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(1) Background: Adolescents may be involved in cyberbullying as victims, perpetrators, or to a lesser extent, victim-perpetrators simultaneously. The present research investigated differences between participants acting in different bullying roles-namely, bully, victim, or bully/victim-and bystander roles-namely, defending, passive bystander, and passive/defending; (2) Methods: We used multivariate analysis of covariance to determine how, in the same individuals, direct involvement in cyberbullying episodes compares to participating in them as by-standers in relation to both psychological distress and empathy; (3) Results: Both victims and bully/victims were found to be at increased risk for suicidal ideation, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and emotional dysregulation compared with students who were neither victims nor perpetrators of cyberbullying episodes. Additionally, victims showed higher empathy scores when compared with bullies and bully/victims. All bystander roles showed increased emotional dysregulation compared with uninvolved students, but no differences emerged on other psychological distress measures. Finally, defending bystanders showed increased cognitive empathy. (4) Conclusions: During early adolescence, the direct experience of cyberbullying, as a bully or a victim (or both), show a stronger association with psychological distress than the mere participation in cyberbullying as a witness, regardless of the witness acting defensive toward the victim, or passive. However, both cyberbullying and bystanding roles provide a similar (small) explicative power over empathy variables.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are considered a risk factor for the development of various forms of mental disorders, including body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). The aim of the present work was to examine the association between ACEs and BDD symptomatology and to identify features of studies that might moderate this association. We conducted a three-level meta-analysis of 27 articles that included 9167 participants. Results showed that the types of ACE examined (total ACE, abuse, neglect, teasing, and bullying) were positively associated with BDD symptomatology. Specifically, a low to moderate association was found for ACE overall, defined as abuse, neglect, bullying, or teasing (r = 0.289, 95% confidence interval (CI) [.240,.337), for bullying (r = 0.282, 95% CI [.206,.354]), and for abuse (r = 0.223, 95% CI [.169,.276]) were found; and a moderate to large association was found for experienced teasing (r = 0.423, 95% CI [.360,.482]). In addition, moderator analyses of the association between ACE and BDD symptomatology resulted in a predictive model in which the type of ACE, type of sample, and gender of participants moderated the magnitude of the association between ACEs and BDD symptomatology., Competing Interests: Conflict of interests The author’s declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Student-teacher relationships have been shown to influence bullying-related behaviors in students. In this study we considered the moderating role of student-teacher conflict and students' social status in the classroom and involvement in bullying behaviors and peer victimization., Methods: Sample consisted of 1742 students (47.2% females, mean age = 10.79; SD = 1.36; range = 8-14) clustered in 113 classrooms, of which 1017 (58.4%) attended primary schools and 725 (41.6%) attended lower secondary schools. We implemented a series of multilevel analyses aimed at determining the role of student-teacher conflict, and students' social status among classroom peers (i.e., average, popular, rejected, neglected, and controversial statuses), as well their interaction, in influencing verbal, physical, and social forms of bullying and victimization at school., Results: Student-teacher conflict had a significant positive effect on all bullying and victimization variables. Regarding students' social status, rejected students showed increased bullying and victimization when compared with average students, except in social bullying. Significant interactions emerged indicating that a highly conflictual student-teacher relationship exacerbated bullying behaviors and the risk of victimization among rejected students. Additionally, popular students who had conflictual relationship with their teachers were more likely to engage in physical bullying then average students., Conclusions: Our study suggests the importance of low conflictual student-teacher relationships in acting as a buffer for aggressive student-student interactions in the classroom, especially when these interactions involve students rejected by their classroom peers., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

This study was aimed at exploring which latent profiles emerge based on ratings of self-determined motivation to defend victims of bullying, and to explore if they are related to bystander roles and victimization in bullying, as well as student-teacher relations. Data were collected from 1,800 Swedish and Italian students, with an age range between 10 and 18 years (M = 12.6, standard deviation = 1.74). The students completed a survey in their classrooms. Latent profile analysis was used to explore the possible clusters of individuals with similar ratings on the motivational variables. Multivariate analysis of variances were conducted to explore differences between the profiles in relation to their roles when witnessing bullying and to student-teacher relationships. Four latent profiles emerged. The profiles represented respondents (a) high in prosocial motivation, (b) high in externally extrinsic motivation, (c) intermediate in externally extrinsic motivation, and (d) with identified/introjected motivation. Multivariate analyses showed that reports of bystander roles when witnessing bullying, teacher-student relationships, and bullying victimization, significantly differed over the motivational profiles. The bystanders were unevenly distributed across the four groups and most individuals were categorized in the prosocial motivation group. Female and male bystanders were evenly distributed across clusters. The prosocial motivation group experienced victimization to a lesser extent than the other profile groups. Students in the intermediate externally extrinsic group were more likely to take the pro-bully and outsider role during bullying. Concerning student-teacher relationships, the prosocial motivation group reported the closest relationships with their teachers, while the intermediate externally extrinsic group reported the most conflictual relationships., (© 2020 The Authors. Aggressive Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background: The literature indicates that separate significant links exist in adolescence between empathy, cognitive and affective motivation to defend victims, and behavioural problems in bullying episode in schools., Aims: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between empathy, motivation to defend, and defending behaviour in bullying situations. The hypothesis focuses on the possible role of autonomous motivation in the association between empathy and defending attitudes., Samples and Methods: Data were collected from 430 Italian adolescents (48.4% male, 51.6% female) who completed a questionnaire in their schools. The mean age of the participants was 13.1 years (SD = 2.1)., Results: Results showed that empathy significantly predicts defending behaviour and also has a significant effect on extrinsic, introjected, and intrinsic motivation to defend. Autonomous motivation, in turn, has a mediating role in the relationship between empathy and defending behaviour., Conclusions: Our study suggests the importance of focusing on empathy and on developing autonomous motivation to defend in children, to raise spontaneous defending attitudes against bullying., (© 2019 The British Psychological Society.)

Student-teacher relationships have been shown to influence bullying-related behaviors in students. This study considered the moderating role of students' social statuses in the classroom. The study sample included 435 students (48.7% females) taken from 18 Italian middle-school classrooms (i.e., sixth to eighth grade). A multigroup path analysis approach was employed to examine whether the effects of the student-teacher relationships on bullying-related behaviors differed among social statuses. The results showed that perceived conflict with the teacher was shown to have a significant positive effect on students' engagement in active bullying for students from all the statuses, except for neglected students. In particular, this effect was more relevant for rejected students. The results showed that social status and student-teacher relationships integrate and shed light on which roles are taken by young adolescents in school bullying, highlighting that it is important for the teachers to recognize these students., (Copyright © 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The following study is a systematic review of the relationship between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence. The systematic literature review following PRISMA guidelines and combined with the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, enabled us to locate 32 studies published between 1995 and July 2017. Overall, the results show that episodes of animal cruelty during childhood and adolescence tend to co-occur alongside other forms of violent and antisocial behaviors. Cruelty to animals was associated with bullying, behavioral problems, experiences of abuse (emotional, physical and sexual), and juvenile delinquency. Furthermore, recurrent animal cruelty during childhood and adolescence was a significant predictor of the future adult perpetration of interpersonal violence. Specifically, drowning animals or committing sexual acts with them predicted future adult violence directed against other humans. These findings lend empirical support to the progression, or graduation, hypothesis and the deviance generalization hypothesis. The implications of these results for clinical practice and future research are discussed. Finally, since this review has found significant limitations in the literature analyzed, methodological recommendations are provided and discussed. • This is a systematic review of the relationship between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence • Episodes of animal cruelty during childhood and adolescence tend to co-occur alongside other forms of violent behaviors • Cruelty to animals was associated with bullying, behavioral problems, experiences of abuse and juvenile delinquency • Recurrent animal cruelty was a significant predictor of the future adult perpetration of interpersonal violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School victimization includes every form of violent offense, including physical or psychological brutality, abandonment or exploitation, and sexual abuse experienced by students. Being tied to a specific cultural context, school victimization can present differences in terms of frequency and risk factors in various countries. The aim of this study is to describe this phenomenon, its incidence and prevalence, and the risk factors associated with it (i.e., gender and age) in Italy and Albania; two European nations geographically close but with significant differences in historical, cultural, and legislative traditions. A total of 596 participants - schoolchildren from grades 6–13, of whom 261 were Italian and 335 were Albanian – anonymously filled out the ICAST-CI questionnaire. The results show that school victimization affects both countries. Both in Italy and Albania, physical, and psychological abuse are the most common forms of victimization, while sexual abuse is the least frequent. Furthermore, in terms of demographics, the victims' peers are the most-frequent perpetrators in every category of victimization. However, Albania presents significantly higher levels of physical victimization than Italy and a higher percentage of adult offenders. Gender and age are significant risk factors of school victimization, albeit with some differences concerning the types of abuse in both nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]