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Peer status among preschool children has been associated with their roles in aggression-related interactions. This study analyses the differences between aggressors, victims, aggressor-victims and defenders on two measures of peer status (social impact and social preferences) whilst controlling for individual factors. The sample comprised 394 preschool children (184 girls, 210 boys) between the ages of 3-6 years old (M = 4.36, SD = 0.87) and their parents supplying information about socio-demographic variables and children's emotion regulation. Teachers rated emotional competences for each child in their class. Analysis of covariance along with Bonferroni-adjusted post-hoc comparisons were conducted to compare mean scores between the aggression roles for social impact and social preference while controlling for significant individual factors. The results revealed that aggressors and aggressor-victims exhibited higher social impact but lower social preference after controlling for individual factors. In contrast, defenders enjoyed higher social status among their peers, characterized by both higher social preference and social impact. Victims were associated with lower social preference and social impact. Uninvolved children consistently exhibited lower social impact. Results underscore the need for interventions that focus on promoting prosocial behaviors, addressing aggressive tendencies, and enhancing emotional competences to create a more positive and supportive peer environment.

Previous research shows that classmates supporting victims' defence is fundamental to combat bullying. To find a suitable response for the bullying problem, we must bear in mind how all the victim's classmates respond and what variables can determine their helping behaviour. Moral disengagement has been demonstrated to be a factor that explains behaviour when faced with bullying. Emotions have also been shown to be relevant for bullying behaviour. This research aimed to gain knowledge of how adolescents behave when faced with bullying and to analyse how their behaviour relates to moral disengagement and both positive and negative emotions, specifically supportive behaviour for victims. In the present study 1029 students participated, all of whom came from Secondary Education, Training Cycles and Higher Secondary Education Stages in Spain. The regression analysis confirmed that being male increased the likelihood of performing active and passive behaviours. Conversely, being female involved displaying more proactive behaviours. Feeling positive/pleasant emotions about bullying increased active behaviour. Feeling negative/unpleasant emotions about bullying increased behaviour in the proactive behavior group. Adolescents should be aware that stopping bullying is their personal responsibility, which depends on their behaviour with the victim. Interventions must aim to reduce moral disengagement and positive emotions about bullying by increasing negative emotions about such behaviour.

Research on the characteristics shown by children who cyberbully others is scarce. The objective of this research is to know the variables that predict the involvement of youngsters in cyberbullying perpetration. The current study examined the relation between socio-cognitive and emotional variables and cyberbullying perpetration. It examined the cyberbullies' beliefs about moral disengagement towards cyberbullying. It tested also the social support and emotional reactions to cyberbullying with the aim of understanding their association with cyberbullying perpetration. A number of 1,062 teenagers (54% girls) between 12 and 19 years old (M = 15.20, SD = 1.91), from six public secondary schools in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), participated in the study. Results suggest that students who engage in cyberbullying perpetration have higher levels of cyberbullying victimization and bullying aggression when compared with their peers who do not engage in cyberbullying. The findings show that socio-cognitive and emotional variables are important to understand individual differences in engagement in cyberbullying. Result of regressions indicated that perpetration of cyberbullying was positively associated with cyberbullying victimization, bullying aggression, moral disengagement towards cyberbullying, social support and satisfaction expression. In contrast, perpetration of cyberbullying was not associated with negative emotions. Gender and age did not play a significant role in the prediction on perpetration of cyberbullying. Future research should continue to examine predictive factors associated with cyberbullying perpetration.

This study explores the responses used by bullying or cyberbullying bystanders at school (Study 1) and analyzes the influence that values have on applying these strategies (Study 2). A total of 638 students (44.1% boys; 55.9% girls) aged 10 to 18 (M = 13, SD = 1.76) who had witnessed some form of bullying or cyberbullying participated in the study. Of these, 145 (44.6% boys; 55.4% girls) aged between 10 to 17 (M = 12.8, SD = 1.76) responded to how they had dealt with the situation. A mixed research methodology was applied. The results showed that adolescent bystanders primarily engaged in proactive strategies. Furthermore, social values appear to be associated with actions to support the victim and may act as preventive factors for other maladaptive responses. These results provide an indicator to consider in the school's efforts to support social coexistence.

This paper presents data concerning culturally prescribed gender traits and their influence on bullying/victimization problems and aggressive tendencies from a wide sample of 1,654 Spanish adolescents. The aims of this study were to clarify the effect of masculine traits on male and female secondary students' aggression, and also to explore the role of feminine traits in either the inhibition of aggression or the use of more covert forms. Results show that masculine stereotypical traits are related more strongly with bully perpetration, proneness to aggression and experience of anger and hostility in both sexes. In contrast, traditional feminine traits are negatively related with bullying perpetration and proneness to aggression. However, feminine traits are linked to male students' victimization. Results are discussed in the light of previous findings and are taken into consideration in the design of intervention practices in secondary schools.

This article enquires into the role of gender in the use of different forms of aggression and in the appearance of conflicts within the interactions between students of 12-17 years of age. In order to understand both aspects, the conversational fragments of students and teachers from two high schools are expounded; discourses obtained using a qualitative methodology with focus groups and individual interviews. The results suggest that aggression is used as a tool to solve certain problems between pairs of the same sex, but is also present in relationships between genders as a form of intimidation that tries to influence heterosexual encounters. The aggression between genders adopts subtle and less visible forms than the aggression in pairs of the same sex due to the negative social opinion that exists about forms of aggression directed towards women. The information presented possesses implications for researchers and teachers if we bear in mind that relationships between genders at these ages reflect future relationships as adults. (Contains 2 figures.)

Background: Bullying has been shown to have negative consequences on the health and well-being of adolescents. Some students may experience various bullying behaviors and not consider themselves victims, finding themselves in a situation of unperceived mistreatment. Few studies have focused on the relationship between self-reported victimization behaviors and self-identification as a victim. Our objective is to determine the prevalence of unperceived victimization and analyze its relationship with adolescent distress. Methods: A total of 964 adolescents aged between 12 and 19 years participated. Standardized instruments were used to assess psychological distress, bullying in the last month and previous years, perception of victimization, and resilience. Results: More than 20% of adolescents are in a situation of unperceived victimization, not recognizing themselves as victims despite reporting bullying behaviors. Among girls and middle adolescence, perceiving oneself as a victim increases the likelihood of feeling distress. The likelihood of experiencing distress increases with previous victimization and decreases with high resilience. Conclusions: Mental health professionals should consider bullying as a factor of distress in adolescence. It is essential to refer adolescent victims of bullying to specialized mental health resources to adequately address their well-being and increase resilience as a protective factor.

El objetivo del estudio ha sido analizar las diferencias de bullying (tradicional y cyberbullying) en contextos rurales y urbanos. Ha participado un total de 2,162 estudiantes de 5º (52.7%) y 6º (47.3%) de Educación Primaria, un 49.3% en contexto urbano y 50.7% en contexto rural. Los resultados indican un porcentaje de intervención similar en colegios de contexto urbano y de contexto rural. Sin embargo, en los colegios rurales se ha encontrado una mayor prevalencia de víctimas de bullying verbal, exclusión y cyberbullying, mientras que en los colegios urbanos hay más alumnos que son agresores de bullying verbal y exclusión. En los colegios rurales la agresión va más dirigida a los compañeros del colegio, mientras que en los colegios urbanos se dirige hacia gente de fuera del colegio. Estos resultados indican que el tamaño de la población en la que se ubican las escuelas puede ser un factor relevante para la intervención.

Digital life forms part of daily reality for young people. For this reason, traditional bullying in school has been reproduced in the online environment, resulting in an overlap of off- and online bullying. Research on socio-emotional competencies and bullying is revealing interesting results among students in secondary schools. However, studies involving primary school students are much scarcer. In addition, the majority of studies have been carried out based on an understanding of socio-emotional competencies as a unidimensional construct. In the present study, we examined the overlap between off- and online bullying victimization and the influence of the factors comprising socio-emotional competencies on this overlap. Participants comprised 1130 students (49.7% were boys and 50.3% were girls) from the fifth and sixth grades at 15 schools in the autonomous communities of Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). The results indicate a high rate of overlap between off- and online bullying victimization, without significant gender differences. Poor relationship skills in boys and low self-management in girls were associated with being a victim of both traditional bullying and cyberbullying. The conclusions point to an interesting line of intervention and prevention, establishing a framework of confluence for social and emotional variables within the primary education context.

El bullying es un problema presente en la escuela, ampliándose a formas más novedosas como el cyberbullying. El objetivo de este trabajo fue identificar la prevalencia de ambos fenómenos en los futuros maestros, identificando las variables género y titulación (infantil y primaria), y analizar la relación del comportamiento actual con la participación en etapas previas de la educación, debido al papel central que tendrán en un futuro cercano, por su influencia en la afectividad creada en el aula y por el modelo de aprendizaje ofrecido al alumnado. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 1.122 maestros en formación de la Universidad de Castilla La Mancha (España). Los resultados mostraron tasas de victimización en los estudiantes de magisterio del 57.1 %, con mayor prevalencia de victimización y agresión en varones y en la titulación de primaria. En las mujeres se relacionó significativamente la victimización y la agresión en primaria con el resto de etapas escolares, mientras que en los hombres la relación sólo se estableció entre la etapa de secundaria y la universitaria. La conclusión obtenida refuerza la idea de que el acoso está presente en la universidad, y es necesario trabajar sobre él e influir en la identidad profesional del futuro maestro.

Previous research shows that classmates supporting victims’ defence is fundamental to combat bullying. To find a suitable response for the bullying problem, we must bear in mind how all the victim’s classmates respond and what variables can determine their helping behaviour. Moral disengagement has been demonstrated to be a factor that explains behaviour when faced with bullying. Emotions have also been shown to be relevant for bullying behaviour. This research aimed to gain knowledge of how adolescents behave when faced with bullying and to analyse how their behaviour relates to moral disengagement and both positive and negative emotions, specifically supportive behaviour for victims. In the present study 1029 students participated, all of whom came from Secondary Education, Training Cycles and Higher Secondary Education Stages in Spain. The regression analysis confirmed that being male increased the likelihood of performing active and passive behaviours. Conversely, being female involved displaying more proactive behaviours. Feeling positive/pleasant emotions about bullying increased active behaviour. Feeling negative/unpleasant emotions about bullying increased behaviour in the proactive behavior group. Adolescents should be aware that stopping bullying is their personal responsibility, which depends on their behaviour with the victim. Interventions must aim to reduce moral disengagement and positive emotions about bullying by increasing negative emotions about such behaviour.

El acoso escolar ha salido de las aulas a través de las nuevas tecnologías de la información. En la actualidad para hablar de acoso entre iguales debemos referirnos simultáneamente al bullying y al cyberbullying. Las investigaciones señalan una continuidad entre ambos fenómenos, por lo que es importante un tratamiento conjunto. Desde el inicio del estudio de los factores que inciden en el acoso escolar la comunicación familiar ha ocupado un lugar destacado. Diversas investigaciones señalan la relevancia de una comunicación abierta entre padres e hijos como factor protector ante la victimización en el bullying. En el cyberbullying las investigaciones sobre la influencia de la familia son más reducidas, aunque los resultados señalan una dirección similar. Nuestro objetivo es analizar la influencia de la comunicación familiar sobre la victimización en los actuales los procesos de acoso. Atendiendo a la continuidad entre el mundo off y on-line de los adolescentes estudiamos la relación con el bullying y el cyberbullying, considerando también la polivictimización. Se presentan los resultados de una investigación con 1607 estudiantes de Educación Secundaria y Bachillerato de la comunidad de Castilla-La Mancha. Los datos confirman la incidencia de la polivictimización, siendo superior en las chicas. Los resultados señalan la importancia de mejorar la comunicación familiar para proteger a los hijos de los procesos de acoso y la influencia que los problemas de comunicación tienen sobre la victimización. La intervención en los problemas actuales del acoso entre iguales no puede asumirse solamente desde los centros educativos, ya que esta problemática supera las fronteras de la escuela, necesita de la intervención y del apoyo de otros profesionales educativos que trabajen en vinculación con la familia y la comunidad.

Bullying has been recognized as an important risk factor for mental health. A growing number of researchers have encouraged parents to work collaboratively with schools to prevent and intervene in bullying situations. This study explores the relationship between parents’ awareness of bullying involvement, adolescents’ self-reported victimization, and six possible parents’ responses to their child’s victimization. The participants were 1044 seventh–tenth grade students and their parents. Logistic regressions analyses were applied to determine if parents’ awareness of victimization and adolescents’ self-reporting of victimization were associated with parents’ responses to bullying victimization. The results showed that parents’ awareness of bullying and adolescents’ self-reported victimization were only associated with the “defends herself/himself” and “talks to bully” response. In other words, the parents who believe their child has been bullied are less likely to encourage their children to talk with the bully, and when children are victimized, it is less likely that their parents will encourage them to defend themselves or talk with the bully.

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