Validation of the questionnaire to measure Chilean teachers' perception of school violence and coexistence management (VI+GEC).

In this article, we present the development and validation of a psychometric scale that measures the teacher's perception in the Chilean school system with respect to elements of school violence and coexistence management. The novelty lies in the incorporation of factors that address violence from teachers to students, from students to teachers and coexistence management. A total of 1072 teachers from the Northern, Central, Southern and Metropolitan macro-zones of Chile participated, with ages between 22 and 76 years (M=44.56; SD=10.52) and from 1 to 54 years of work (M=17.14; SD=10.38). 76.3% identify with the female gender and 23.7% with the male gender. Of the teachers, 78.4% worked mainly in the classroom and the rest performed managerial or administrative functions outside the classroom in the school. The school violence and coexistence management questionnaire for teachers (VI+GEC) was used. The validity of the scale was demonstrated by means of Confirmatory Factor Analysis, convergent validity analysis and discriminant validity. Reliability was demonstrated by means of McDonald's omega coefficient in all the factors of the scale. An analysis with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) found a mean, and statistically significant influence of the perception of coexistence management on the perception of school violence. The findings are discussed in terms of previous research on school violence and coexistence management.

Attachment Style and Emotional Regulation as Protective and Risk Factors in Mutual Dating Violence among Youngsters: A Moderated Mediation Model.

Violence in intimate partner relationships among young adults has become a global health problem given its prevalence and its negative effects on physical and psychological well-being. The severity of the problem has given rise to a large body of research that has attempted to find the variables associated with victimization in young couples (for example, attachment style, emotional regulation skills or empathy, among others). Moreover, traditionally, many of these investigations have only considered the point of view of female victims within a gender violence approach. However, in recent times, more and more evidence of the existence of mutual violence in young relationships has been found. These findings, combined with simplistic explanations of the phenomenon, have proven to be insufficient to prevent it. In this context, the main objective of this study was to investigate how some variables linked to dating violence interact with each other, modifying the mutual violence young people suffer and exercise. Considering this, different instruments were administered (the Experience in Close Relationships Scale (ECR-R); Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale (DERS-E); Basic Empathy Scale (BES); and Multidimensional Couple Violence Scale (EMVN)) to a sample of 557 young Chileans. The analysis of the results, based on the construction of a moderated mediation model, reveals that difficulties in emotional regulation are a predictor of violence in intimate partner relationships, whose direct and indirect effects on the violence exercised can be moderated by that partner's attachment style. The findings also reveal that there is no association between empathy and violence, and they highlight that both men and women are victims and aggressors at the same time. This demonstrate the need to consider prevention and intervention strategies aimed at both sexes, since intimate partner violence is mutual and reciprocal.

Validation of an Abbreviated Scale of the CENVI Questionnaire to Evaluate the Perception of School Violence and Coexistence Management of Chilean Students: Differences between Pandemic and Post-Pandemic.

The objective of the study was to specify an abbreviated model of the school coexistence questionnaire for non-violence (CENVI) for students from 5th to 8th grade (9 to 14 years old), in order to determine the perception of violence and management of school coexistence, and the differences between Mapuche and non-Mapuche students. A total of 1870 students from schools in the city of Temuco (Chile) responded to the CENVI questionnaire. There were two samples: (1) Pandemic, with online, face-to-face and hybrid classes; and (2) Post-pandemic, with face-to-face classes. Sample 1 consisted of 848 students aged 9 to 15 years (M = 11.90; SD = 1.27). Sample 2 consisted of 1022 students aged 9 to 14 years (M = 11.46; SD = 1.14). The questionnaire was validated using expert inter-judgment and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. A good fit of the proposed model to the data and good internal consistency measured according to the composite reliability were found, and convergent validity was demonstrated. Mapuche students perceived more physical violence and social exclusion. Cut-off points were proposed for the interpretation of the results. In the data, the effect of Coexistence Management on School Violence was null. The discussion approaches the findings from the literature on education in spaces of socio-cultural diversity in a Mapuche context.

Victimization Perceived and Experienced by Teens in an Abusive Dating Relationship: The Need to Tear down Social Myths.

The phenomenon of adolescent dating violence is a social health problem that affects thousands of people in different contexts and parts of the world. To date, much of the work that has focused on analysing this phenomenon has tended to study it from the perspective of victimized adolescent girls, considering that gender violence predominates in violent pair relationships. Nonetheless, there is a growing body of evidence that the victimization of adolescent boys is a reality. Thus, mutual violence between boys and girls is increasingly prevalent. Given this context, the present study's objective was to analyse and compare the victimization profile of a sample of female and male adolescents, taking into account the variables most commonly associated with victimization in these abusive relationships (perceived violence suffered, perceived severity, sexism, and moral disengagement). With this objective, different instruments were administered (CUVINO, Scale of Detection of Sexism Adolescents (DSA), and Mechanism of Moral Disengagement Scale (MMDS)). Data analysis based on the construction of a multiple linear regression model confirmed that the boys and girls in the sample revealed having suffered violence from their partners to a different degree. It is evident that the victimization profile of the two sexes is different. Thus, boys show less perception of severity, more sexism, and greater use of certain moral disengagement mechanisms than girls. These results reveal the need to tear down social myths and construct prevention programs that take into account different victimization profiles.

Health Service Protection vis-à-vis the Detection of Psychosocial Risks of Suicide during the Years 2019-2021.

Health services are especially relevant in suicide prevention and intervention, representing a favourable environment in which to implement specific strategies to detect and address suicidal behaviours. Indeed, a significant proportion of people who die by suicide (DBS) present at primary care and mental health services during the last year, month, or even days before committing suicide. The objective of this descriptive and cross-sectional study of all registered cases of death by suicide (N = 265) in Extremadura (Spain) was to determine which of those people who died by suicide had mental health problems (MHP) and what type of assistance they had requested. Diagnoses, previous suicide attempts, type of health service, and last visit before death were explored with univariate analyses and logistic regressions. The proportion of people without MHP was found to be high, and these people had hardly visited the health services at all in their last year. People with MHP, between the ages of 40 and 69, and with previous suicide attempts were more likely to have visited the mental health service in the three months prior to their death. It is, thus, necessary to provide health professionals with tools and training in the prevention of and approach to suicide. Efforts must be directed towards effectively assessing mental health and the risk of suicide since a large proportion of people who die by suicide may go unnoticed.

Suicidal Behaviour as an Emerging Factor in Female Victims of Gender-Based Violence within a Relationship: An Exploratory Study.

Intimate partner violence (IPV), in addition to being an important public health problem, is a risk factor for suicidal behaviour (SB). The objective of this study was to explore the risk of suicidal behaviour associated with the different forms of abuse and the consequences derived from it. This exploratory study was conducted on a sample of women who experienced IPV (N = 70) in the Extremadura Region (Spain). Demographic factors, abuse experience, suicidal ideation (SI), suicidal communication (SC), and suicide attempts (SAs) were analysed according to the type of abuse. We found that a very high prevalence of psychological violence (IPVp) was accompanied, in most cases, by some other type of abuse (IPVp+). Additionally, a significant relationship was found between IPV and SB. Logistic regression revealed a greater risk of SI and SA in the IPVp+ group. The results of this study could be useful to healthcare service professionals in preventing suicidal behaviour.

Influence of Cross-Cultural Factors about Sexism, Perception of Severity, Victimization, and Gender Violence in Adolescent Dating Relationships.

The phenomenon of adolescent dating violence directed towards women is a widespread social health problem all over the world. Various investigations over time have analysed and studied this problem from different perspectives, taking into account both the aggressors and the victims. However, apart from these perspectives there are other approaches that have been less explored. This study analyses the phenomenon from a cultural point of view. It looks at the way in which variables such as hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, and the perception of severity attributed to violent behaviour perpetrated by the aggressor can differ depending on the country of origin of a group of victimized adolescent women, specifically, from Spain and Ecuador. The data analysis, based on the construction of a moderated mediation model, revealed that while hostile sexism seems to be linked to a greater extent with traditional cultures, benevolent sexism is highly relevant in today's society, and modifies the severity that young female victims attribute to violent behaviour and ultimately affects the frequency of victimization. These results revealed the importance of culture and the way in which violence is perceived in different countries as an essential aspect that must be taken into account to guide the construction of effective prevention programs adapted to the specific target groups of adolescents.

Analysis of Representations of the Aid That Public Psychological Support Points Provide to Adolescent Female Victims of Gender-Based Violence: Reformulation of Policies and Practices.

Gender-based violence in adolescence has become a social health problem that is creating great concern and interest worldwide. In this regard, knowledge of the role taken by the professionals responsible for screening, detecting, referring, and caring for adolescent victims is essential to be able to understand the phenomenon and its characteristics in a practical way. In this sense, psychologists specialising in the care of victims of adolescent gender-based violence have complete and in-depth knowledge, not only of the phenomenon itself and the way in which it is presented in society, but also of the features presented by these victims and the aspects that need to be worked on during the intervention process. Given this context, a series of interviews with psychologists specialised in the care of gender-based violence victims were subjected to a qualitative deductive/inductive analysis. These interviews addressed the psychologists' theoretical-practical knowledge about the adolescent gender-based violence phenomenon. The analysis of the results points to the victims' irrational ideas regarding abusive relationships, to the form in which Psychological Support Points are organised to help the victims, and to the strengths, weaknesses, and needs of these centres for them to be able to improve their operation and effectiveness in providing comprehensive care for adolescents beyond the psychological consultations themselves.

Perception of School Violence: Indicators of Normalization in Mapuche and Non-Mapuche Students.

The current social and political scenario in Chile has opened up the debate on two centuries of usurpation and discrimination towards the Mapuche people. Educational centers are not oblivious to the social exclusion faced by indigenous children and young people, and this forms part of the phenomenon of school violence. This study explores the differences in perception between Mapuche and non-Mapuche students regarding school violence. The issue is the lack of knowledge regarding cultural variations in the perception of school violence in spaces of social and cultural diversity in the Mapuche context. This study describes the characteristics of school violence perceived by students in relation to differences based on ancestry and characterizes the variations in perception. A total of 1404 students participated from urban schools in the city of Temuco, Chile, aged 10 to 13 (M = 11.4; SD = 1.1) who completed the CENVI questionnaire. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the total sample and categories provides indexes that fit the proposed model. The omega coefficients provide internal reliability guarantees. This study tests configural, metric and scalar invariance for all the categories explored, and statistically significant differences are found between Mapuche and non-Mapuche students in the perception of physical and verbal violence, where the Mapuche student perceives more violence. Results are discussed based on existing research on education in spaces of social and cultural diversity in the Mapuche context, with research into elements that can help explain the findings.

Gender-Based Violence in Adolescent Dating from a Medical Perspective: A Qualitative Study of the Needs Felt in Primary Healthcare Centres.

Violence in adolescent dating has become a worrying public health problem. Research carried out on the issue has focused on identifying the causes of this phenomenon. However, difficulties have been found in designing and implementing effective prevention programs. In this context, primary healthcare physicians are one of the most important figures in screening for and detecting this phenomenon, since, in many cases, they are the first to have contact with the victims. The present study focuses on the qualitative analysis of a series of interviews carried out with 95 primary healthcare physicians in Extremadura, Spain. These interviews addressed various questions related to the theoretical and practical knowledge that the physicians have about the topic. The analysis of their responses reveals some of the strengths and weaknesses of the Spanish public health system, at the same time as pointing to what is needed to be able to improve comprehensive intervention for the victims, from the moment they arrive for their first consultation until they are treated and referred to different health specialists.

Analysis of the Explanatory Variables of the Differences in Perceptions of Cyberbullying: A Role-Based-Model Approach.

The controversies that exist regarding the delimitation of the cyberbullying construct demonstrate the need for further research focused on determining the criteria that shape the structure of the perceptions that adolescents have of this phenomenon and on seeking explanations of this behavior. The objectives of this study were to (a) construct possible explanatory models of the perception of cyberbullying from identifying and relating the criteria that form this construct and (b) analyze the influence of previous cyber victimization and cyber aggression experiences in the construction of explanatory models of the perception of cyberbullying. The sample consisted of 2,148 adolescents (49.1% girls; SD = 0.5) aged from 12 to 16 years (M = 13.9 years; SD = 1.2). The results have shown that previous cyber victimization and cyber aggression experiences lead to major differences in the explanatory models to interpret cyber-abusive behavior as cyberbullying episodes, or as social relationship mechanisms, or as a revenge reaction. We note that the aggressors' explanatory model is based primarily on a strong reciprocal relationship between the imbalance of power and intentionality, that it functions as a link promoting indirect causal relationships of the anonymity and repetition factors with the cyberbullying construct. The victims' perceptual structure is based on three criteria-imbalance of power, intentionality, and publicity-where the key factor in this structure is the intention to harm. These results allow to design more effective measures of prevention and intervention closely tailored to addressing directly the factors that are considered to be predictors of risk.

Search for the Profile of the Victim of Adolescent Dating Violence: An Intersection of Cognitive, Emotional, and Behavioral Variables.

The knowledge of the promoting variables of dating violence has been a topic much studied in the last decade. However, the definition of the profile of this type of victim still presents numerous unknowns that hinder the effectiveness of prevention programs against violence. This study analyzes the interaction of cognitive, emotional and behavioral variables that converge in the victim profile. The sample comprised 2577 adolescents (55.2% girls) of 14 to 18 years in age (M = 15.9, SD = 1.2). The instruments used were the dating violence questionnaire (CUVINO), the scale of detection of sexism in adolescents (DSA), Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement Scale and Child and Adolescent Disposition Scale (CADS). To study the relationship between the different variables considered in this article, a SEM analysis was used. The results show that victims of gender violence and emotional abuse have high scores in benevolent sexism, moral disengagement and emotionally negative behavioral patterns. Likewise, the existence of an interdependent relationship between these three sets of variables was found.

Connectivity as a Mediating Mechanism in the Cybervictimization Process.

This paper explores the relationship between social connectivity and cybervictimization as it is mediated by psychosocial variables such as social identity and self-esteem. Likewise, it analyses the moderating role in that relationship played by adolescents' perception of cyberbullying. The sample consisted of 2072 adolescents (48.7% girls) aged between 14 and 18 (Mean = 15.78, Standard Deviation = 1.02) years. Through the use of five questionnaires, an explanatory model is constructed that shows the direct and indirect relationships between the factors analysed, the predictive values that social connectivity can reach when applied to the virtual environment, and the perception of cyberbullying in the victimization processes. The results indicate that self-esteem and social identity are protective factors in the establishment of healthy virtual relationships and avoidance of cybervictimization situations. Moreover, the equation of cyberbullying with aggressive or maladaptive styles of humour has an indirect influence on the link between connectivity and cybervictimization.

Synergy between Acceptance of Violence and Sexist Attitudes as a Dating Violence Risk Factor.

The normalization of aggressive behavior in teenage couples when they are dating is a phenomenon that is currently reaching very worrying proportions. The consequences are creating a serious public health problem and have hence aroused the interest of many researchers as to its causes. Most have centered on the role of the aggressor. However, the processes of aggression and victimization are inseparable, and relegating the victims to the background only contributes to increasing the prevalence, severity, and perdurability of the problem. The objectives of this study were to: (i) identify the types and frequency of abuse that adolescents suffer in their relationships; (ii) analyze the relationship between sexist attitudes, acceptance of violence, and victimization; and (iii) determine predictors of the violence suffered in adolescent dating relationships. The sample comprised 2577 adolescents (55.2% girls) of 14 to 18 years in age (M = 15.9, SD = 1.2). The instruments used were the dating violence questionnaire (Cuestionario de Violencia de Novios, CUVINO) and the Scale of detection of sexism in adolescents (Escala de Detección de Sexismo en Adolescentes, DSA). The results indicate that victims showed high tolerance towards gender violence. Acceptance was greater the more frequent the abuse or aggressions suffered. Regarding sexist attitudes, only those belonging to the benevolent dimension had predictive value. The results also show that the interaction between acceptance of the abuse suffered and the manifestation of benevolent sexist attitudes predicted victimization involving specific forms of aggression.

Moral Disengagement as a Moderating Factor in the Relationship between the Perception of Dating Violence and Victimization.

There have been studies establishing the relationship between moral disengagement and aggressiveness in various contexts, especially in the role of the aggressor. Few, however, have analyzed moral disengagement's mediating role in the phenomenon of teenage dating violence, taking into account how these mechanisms affect the victims' perception of themselves as fearful, trapped, or mistreated in a dating relationship. This study analyzes the relationship between moral disengagement, the acceptance of violence, and how the victims of this type of abuse perceive victimization. The participants were 2577 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18. They completed two questionnaires that addressed teenage dating violence and moral disengagement. To study the relationship between the variables, factorial, structural, correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed to construct the perceptual structure of victimization. The analyses showed moral disengagement and the acceptance of violence, as well as their interaction, to have a mediating and moderating influence by modifying the perception of victimization. The victims' levels of moral disengagement explained their acceptance of the violence and their inability to recognize abuse. Finally, these results may be a key element in the design of psychological interventions aimed at minimizing the use of moral disengagement and the acceptance of violence in situations involving aggression in teenage dating.

Moral Disengagement as an Explanatory Factor of the Polyivictimization of Bullying and Cyberbullying.

BACKGROUND: The present study's objectives were to: (1) Identify and analyze the prevalence of poly-victims, and (2) determine how the levels of moral disengagement and the various defence mechanisms that victims use to explain abusive behavior might function as predictors of poly-bullying. METHODS: The sample consisted of 1328 participants of from 9 to 14 years old. The instruments used were two questionnaires. One allows the prevalence of bullying and cyberbullying victims to be identified and analyzed. The other analyses the level of moral disengagement and the defence mechanisms to which the victims resort. RESULTS: The results showed there to be a continuity of the role of victim in off-line and on-line contexts, turning those who are subject to these situations into poly-victims. The moral disengagement of these victims was found basically to be centered at two levels-a locus of behavior, and a locus of outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to abuse that is continuous, of different types, and coming from different contexts must be perceived as a public health problem given the lack of effective tools to combat the situations of helplessness that the polyvictims experience.

Analysis of Moral Disengagement as a Modulating Factor in Adolescents' Perception of Cyberbullying.

There have been various studies establishing a relationship between moral reasoning and the perpetration of cyberbullying, but very few analyzing either the moderating role played by moral disengagement in how both aggressor and victim perceive cyberbullying, or the repercussions of this moderation for the determination of the prevalence of the problem and for the design of prevention programs. The present study examines the relationship between moral disengagement, moral identity, and how victims of this type of abuse perceive cyberbullying. The participants were 1912 adolescents (51% women) from Extremadura (Spain) of ages from 14 to 18 years. They completed three questionnaires addressing perception of cyberbullying, moral disengagement, and moral identity. Factorial, structural, correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to construct their perceptual structure of cyberbullying. These analyses showed the influence of their different levels of moral disengagement on those perceptions, and the moderating role that moral identity plays in the direct and indirect relationships between moral disengagement and the perception of cyberbullying. They revealed, on the one hand, the key and the subsidiary criteria victims use to classify some given cybernetic behavior as a case of cyberbullying, and, on the other, that the victims' levels of moral disengagement explain both the justifications they resort to in order to interpret occurrences of cyberbullying and their shifting or spreading of responsibility onto others. Finally, the results can be a key element in the design of effective psychological interventions aimed at improving adolescents' moral identity in situations of cybernetic victimization.

Divergent Perceptual Processes on Cyberbullying Between Victims and Aggressors: Construction of Explanatory Models.

Understanding the causes of adolescents' aggressive behavior in and through technological means and resources requires a thorough analysis of the criteria that they consider to be identifying and defining cyberbullying and of the network of relationships established between the different criteria. The present study has aimed at making a foray into the attempt to understand the underlying structures and mechanisms that determine aggressors' and victims' perceptions of the cyberbullying phenomenon. The sample consisted of 2148 adolescents (49.1% girls; SD = 0.5) of ages from 12 to 16 (M = 13.9; SD = 1.2). The data collected through a validated questionnaire for this study whose dimensions were confirmed from the data extracted from the focus groups and a CFA of the victim and aggressor subsamples. The analysis of the data is completed with CFA and the construction of structural models. The results have shown the importance and interdependence of imbalance of power and intention to harm in the aggressors' perceptual structure. The criteria of anonymity and repetition are related to the asymmetry of power, giving greater prominence to this factor. In its perceptual structure, the criterion "social relationship" also appears, which indicates that the manifestations of cyberbullying are sometimes interpreted as patterns of behavior that have become massively extended among the adolescent population, and have become accepted as a normalized and harmless way of communicating with other adolescents. In the victims' perceptual structure the key factor is the intention to harm, closely linked to the asymmetry of power and publicity. Anonymity, revenge and repetition are also present in this structure, although its relationship with cyberbullying is indirect. These results allow to design more effective measures of prevention and intervention closely tailored to addressing directly the factors that are considered to be predictors of risk.

Vulnerability and Mimicry as Predictive Axes in Cyberbullying.

The co-occurrence of bullying and cyberbullying in a dual society like the present calls for specific measures of intervention to be able to forestall the emergence of new problems and slow the increase and diversification of violent behavior. This study's objective was to determine whether the gender of those involved as well as the forms of aggression experienced both in presential and virtual scenarios are predictive indicators of the violent behavior of aggressive-victims. The participant sample was 1,648 adolescents aged 12 to 16 years (48.9% girls). The instrument used was a questionnaire. The results show the existence of four categories of aggressive-victims resulting from the co-occurrence of presential and cyber contexts: aggressive-victims of bullying, cyberaggressive-victims, aggressive-cybervictims, and cyberaggressive-cybervictims. Furthermore, three predictive indicators of the abusive behavior of the aggressive-victims in their different categories were identified: continuity between contexts, type of abuse suffered, and the gender of those involved. These indicators allow one to extract individual profiles of the different types of aggressive-victims, which facilitate, on one hand, the understanding of the processes of victimization and aggression that adolescents experience in both presential and cyber contexts, and, on the other, the design of programs and specific actions based on the characteristics of the adolescents and their previous experiences of victimization or cybervictimization.

Repetition, power imbalance, and intentionality: do these criteria conform to teenagers' perception of bullying? A role-based analysis.

The criteria that researchers use to classify aggressive behaviour as bullying are 'repetition', 'power imbalance', and 'intent to hurt'. However, studies that have analyzed adolescents' perceptions of bullying find that most adolescents do not simultaneously consider these three criteria. This paper examines adolescents' perceptions of bullying and of the different forms it takes, and whether these perceptions vary according to the teen's role of victim, aggressor, or witness in a bullying situation. The data acquisition instrument was a questionnaire applied to a sample of 2295 teenagers. The results show that none of these three groups considered the criterion of repetition to be important to define bullying. A further conclusion was that both aggressors and witnesses used the criteria of 'power imbalance' and 'intent to hurt' to identify a situation of bullying, although the aggressors placed especial emphasis on the superiority of power over the victim, while the witnesses emphasized the intent to hurt the victim. One noteworthy finding was that victims do not consider the factor 'power imbalance'. The factor that determined their perceptions was the 'intent to hurt'. Finally, some modes of bullying were seen as forms of typical teen social interactions, and the perception depended significantly on the adolescent's role as aggressor, victim, or witness.