Non-Disclosure and Suicidal Ideation in Adolescent Victims of Bullying: An Analysis from the Family and School Context.

In recent years, suicide rates among bullying victims have raised much concern among educators and health professionals. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of preventable death among adolescents, data that warn about the need to monitor the signs before victims' suicidal behavior to prevent this fatal outcome. In the present study, the role of victims' silence about their victimization situation was analysed, as well as the particular impact of family and school environments. More specifically, we examined the mediating role of the victim's non-disclosure between the parental styles (observing the father's and mother's roles separately) and the school climate, concerning suicidal ideation in victims. The sample consisted of 2,977 adolescents (48.5% boys), aged 11-17 years (M = 14.1, SD = 1.42), of whom 635 (21.3%) reported having been victims of bullying in the past year. The results showed that parental styles of rejection and indifference were positively related to victims' non-disclosure of bullying and suicidal ideation. Conversely, a positive school climate showed a negative relationship with victims' disclosure of the bullying situation and suicidal ideation. The findings also indicated that non-disclosure mediates the relationship between the mother's parental style and suicidal ideation. These findings expand knowledge about the role of bullying victims' social context and the variable disclosure with regards to suicidal ideation in adolescents victimized by peers at school.

En los últimos años, el índice de suicidio entre las víctimas de acoso escolar ha generado mucha preocupación en los educadores y los profesionales de la salud. El suicidio es la cuarta causa de muerte prevenible entre los adolescentes, datos que alertan sobre la necesidad de vigilar los signos ante la conducta suicida de las víctimas para prevenir el fatal desenlace. En el presente estudio se analizó el papel del silencio de las víctimas en su victimización, así como el impacto particular del entorno familiar y escolar. Más concretamente, se analizó el papel mediador del silencio de la víctima entre los estilos parentales (considerando el rol del padre y de la madre por separado) y el clima escolar en la ideación suicida en las víctimas. La muestra constaba de 2,977 adolescentes (48.5% varones), en edades comprendidas entre 11 y 17 años (M = 14.1, DT = 1.42), de los cuales 635 (21.3%) indicaron haber sido víctimas de acoso escolar en el último año. Los resultados mostraron que los estilos parentales de rechazo e indiferencia se relacionaban positivamente con el silencio de las víctimas y la ideación suicida. Por el contrario, un clima escolar positivo mostraba una relación negativa con la revelación de la situación de acoso y la ideación suicida de los estudiantes victimizados. Los hallazgos también indican que el silencio de las víctimas media la relación entre el estilo parental de la madre y la ideación suicida. Estos resultados amplían el conocimiento del papel del contexto social de las víctimas de acoso y de la variable silencio con respecto a la ideación suicida en adolescentes victimizados en la escuela por compañeros.

Proposal for Modeling Motivational Strategies for Autonomy Support in Physical Education.

The motivational style that teachers adopt during their interactions with their students in class can have a significant influence on the search for optimal and balanced development. Knowing the role of motivation in generating positive change, the key is to define the strategies that constitute an adaptive motivational style of teaching. The aim of this study was to design and validate the set of motivational strategies to support autonomy that are framed within the Self-Determination Theory in the context of physical education classes. For this purpose, a five-phase process was designed and carried out in one study involving different samples of experts, teachers and students. On the one hand, 25 autonomy-supportive motivational strategies were obtained and organized according to their perceived difficulty. We also analyzed the importance attributed by teachers and the difficulty of implementing them, as well as the autonomy support perceived by students through these strategies. The results obtained made it possible to present a behavior-optimizing solution consisting of a progression of 25 autonomy support strategies. The results obtained are discussed in terms of their value in the design of educational scenarios that promote high-quality student motivation.

Academic Competence, Teacher-Student Relationship, and Violence and Victimisation in Adolescents: The Classroom Climate as a Mediator.

School violence is a serious social and public health problem prevalent worldwide. Although the relevance of teacher and classroom factors is well established in the literature, few studies have focused on the role of teacher perceptions in school violence and victimisation and the potential mediational role of classroom climate in this relationship. A total of 2399 adolescents (50% girls), aged between 11 and 18 years (M = 14.65, SD = 1.78) and enrolled in five Spanish Secondary Compulsory Education schools completed measures of classroom climate, school violence towards peers and perception of peer victimisation, and their teachers informed about their academic competence and the teacher-student relationship. Correlational analyses revealed that whereas academic competence perceived by the teacher was negatively related to overt violence and victimisation, its relationship with pure relational violence was positive. Structural equation modelling analyses showed that variables of classroom climate (involvement, affiliation, and teacher support) perceived by the students functioned as partial mediators between teacher perceptions of academic competence and of teacher-student relationship and violence and victimisation. In the mediational model, teacher perception of academic competence acted as a direct protective factor against violence and victimisation, and teacher perception of teacher-student relationship acted as a direct risk for violence, as well as an indirect protective factor through classroom climate for victimisation. The interpretation of these results points to the importance of the teacher's subjective perceptions in the prevention of violence and victimisation problems and their practical implications for the classroom climate perceived by students.

Transactional Links between Teacher-Adolescent Support, Relatedness, and Aggression at School: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study.

This study examines the reciprocal effects between two school-based relationships within the classroom-namely, perceived teacher support and relatedness with classmates-and school aggression (overt and relational) across two courses of secondary education. Participants were 654 adolescents (48% boys), who were assessed in three waves: first, at the beginning of the academic year (T0), second, at the end of the same academic year (T1), and third, at the beginning of the next academic year (T2) (Mage wave 1 = 13.98 years). Autoregressive cross-lagged modeling was applied. Results show a protective effect of relatedness against relational aggression in both genders. Moreover, we observed a protective effect of perceived teacher support at the beginning of the course for later school aggression as well as a risk effect if this perceived teacher support is maintained throughout the course. These effects were observed in relation with gender-atypical forms of aggression (overt in girls and relational in boys). Finally, aggression had negative consequences for relatedness in girls and for teacher support through the mediation of relatedness in boys. Gender differences and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Regular physical activity-related awareness and knowledge in Portugal: results from a population-based survey.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that adequate physical activity (PA, defined as any bodily movement that requires energy expenditure) related awareness and knowledge is crucial to promote regular PA. Therefore, this study aims to characterize PA awareness and knowledge, and to quantify its association with sociodemographic characteristics, health literacy and frequency of exercise. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study conducted in 2012, a total of 1624 Portuguese-speaking residents of mainland Portugal (16-79 years old) were assessed through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire. Adjusted prevalence ratios, calculated using Poisson regression, were used to quantify associations with PA awareness and knowledge. RESULTS: The most reported benefits of PA were "reduces abdominal fat accumulation" (95.8%), "reduces myocardial infarction risk" (92.9%) and "improves bone health" (90.7%), these were less referred by older participants, while more often identified by those who exercise daily. The most referred barrier for people to not practice PA regularly was "lack of time" (33.9%) with differences observed by sex, age, education, employment and health literacy. Over two-thirds of participants correctly identified at least 2 of 3 PAs ("running", "soccer" and "tennis") that require the most energy, particularly males, those with higher health literacy and who exercise twice or more times a week. CONCLUSIONS: An adequate PA-related awareness and knowledge was observed, and differences according to age, health literacy levels and frequency of exercise were found. As such, awareness-raising interventions to increase regular PA through improving physical literacy and motivation should focus on older adults, those with limited health literacy and who do not exercise.

Empathy and Emotional Intelligence in Adolescent Cyberaggressors and Cybervictims.

The main objective of the present research was to examine the role played by emotional intelligence in its three dimensions-emotional attention, emotional clarity, and emotion regulation-and by empathy in its four dimensions-perspective-taking, empathic understanding, empathic stress, and empathic joy-in cyber violence, both in aggressors and victims. A total sample of 1318 adolescents (47% boys; aged between 11 and 17 years), enrolled in four secondary compulsory education schools in Spain, participated in the study. The results indicated that, regarding emotional intelligence, cyberaggressors showed statistically significant differences in the dimension of emotion regulation. Participation in violent online behaviors is associated with a lower capacity to regulate emotions; cybervictims showed statistically significant differences in the three dimensions of emotional intelligence. Regarding empathy, cyberaggressors obtained statistically significant group differences in three of these dimensions: perspective-taking, empathetic joy, and empathic stress. Finally, the empathy dimensions for the cybervictimization groups did not show significant mean differences, indicating that there was no statistical relationship between the degree of cybervictimization and the individual's empathy. These findings stress the relevance of emotion regulation in cyberviolence in students in adolescence and allow us to understand the different roles it plays for offenders and victims.

The Impact of Cybervictimization on Psychological Adjustment in Adolescence: Analyzing the Role of Emotional Intelligence.

Cybervictimization has been associated with serious emotional adjustment problems such as low self-concept and depressive symptomatology. In addition, these problems can negatively affect the well-being of the victims, manifesting in their levels of satisfaction with life. However, it should be noted that not all cybervictims develop these consequences with the same intensity. These differences seem to be related to the development of emotional intelligence (EI), as it can positively influence adolescents' emotional adjustment and well-being even when problems arise. The objective of this work was to analyze the role of EI on cybervictimization and adolescents' emotional adjustment, especially in self-concept, depression, and life satisfaction. The participants in the study were 1318 adolescents of both sexes and aged between 11 and 18 years (M = 13.8, SD = 1.32), from four secondary compulsory education centers in Spain. EI influences the relationship between self-concept and life satisfaction, and between depression and life satisfaction. In addition, the relationships of cybervictimization with self-concept and depression are influenced when introducing EI and its dimensions (emotional attention, clarity, regulation). These data support the idea that EI may affect the relationship between cybervictimization and adolescents' emotional adjustment.

Loneliness, Family Communication, and School Adjustment in a Sample of Cybervictimized Adolescents.

The objective of this study was to compare individual, family, and social variables, such as the perception of loneliness, family communication, and school adjustment in a sample of 2399 Andalusian (Spanish) adolescents aged 12 to 18 (M = 14.63, SD = 1.91) suffering from cybervictimization (low, moderate, and high). The results show that adolescents suffering from high cybervictimization report more loneliness, more problematic communication with both parents, and worse school adjustment than the rest of the groups. Regarding gender, differences are observed in open communication with the mother and in the dimensions of school adjustment, being more favorable for girls. However, there were no significant differences between girls and boys in the loneliness variable. The interaction effects indicate, on the one hand, that female severe cybervictims present more avoidant communication with the mother than the other groups, and, on the other hand, that male cybervictims of all three groups and female severe cybervictims have lower academic competence than the group of female low cybervictims, followed by female moderate cybervictims. These data support the idea that, depending on its intensity and duration, cybervictimization affects girls and boys differently in terms of individual, family, and social variables.

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.

Continuity and Overlap of Roles in Victims and Aggressors of Bullying and Cyberbullying in Adolescence: A Systematic Review.

The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of research focused on analyzing the overlap and continuity of the roles in victims and aggressors of bullying and cyberbullying, as well as the exchange of roles in both harassment dynamics in adolescents. Searches in the main electronic databases for studies published in the last 20 years identified 19 studies that fulfilled inclusion criteria. The findings of the studies analyzed were not homogeneous, however, the main conclusion of all of them, to a greater or lesser extent, was that there is a component of continuity or superposition in the roles of both forms of bullying. Some studies also found an exchange of roles, especially in the case of victims and cybervictims who decide to reprimand their aggressors in an online context, becoming in cyberaggressors too. It is necessary to continue investigating the coexistence of bullying and cyberbullying and its exchange in certain contexts and people, as well as whether they are part of the same phenomenon with a certain continuity, or if cyberbullying is another expression of traditional bullying. Future intervention programs focusing on traditional school bullying could also evaluate their impact in situations of cyberbullying among peers.

The Influence of Bullying and Cyberbullying in the Psychological Adjustment of Victims and Aggressors in Adolescence.

The objective of the present study was to analyze the extent to which violent peer behavior and victimization, both traditional and cybernetic, and predict certain indicators of psychological maladjustment in adolescents, such as self-concept, satisfaction with life, feeling of loneliness, depressive symptomatology, perceived stress, social anxiety, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Participants in the study were 1318 adolescents of both sexes, aged between 11 and 18 years and enrolled in Compulsory Secondary Education schools. The design of the study was cross-sectional. The results indicated that the victims generally present greater maladjustment than the aggressors. Both victims and cybervictims showed a greater decrease in all the dimensions of self-concept, compared with aggressors and cyberaggressors. However, the two types of aggressors showed a higher likelihood of presenting low levels of empathy. Feeling of loneliness, depressive symptomatology, perceived stress, and degree of life satisfaction was more probable to be present in all groups of aggressors and victims. Finally, with regard to emotional intelligence, victims had a higher probability of obtaining low scores in all the dimensions of this construct; this was the case for traditional aggressors only in the dimension of emotion regulation. These results contribute to our understanding of the consequences of harassment in the adaptation of the students involved, with relevant practical implications.

Family Communication and Verbal Child-to-Parent Violence among Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Perceived Stress.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of reported incidents of child-to-parent violence (CPV); however, this type of intra-family violence remains vastly understudied compared with other forms of family violence. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between family communication and verbal CPV through the mediation of adolescent perceived stress. The sample consisted of 2399 Spanish students of both genders between the ages of 11 and 20 years. Results show that problematic family communication is a risk factor for the presence of verbally abusive behavior towards parents, with a direct and indirect relationship through perceived stress. Open family communication is presented as a protective factor against verbally abusive behavior due to a negative relationship with perceived stress. Results point to a mediating role of perceived stress, which would explain the mechanism which links the quality of family communication to verbal violence towards parents. Implications of these results are discussed.

Aggressive behavior in adolescence as a predictor of personal, family, and school adjustment problems.

BACKGROUND: The goal of the present study was to determine the extent to which aggressive behavior towards peers predicts greater personal, school, and family maladjustment in adolescent aggressors of both sexes. METHOD: The sample consisted of 1510 Spanish adolescents from 12 to 17 years old, who anonymously and voluntarily completed self-report questionnaires. RESULTS: Binary Logistic regression analysis showed that, regarding personal adjustment, aggressive behavior was significantly associated with high scores in depressive symptomatology, perceived stress and loneliness, and low scores in self-esteem, life satisfaction and empathy, for both sexes. In the school setting, aggressive behavior was related to low scores in academic engagement, friends in the classroom, perception of teacher support, and a positive attitude towards school. At the family level, significant relationships were observed between aggressive behavior and high scores in offensive communication and family conflict, and low scores in open communication with parents, general expressiveness, and family cohesion. CONCLUSIONS: In cases of peer violence it is necessary to give urgent attention to all those involved, since maladjustment in aggressors can be predicted in many levels of intervention.

Parenting Style and Reactive and Proactive Adolescent Violence: Evidence from Spain.

The aim of the present study was to analyze the relationship between the parenting styles-authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian, and neglectful-and reactive and proactive school violence among peers. These analyses were also performed by sex and age groups. The sample consisted of 2399 Spanish adolescents (50.2% male), aged between 12 and 18 years, mean (M) = 14.69, standard deviation (SD) = 1.82. A multivariate analisys of variance (MANOVA, 4 × 2 × 2) was applied, considering parenting style, sex, and age group (12⁻14 and 15⁻18 years) as independent variables to analyze the possible effects of interaction. Reactive, proactive, and pure violence were the dependent variables. The results showed the main effects of parenting styles, sex, and age, as well as an interaction between sex, age, and parenting styles. The interpretation of the findings suggested that the authoritarian parenting style was related to greater engagement in proactive and reactive violent behaviors. In relation to the effect of the interaction between sex, age, and parenting styles, it was observed that adolescents from indulgent families, of both sexes and in any of the studied age groups, obtained lower scores in proactive violence. The discussion highlights the importance of affection and warmth for well-adjusted children's behavior.

School aggression in adolescence: Examining the role of individual, family and school variables.

Background/Objective: The purpose of the present study was to analyse the role of family and classroom environments on the development of particular individual characteristics including level of empathy, attitude to institutional authority and perceived social reputation, and the mediational role these characteristics may play in school aggression. Relationships among variables were analysed by gender. Method: Participants in the study were 1,494 Mexican adolescents aged 12 to 18, 45% male, and drawn from six secondary schools. Structural equation models were calculated to test mediational effects among variables. Results: Findings obtained indicated that the level of empathy, the social reputation, and the attitude to authority mediated the relationship between the environment perceived by boys at home and school, and their aggressive behaviour at school. This mediation was partial for girls. Conclusions: Differences between genders and the importance of the adolescent-context interrelations in the explanation of their aggressive behaviour at school were discussed.

Antecedentes/Objetivo: El propósito del presente estudio fue analizar el papel de los entornos familiares y del aula en el desarrollo de características particulares del adolescente, incluyendo el nivel de empatía, la actitud hacia la autoridad institucional y la reputación social percibida, y el papel mediador que estas características pueden desempeñar en la agresión escolar. Las relaciones entre las variables se analizaron en función del género. Método: Los participantes fueron 1.494 adolescentes mexicanos de 12 a 18 años, 45% varones, procedentes de seis escuelas secundarias. Se calcularon modelos de ecuaciones estructurales para probar efectos mediadores entre las variables. Resultados: Los resultados obtenidos indicaron que el nivel de empatía, la reputación social y la actitud hacia la autoridad mediaron la relación entre el ambiente percibido por los chicos adolescentes en la familia y en el aula y su comportamiento agresivo en la escuela. Esta mediación fue parcial para las chicas. Conclusiones: Se discuten las diferencias encontradas en función del género y la importancia de las interrelaciones adolescente-contexto en la explicación de su comportamiento agresivo en la escuela.

The influence of violent behavior and victimization at school on psychological distress: the role of parents and teachers.

This study examined the role of adolescents' interactions with both parents and teachers in the relationship between violent behavior/victimization at school and adolescent psychological distresss (depression and stress). Participants were 983 Spanish adolescents (mean age 13.7 years) from four public schools in the Valencian Community. Statistical analyses were carried out using structural equation modeling. Results showed victimization to be directly and positively related to psychological distress. Moreover, victimization was associated with negative father-adolescent communication, which mediated a part of the influence of victimization on distress. Regarding school-based violent behavior, no direct effect on psychological adjustment was found. Results showed, however, an indirect effect: violent behavior negatively influenced communication with parents and interaction with teachers which, in turn, was related to poor psychological adjustment. This model accounted for 47.7% of the variance in psychological distress. Findings are discussed in relation to previous research on adolescent psychosocial adjustment, and directions for future research are suggested.

Programas de intervención en acoso escolar y ciberacoso en educación secundaria con eficacia evaluada: una revisión sistemática / Intervention programs in school bullying and cyberbullying in secondary education with effectively evaluated: A systematic review

Resumen En numerosos países no existen hoy normativas que regulen de forma específica e integral la intervención en situaciones de acoso escolar y ciberacoso, sino que existe una diversidad de protocolos y programas que, además, no han sido habitualmente partícipes de un proceso de evaluación de la eficacia de su implementación. El objetivo del presente trabajo tiene como finalidad hacer una revisión sistemática de las publicaciones existentes en las últimas dos décadas de programas de prevención e intervención en acoso escolar y ciberacoso, desarrollados en España, para el estudiantado de secundaria, implementados en escuelas y que, además, hayan incluido una evaluación de su eficacia. Un total de 10 programas cumplieron los criterios de inclusión. El análisis de los programas permite identificar diseños de intervención con eficacia moderada y alta. Sin la diversidad de enfoques, objetivos específicos y medidas de evaluación, no es posible identificar claves de eficacia generalizables.

Abstract There is currently no regulation in many countries that specifically and comprehensively regulates the intervention in bullying and cyberbullying situations, but rather a variety of protocols and programs that, moreover, have not usually been part of a process to evaluate the effectiveness of their implementation. The objective of the present work was to carry out a systematic review of the existing publications in the last two decades on prevention and intervention programs in school bullying and cyberbullying developed in Spain for secondary school students, implemented in schools, and that have also included an evaluation of its effectiveness A total of 10 programs met the inclusion criteria. The analysis of the programs allows the identification of intervention designs with moderate and high efficiency, although the diversity of approaches, specific objectives and evaluation measures does not make it possible to identify generalizable efficiency keys.

An analysis of the relationship between victimization and violent behavior at school.

Previous studies have identified two subgroups of school violence victims: submissive and aggressive. Submissive victims are characterized by their withdrawal in violent situations, while aggressive victims combine hostile behavior with victimization. This study focuses on the second subgroup and aims to analyze possible factors influencing the transition from passive victimization to involvement in aggressive behaviors within the school context. To test these relationships, 1319 adolescents between 12 and 16 years of age were recruited from seven secondary schools in various Spanish provinces. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to analyze the data. Results supported Emler's theory, which posits that the victim's helplessness in situations of intimidation, along with disappointment resulting from a lack of expected protection from adult authority figures, may result in adolescents searching and developing an antisocial and non-conformist reputation that helps them defend themselves against future attacks. Practical implications of these results are further discussed.

[School Anxiety Inventory: validation in a sample of Spanish secondary education students]. / Inventario de Ansiedad Escolar: validación en una muestra de estudiantes de Educación Secundaria.

The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric evidence of scores on the School Anxiety Inventory (SAI). The SAI was administered to a sample of 520 secondary education students, aged from 12 to 18 years. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the correlated four-factor structure related to school situations (Anxiety about Academic Failure and Punishment, Anxiety about Aggression, Anxiety about Social Evaluation, and Anxiety about Academic Evaluation) and the three-factor structure related to the response systems of anxiety (Cognitive Anxiety, Psychophysiological Anxiety, and Behavioral Anxiety). Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were appropriate. The results also revealed positive and statistically significant correlations between the SAI and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).

The relationships of adolescent school-related deviant behaviour and victimization with psychological distress: testing a general model of the mediational role of parents and teachers across groups of gender and age.

Deviant behaviour and victimization at school have been consistently related to poor psychological adjustment in adolescents. This research explores the mediating role that parents and teachers have in adolescent psychological distress in 973 Spanish students aged 11-16 years old. Structural equation analyses results showed that adolescent deviant behaviour and victimization were positively related to psychological distress as seen by the total effects. However, while victimization was directly related to psychological distress, the association of deviant behaviour and psychological distress was mediated by adolescent-parent communication and adolescent-teacher relationships. Multigroup analyses showed that relationships among variables were not significantly different for groups of age and gender.