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Nowadays, an increasing number of children and adolescents living in Europe have an immigrant background. Because ethnicity is a recognizable characteristic that may become the driver of bullying, these youths are at high risk of victimization. School interventions based on peer-led approaches, assuming all the conditions postulated in contact theory, could be suitable to counteract bias-based bullying and victimization.This study aims to analyze whether the NoTrap! antibullying program, an evidence-based peer-led intervention, may also be effective in counteracting ethnic bullying and victimization when students with an immigrant background are involved as peer educators. There were 1,570 students who participated in the study: 24 control classes (

Research on bullying underlines the role of significant adults: the way teachers and parents respond to offline bullying has the potential to reduce bullying behaviours, but whether they have an in...

This special issue on Prevention and Social-Emotional Development in Childhood and Adolescence aimed to outline the growing conceptual and empirical connections between promotion of SED and the pre...

Moral Disengagement (MD) has been found to be related to higher levels of different aggressive and bullying behaviours. Although some studies found that it plays an important role in cyberbullying ...

This study aimed to understand if specific types of guilt were associated with distinct bystander roles. Specifically, we tested if differences in children’s endorsement of ethical vs. sanction-ori...

Background Peer problems have emerged as important predictors of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) development during adolescence. However, the possibility that adolescents who engage in NSSI may, in turn, be at increased risk for experiencing difficulties with their peers has rarely been examined. This study investigated the reciprocal associations between peer problems (e.g. peer victimization, friendship stress and loneliness) and NSSI throughout adolescence, distinguishing between- and within-person effects. Method Participants were 866 adolescents (54.5% females; M-age = 13.12 years, SD = 0.78), who took part in six waves of data collection. Adolescents completed self-report measures of NSSI, friendship stress and loneliness and they took part in a peer nomination procedure to assess peer victimization. Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models (RI-CLPMs) were used to estimate within-person cross-lagged effects between each peer problem and NSSI from Grade 7 to 12. Results After accounting for between-person associations between peer problems and NSSI, results indicated that higher-than-usual levels of NSSI predicted higher-than-usual levels of adolescents' own friendship stress, loneliness and peer victimization at the subsequent time point. Yet, sensitivity analyses revealed that most of these effects were strongly attenuated and explained by within-person fluctuations in depressive symptoms. No within-person cross-lagged effects from peer problems to NSSI were found. Conclusions Findings highlight that the associations between peer problems (i.e. friendship stress, loneliness) and NSSI may be largely explained by shared underlying factors; yet, some evidence also suggests that NSSI engagement may increase adolescents' risk to experience difficulties in the relationships with their peers, in part via increases in depressive symptoms.

Bullying among students is a prevalent problem in schools and is difficult to eradicate. Teachers can play a key role in preventing and reducing peer bullying by adequately intervening in bullying ...

The papers in this issue address the important component of school bullying – the teacher’s response to incidents that occur – that has not been widely studied. The 10 articles approached the quest...

The present study addressed institutionalised children and staff members' perspectives about bullying in Residential Care settings (RCs) in five European countries (Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy and Romania.). Interviews and focus groups were conducted respectively with 123 institutionalised children and adolescents (age range: 6–18) and staff members (N = 95; age range: 23-63). Thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the data. Overall, findings indicated that participants were not fully aware of the specific features of bullying. Children and adolescents considered bullying as a normative behaviour and were reluctant to ask for adults' help when bullying happened. Staff members attributed bullying to children's traumatic experiences and to a need for adults' attention. Findings shed light on the lack of standardised protocols and of professional trainings to tackle bullying. Implications for intervention programs aimed at preventing and tackling bullying are discussed.

Bullying affects a considerable number of children and adolescents, with serious consequences for school performance, health and emotional well-being. To understand bullying a promising approach is...

Cybermentoring refers to virtual peer support in which young people themselves are trained as cybermentors and interact with those needing help and advice (cybermentees) online. This article describes the training in, and implementation of, a cross-national cybermentoring scheme, Beatbullying Europe, developed in the United Kingdom. It involved train-the-trainer workshops for partners and life mentors in six European countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic) in 2013–2014, followed by training sessions for pupil cybermentors aged 11–16 years. Although BeatBullying went into liquidation in November 2014, the project was largely completed. We (1) report an evaluation of the training of the life mentors and mentors, via questionnaire survey; and (2) discuss findings about the implementation of the scheme and its potential at a cross-national level, via partner interviews during and at the end of the project. The training was found to be highly rated in all respects, and in all six countries involved. The overall consensus from the data available is that there was a positive impact for the schools and professionals involved; some challenges encountered are discussed. The BeatBullying Europe project, despite being unfinished, was promising, and a similar approach deserves further support and evaluation in the future.

Background School violence and bullying are a pandemic issue. The academic literature underlined the need to investigate social-contextual risk factors. The United Nations called for more comprehensive and disaggregated data to inform prevention strategies. Objective The present study comprises a set of secondary analyses on Italian data from the International Civic and Citizenship Study 2016. We adopted an innovative ‘bottom-up’ approach to identify the level of disaggregation for national data. The researchers focused on community, social, and economic risk indicators at school-level, and investigated whether it was possible to aggregate schools in different classes, depending on their risk profile. Participants and settings Analyses were implemented on a nationally representative sample of 170 Principals of lower secondary schools, 2,527 teachers and 3,766 students at grade 8. Methods and analyses A Latent Class Analyses was conducted on risk indicators and four classes of risk were identified: No Risk, Community Risk, Socio-economic Risk, Multi-Risk (entropy = .786). No significant differences were found across classes in relation to urban/rural location, school size, and geographical macro-partition. On the contrary, significant differences emerged when considering teachers’ perception of bullying, social problem, and students’ behavior at school. Furthermore significant differences were found for the quality of relationship with teachers as reported by students. Conclusions Results a) suggested a potential gradient of increasing risk moving across the classes; b) provided a contribution to address the gap in the investigation of contextual factors and bullying; c) offered a new lens to tailor interventions to prevent school violence and bullying.

Research indicates that involving families is essential to success of bullying intervention. Moral disengagement is a strong predictor of aggressive behavior including school bullying. We were interested in the proximal role of parents in late childhood and early adolescence for moral disengagement. We examined whether the relation between specific poor parenting practices and moral disengagement was mediated by expected parental approval of aggression and whether age was a moderator in a theoretical moderated mediation model. We used two-wave longitudinal data of 609 students (50% boys, 52% 5th grade, 48% 7th grade). The results are complex and differ across the two age groups. In late childhood, repeated corporal punishment was associated with higher levels of moral disengagement 1 year later, and this relation was mediated by an increase in expected parental approval of aggression. Also, low levels of monitoring and supervision were directly associated with higher levels of moral disengagement 1 year later. In early adolescence, lower levels of monitoring and supervision were associated with higher levels of moral disengagement 1 year later, and this association was partially mediated by an increase in expected parental approval of aggression. These results demonstrate that in late childhood and early adolescence, poor parenting practices, more specifically harsh discipline and poor monitoring, are relevant for moral disengagement, partly because they create the expectation of parental approval for aggression.

The present study aims to explore if students who voluntarily decide to become peer educators in an anti-bullying program differ from their classmates who don’t take on this role. 524 Italian stude...

Teachers respond differently to bullying and victimization. Socio-cognitive and moral domain theory suggest that students process teachers' behavior cognitively and that teachers' responses to incidents of bullying and victimization could affect students' level of moral disengagement. We examined the mediating effect of students' moral disengagement between types of teachers' responses to situations of bullying and victimization and individual bullying using multilevel mediation modelling. Participants were 609 students (50% boys, age M = 11.47, SD = 1.14) of central Italy, nested in 34 classes. Students rated the frequency of self-reported bullying and of teachers' responses to incidents of bullying and victimization on a 5-point Likert scale. Teachers' responses to bullying included non-intervention, mediation, group discussion, and sanctions. Teachers' responses to victimization included non-intervention, mediation, group discussion, and victim support. RESULTS indicated that in the teachers' responses to incidents of bullying model, a significant indirect effect of non-intervention (β = .03; 95%CI [.01,.05]) and of sanctions (β = -.02; 95%CI [-.04, -.01]) on bullying through moral disengagement was found at the individual level. Similarly, in the model on teachers' responses toward victims there was a significant indirect effect through moral disengagement of non-intervention (β = .03; 95%CI [.02,.04]) and victim support (β = -.01; 95%CI [-.02, -.001]). At the class level there were no significant indirect effects. In sum, results indicated that moral disengagement is an important mediator at the individual level and suggest including teachers in anti-bullying interventions with a specific focus on their role for moral development.© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Language: en

Research on individual differences in mind wandering (MW) in healthy adults has supported the separation of spontaneous and deliberate MW given their different association with a number of psychological traits. This study aimed to further test this distinction by investigating the associations of the two types of MW with attentional control and depressive symptomatology in adolescents. Data were collected on 439 9-10th graders, who completed measures of spontaneous and deliberate MW, distractibility, difficulty in attentional shifting, and depressive symptomatology. A multivariate three-level multiple regression revealed that distractibility was a significant predictor of only spontaneous MW, whereas difficulties in attentional shifting and depressive symptoms were significant predictors of both types of MW. However, the last two variables were stronger predictors for spontaneous than for deliberate MW. These findings provide support for the distinction, beyond their theoretical and empirical overlap, between the two types of MW also in adolescents and suggest the independent contribution of cognitive functioning and depressive symptoms. Statement of contribution What is already known? Studies on mind wandering (MW) in adults have shown that spontaneous and deliberate MW reflect dissociable cognitive experiences. In adults, trait-level tendency to spontaneous MW seems to reflect difficulties in controlled attentional processing. The majority of studies on MW in adolescents have treated this phenomenon as unitary and found a relation with negative affect, stress, and self-esteem. What does this study add? This is the first study to examine cognitive functioning and depressive symptoms as correlates of spontaneous and deliberate MW in adolescents. We found that distractibility is a significant predictor of only spontaneous MW. Difficulties in attentional shifting and depressive symptoms are significant predictors of both types of MW, although stronger for spontaneous MW. The findings support the distinction, beyond their theoretical and empirical overlap, between the two types of MW also in adolescents and call for future studies on the function of deliberate and spontaneous MW across development.

The NoTrap! (Noncadiamointrappola!) program is a school-based intervention, which utilizes a peer-led approach to prevent and combat both traditional bullying and cyberbullying. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of the third Edition of the program in accordance with the recent criteria for evidence-based interventions. Towards this aim, two quasi-experimental trials involving adolescents (age M = 14.91, SD = .98) attending their first year at different high schools were conducted. In Trial 1 (control group, n = 171; experimental group, n = 451), latent growth curve models for data from pre-, middle- and post-tests showed that intervention significantly predicted change over time in all the target variables (victimization, bullying, cybervictimization, and cyberbullying). Specifically, target variables were stable for the control group but decreased significantly over time for the experimental group. Long-term effects at the follow up 6 months later were also found. In Trial 2 (control group, n = 227; experimental group, n = 234), the moderating effect of gender was examined and there was a reported decrease in bullying and cyberbullying over time (pre- and post-test) in the experimental group but not the control group, and this decrease was similar for boys and girls. Aggr. Behav. 42:194-206, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Language: en

Il presente studio ha l’obiettivo di testare un modello teorico in cui il maltrattamento in famiglia e la violenza nelle relazioni tra pari predicono il dating aggression psicologico nella prima adultita. Dalle analisi condotte emerge come, a livello multivariato, aver avuto esperienza di abuso emozionale e di violenza assistita in famiglia aumenti la probabilita di ritrovarsi coinvolti con doppio ruolo di attore e vittima nel dating aggression psicologico. Inoltre, nei maschi, il bullismo agito nel contesto scolastico media la relazione tra abuso emozionale e dating aggression. I risultati dello studio confermano l’influenza del contesto violento in famiglia e per i maschi, dell’assunzione di comportamenti di bullismo nel gruppo dei pari, sullo sviluppo di relazioni sentimentali aggressive in giovane eta adulta.

The current study aims to analyze the impact of online and conventional couple quality on the explanation of dating aggression in Spain and Italy. 312 Italian and 430 Spanish university students participated in the study. Logistic regression analysis showed that conflicts increased the likelihood to be involved in psychological and physical aggression in both countries. Transgressive behavior increased the odds of being involved in physical and psychological aggression in Spain and in psychological aggression in Italy. Online intrusiveness influenced Spanish participants’ involvement in physical and psychological dating aggression while online jealousy was the main predictor of both types of aggression in Italy. Results are discussed in terms of the insecurity that seems to characterize dating aggression in young adulthood Intrusività, gelosia e dating aggression online nei giovani adulti: uno studio crossculturale Spagna-Italia. Lo studio intende analizzare l’impatto della qualità della relazione tra partner online e offline nella spiegazione del dating aggression in Spagna e in Italia. 312 studenti universitari italiani e 430 spagnoli hanno partecipato allo studio. Regressioni logistiche hanno mostrato come il conflitto aumenti la probabilità di essere coinvolto nel dating aggression fisico e psicologico in entrambi i Paesi. Il comportamento trasgressivo incrementa la probabilità di essere coinvolto nel dating aggression fisico e psicologico in Spagna ma solo in quello psicologico in Italia. Infine l’intrusività online influenza il dating aggression fisico e psicologico in Spagna mentre in Italia è la gelosia online a predire entrambe le forme. I risultati enfatizzano il ruolo dell’insicurezza nel predire la qualità delle relazioni sentimentali nella prima adultità

The present study investigates the relationship between violent false memories and delinquent and aggressive behavior in a sample of adolescents. Two hundred eleven participants completed measures of aggressive and delinquent behavior and performed a modified version of the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, a false memory task for lists of associated words. Participants were presented with a list of ambiguously violent words and three lists of neutral words. For each list a free recall task was performed. Violent false memories were significantly associated with delinquent behaviors in both genders, whereas a significant correlation with aggressive behaviors was found only in males. A multilevel multiple regression showed that the prediction of delinquent behaviors was improved by entering violent false memories into the model as a further predictor, whereas no effect was found for aggressive behaviors. These findings indicate a significant association of violent false memories with delinquent behavior in adolescents.

The development of bullying behavior was examined across three years in a sample of 515 adolescents (46% females) from 41 classrooms. At time 1, the students were in grades 9 and 10 (mean age=14.5 years; SD=.54). Results of a multilevel growth model showed that both baseline level and change of bullying varied significantly across individuals as well as across classrooms. At the individual level, gender, aggression and competition for social dominance were related with baseline level of bullying. Competition for social dominance and class change were additionally associated with increases in bullying over time. At the classroom level, pro-bullying behaviors were associated with higher baseline level of bullying, whereas anti-bullying behaviors with decreases in bullying over time. Finally, a cross-level interaction underlined that the link between aggression and bullying was moderated by the pro-bullying behaviors within each class. Results are discussed according to the child by environment perspective.

This comment will try to discuss the point raised by Olweus: is cyberbullying just one type of bullying or a distinct phenomenon and how much does it need a specific approach to be investigated? Specifically I will try to support my perspective taking into consideration five areas of investigation: definition, measurement, association between traditional bullying and cyberbullying, possible consequences and interventions.

With the increase and diffusion of modern technologies a new form of bullying has emerged among children and adolescents. Many researchers define it as cyberbullying, electronic bullying or interne...

The aim of the present study was to investigate moral aspects and human values in traditional bullying and cyberbullying, in order to detect differences between the two types of bullying and to test the role of immoral and disengaged behaviours in mediating the relationships between personal values and involvement in bullying. Sample comprised 390 adolescents aged 14-18, balanced for gender, attending different high schools. Traditional and cyberbullying were detected by means of two self-report measures, while the Portrait Values Questionnaire was used to assess 10 values in four dimensions according to the value system model by Schwartz (1992): self-trascendence, self-enhancement, openness to change, and conservation. Finally, immoral and disengaged behaviours were assessed by means of five items about behavioural and personal aspects salient for morality. Results showed that, irrespective of gender, self-enhancement and self-trascendence moderately predicted cyber and traditional bullying, respectively, while immoral and disengaged behaviours predicted both. Indirect effects showed that self-enhancement and openness to change predicted both forms of bullying through immoral behaviour. Results are discussed in terms of similarities and differences between cyber and traditional bullying and with attention to the central role of morality in explaining bullying nature.

This study aims to examine students' perception of the term used to label cyberbullying, the perception of different forms and behaviours (written, verbal, visual, exclusion and impersonation) and the perception of the criteria used for its definition (imbalance of power, intention, repetition, anonymity and publicity) in three different European countries: Italy, Spain and Germany. Seventy adolescents took part in nine focus groups, using the same interview guide across countries. Thematic analysis focused on three main themes related to: (1) the term used to label cyberbullying, (2) the different behaviours representing cyberbullying, (3) the three traditional criteria of intentionality, imbalance of power and repetition and the two new criteria of anonymity and publicity. Results showed that the best word to label cyberbullying is ‘cyber-mobbing’ (in Germany), ‘virtual’ or ‘cyber-bullying’ (in Italy), and ‘harassment’ or ‘harassment via Internet or mobile phone’ (in Spain). Impersonation cannot be considered wholly as cyberbullying behaviour. In order to define a cyberbullying act, adolescents need to know whether the action was done intentionally to harm the victim, the effect on the victim and the repetition of the action (this latter criterion evaluated simultaneously with the publicity). Information about the anonymity and publicity contributes to better understand the nature and the severity of the act, the potential effects on the victim and the intentionality.

This study compared rates of dating aggression among 16-year-old adolescents in Canada and Italy, as well as differential associations with dyadic risk factors. 664 Canadians (297 boys, 367 girls) and 578 Italians (315 boys, 263 girls) indicated the frequency of physical aggression towards a romantic partner. They also rated the level of conflict and power imbalance in their romantic relationship. The results revealed comparable rates of physical dating aggression in the two countries for both boys and girls. Dyadic risk factors were also significant, with levels of conflict associated with dating aggression in both countries, and power imbalance uniquely linked in Italy. Overall, the results point to dating aggression as a global problem among youth.

Research suggests that the relationship between school bullying and its various risk factors should be clearer among girls than boys, and should become stronger with age, as roles within the peer group stabilise. This paper tests this theory by comparing sex, school type, and bully/victim status differences in friendships and playground social interactions, using data from nine surveys in seven countries: China, England, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, and Spain. A total of approximately 48,000 children completed various translations of the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire. Small but generally consistent main effects were found for sex and school type (boys and primary pupils enjoyed playtimes more and had more friends, but were also more likely to spend playtimes alone). Larger effects were consistently found for bully/victim status (victims were significantly worse off on all the measures in all the samples where a difference was found, while bullies and neutrals did not differ consistently), but the interactions between these factors varied widely between samples and there were few consistent patterns. It is concluded that bullying is a universal phenomenon with many negative correlates for victims and few (if any) for bullies, but that there are cultural variations in the way that bullying is related to sex, age, and social support.

This study aims to analyse the role of moral emotions and reasoning in relation to children's behaviour in a bullying situation. On the basis of a peer nomination questionnaire [Salmivalli et al., 1996; Sutton and Smith, 1999], children from three different cities (Seville, Florence, and Cosenza) were assigned to one of three different status groups: bullies, victims, or outsiders. Subsequently they were interviewed about their feelings in relation to the task of putting themselves in the role of the bully in a bullying scenario. Specifically, emotions such as guilt and shame, expressed in a sense of moral responsibility, and indifference and pride, expressed in an attitude of moral disengagement, were investigated. Results showed significant differences between bullies, victims, and outsiders, with regard to moral disengagement, at both the affective and cognitive levels. Across the three cities, bullies, as compared to victims and outsiders, showed a higher level of disengagement emotions and motives when they were asked to put themselves in the role of bully. At a more detailed level, analyses of specific mechanisms of moral disengagement revealed that bullies possessed a main profile of egocentric reasoning. Besides the differences between bullies and victims, cross-cultural differences were also present. Compared to children from Seville, children from the south of Italy (Cosenza) attributed higher disengagement to the bullies. Findings are discussed in relation to specific cultural characteristics of this area.

This paper reports on the evaluation of a peer support model implemented in two Italian secondary middle schools as an anti-bullying intervention. Specifically, the aims of the intervention were (1) to reduce bullying episodes through developing in bullies an awareness of their own and others' behaviour, (2) to enhance children's capacity to offer support to the victims of bullying, (3) to enhance responsibility and involvement on the part of bystanders, (4) to improve the quality of interpersonal relationships in the class group, and (5) to analyse possible age and gender differences related to the effect of intervention. Two middle schools from central Italy took part in the study (age range of pupils, 11-14 years). In the two schools, nine classes (94 boys and 84 girls) were part of the experimental group, whereas the remaining five classes formed the control group (63 boys and 52 girls). The intervention was implemented for one school year, from October 1998 to May 1999. Before and after the intervention, two measures were administered in the experimental and control classes: (1) a questionnaire on the participants' roles in bully/victim relationships, originally developed by Sahnivalli et al. [1996: Aggressive Behavior 22:1-15] and revised for younger children by Sutton and Smith [1999: Aggressive Behavior 25:97-111], and (2) a questionnaire on attitudes toward bullying-an Italian questionnaire comprising 11 attitude items previously developed [Menesini E, et al. 1997: EARLI Conference] on the basis of Rigby and Slee's 11991: Journal of Social Psychology 131:615-627] pro-victim scale. Given the within-subjects design of the study, a MANOVA was run using time as the within-subjects factor and sex and age as between-subject factors. The results of this short-term study highlight the fact that a befriending intervention had a positive effect on the experimental classes, preventing the increase of negative behaviours and attitudes reported in the group that did not receive the intervention. The findings that related to the pro-bullying roles and to the role of outsiders are particularly relevant since these roles remained stable or decreased in the experimental group, whereas they clearly increased in the control group. The opposite trend was registered for children's pro-victim attitude, which shows a decrease in the control sample and good stability in the experimental group. On the whole, the intervention seemed to prevent the escalation of negative behaviours and attitudes that often develop spontaneously in young people of this age.

We compared how teachers and pupils in Italy take into account different dimensions of bullying behaviour, such as intentionality, imbalance of power, repetition and typology of aggression, in relation to bullying behaviours, and investigated the attribution of meaning that teachers and pupils give to a set of terms frequently used to connote this problem. 20 teachers and 87 students in two primary schools, and 40 teachers and 47 students in one middle school, participated. Following a methodology previously developed at a cross-national level (Sharp, 1999; Smith, Cowie, Olafsson, & Liefooghe, and colleagues, 2002), five target terms were selected using focus groups of children. Participants were presented with 25 stick-figure cartoons showing different types and contexts of bullying and related behaviours, and asked to evaluate whether or not the cartoons could be described by one of the target terms. Cluster analysis identified 6 clusters of cartoons characterised by specific behaviours: non-aggressive, fighting, severe physical aggression, verbal aggression, gender exclusion, and severe exclusion. Clear differences were found between teachers and pupils in the extent of use of the five terms in relation to these clusters. From multi-dimensional scaling and descriptive analysis, the clusters of social exclusion, gender exclusion, verbal bullying and fighting emerged as those where the discrepancy between the two groups was highest; teachers systematically applied the five terms less to these clusters, compared to pupils. Results are discussed in terms of implications for intervention policies against bullying.

Observational data were used to examine the interactional styles of bullies and victims while they participated in 2 different games: 1 cooperative and 1 competitive. Participants included 17 bullies, 18 victims, and 35 controls (all aged 8-11 years) selected through a peer nomination questionnaire. Bullies and victims were observed 4 times in total: twice during the cooperative game and twice during the competitive game, each time paired with a partner of opposite status or control status. Results indicated that when bullies and victims interacted together, bullies showed a dominant style in the dyad, often regulating and opposing victims' initiatives. Victims, on the other hand, complied with bullies' requests and presented a submissive style of interaction. However, interactions involving control partners indicated that (a) bullies opposed those partners' initiatives less frequently and (b) victims tended to affirm themselves by asking for help and explanations. These data provide evidence for an interactional model in explaining the dynamics between bullies and victims.

The purpose of the present study is to examine whether friendship status, in terms of reciprocity and perceived quality of the relationship, is related to behavioural characteristics of school-aged children, as evaluated by themselves and their teachers. Children's nominations for `best friends', a questionnaire on children's perception of friendship quality and self-evaluation of social behaviour were administered to middle-class Italian primary school children, aged 9-10 years. Teachers' ratings of each pupil's social behaviour were also obtained. Partners in reciprocal friendships (both boys and girls) estimated their own prosocial behaviour higher than children who did not have any reciprocal friends in their classes. Higher scores for perceived friendship quality were positively related with higher scores on self-perceptions of prosocial behaviour. Furthermore, the teachers' ratings depict children with reciprocal friends as more prosocial, less aggressive and less emotionally unstable than others.

Using large-scale survey data from Italy, and England, findings are reported for attitudes to school bullying; specifically the extent to which children expect their teachers, or other children, to intervene in bullying; and the extent to,which children either empathise with victims of bullying, or state that they themselves would do something about it. Findings mere broadly similar in most respects, in the two countries. Teachers were thought to intervene fairly often, other children more rarely. Most children had sympathetic attitudes and behaviour toward victims of bullying, but a significant minority, including many self-reported bullies, did not. Girls were more empathic to victims than boys, but were not more likely to intervene. The main cultural difference was that older Italian children were more empathic than younger children, with the reverse difference in England. However in both countries, the likelihood of reported intervention was less with older children. The results are discussed in relation to theoretical viewpoints, and practical implications for schools.

The aim of the present study was to investigate moral aspects and human values in traditional bullying and cyberbullying, in order to detect differences between the two types of bullying and to test the role of immoral and disengaged behaviours in mediating the relationships between personal values and involvement in bullying. Sample comprised 390 adolescents aged 14-18, balanced for gender, attending different high schools. Traditional and cyberbullying were detected by means of two self-report measures, while the Portrait Values Questionnaire was used to assess 10 values in four dimensions according to the value system model by Schwartz (1992): self-trascendence, self-enhancement, openness to change, and conservation. Finally, immoral and disengaged behaviours were assessed by means of five items about behavioural and personal aspects salient for morality. Results showed that, irrespective of gender, self-enhancement and self-trascendence moderately predicted cyber and traditional bullying, respectively, while immoral and disengaged behaviours predicted both. Indirect effects showed that self-enhancement and openness to change predicted both forms of bullying through immoral behaviour. Results are discussed in terms of similarities and differences between cyber and traditional bullying and with attention to the central role of morality in explaining bullying nature. © 2011 The British Psychological Society.

The codevelopment of delinquent behaviors and depressive symptoms from Grade 9 to 11 was investigated on an Italian sample of 518 adolescents (399 male) after the transition to high school, evaluating the time-invariant effects of past school failure and social failure and the time-varying effects of school achievement and social problems. Bivariate latent growth model showed a positive correlation between the two intercepts and the two slopes, suggesting that during adolescence the two trajectories are reciprocally and causally related over time. Time-invariant predictors--past school failure and social failure--explain interindividual variability only for delinquent growth. Time-varying covariates--school achievement and social problems--are significantly associated with both trajectories. These time-varying variables can act as snares, mechanisms responsible for accelerating the otherwise normative pattern of increase of delinquent behaviors and actively retarding the normative decrease of depressive symptoms over adolescence. Findings highlight how interventions aimed to promote competence during adolescence can be an effective way to prevent psychopathology or to reduce its impact.

Cross-cultural differences between matched samples (N=306) of Italian and U.S. toddlers were evaluated. Italian toddlers received higher scores on cuddliness, impulsivity, low intensity pleasure, perceptual sensitivity and positive anticipation, whereas US toddlers were higher on frustration, high-intensity pleasure, inhibitory control, shyness, and soothability.

This study investigated the relationship between hostile false memories (violent and verbal/aggressive) and engagement in traditional and cyberbullying, controlling for their co-occurrence. Two hundred eleven adolescents completed measures of traditional and cyberbullying and performed a modified version of the “DRM paradigm”, a false memory task for lists of associated words. Five lists were used: one of ambiguously violent words, oneof insults and three lists of neutral words used as controls. For each list a free recall task was performed. A path analysis showed that both violent false memories for ambiguously hostile words and verbal/aggressive false memories for insults were positively associated with cyberbullying and, in males, also with traditional bullying. These data indicate a contribution of hostile memory distortions to bullying behaviours in adolescents. Findings are discussed according to the general aggression model.

This study aimed to: (1) analyse the association of different patterns of reciprocal involvement in dating aggression (reciprocal psychological and physical aggression; reciprocal psychological aggression; non-aggressive individuals) with different qualities of romantic relationship; and (2) compare results in two European countries, Italy and Spain. Participants were 304 adolescents (141 Italy, 163 Spain) with a current dating relationship. Results in both countries showed that adolescents involved in reciprocal psychological and physical aggression are more likely to have higher levels of couple conflict and power imbalance as compared to the reciprocal psychological aggressive group and to the non-aggressive individuals. Besides, adolescents involved in reciprocal psychological aggression are more likely to have lower levels of support as compared to the non-aggressive individuals. Discussion is focused on different patterns of reciprocal involvement differentiated in relation to level of aggression, c...

This study aimed to investigate: (1) the influence of gender, sibling age, and sibling gender on sibling bullying and victimization; (2) the links between personality characteristics, quality of the sibling relationship, and sibling bullying/victimization; (3) the association between sibling and school bullying/victimization, and the direct and indirect associations between personality variables and school bullying/victimization. The sample comprised 195 children (98 boys and 97 girls, aged 10-12 years). Instruments included: a self-report questionnaire for bullying and victimization, the Big Five Questionnaire for Children and the Sibling Inventory of Behaviour. Results highlighted that the presence of an older brother is a risk factor for the emergence of sibling victimization. For both boys and girls, high levels of conflict in the dyad and low levels of empathy were significantly related to sibling bullying and sibling victimization. For males, energy was associated with sibling bullying and indirectly to school bullying; friendliness and high emotional instability were directly associated with school bullying. School victimization was directly associated with emotional instability for both males and females. Finally, both sibling bullying and sibling victimization were associated with bullying and victimization at school. The discussion highlights the role of a multicontextual approach to understand and prevent bullying. © 2010 The British Psychological Society.

The development of Physical Dating Aggression from the age of 16 to 18 years was investigated in relation to time-invariant predictors (gender, parental education, family composition, number of partners) and to time-varying effects of delinquent behavior and perception of victimization by the partner. The sample consisted of 181 adolescents with a current or past dating relationship. Results showed an average trend of decrease from 16 to 18 years with significant inter-individual variability in intra-individual change across time, suggesting that different trajectories of Physical Dating Aggression among the population can be found. Inter-individual variability can be explained by background variables representing a distal risk on Dating Aggression at 16 years (mother's education, precocious dating experience), and by time-varying effect of delinquent behavior and perception of partner perpetration. These latter variables can act as snares (Moffitt 1993), representing mechanisms responsible for prolonging the otherwise normative pattern of decrease of Physical Dating Aggression.

From an initial sample of 1278 Italian students, the authors selected 537 on the basis of their responses to a self-report bully and victim questionnaire. Participants' ages ranged from 13 to 20 years (M = 15.12 years, SD = 1.08 years). The authors compared the concurrent psychological symptoms of 4 participant groups (bullies, victims, bully/victims [i.e., bullies who were also victims of bullying], and uninvolved students). Of participants, 157 were in the bullies group, 140 were in the victims group, 81 were in the bully/victims group, and 159 were in the uninvolved students group. The results show that bullies reported a higher level of externalizing problems, victims reported more internalizing symptoms, and bully/victims reported both a higher level of externalizing problems and more internalizing symptoms. The authors divided the sample into 8 groups on the basis of the students' recollection of their earlier school experiences and of their present role. The authors classified the participants as stable versus late bullies, victims, bully/victims, or uninvolved students. The authors compared each stable group with its corresponding late group and found that stable victims and stable bully/victims reported higher degrees of anxiety, depression, and withdrawal than did the other groups. The authors focus their discussion on the role of chronic peer difficulties in relation to adolescents' symptoms and well-being.

Using an individual-by-environment framework, this study evaluated the role of individual- and group-level moral indices and their interaction in predicting student reports of bullying. The sample included 1,009 Italian adolescents (36% girls) from 56 classrooms (mean age = 15.02 years, SD = .71). Individual-level predictors included gender and emotions of moral disengagement, whereas group-level predictors included pro-bullying behaviors and class bullying norms of accepted students. Results showed that emotions of moral disengagement were associated with individual bullying and that both measures of group bullying norms–class levels of pro-bullying roles and class levels of bullying by accepted students–were associated with bullying at the classroom level. In addition, a cross-level interaction was also observed; emotions of moral disengagement were associated with increased bullying when levels of pro-bullying behavior in the classroom were higher.

For many adolescents, the COVID-19 pandemic represents a uniquely challenging period, and concerns have been raised about whether COVID-19-related stress may increase the risk for self-injurious behaviors among adolescents. This study examined the impact of pre-existing vulnerabilities on the occurrence and frequency of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) through COVID-19-related stress, and whether the impact of COVID-19-related stress on NSSI was buffered by the perceived social support during the pandemic. Participants were 1061 adolescents (52.40% females; Mage = 15.49 years, SD = 0.76) from a two-wave longitudinal study, which included assessments before the COVID-19 onset and one year later the declaration of the pandemic. Path analyses showed that adolescents with a prior history of NSSI, higher levels of internalizing symptoms, and poor regulatory emotional self-efficacy before the COVID-19 pandemic reported higher levels of COVID-19-related stress which in turn increased their risk to engage in NSSI. Besides, the findings did not support the role of social support as a moderator of the association between COVID-19 related stress and the occurrence/frequency of NSSI. These findings suggest that enhanced stress perception may serve as a key pathway for the continuation and development of NSSI among vulnerable adolescents facing adverse life events.

Anonymous questionnaires assessing the amount and nature of bullying/victimization were given to 1379 primary and middle school pupils (8–11; 11–14yrs) in two towns of Central and Southern Italy, Florence and Cosenza. The questionnaire closely followed the design of Olweus (1991) and Whitney and Smith (1993). Results were analysed in terms of percentages of bullying others and being bullied, types of bullying behaviour, where it occurred and who were the perpretators. Bullying was reported in both Italian areas at a more substantial level than found in other countries, including Norway, England, Spain and Japan, although it presented similar structural features to those reported elsewhere: being bullied decreased in older pupils, bullying others was most likely to be admitted by boys, the perpetretators were in the same class as the victims. Considering direct and indirect forms of bullying, year and gender differences are discussed for the two Italian areas and in cross-national perspective.