Speakers
Description
Cyberbullying is mainly addressed in intervention at the school level. Even if the large overlap between cyberbullying and traditional bullying justifies this approach, yet the literature indicates that interventions focusing on school are less effective when it comes to cyberbullying (Ttofi & Farrington, 2021). Therefore, other factors, besides the school ones, can play a role and need to be identified to be more effective in preventing and contrasting cyberbullying. This hypothesis is also in accordance with the self-determination theory, assuming that the family influences the psycho-physical and social development of children as autonomous and responsible agents (Heissel et al, 2018). Based on this background this symposium examines individual and family-related dimensions that can increase the risk of being involved in cyberbullying as perpetrator or victim. The first study explores profiles of Omani adolescents who can be victimized in traditional bullying and/or cyberbullying situations, while the second study examines moral disengagement and the problematic use of social media as risk factors for cyberbullying. The third study investigates parenting mediation in relation to the exposure to risks online (including cybervictimization) among adolescents with and without special educational needs. Also the fourth study focuses on parenting styles, examined as antecedents of perpetrating cyberbullying in interaction with individual social goals. The last study sheds light on a new family risk factor for cybervictimization: visual sharenting by parents. Altogether the five studies provide relevant implications for the intervention, indicating the need to develop new actions tailored on individuals and addressing the families, besides the school.
Keywords
cyberbullying, risks online, parents, traditional bullying, moral disengagement
Additional field for symposia
Exploring Traditional and Cyberbullying Profiles in Omani Adolescents: Differences in
Internalizing/Externalizing Symptoms, Prosocial Behaviors, and Academic Performance.
Theoretical background and objective:
In the digital age, adolescents spend considerable time online, heightening their exposure to both cyberbullying and traditional bullying. However, few studies have investigated both forms of victimization simultaneously, particularly regarding their impact on adolescents in Middle Eastern countries such as Oman.
Methodology:
This study used latent profile analysis to identify victimization profiles based on indicators of verbal, social, physical, and cyberbullying victimization. Participants were 1,204 Omani students (604 girls, 50.2%; Mage = 14.04, SD = .20, aged 14–15).
Results:
Three victimization profiles emerged: (1) Non-victims (n = 989, 82.1%), (2) Traditional victims (n = 156, 13.0%), and 3) Dual victims (n = 59, 4.9%). Adolescents in the Non-victims profile, with the lowest levels of both traditional and cyberbullying victimization, reported the lowest levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms and the highest academic performance, whereas their prosocial behaviors were relatively low. Adolescents in the Traditional victims profile had moderate levels on nearly all outcomes. Adolescents in the Dual victims profile, who experienced both traditional and cyberbullying, reported the highest levels of behavioral symptoms and prosocial behaviors, along with the lowest academic performance.
Conclusion with implications for practice:
The results are discussed in terms of limitations and, above all, practical implications . Indeed, the emergence of three profiles of adolescents differently experiencing being victimized in traditional and cyberbullying, with different risks of psycho-social and academic maladjustment suggests the need of tailored intervention.
Are socio-behavioral correlates of cyberbullying perpetration similar in Italian and Spanish
preadolescents? A cross-national study and serial mediation analysis.
Theoretical background and objective: The spread of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the past decades brought advantages and disadvantages, particularly impacting youth, daily involved in using Internet and social media applications. In the context of preadolescents’ social development, problematic social media use (PSMU) and cyberbullying (CB) are potential risk factors across several countries. PSMU is defined as the lack of regulation of one’s use of social media platforms associated with negative outcomes in everyday life, while CB refers to the use of digital technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person. Among preadolescents, CB perpetration is frequently initiated by cybervictimization (CV) experiences. The underlying mechanisms that drive this relationship have received limited attention. The aim of the cross-national comparative study, rooted in the General Aggression Model, is to investigate the direct and indirect effects between cybervictimization and cyberbullying perpetration while testing a model involving PSMU and moral disengagement (MD) as serial mediators in this association.
Methodology: A total of 895 Italian and Spanish preadolescents (M age = 11.23, SD = 1.064) completed a self-report survey during school hours. First, descriptive statistics were computed, and next a serial mediation model was run among the variables.
Results: The results show that CV is positively associated to CB, and that PSMU and MD positively serially mediate the CV-CB link.
Conclusion with implications for practice: This cross-national study’s insights suggest the need for tailored educational interventions targeting European youth, to promote more positive online social interactions and a safer digital environment.
Early-adolescents with special needs and exposure to risks online: Which role of parental mediation styles?
Theoretical background and objective: Emotional, social, or family issues experimented by early-adolescents with Special Educational Needs (SENs) can lead to being exposed to risks online, including being cyberbullied (Beckman et al, 2020). In this study we aimed to investigate whether parental styles related to mediation of children’s Internet use can moderate this risk for early adolescents with SENs.
Methodology: Participants were 119 Italian parents (90.8% female) with children aged 11-15, who answered a battery of self-report measures assessing their children’s use of technological devices and exposure to risks online, and parental mediation styles (Active mediation; Parental control; Mascheroni & Ólafsson, 2014). Thirty-four percent of parents reported a diagnosis in their child(ren) associated to SENs. Seventy of their children (43.7% female; 39.4% with a SENs diagnosis) also answered a measure assessing social adjustment (Vermigli, 2002).
Results: We ran moderation regressions to examine interactive effects between having or not SENs, parental mediation styles and social adjustment on the exposure to online risks. The main result was that in presence of high levels of Active Mediation, the experience of online risk significantly decreased in relation to higher Social Adjustment. This association was slightly stronger for early-adolescents with SENs (b=1.3; p=.033) than without SENs (b=.3; p=.038).
Conclusion with implications for practice: Both individual social adaptation skills and parental mediation styles are important to reduce the exposure to risks online among early-adolescents, in particular for the ones with SENs. Therefore, preventive interventions should include actions addressing parents, besides aiming to improve (vulnerable) youth’s competencies.
Parenting styles and cyberbullying: the moderating role of social goals.
Theoretical background and objective of the study: Negative parenting style is positive associated with cyberbullying by dominance goals among peer and negatively associated by empathy and valuing the other’s point of view. Contextual (family) factors and social motivation may play a role also for cyberbullying.
This study examines the relationships between parenting style and cyberbullying, with social goals (agentic and communal) as moderators, in longitudinal data.
Methodology: The sample consisted of 605 adolescents (348 boys and 257 girls; M = 15.63 years, SD = 1.251) who answered self-report measures to assess parenting style and social goals.
Results: The negative association between maternal authoritative style and cyberbullying was negatively moderated by low levels (b = -.115) of communal goals. The positive association between maternal authoritarian style and cyberbullying decreased for higher levels (b = -.073) of communal goals. Low (b = .103) and medium (b = .056) levels of communal goals did not decrease the positive association between permissive style and cyberbullying. Low levels (b = .110) of communal goals, however, decreased the positive association between paternal authoritarian style and cyberbullying.
Conclusion with implications for practice: Parenting styles and social goals play a key role in cyberbullying as preventive or risk factors. Therefore future interventions need to include parents in order to promote authoritative ways to relate with their children based on warmth and sharing. Interventions should also promote adolescents’ motivation to establish positive relationships with their peers, as these goals counteract the negative effects of an ineffective parenting style.
Adolescent-Reported Visual Sharenting is Associated with Cyber-victimization and
Internalizing Symptoms: The Buffering Role of Social Support by Family and Friends.
Theoretical background and objective: This study examined the pathways through which visual sharenting (parents sharing of their child’s photos and videos on social media), may result in increased cybervictimization and subsequent children’s emotional distress.
Methodology: We analyzed a sample consisting of 585 adolescents attending grades 6th to 13th in Northern Italy (Magew = 14.34, SD = 2.29; 56.6% female, 1% other gender).
Results: Visual sharenting was positively associated with cyber victimization (b = 5.67, p < .001) and internalizing problems (b = .92, p = .021). Cyber victimization mediated the relationship between sharenting and internalizing problems (b = -.13, p = .031). Moderation analysis indicated that family support did not significantly moderate the relationship between sharenting and cyber victimization (p = .392), but peer support significantly moderated this relationship (p < .001), with the effect of sharenting on cyber victimization being stronger when peer support was lower. Moreover, the conditional indirect effect of sharenting on internalizing problems through cyber victimization was significant at moderate and high levels of peer support (p < .05), but not at low levels of peer support.
Conclusion with implications for practice: These findings suggest that while sharenting is linked to higher levels of cyber victimization and internalizing problems, peer support may buffer against some of these negative outcomes. However, the buffering effect is limited, indicating a complex interplay between parental behaviors, social support, and adolescent well-being. Further research should explore how interventions can mitigate the risks associated with sharenting, also by empowering peer support.
| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Quantitative method study |
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| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
