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The present study focuses on understanding the online aggression in adolescent couples from a gender-sensitive perspective. Specifically, the aims were: (1) to analyze the direct relationship between online jealousy and online control among adolescent boys and girls and (2) to explore the moderating role of moral disengagement and socio-emotional competence in the association between online jealousy and online control by gender. The sample comprised 1,160 high school students (52.7% girls) aged between 12 and 17 years ( M = 14.25, SD = 1.35). The study design was cross-sectional. The moderation analysis revealed that online jealousy was directly related to the perpetration of online control. Moral disengagement strengthened the relationship between online jealousy and online control among both boys and girls, while socio-emotional competence weakened it, but only among girls. The results are discussed considering the gender differences found and the practical implications for programs designed to promote healthy dating relationships.

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 (

Abstract. The amount of personal information shared online every day by youths without control has raised concerns about their vulnerability to privacy disclosure. Parental mediation strategies have been considered as important aspects that can contribute to the reduction of online-related risks. However, research on this field has shown puzzling results and there is not a consistent investigation of the specific role of parental mediation in youths’ online privacy management. Therefore, this systematic review was aimed at examining the evidence for associations between different parental mediation strategies and aspects of both privacy disclosure and protection. The search was conducted in December 2019 in the SCOPUS and Web of Science scientific databases and resulted in 17 studies that have been included in our review. Taken together, the results confirm that mediation practices can be considered as important variables for the reduction of information disclosure and for enhancing privacy protection. However, some specificities emerged. Restrictive forms of mediation showed clear negative associations with disclosing behaviors, whereas active strategies showed more contrasting results. Moreover, restrictive practices seemed to be less linked to attitudes and beliefs of privacy protection than active forms. More research is needed concerning the role of co-viewing strategies. Findings were discussed in terms of future research and intervention.

PROBLEM The consistent prevalence and occasionally severe consequences of bullying and victimization suggest the need to include a more accurate assessment of these episodes within the Emergency Departments (ED). However, the literature on mental health related symptoms of bullying/victimization treated in the ED is still scarce. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of peer victimization amongst children and adolescents referred to an Italian Pediatric Emergency Department. Differences between Hospital Departments, type of victimization and ages are tested. METHODS A retrospective observational study was conducted with 705 subjects. The age range was from 6 to 18 years old (M = 13.09; SD = 3.048). FINDINGS 15.3% of the sample reported to be victimized (8.2% occasionally; 7.1% systematically). For the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, we found a significant association between peer victimization and being adolescent (Fisher's p = 0.003). In addition, a significant association was found between verbal victimization and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit (Fisher's p = 0.02) and physical victimization and Child Abuse Department (Fisher's p

The Safer Internet Centre project aims to promote initiatives to make the Internet a better and more secure space for youths. Across the nation, schools were involved in activities aimed at raising awareness throughout a full school year. The first goal of this study is to analyze whether the project was effective, based on three aspects: (a) students’ awareness of online risks; (b) students’ perception of the schools’ policy both on ICTs risk prevention and incidents; and (c) cyberbullying involvement. The second aim is related to the evaluation of the moderating role of intervention dosage on the outcomes. Two trials of intervention were carried out, one for each goal. In the first, we involved students from control schools (N = 675) and experimental schools (N = 775). In the second, we compared two experimental groups: Higher (N = 251, online and face-to-face components) and Lower (N = 315, only the online component) dosage of intervention. Using pre/post-intervention design, we found a significant increase over time in the experimental group on the schools’ commitment to preventing and dealing with online risks. While the students in experimental schools felt themselves significantly more aware of online risks, no significant decrease over time was found in the involvement in cyberbullying. Besides, no dosage effect was found, showing that face-to-face component in our project did not have additional benefits. Implications for future implementations are discussed.

Objective:Loneliness and the onset of depression in old age are growing problems related to the greater life expectancy nowadays. This review investigated the longitudinal association between loneliness and depressive symptoms in the elderly.Design:A comprehensive search was conducted using three databases (Scopus, PsycInfo, and PubMed) combing for empirical studies published up until July 2020. A total of 4.549 abstracts and 221 full-text articles were assessed. Three authors independently reviewed titles and abstracts; disagreements were resolved by consensus.Results:Ten studies were included in the final review. We identified two categories of studies based on the outcome considered in each article: 1) the longitudinal effect of loneliness on depressive symptoms and 2) the clinical course of depression and its association with loneliness. All the articles reported a significant and positive association between loneliness and depressive symptoms in their longitudinal design research, ranging from an odds ratio of 0.41 to 17.76. The heterogeneity regarding the effect size in the analyses can be explained by the multifactorial design implemented by most of the studies included.Conclusions:Future research should investigate the moderators' role and how it may influence the longitudinal association between loneliness and depression over the years.

In this study, we evaluated the variation on stress reactions in Italian adolescents during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic as related to national diffusion of the outbreak, demographic characteristics, and personal experiences related to COVID-19. An online survey was disseminated from April 1 to April 5, 2020. The sample was composed of 5,295 Italian adolescents (75.2% females; mean age = 16.67 years, SD = 1.43), 28.9% of whom presented moderate to high stress reactions during the peak of the pandemic. Older adolescents and females were more likely to be affected by the pandemic. The impact was similar regardless of the varying presence of COVID-19, whether in Lombardy or in regions less affected. Personal experiences with COVID-19 were all associated with stress reactions (direct experience, indirect experience via a friend, or an acquaintance infected). The global nature of the stressor influenced a collective psychological reaction not affected by the specific geographical diffusion of the pandemic.

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...

The study analyses which pathways to adjustment emerged at the family level during the COVID-19 containment period in Italy, during which children were locked down with their families for 56 days from March 11 to May 6. Using a longitudinal design, with data pre- and postevent, a bivariate latent change score model analyzed the covariance of the change in family well-being (FW) and in emotional difficulties (ED), testing if the longitudinal change in ED is a function of the starting level of FW, and vice-versa. Children's stress reactions to the pandemic and other related experiences were included as additional predictors.A total of 166 middle school students (86 females) with a mean age of 11.14 (Results showed that children's ED decreased significantly, on average, during the lockdown period, and FW remained constant. ED and FW change scores had a significant and negative covariation (β = - .46;The strong intercorrelated change between children's ED and FW during the lockdown does not seem influenced by preexisting levels of individual and family functioning. Findings supported the view that for some families, the COVID-19 lockdown was also an opportunity to experience deeper emotional connections, contributing to a decrease in ED. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

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...

Peer victimization is a public health concern that affects a significant proportion of children and adolescents. The study evaluated the prevalence of peer victimization among 440 subjects referred to Emergency Department for a psychiatric consultation and analyzed the association with psychopathological symptoms. Sample was divided into two categories (6-13 and 14-18 years old). Logistics regression analysis was performed. Peer victimized were reported in 16.3% of subjects; 27.7% were younger than13 years old and 72.3% were between 14-18 years old, representing the main targets for peer victimization.A significant association was found between being peer victimized and depressive disorder (OR=4.57) in subjects younger than 13 years old and, with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)(OR=6.52) in subjects older than 13 years old. Furthermore, linkage between being peer victimized and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)(OR=4.45) was noted. Increased frequency of repeated hospitalizations was also documented.This is the first Italian study about children and adolescent peer victimization in psychiatric setting, showing a significant higher risk for depressive disorder in subjects younger than 13 years old and PTSD and OCD in subjects older than 13 years old. Investigating experiences of peer victimization provides an early diagnosis and a more efficient treatment plans, guaranteeing an improved clinical outcome.

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...

This study examines the differential role of traditional and online moral disengagement (MD) in relation to cyberbullying. Traditional MD is operationalised as a process operating across contexts, whereas online MD as a contextualised process related to online settings. We hypothesised that they are separate, although correlated, and have different roles depending on externalising tendencies. The sample comprised 856 high school students (mean age = 14.7, S.D. = 1.7; 45.6% females). Regression analyses highlighted that: a) for low externalising adolescents, only online MD was significantly related to cyberbullying; b) for medium externalising adolescents, both online and traditional MD are significant, with the former more strongly associated with cyberbullying; c) for high externalising adolescents, traditional MD is key. Cluster analyses identified five configurations: 1) the Externalising Traditionally Disengaged; 2) the Externalising Not-Disengaged; 3) the Online Disengaged; 4) the All Good; and 5) the Unsuspected. The Online Disengaged has the highest engagement in cyberbullying. The Unsuspected (showing the same low externalising behaviour but significantly higher level of online MD than the All Good) engage in cyberbullying as much as Externalising Traditionally Disengaged and Not-Disengaged. These findings have implications for intervention programmes, underlining the relevance of considering the moral processeses within the online environment.

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.

Il contributo propone la definizione di un modello a molteplici livelli per la prevenzione e l’intervento sul cyberbullismo, che include il piano della promozione della salute, della prevenzione di comportamenti a rischio (universale, selettiva e indicata), del trattamento dei potenziali disturbi conseguenti, fino alla riabilitazione. Dopo l’approfondimento della definizione del fenomeno del cyberbullismo e del quadro teorico attuale volto alla spiegazione del fenomeno, il contributo analizza la letteratura internazionale e nazionale sugli interventi evidence-based di prevenzione del fenomeno. In accordo al modello a molteplici livelli, il contributo mostrerà come interventi di prevenzione universale siano efficaci solo in alcuni casi e solo per alcuni bambini e adolescenti, mentre per altre situazioni di maggior rischio necessitino interventi più consistenti e continuativi nel tempo e con componenti specifiche. In the current article the definition of a multi-tired model for the prevention of cyberbullying is proposed. This model includes the level of health promotion, the level of prevention differentiated in universal, selective and indicated prevention, the level of treatment of possible consequent problem behaviors or symptoms, and finally the level of rehabilitation. Starting with an updated review of the literature about the definition of cyberbullying and about the theoretical models of explanation, the article will focus on the issue of evidence-based interventions at an international and national level. According to a multi-tired approach, the moderators of the efficacy of the main universal intervention will be analysed, stressing the need to integrate more intensive and individualized interventions.

Given the high prevalence and dramatic impact of being bullied at school, it is crucial to get more insight into how teachers can reduce bullying. So far, few instruments have measured elementary teachers' responses to bullying. This study investigated the validity of the student-reported Teachers' Responses to Bullying Questionnaire. The factor structure and measurement invariance were tested across two educational contexts among fourth and fifth grade students from Italy (n = 235) and Belgium (n = 667). Furthermore, associations between student-perceived teachers' responses and students' bullying behavior were examined. Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported the predicted five-factor structure, distinguishing Non-Intervention, Disciplinary Methods, Group Discussion, Mediation, and Victim Support. A partial factor means invariance model was found, allowing for valid comparisons between the Italian and Belgian educational contexts. Significant associations were found between self-reported, but not peer-nominated, bullying behavior and most student-perceived teachers' responses. ispartof: Frontiers In Psychology vol:13 pages:1-12 ispartof: location:Switzerland status: published

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.

The review investigates the role played by contextual family processes, relational processes and parental individual processes on bullying and victimization. A systematic review has been conducted in five databases (Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, PubMed, ERIC) from 1970 through November 2017. Finally, 154 studies were reviewed differentiating among the three levels of family processes. The majority of the studies addressed single or multiple variables at the same level of analysis. Only 25% of studies focused on the interplay between different levels of family functioning. Our review finds evidence about the role of contextual family variables (parental mental health and domestic violence) and of relational family variables (in particular child abuse and neglect, maladaptive parenting, communication, parental involvement and support). A lower and more controversial evidence has been showed about the role of individual parental variables such as parental self-efficacy, parental attitudes toward victimization and parental knowledge about bullying.

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...

Introduction Understanding the specific risk profile for distinct forms of dating aggression (DA) is very informative to define cross-cutting interventions. The study aims to evaluate whether specific profiles of risk defined using a person-oriented approach predicted physical, sexual, and psychological DA after 6 months. Methods Eight hundred sixty-six Spanish adolescents were interviewed at two time points (50.5% male; average age = 15.04). Latent profile analysis at T1 was used to delineate profiles of individual and relational risk. Results A three-class model best represents the data: a “normative” class (N = 768; 88%); a “highly aggressive” class characterized by acceptance of violent norms, bullying behaviors, and anger dysregulation (N = 13, 1.5%); a “jealous-conflictual” class characterized by cognitive and emotional jealousy, negative couple quality, and anger dysregulation (N = 85, 10%). Controlling for age, sex, and longitudinal stability, physical DA was predicted significantly by the “highly aggressive” profile (β = .11; p β = .16; p β = .20; p β = .08; p = .071). Conclusions Specific risk profiles differentially predict risk for physical, sexual, and psychological DA perpetration. A general aggressive pattern predicts physical DA and sexual DA weakly, whereas psychological and sexual DA are associated with a couple of risks, where the dimension of jealousy, control, and conflict characterizes the dynamic between partners. Policy Implications Findings suggested that physical DA, and at a lower level sexual DA, should be prevented using cross-cutting strategies on general aggression. Psychological and sexual DA might require more contextually based interventions.

The term ‘cyber dating violence’ refers to a new form of interpersonal violence in romantic relationships brought about via new technologies. In recent years, despite a large number of instruments developed to measure this phenomenon by the scientific community, there are no systematic reviews that specifically compare measures focused on the adolescent population. The current study aimed to conduct a systematic review on measures and definitions of cyber dating violence in adolescence: in particular, we examined the dimensions identified, the characteristics of the population, and the psychometric properties of those measures developed between 2010 and early 2019. The results yielded up to 26 different measures, revealing an apparent lack of inter-measure coherence. Although the observed theoretical dimensions differ among studies, cyber dating violence comes across as a multidimensional construct, encompassing behaviors driven by sexual and nonsexual content, and with control/monitoring reported as the most frequently assessed dimension. However, analyses focused on measure validation remain scarce. The results highlight essential information when it comes to an understanding of cyber dating violence and the need to develop and evaluate instruments for measuring this phenomenon in all its complexity. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PSI-2017- 86723-R Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PRE2018-083510

IntroductionDespite a growing interest in the field, scarce narrative studies have delved into adolescents’ psychological experiences related to global emergencies caused by infective diseases. The present study aims to investigate adolescents’ narratives on positive and negative experiences related to COVID-19.MethodsItalian adolescents, 2,758 (females = 74.8%, mean age = 16.64, SD = 1.43), completed two narrative tasks on their most negative and positive experiences during the COVID-19 emergency. Data were analyzed by modeling an analysis of emergent themes.Results“Staying home as a limitation of autonomy,” “School as an educational, not relational environment,” the impact of a “new life routine,” and experiencing “anguish and loss” are the four emergent themes for negative experiences. As for positive experiences, the four themes were “Being part of an extraordinary experience,” “Discovering oneself,” “Re-discovering family,” and “Sharing life at a distance.”ConclusionAuthors discuss the impact of COVID-19 on adolescents’ developmental tasks, such as identity processes and autonomy acquisition.

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.

This study examines the role of acculturation orientation toward home and host countries in ethnic bullying victimization, by considering citizenship status and taking into account social withdrawal. Within a larger school project with middle and high school students, we analyzed data on 252 adolescents from immigrant backgrounds: 71 born abroad without Italian citizenship (Males = 71.4%; mean age = 13.98, SD = 1.7); 96 born in Italy to immigrant parents and without Italian citizenship (Males = 58.3%; mean age = 13.26, SD = 1.6); and 85 Italian citizens born in Italy with an immigrant parent (Males = 54.7%; mean age = 13.12, SD = 1.5). At the univariate level we found that the group of adolescents born abroad with foreign parents showed significantly higher levels of ethnic victimization compared to the group of adolescents born in Italy with an Italian parent. The latter also reported a significantly higher mean in Acculturation Orientation toward their Host Country (i.e., Italy) compared to the other two groups. Looking at the processes working within each group, we found differences in the patterns of association between acculturation orientation and ethnic bullying victimization. Specifically, we found a significant and positive association between acculturation orientation toward the home country and ethnic victimization in the two groups of adolescents born in Italy, while acculturation orientation toward the host country seems to be a protective factor only for adolescents with Italian citizenship. Acculturation orientation does not play any role in ethnic victimization for the first generation of immigrants, while for this group we found a stronger positive effect of Social Withdrawal. Citizenship status appears to be a good indicator of belonging to an ethnic minority group with a background of immigration: it seems to catch specific processes in ethnic bullying victimization.