 24% of the participants were new victims, 5.9% were intermittent victims, and 6% were stable victims. Being a cybervictim at W1 poses a relative risk of 1.73 [1.29-2.32], that is, a twofold increased risk of presenting a low HRQoL 13 months later compared to those who are not cybervictims.

CONCLUSION

One in four adolescents became a new cybervictim during the 13 months of the study. The adolescents who presented poorer HRQoL were the stable cybervictims.

Associations between Coping Strategies and Cyberhate Involvement: Evidence from Adolescents across Three World Regions

Cyberhate represents a risk to adolescents' development and peaceful coexistence in democratic societies. Yet, not much is known about the relationship between adolescents' ability to cope with cyberhate and their cyberhate involvement. To fill current gaps in the literature and inform the development of media education programs, the present study investigated various coping strategies in a hypothetical cyberhate scenario as correlates for being cyberhate victims, perpetrators, and both victim-perpetrators. The sample consisted of 6829 adolescents aged 12-18 years old (M_age = 14.93, SD = 1.64; girls: 50.4%, boys: 48.9%, and 0.7% did not indicate their gender) from Asia, Europe, and North America. Results showed that adolescents who endorsed distal advice or endorsed technical coping showed a lower likelihood to be victims, perpetrators, or victim-perpetrators. In contrast, if adolescents felt helpless or endorsed retaliation to cope with cyberhate, they showed higher odds of being involved in cyberhate as victims, perpetrators, or victim-perpetrators. Finally, adolescents who endorsed close support as a coping strategy showed a lower likelihood to be victim-perpetrators, and adolescents who endorsed assertive coping showed higher odds of being victims. In conclusion, the results confirm the importance of addressing adolescents' ability to deal with cyberhate to develop more tailored prevention approaches. More specifically, such initiatives should focus on adolescents who feel helpless or feel inclined to retaliate. In addition, adolescents should be educated to practice distal advice and technical coping when experiencing cyberhate. Implications for the design and instruction of evidence-based cyberhate prevention (e.g., online educational games, virtual learning environments) will be discussed.

The role of family support and conflict in cyberbullying and subjective well-being among Chilean Adolescents during the Covid-19 period

Introduction

Life satisfaction plays a crucial role in integral development and mental health during childhood and adolescence. Recently, it has been shown that cyberbullying has severe consequences for the mental health and wellbeing of victims such as increased anxiety, depressive symptoms and even suicide risk. Although the role of the family in life satisfaction and cyberbullying behaviors has been studied, there is limited information on its impacts during the current pandemic period.

Objective

The aim of this study is to determine the role of family variables regarding students’ levels of life satisfaction and cyberbullying victimization during the pandemic period.

Method

Structural equation modeling was done using data from a cross-sectional study (n = 287; age ranged 14–18) conducted in six schools in Santiago, Chile during 2020.

Results

The tested model has a good fit and parsimonious adjustment. It explained 25.9% of the life satisfaction and 9% of the variance of cyberbullying victimization. Family support was positively associated with life satisfaction (p < 0.001) and negatively associated with cyberbullying victimization (p < 0.05). Likewise, family conflict was positively associated with levels of cyberbullying victimization (p < 0.05) and negatively associated with life satisfaction levels (p < 0.001). Finally, family visits were only positively associated with life satisfaction (p < 0.01).

Conclusions

Generating interventions on several levels focused on positive family bonds has become essential and urgent. This is especially important considering their protective impacts on cyberbullying victimization in promotion of adolescent well-being and quality of life.

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Level of family support decreased cyberbullying victimization and increased life satisfaction during the Pandemic.

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Level of family conflict increased the risk of cyberbullying victimization and decreased levels of life satisfaction.

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Interventions and policies are urgently needed to promote positive family bonds and work-life balance.

Bullies, victims, and meanies: the role of child and classmate social and emotional competencies

This study used a personal oriented approach to identify distinct combinations of children’s experiences of bullying and victimisation in the Irish primary school context. The study investigated the social and emotional characteristics that predicted those profiles at individual and classroom levels. The sample of 2,062 participants was drawn from the Irish national cohort study Children’s School Lives. We analysed teacher reports of individual children’s strengths and difficulties and neglect, and child reports of experiences of bullying, victimisation, and care from classmates. Latent profile analysis revealed five main profiles of bullying and victimisation in Irish primary schools. Approximately 40% of the children were distributed in the atypical profiles (i.e., bullies, meanies, victims, and bully-victims) with the other 60% of children reporting very low levels of bullying and victimisation. Multilevel modelling predicted the profile membership from a set of social and emotional predictors from individual and classroom levels. At the individual level, being a bully was predicted by higher child neglect, hyperactivity, conduct problems, and peer problems; being a meanie was predicted by hyperactivity, peer problems, and less caring classmates; being a victim was predicted by child neglect, conduct problems, and less caring classmates; and being a bully-victim was predicted by conduct problems and less caring classmates. At the classroom level, being a victim was predicted by being in a classroom comprised of younger children, and in classrooms where children were less caring on average. Theoretical and psycho-educational implications are discussed.

The Association between Participation in Fights and Bullying and the Perception of School, Teachers, and Peers among School-Age Children in Serbia

Participating in physical fighting and bullying can be a cause of severe injury and death among school-age children. Research evidence can support school and health actors' efforts to improve school-age children's development and health capacity for life. The study aims to assess the prevalence of school-age children's participation in fights and bullying in Serbia, and to examine the relevance of students' socio-demographic characteristics and perceptions of school and relations with other students and professors for participation in fights and bullying. A secondary analysis is also performed on the original data of the 2017 HBSC study, which was conducted on 3267 students in a nationally representative sample of primary and high schools in Serbia. We sought to investigate the relationship between eight socio-demographic characteristics and nine school-related perceptions, with two outcome variables: taking part in fights and taking part in bullying, examined by using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. The main results show that 50.8% of boys and 17.1% of girls have taken part in fights, while 17.7% boys and 10.4% of girls have taken part in bullying. Students who felt a large and very large burden of school obligations were 1.43 times more likely to participate in bullying at least once, while they were 1.38 and 2.12 times more likely to participate in multiple fights and 4.04, 1.24, and 2.78 times more likely to participate multiple times in bullying. Multiple participation in fights and in bullying is significantly negatively associated with female gender, younger age years, good and very good perception of family financial status and quality of life, and positive perceptions of school and relations they have with other students and professors. Fights among school-age children are significantly positively associated with living with relatives/legal guardians and poor quality of life. In conclusion, the prevalence of participating in at least one fight/bullying is higher than in multiple fights/bullying. These associations suggest a necessity to enhance the monitoring and control of peer behavior among school-age children. The findings of the study imply key enablers of protection, such as building relationships based on team spirit and work, friendly behavior, empathy, and help, which should be included in the value system of school and family activities in programs to combat fights and bullying in school-age children.

The Role of Emotional Intelligence on Psychological Adjustment and Peer Victimization in a Sample of Spanish Adolescents

In the last decades, interest in the study of the negative consequences of bullying for the victims has increased. Victims are often known to show emotional adjustment issues, such as negative self-concept and low life satisfaction. Moreover, some studies have observed important associations between self-concept and life satisfaction, in which a positive self-concept is related to high levels of life satisfaction. Other studies have pointed out the importance of emotional intelligence (EI), as a regulatory and protective factor against the negative impact of victimization on adjustment in adolescents. The main objective of this work was to analyze the mediating effect of self-concept on life satisfaction and the moderated mediation effect of EI on self-concept and life satisfaction in the context of peer victimization. The participants in the study were 1,318 Spanish students of both sexes and aged between 11 and 18 (M = 13.8, SD = 1.32) years, from four compulsory secondary education centers. The results indicated that, on the one hand, self-concept mediated the relationship between victimization and life satisfaction. On the other hand, EI was not only positively associated with self-concept, but it also significantly moderated the negative influence of victimization on self-concept. EI may also indirectly moderate the relationship between victimization and life satisfaction through the self-concept. These data show the importance of EI as a possible protective and moderating factor of the negative effect of bullying on emotional adjustment, which is interesting for the design of future prevention and intervention programs in school contexts.

Factors associated with cyber-victimization among immigrants and non-immigrants in Canada: a cross-sectional nationally-representative study

Objectives

There is a paucity of research on patterns of cyber-victimization in minority groups, including immigrants. This study aimed to identify individual, interpersonal and contextual characteristics associated with cyber-victimization among immigrants and non-immigrants.

Methods

We drew on nationally representative data from adolescents and adults in the Canadian General Social Survey on victimization (2014). We used multivariable logistic regression to identify potential factors associated with cyber-victimization in the last 12 months, stratified by immigrant status and sex.

Results

Among 27,425 survey respondents, the weighted prevalence of cyber-victimization in the last 12 months was 2.1% among immigrants and 2.3% among non-immigrants. Cyber-victimization rates differed significantly by sex among immigrants (2.8% for males vs. 1.4% for females), but not among non-immigrants (2.1% for males vs. 2.4% for females). While most other factors associated with cyber-victimization were similar for immigrants and non-immigrants, there were pronounced associations of past child maltreatment (adjusted prevalence odds ratio [aPOR] 4.85, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.76, 8.52) and residence in an unwelcoming neighbourhood (aPOR 5.08, 95% CI 2.44, 10.55) with cyber-victimization among immigrants that were diminished or absent among non-immigrants. Additionally, sex-stratified analyses among immigrants showed cyber-victimization to be strongly associated with having a mental health condition (aPOR 3.50, 95% CI 1.36, 8.97) among immigrant males only, and with perceived discrimination (aPOR 4.08, 95% CI 1.65, 10.08), as well as being under 24 years old (aPOR 3.24, 95% CI 1.09, 9.60) among immigrant females.

Conclusions

Immigration status and sex were differentially associated with cyber-victimization. Findings support the salience of a social-ecological perspective and gender-stratified analyses to better elucidate complex pathways linking cyber-victimization to potential gender-based health inequities among immigrants.

Cyberbullying among Adolescents: Psychometric Properties of the CYB-AGS Cyber-Aggressor Scale

The present study aims to analyze the psychometric properties of the revised version of the Adolescent Cyber-Aggressor scale (CYB-AGS). This scale is composed of 18 items that measure direct and indirect cyberbullying. A cross-sectional study was conducted using two independent samples of adolescents. The first sample included 1318 adolescents (52.6% girls) from 12 to 16 years old (M = 13.89, SD = 1.32). The second sample included 1188 adolescents (48.5% boys) from 12 to 16 years old (M = 14.19, SD = 1.80). First, to study the psychometric properties of the CYB-AGS, exploratory factor analysis was performed on Sample 1. Results indicated a two-factor structure: direct cyber-aggression and indirect cyber-aggression. Second, to verify the structure of the CYB-AGS, we selected Sample 2 to conduct confirmatory factor analysis and test the scale’s convergent validity with theoretically-related measures. Results confirmed the reliability and validity of the two-dimensional model. Moreover, measurement invariance was established. Finally, regarding convergent validity, positive correlations were obtained between cyberbullying and aggressive behaviors in school, anger expression, negative attitudes towards school, and transgression of norms. Furthermore, negative correlations were found between cyberbullying and attitudes towards institutional authority.

Educational Environments with Cultural and Religious Diversity: Psychometric Analysis of the Cyberbullying Scale

The objective of this research is to adapt and validate a useful instrument to diagnose cyberbullying, provoked by intolerance towards cultural and religious diversity, identifying the profile of the aggressor and the victim. The study was carried out using the Delphi technique, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The selected sample was composed of 1478 adolescents, all students from Compulsory Secondary Education of Spain. The instrument items were extracted from relevant scales on the topic. The initial questionnaire was composed of 52 items and three underlying constructs. After validation with EFA (n = 723), the structure was checked, and the model was later corroborated with CFA (n = 755) through structural equations (RMSEA = 0.05, CFI = 0.826, TLI = 0.805). The reliability and internal consistency of the instrument were also tested, with values for all dimensions being higher than 0.8. It is concluded that this new questionnaire has 38 items and three dimensions. It has an acceptable validity and reliability, and can be used to diagnose cyberbullying caused by the non-acceptance of cultural and religious diversity in Compulsory Secondary Education students.

Cyberbullying in Gifted Students: Prevalence and Psychological Well-Being in a Spanish Sample

The differential characteristics of gifted students can make them vulnerable to cyberbullying. There is very little empirical evidence about cyberbullying and giftedness. In the Spanish context, it is unexplored. The main goal of this work is to determine the prevalence of cyberbullying, its distribution in the different roles, and its relationship with other psychological variables. A cross-sectional study was performed with 255 gifted students (M = 11.88 years, SD = 2.28 years) in Spain (155 males, 60.8%). We used the cyberbullying test and the Spanish versions of the DASS-21, ISEL, KIDSCREEN-10, and the SWLS. The results indicate that 25.1% of the students are pure-cybervictims, 3.9% pure-cyberbullies, and 6.6% cyberbully-victims. Pure-cybervictims and cyberbully-victims present worse scores (p < 0.001) in health-related quality of life, depression, life satisfaction and stress than the uninvolved individuals. The results suggest that the gifted sample presents more cybervictimization and less cyberbullying than observed in other studies of the general population.

Family Functioning, Self-Concept and Cybervictimization: An Analysis Based on Gender

The aim of this study was to analyze the relationships between cybervictimization, family functioning, and self-concept in adolescents, while taking the gender perspective into account. A study was conducted with a sample of 8115 adolescents, aged between 11 and 16 years (M = 13.34; SD = 1.04) from the State of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. A MANOVA 3x2 was performed to analyze the data. The results showed that family functioning, family self-concept, and academic self-concept were higher when cybervictimization was low. It was also observed that, in situations of cybervictimization, the girls had lower family self-concept, lower academic self-concept, and lower family functioning than the boys. The results that were obtained and their implications are discussed in the final section.

Effects of Intervention Program Prev@cib on Traditional Bullying and Cyberbullying

Due to the negative consequences of being bullied and the increase in cyberbullying among adolescents, there is a need for evidence-based programs to prevent and intervene in these types of peer violence. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Prev@cib bullying and cyberbullying program, drawing on three theoretical frameworks: the ecological model, empowerment theory, and the model of personal and social responsibility. The Prev@cib program was evaluated using a repeated-measures pre-post-test design with an experimental group and a control group. The sample consisted of 660 adolescents between 12 and 17 years old (M = 13.58, SD = 1.26), randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. Repeated-measures ANOVA of pre-post-test scores were conducted. Results showed a significant decrease in bullying and victimization and cyberbullying and cybervictimization in the experimental group, compared to the control group, indicating that the Prev@cib program is effective in reducing bullying and cyberbullying. Taking into account the harmful effects of these types of violence, the results have important implications in the prevention of these behaviors because they provide scientific evidence of the program’s effectiveness.

Parental Communication and Feelings of Affiliation in Adolescent Aggressors and Victims of Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is an increasingly frequent problem among adolescents, and it produces considerable social concern. Using a cross-sectional and quantitative methodology, the main objective of this study was to analyze the differences among students involved in the perpetration and victimization of cyberbullying (non-involved, occasional, and severe), in their parental communication, and feelings of affiliation with classmates. The sample consisted of 849 adolescents (51.7% boys and 48.3% girls) from 12 to 18 years old (M = 14.5; SD = 1.62). Three comparison groups of aggressors and victims of cyberbullying were formed, depending on the intensity of the intimidation: non-involved, occasional, and severe. The results of the analysis of variance indicated that adolescents involved in cyberbullying as perpetrators or victims have less open and more avoidant communication with their parents than adolescents who are not involved in cyberbullying. Additionally, victims of cyberbullying perceive lower feelings of affiliation with their classmates, whereas cyberbullies show no differences between the groups on this variable. These new results provide insight into the important role of family and peers in the prevention and eradication of the growing problem of cyberbullying.

Prevalence of Bullying and Cyberbullying in the Last Stage of Primary Education in the Basque Country

Bullying and cyberbullying pose a serious problem in our schools. Despite this research area's increasing relevance, most research into cyberbullying in the present day has focused only on adolescents. However, given the long-lasting effects of victimization, it is necessary to understand its prevalence throughout the different educational stages of students. This study aims to clarify the prevalence of bullying and cyberbullying among students in the 5th and 6th grades. A sample of 1,993 (Mage = 10.68, SD = 0.71; range 9-13) students completed the "Cyberbullying: Screening of Peer-Harassment" test. The results reveal that 20.3% (n = 404) were pure victims, 6.1% (n = 121) pure bullies, 23.9% (n = 476) bully-victims, and 28.9% (n = 575) pure bystanders of bullying. With respect to cyberbullying, 13.4% (n = 267) were pure cybervictims, 0.7% (n = 13) pure cyberbullies, 3.1% cyberbully-victims (n = 62), and 25.6% (n = 510) pure cyberbystanders. In addition, the results reveal that verbal aggression and offensive or insulting messages were the most prevalent forms of aggression in bullying and cyberbullying, respectively. 36.6% of the sample had suffered verbal aggression and 8.4% had received offending or insulting messages. These data show that bullying and cyberbullying are considerably prevalent in this educational stage.

Relationship between cyberbullying and health-related quality of life in a sample of children and adolescents

PURPOSE

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a well-known construct that refers to a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. Its relationship with multiple forms of violence, including bullying, has been widely explored, but this is not the case for cyberbullying. The main objective is to analyze how HRQoL varies depending on the role played in cyberbullying, its temporal stability, and gender and age differences.

METHOD

An analytical and longitudinal study was conducted at two temporal moments. At Time 1 (December 2015), 920 Spanish students aged between 11 and 18 years participated (M_age = 13.36, SD = 1.83: 48.9% boys and 51.1% girls). At Time 2 (April 2016), there were 313 participants (M_age 12.81 years, SD = 1.59: 53.4% boys and 46.6% girls). We used the Cyberbullying Test (technological scale) and the Spanish version of the KIDSCREEN-52.

RESULTS

Cybervictims and cyberbully-victims present worse scores in all dimensions of the KIDSCREEN-52 (p < .001), compared to cyberbystanders or uninvolved individuals. There are gender differences only in cyberaggression and cyberbystanding. There are significant inverse correlations between all the dimensions of the KIDSCREEN-52 and cybervictimization, with Bullying (r = - .603, p < .001), Mood (r = - .329, p < .001), and School environment (r = - .327, p < .001) being particularly relevant. There were statistically significant differences between T1 and T2 for cyberbystanding (lower scores at T2).

CONCLUSION

Cybervictims and cyberbully-victims have worse quality of life in all the dimensions than uninvolved individuals, especially in Psychological well-being, School environment, and Bullying.

Technological Resources to Prevent Cyberbullying During Adolescence: The Cyberprogram 2.0 Program and the Cooperative Cybereduca 2.0 Videogame

Bullying and cyberbullying have serious consequences for all those involved, especially the victims, and its prevalence is high throughout all the years of schooling, which emphasizes the importance of prevention. This article describes an intervention proposal, made up of a program (Cyberprogram 2.0 Garaigordobil and Martínez-Valderrey, 2014a) and a videogame (Cooperative Cybereduca 2.0 Garaigordobil and Martínez-Valderrey, 2016b) which aims to prevent and reduce cyberbullying during adolescence and which has been validated experimentally. The proposal has four objectives: (1) To know what bullying and cyberbullying are, to reflect on the people involved in these situations; (2) to become aware of the harm caused by such behaviors and the severe consequences for all involved; (3) to learn guidelines to prevent and deal with these situations: know what to do when one suffers this kind of violence or when observing that someone else is suffering it; and (4) to foster the development of social and emotional factors that inhibit violent behavior (e.g., communication, ethical-moral values, empathy, cooperation…). The proposal is structured around 25 activities to fulfill these goals and it ends with the videogame. The activities are carried out in the classroom, and the online video is the last activity, which represents the end of the intervention program. The videogame (www.cybereduca.com) is a trivial pursuit game with questions and answers related to bullying/cyberbullying. This cybernetic trivial pursuit is organized around a fantasy story, a comic that guides the game. The videogame contains 120 questions about 5 topics: cyberphenomena, computer technology and safety, cybersexuality, consequences of bullying/cyberbullying, and coping with bullying/cyberbullying. To evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention, a quasi-experimental design, with repeated pretest-posttest measures and control groups, was used. During the pretest and posttest stages, 8 assessment instruments were administered. The experimental group randomly received the intervention proposal, which consisted of one weekly 1-h session during the entire school year. The results obtained with the analyses of variance of the data collected before and after the intervention in the experimental and control groups showed that the proposal significantly promoted the following aspects in the experimental group: (1) a decrease in face-to-face bullying and cyberbullying behaviors, in different types of school violence, premeditated and impulsive aggressiveness, and in the use of aggressive conflict-resolution strategies; and (2) an increase of positive social behaviors, self-esteem, cooperative conflict-resolution strategies, and the capacity for empathy. The results provide empirical evidence for the proposal. The importance of implementing programs to prevent bullying in all its forms, from the beginning of schooling and throughout formal education, is discussed.

Being Bullied in Virtual Environments: Experiences and Reactions of Male and Female Students to a Male or Female Oppressor

Bullying is a pressing societal problem. As such, it is important to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in bullying and of resilience factors which might protect victims. Moreover, it is necessary to provide tools that can train potential victims to strengthen their resilience. To facilitate both of these goals, the current study tests a recently developed virtual environment that puts participants in the role of a victim who is being oppressed by a superior. In a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment (N = 81), we measured the effects of gender of the oppressor and gender of the participant on psychophysiological reactions, subjective experiences and willingness to report the event. The results reveal that even when a male and a female bully show the exact same behavior, the male bully is perceived as more threatening. In terms of gender of the victim, the only difference that emerged was a more pronounced increase in heart rate in males. The results were moderated by the personality factors social gender, neuroticism, and need to belong, while self-esteem did not show any moderating influence.

Cyber Victimization and Depression among Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Buffering Effects of Parental Mediation and Social Support

The purpose of the present study was to examine the buffering effect of parental mediation of technology use and social support from parents on the association between cyber victimization and depression, assessed over one year. Participants were 113 7th through 9th graders from the Midwestern United States (age ranged from 12 to 17 years old; 86% were male) who were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. They completed questionnaires on their perceptions of parental mediation of technology use, perceived social support from parents, and self-reported face-to-face and cyber victimization and depression at Wave 1. One year later, at Wave 2, they completed a questionnaire on their depression. Results indicated that the associations between cyber victimization and depression were more negative at higher levels of perceived parental technology mediation and social support, while these associations were more negative at lower levels of these variables, after controlling for face-to-face victimization and Wave 1 depression.

Maternal depression and bullying victimization among adolescents: Results from the 2004 Pelotas cohort study

BACKGROUND

Maternal depression impacts on several detrimental outcomes during a child's life course, and could increase their risk of victimization. This longitudinal study examined the association between antenatal maternal depression, postnatal trajectories, and current maternal depression and offspring bullying victimization at 11 years.

METHODS

We included 3,441 11-year-old adolescents from the 2004 Pelotas Cohort Study. Antenatal maternal depression, postnatal trajectories, and current maternal depression data were assessed during the follow-up waves. Bullying victimization was self-reported by the adolescents. We used ordinal logistic regression to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), for the association between maternal depression and offspring bullying victimization.

RESULTS

The most prevalent type of bullying was verbal victimization (37.9%). We observed a positive association between antenatal maternal depression, postnatal trajectories, and current maternal depression and physical bullying victimization. Maternal mood symptoms during pregnancy were associated with physical (OR = 1.30, 95%CI = 1.11-1.53), verbal (OR = 1.29, 95%CI = 1.12-1.49), and any victimization (OR = 1.22, 95%CI = 1.05-1.41). Severe current maternal depression was associated with physical (OR = 1.34, 95%CI = 1.10-1.62), social manipulation (OR = 1.29, 95%CI = 1.08-1.53), attacks on property (OR = 1.30, 95%CI = 1.08-1.57) and any victimization (OR = 1.32, 95%CI = 1.12-1.56). Regarding maternal depression trajectories, the "chronic-high" group was associated with higher risk of social manipulation, attacks on property and any victimization, than the "low" group.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results strengthen the evidence of association between maternal depression and offspring bullying victimization, and physical victimization appears to be the main component. Further studies are warranted to confirm our findings and to elucidate the theoretical pathways for this longitudinal association.

Cyberstalking Victimization, Depression, and Academic Performance: The Role of Perceived Social Support from Parents

Little attention has been given to adolescents' experience of cyberstalking and how such experiences relate to their depression and academic performance. It is less clear how other variables, such as perceived social support, might impact these associations. Addressing these gaps in the literature, this study investigated the potential moderating effect of perceived social support from parents on the association between cyberstalking victimization and depression and academic performance, each assessed 1 year later, from 11th to 12th grade. Participants were 413 adolescents (ages 17-19 years old; 54 percent female; M = 17.39 years, SD = 0.53) in the 12th grade from a Midwestern city in the United States. They completed questionnaires on their self-reported face-to-face and cyberstalking victimization, depression, and perceived social support from parents. Adolescents' academic performance was also assessed using their school records. During the 12th grade, depression and academic performance were examined again. The findings indicated that the association between cyberstalking victimization and Time 2 depression was much more positive at lower levels of perceived social support, while such an association was more negative at higher levels of perceived social support. Opposite patterns were found for Time 2 academic performance. The results indicate the need for additional research focused on cyberstalking about adolescents.