Cyberbullying in youth: A pattern of disruptive behavior / El ciberacoso en la juventud: Un patrón de comportamiento disruptivo

Despite the growing diffusion of cyberbullying among students and the numerous studies in the literature, to date relatively little is known about its relationship with school bullying. This article seeks to understand if there is an overlap between the roles of bullies and victims in traditional and electronic bullying. In order to investigate this, 5,058 Italian middle and high school students were surveyed about their experiences of cyberbullying and cybervictimisation, looking also at their involvement in school bullying. The results highlighted a significant overlap between school bullying and cyberbullying, with 12.1% of all students who bullied others at least sometimes being also cyberbullies. Similarly, there was a significant overlap between school victimisation and cybervictimisation, with 7.4% of all students who were victimised at school at least sometimes being also cybervictimised. Our findings confirm the existence of an overlap between school bullying and cyberbullying. We discuss useful intervention programs to reduce or prevent cyberbullying

A pesar de que aumenta la extensión del ciberacoso en estudiantes y de los muchos estudios al respecto, se sabe relativamente poco hasta el momento acerca de su relación con el acoso escolar. El artículo trata de entender si hay solapamiento entre los roles de agresor y víctima en el acoso tradicional y electrónico. Con el objeto de investigarlo se encuestó a 5,058 estudiantes italianos de secundaria y bachillerato sobre su experiencia de ciberacoso y cibervictimización, analizando igualmente la implicación en el acoso escolar. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto un solapamiento importante entre el acoso escolar y el ciberacoso: un 12.1% de todos los estudiantes que habían acosado a los demás al menos algunas veces habían sido también ciberacosadores. También había un solapamiento importante entre la victimización escolar y la cibervictimización: 7.4% de los estudiantes victimizados en la escuela al menos algunas veces habían sido también cibervictimizados. Los resultados confirman la existencia de solapamiento entre acoso escolar y ciberacoso. Se comentan programas de intervención útiles para disminuir o evitar el ciberacoso

Animal abuse among preadolescents directly and indirectly victimized at school and at home.

BACKGROUND: Animal abuse by preadolescents has been associated with their later family violence and/or criminal behaviour; less is known about animal abuse and concurrent experience of being a victim at home and/or school, or of contemporaneous aggression to peers. AIMS: To establish the prevalence of animal abuse among Italian preadolescents and its relationship with experience of abuse at home and school (direct and witnessed), and to peer abuse (bullying). METHOD: An Italian community sample of 268 girls and 264 boys (aged 9-12) completed a self-reported questionnaire about victimization at home and school, animal abuse and bullying. RESULTS: Two in five preadolescents admitted abusing animals at least once in their life, and one in three bullying peers at school, with a higher prevalence among boys. Over three-quarters of all participants reported at least one type of victim experience: one-third had experienced inter-parental violence; over one-third had themselves been abused by one or both parents; two in five had been directly or indirectly victimized at school. Individual tests of association suggested gender differences. Multivariate regression analyses conducted separately for boys and girls showed that the independent variable accounted for more than 25% of the variance for the girls, but less than 10% for the boys. Experiences of abuse were the key independent variables for the girls; other expressions of aggression were the key variables for the boys. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that discovery of animal abuse should prompt further enquiries about other problems that a child may have. Detection of animal abuse by a child could offer an early opportunity for intervention to alleviate internalized damage or other aggressive behaviour.

'What about bullying?' An experimental field study to understand students' attitudes towards bullying and victimization in Italian middle schools.

BACKGROUND: Attitudes towards bullying at school are influential in understanding and preventing bullying behaviour but they should be measured with reference to the particular conditions under which bullying takes place. AIMS: To establish how far positive and negative judgments of bullying and victims and blaming of the victim vary according to the gender of observers, gender of bullies and of victims and whether the bullying took place alone or in group. SAMPLE: Participants were 117 students (49 boys and 68 girls), aged 11-12, recruited from a middle school in Italy randomly allocated to one of four independent groups according to experimental condition: bullying alone among girls, bullying alone among boys, bullying in groups among girls, bullying in groups among boys. METHOD: Participants watched one of four versions of a video according to experimental condition showing a brief standardized bullying episode taking place at a school; they then had to fill in a self-report questionnaire measuring the dependent variables: respondents' positive or negative judgments towards the bully and the victim shown in the video and how far the victim was blamed for what had happened. RESULTS: Overall, results indicate students have positive attitudes towards the victims of bullying and tend not to blame them for what has happened. However, same gender identification lead girls to blame male victims more than female victims and the reverse applies in case of boys providing their judgments. A bully acting alone is considered stronger and braver than when acting in a group. CONCLUSIONS: The limits and potential of the study are presented with special attention to implications for intervention strategies in school by focusing on the role observers could play in supporting the victims and discouraging the bullies.

Direct and vicarious victimization at school and at home as risk factors for suicidal cognition among Italian adolescents.

Suicidal cognition is defined here as the combination of thinking about committing suicide and engaging in self-harm and is considered to indicate maladjustment following an extreme internalized reaction to negative life events. Victimization at home and at school might lead some youth to suicidal cognition. The present study aimed to examine cross-sectional predictors of suicidal cognition focusing on the unique influence of 'direct victimization' at school by peers and at home by parents, over and above that of vicarious victimization (i.e. exposure to domestic violence). Participants were 998 adolescents randomly recruited from high schools in Italy who had to fill in a cross-sectional survey measuring different dimensions associated with suicidal cognition. Thoughts about committing suicide and self-harming in the previous 6 months were reported by almost a fourth of the whole sample, with girls having these thoughts more frequently than boys. A high prevalence rate was reported also for direct victimization at school (over half of the sample), and at home (a third of the sample) and for vicarious victimization at home (reported by a fifth of the entire sample). Multiple hierarchical regressions showed that a significant proportion of the total variance of suicidal cognition was explained by gender and age, meaning that older girls are more at risk of suicidal cognition than boys; relational victimization at school is also a risk factor. Direct victimization at home by the father for boys and by the father and the mother for girls significantly predicted suicidal cognition after controlling for exposure to domestic violence.

Bullying in schools and exposure to domestic violence.

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to investigate the relationship between bullying and victimization in school and exposure to interparental violence in a nonclinical sample of Italian youngsters. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 1059 Italian elementary and middle school students. Participants completed a self-report anonymous questionnaire measuring bullying and victimization and exposure to interparental violence. The questionnaire also included measures on parental child abuse and socio-demographic variables. RESULTS: Almost half of all boys and girls reported different types of bullying and victimization in the previous 3 months, with boys more involved than girls in bullying others. Exposure to interparental physical violence and direct bullying were significantly associated especially for girls: girls exposed to father's violence against the mother and those exposed to mother's violence against the father were among the most likely to bully directly others compared with girls who had not been exposed to any interparental violence. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that bullying and victimization were predicted by exposure to interparental violence, especially mother-to-father violence, over and above age, gender, and child abuse by the father. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to interparental violence is associated with bullying and victimization in school, even after controlling for direct child abuse. Violence within the family has detrimental effects on the child's behavior; schools, in this regard, can play a fundamental role in early detection of maladjustment.