Predicting Undergraduates' Self-Reported Engagement in Traditional and Cyberbullying from Attitudes

Cyberbullying among secondary school students: Analyzing prediction and relationship with background, social status, and ICT use

This study explored the predictions of and relationships between background, social status, and the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in cyberbullying among 2430 secondary school students from schools affiliated with Thailand's Office of the Basic Education Commission. The stratified sampling method was used along with the Cyberbullying Questionnaire, Sociometric Status Questionnaire, Perceived Popularity Questionnaire, and ICT Use Questionnaire and data were collected through the CU Smart Sociometry web application and Google Forms. Data analysis was conducted to determine 1) demographic data using descriptive statistics; 2) correlation analysis of students' backgrounds, sociometric status, and ICT use against cyberbullying using the chi-square test; and 3) variables that predict cyberbullying among secondary school students using multinomial logistic regression. Results showed a link between cyberbullying and secondary school students' backgrounds, social status, and ICT use. Students with different backgrounds (sex and academic performance), social statuses (social preference and perceived popularity), and ICT use partook in different cyberbullying roles. Independent variables of sex, academic performance, social preference, perceived popularity, and ICT use all predicted cyberbullying by 33.3 % with statistical significance. Male students were noted to have a higher likelihood of being cyberbullies than female students, whereas female students were more likely to be cybervictims and bystanders. Moreover, students with low academic performance were more likely to be cyberbullies and cybervictims than high-performing students, with rejected students having the highest likelihood of being cyberbullies. Interestingly, the higher a student's popularity, the higher was their likelihood of being cyberbullies. Finally, cyberbullies had the highest average daily internet use, and students who had never had their guardians monitor their internet usage were more likely to be cyberbullies; students with moderate and good social media behavior were mostly bystanders.

Learning to cyberbully: Longitudinal relations between cyberbullying attitudes and perpetration and the moderating influence of participant sex: A brief report

Scholars have contended that cyberbullying perpetration is a learned social behavior, and one way to show evidence for cyberbullying learning is to test the longitudinal reciprocal relationships between cyberbullying behavior and related cyberbullying-related cognitions (e.g., attitudes). A paucity of research has tested these learning tenets, and no research that we are aware of has examined the moderating role of sex. The current study used a two-wave longitudinal design with US youth. Participants completed measures of cyberbullying attitudes and perpetration. Results showed that early cyberbullying attitudes and behavior predicted later cyberbullying attitudes and behavior; however, and most importantly, sex moderated those relationships. Males had stronger longitudinal relationships than females. Results are interpreted regarding theory.

Which is more predictive: Domain- or task-specific self-efficacy in teaching and outcomes?

BACKGROUND

Students' academic performance and learning experiences are crucial in school education, yet their relationships with instructional characteristics remain an open question.

AIMS

The present study examined how cognitive activation and teacher support were associated with students' academic emotions and achievement in math classrooms via domain- and task-specific self-efficacy.

SAMPLE

In total, 5388 eighth graders from central China participated in this study.

METHODS

Cognitive activation, teacher support, math-related enjoyment and anxiety, and domain- and task-specific self-efficacy were measured with self-reported student questionnaires. The math achievement was measured with a standardized test.

RESULTS

Our findings showed that the two instructional characteristics were positively related to math achievement and enjoyment but negatively related to math anxiety, with the mediation effects of task- and domain-specific self-efficacy. In detail, cognitive activation had a stronger relationship with math anxiety through task-specific self-efficacy than domain-specific self-efficacy. Whereas, cognitive activation had a greater linkage with math enjoyment through domain-specific self-efficacy than task-specific self-efficacy. In addition, teacher support had a greater association with learning outcomes through domain-specific self-efficacy than task-specific self-efficacy.

CONCLUSIONS

The relational mechanism of cognitive activation and teacher support on math achievement and academic emotions were differentially mediated by task- and domain-specific self-efficacy in Chinese math classrooms.

Cyberbullying Involvement and Depression among Elementary School, Middle School, High School, and University Students: The Role of Social Support and Gender

One aim of this study was to investigate differences in cyberbullying involvement (i.e., victimization, bystanding, perpetration) across four age groups, including 234 elementary school students (4th and 5th grades; 51% female), 363 middle school students (6th through 8th grades; 53% female), 341 high school students (9th through 12th grade; 51% female), and 371 university students (all four years; 60% female). Another aim was to examine the age group differences in the associations between cyberbullying involvement and depression, as well as the moderating effect of social support from parents and friends. Participants completed questionnaires on cyberbullying involvement, depression, and social support from parents and friends. Findings revealed that middle school students were more often involved in cyberbullying as victims, bystanders, and perpetrators, followed by high school and university students, and elementary school students. High school and university students did not differ on their cyberbullying involvement. Gender moderated these relationships for elementary school students, with boys more often involved in cyberbullying perpetration and victimization than girls. In addition, female university students witnessed cyberbullying more so than males. Social support from parents buffered against the negative effects of cyberbullying involvement on depression across all age groups. Results were similar for social support from friends, but only for middle school and high school students. Gender did not influence the associations among age groups, cyberbullying involvement, and depression. The results have implications for designing prevention and intervention programs and ensuring that such programs consider age.

Exploring the psychometric properties of the Cyberbullying Attitude Scale (CBAS) and its relation with teasing and gratitude in Indian collegiates

Purpose

This study aims to examine the psychometric properties of the Cyberbullying Attitude Scale (CBAS) in Indian college students with the help of two independent studies.

Design/methodology/approach

The first study investigated the factorial validity of the scale using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), resulting in a seven-item, two-component model of CBAS. Two statements were excluded owing to inadequate factor loading. The second study evaluated the reliability and criterion validity of the model extracted after CFA using the Weight-Based Teasing Scale (WBTS), PhQ9 as convergent indices and Gratitude Questionnaire 6 (GQ6) as divergent indices.

Findings

It was observed that the Indian version of the scale differs from the original version in two ways. First, the Indian CBAS comprised seven items, while the original CBAS consisted of nine items. Second, in the original CBAS, two factors of cyberbullying, i.e. hostile cyberbullying attitudes (HCA) and general cyberbullying characteristics (GCC), contained five and four statements, respectively. However, the Indian CBAS comprised five and two statements, respectively. Further, the Indian CBAS showed convergence with WBTS and PhQ9 and divergence with GQ6.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first to explore the psychometric properties of Indian CBAS and its relations with teasing and gratitude.

Relationship between perceived teacher support and learning engagement among adolescents: Mediation role of technology acceptance and learning motivation

This study is aimed at investigating the relationship between perceived teacher support and learning engagement and exploring the mediation role played by technology acceptance and learning motivation. It adopted a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, with sampling 467 students from four middle schools in eastern China. The research findings showed that perceived teacher support is significantly associated with learning engagement. Learning motivation plays a mediating role in the relationship between perceived teacher support and learning engagement. There is the chain mediating effect of technology acceptance and learning motivation on the relationship between perceived teacher support and learning engagement. All of these are of great importance for the teachers in the middle schools, as they help to increase students' engagement with learning activities considering the background of the deep integration of information technology and education teaching.

Perceived teacher's support and engagement among students with obesity in physical education: The mediating role of basic psychological needs and autonomous motivation

Grounded in self-determination theory, this cross-sectional study aims to explore the multiple mediating roles of perceived teachers' support for students with obesity and their engagement in physical education. The study included 322 Chinese high school students with obesity (mean age, 16.84 [±0.147] years; 219 [68%] male, 103 [32%] female). Mplus 8.3 software was used to test the multiple mediating effects. After controlling for grade and gender, teacher support was found to neither directly affect students' engagement nor directly stimulate their autonomous motivation; however, it could affect their engagement through the two pathways of 1) basic psychological needs and 2) the chain mediation of basic psychological needs and autonomous motivation. Results suggest that not all teacher support, but only teacher support meeting students' basic psychological needs, can promote engagement in PE by students with obesity. Future research should explore strategies according to the physical and mental characteristics of students with obesity, to enrich and innovate the theoretical system of teacher support in physical education. Furthermore, teacher support interventions to promote engagement among students with obesity should be developed.

Cross-cultural similarities and differences in the theoretical predictors of cyberbullying perpetration: Results from a seven-country study

The Barlett Gentile cyberbullying model (BGCM) posits that correlated anonymity perceptions and the belief in the irrelevance of muscularity for online bullying (BIMOB) predict positive cyberbullying attitudes to predict subsequent cyberbullying perpetration. Much research has shown the BGCM to be the only published theory that differentiates traditional and cyberbullying while validly predicting cyberbullying. So far, however, the cross-cultural ubiquity has gone understudied. Thus, 1,592 adult participants across seven countries (USA, Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, and Singapore) completed measures germane to the BGCM. Supporting the BGCM, the variables were significantly correlated for the entire sample, participants from independent cultures, and participants from interdependent cultures. However, the relationship between BIMOB and positive cyberbullying attitudes as well as the relationship between positive cyberbullying attitudes and cyberbullying perpetration were stronger for independent cultures. These results suggest that the BGCM postulates are mostly universal, but several relations appear to be culturally different. Theoretical implications are discussed.

The link between childhood psychological maltreatment and cyberbullying perpetration attitudes among undergraduates: Testing the risk and protective factors

Based on Attachment Theory, the Barlett and Gentile Cyberbullying Model and General Aggression Model, the present study explored the relationship between childhood psychological maltreatment and cyberbullying perpetration attitudes among undergraduates, as well as the mediating roles of empathy and immorality. Using a stratified cluster random sampling method, 626 college students were tested. Structural equation modeling was used for multiple mediation analysis. Results: (1) The positive rate of childhood psychological maltreatment, referring to sustained and repeated experiencing at least one kind of psychological maltreatment, was reported by accounted for 33.87% of participants; (2) a significant positive correlation existed between childhood psychological maltreatment, immorality, and cyberbullying perpetration attitudes. However, these variables were negatively correlated with empathy (cognitive and affective empathy); and (3) there were three mediating paths: childhood psychological maltreatment was linked to cyberbullying perpetration attitudes of male college students through the mediating roles of cognitive empathy and immorality and the chain-mediating role of cognitive empathy and immorality. Conclusions: Greater experience of childhood psychological maltreatment predicted more favorable attitudes toward cyberbullying perpetration among male college students, mediated by cognitive empathy and immorality. These findings may assist parents and educators by providing effective intervention for cyberbullying perpetration attitudes.

The Mediation Role of Moral Personality Between Childhood Psychological Abuse and Cyberbullying Perpetration Attitudes of College Students

Guided by social learning theory and general aggression model, this work aims to explore the impact of childhood psychological abuse on cyberbullying perpetration attitudes of college students and the mediating role of moral personality. Using stratified cluster random sampling method, 527 college students were tested by using the Childhood Psychological Abuse Scale, Moral Personality Adjective Evaluation Questionnaire for college students, and the revised Chinese version of Cyberbullying Attitude Questionnaire. Results: (1) Childhood psychological abuse was significantly positively correlated with cyberbullying perpetration attitudes and showed a significant negative correlation with positive moral personality traits. (2) Positive moral personality traits had a significant negative correlation with cyberbullying perpetration attitudes. (3) Positive moral personality traits had a significant mediating effect between childhood psychological abuse and cyberbullying attitudes of college students. The mediating effect accounted for 11.11% of the total effect.

Efficacy of Cyberbullying Prevention on Somatic Symptoms-Randomized Controlled Trial Applying a Reasoned Action Approach

The theory of reasoned action (ToRA) has been proposed as a framework for cyberbullying prevention design, targeting attitudes and norms. In this study effects of a long (10 weekly sessions) and a short (one day, four sessions) cyberbullying prevention program based on the ToRA were compared with a control group over 9 months. Longitudinal data from 722 students (mean age = 13.36) on cyberbullying, somatic symptoms, attitudes, and norms were analyzed within a structural equation model. Participation in the long intervention group significantly reduced cyberbullying (d = -0.584) and somatic symptoms (d = -0.316). No between-group differences emerged for attitudes and norms. Developmental trajectories and associations were found to be as suggested by ToRA in both cross-sectional and change-score analyses.

Cyberbullying across the Lifespan of Education: Issues and Interventions from School to University

Research on cyberbullying amongst students has tended to be conducted separately within specific education institutional contexts, schools, further education (FE) and higher education (HE), neglecting a view that takes account of the entire educational lifespan. The present article addresses this gap in the literature, providing a novel take on examining its nature, social environments, legal consequences and potentially helpful interventions. To facilitate this, the article conceptualises cyberbullying in broad terms, recognising that it can take multiple forms of online and digital practice including: spreading rumours, ridiculing and/or demeaning another person, casting aspirations on the grounds of race, disability, gender, religion or sexual orientation; seeking revenge or deliberately embarrassing a person by posting intimate photos or videos about them without their consent; accessing another's social networking profiles with malicious intent and socially excluding a person from a social network or gaming site. This article demonstrates that harm from cyberbullying is a cause for concern for students at each developmental stage and that there are continuities in its appearance that need to be challenged at each point in the educational lifespan. And inaccurately, by university, the idea that 'nothing can be done' still is one of the main concerns for the victims. The article concludes with five key recommendations for future research and practice across the educational lifespan.

Adolescents' explicit and implicit evaluations of hypothetical and actual peers with different bullying participant roles

This study examined how adolescents evaluate bullying at three levels of specificity: (a) the general concept of bullying, (b) hypothetical peers in different bullying participant roles, and (c) actual peers in different bullying participant roles. Participants were 163 predominantly ethnic majority adolescents in The Netherlands (58% girls; M_age=16.34years, SD=0.79). For the hypothetical peers, we examined adolescents' explicit evaluations as well as their implicit evaluations. Adolescents evaluated the general concept of bullying negatively. Adolescents' explicit evaluations of hypothetical and actual peers in the bullying roles depended on their own role, but adolescents' implicit evaluations of hypothetical peers did not. Adolescents' explicit evaluations of hypothetical peers and actual peers were different. Hypothetical bullies were evaluated negatively by all classmates, whereas hypothetical victims were evaluated relatively positively compared with the other roles. However, when adolescents evaluated their actual classmates, the differences between bullies and the other roles were smaller, whereas victims were evaluated the most negatively of all roles. Further research should take into account that adolescents' evaluations of hypothetical peers differ from their evaluations of actual peers.

Reducing cyberbullying: A theory of reasoned action-based video prevention program for college students

Few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of cyberbullying prevention/intervention programs. The goals of the present study were to develop a Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)-based video program to increase cyberbullying knowledge (1) and empathy toward cyberbullying victims (2), reduce favorable attitudes toward cyberbullying (3), decrease positive injunctive (4) and descriptive norms about cyberbullying (5), and reduce cyberbullying intentions (6) and cyberbullying behavior (7). One hundred sixty-seven college students were randomly assigned to an online video cyberbullying prevention program or an assessment-only control group. Immediately following the program, attitudes and injunctive norms for all four types of cyberbullying behavior (i.e., unwanted contact, malice, deception, and public humiliation), descriptive norms for malice and public humiliation, empathy toward victims of malice and deception, and cyberbullying knowledge significantly improved in the experimental group. At one-month follow-up, malice and public humiliation behavior, favorable attitudes toward unwanted contact, deception, and public humiliation, and injunctive norms for public humiliation were significantly lower in the experimental than the control group. Cyberbullying knowledge was significantly higher in the experimental than the control group. These findings demonstrate a brief cyberbullying video is capable of improving, at one-month follow-up, cyberbullying knowledge, cyberbullying perpetration behavior, and TRA constructs known to predict cyberbullying perpetration. Considering the low cost and ease with which a video-based prevention/intervention program can be delivered, this type of approach should be considered to reduce cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying, depression, and problem alcohol use in female college students: a multisite study

Cyberbullying and its effects have been studied largely in middle and high school students, but less is known about cyberbullying in college students. This cross-sectional study investigated the relationship between involvement in cyberbullying and depression or problem alcohol use among college females. Two hundred and sixty-five female students from four colleges completed online surveys assessing involvement in cyberbullying behaviors. Participants also completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to assess depressive symptoms and the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) to assess problem drinking. Logistic regression tested associations between involvement in cyberbullying and either depression or problem drinking. Results indicated that 27% of participants had experienced cyberbullying in college; 17.4% of all participants met the criteria for depression (PHQ-9 score ≥10), and 37.5% met the criteria for problem drinking (AUDIT score ≥8). Participants with any involvement in cyberbullying had increased odds of depression. Those involved in cyberbullying as bullies had increased odds of both depression and problem alcohol use. Bully/victims had increased odds of depression. The four most common cyberbullying behaviors were also associated with increased odds for depression, with the highest odds among those who had experienced unwanted sexual advances online or via text message. Findings indicate that future longitudinal study of cyberbullying and its effects into late adolescence and young adulthood could contribute to the prevention of associated comorbidities in this population.

Modeling the anti-cyberbullying preferences of university students: Adaptive choice-based conjoint analysis

Adaptive choice-based conjoint analysis was used to study the anti-cyberbullying program preferences of 1,004 university students. More than 60% reported involvement in cyberbullying as witnesses (45.7%), victims (5.7%), perpetrator-victims (4.9%), or perpetrators (4.5%). Men were more likely to report involvement as perpetrators and perpetrator-victims than were women. Students recommended advertisements featuring famous people who emphasized the impact of cyberbullying on victims. They preferred a comprehensive approach teaching skills to prevent cyberbullying, encouraging students to report incidents, enabling anonymous online reporting, and terminating the internet privileges of students involved as perpetrators. Those who cyberbully were least likely, and victims of cyberbullying were most likely, to support an approach combining prevention and consequences. Simulations introducing mandatory reporting, suspensions, or police charges predicted a substantial reduction in the support of uninvolved students, witnesses, victims, and perpetrators.

[Promotion of media competence and prevention of cyberbullying using the Medienhelden program: results from an evaluation study ]

The manualized Medienhelden (engl. Media Heroes) program (Schultze-Krumbholz, Zagorscak, Siebenbrock, Scheithauer, 2012) is implemented in the school environment either as a ten-week program during lessons (curriculum; IGL) or as a single project day with reduced content of the long version (IGK). In consecutive lessons, topics of the program are, for example: definition of cyberbullying, its negative impact, how to protect oneself on the internet, and opportunities to react in appropriate ways. The program utilizes mainly cognitive-behavioral methods. In the present contribution the program and selected results from a controlled, pre-follow-up evaluation study with 570 adolescents (Ncontrolgroup = 289, NIGK = 98 and NIGL = 183), from one general high school and four college preparatory high schools from a German major city will be presented. Results show that cyberbullying decreased in both intervention groups (project day, curriculum) compared to the control group while at the same time an increase of social competencies, self-esteem, and subjective health was observed. These effects were more pronounced for the curriculum intervention group. An opposite pattern was found for the control group: Cyberbullying and empathy worsened, and no change was found for perspective-taking, self-esteem, and subjective health. The program shows both preventive and intervention effects.

Combating weight-based cyberbullying on Facebook with the dissenter effect

Weight-based cyberbullying is prevalent among youth and adolescents and can have lasting negative psychological effects on the victims. One way to combat these negative effects is through modeling dissenting behavior. When a bystander challenges the bully or supports the victim, this models dissenting behavior. In this study, 181 participants were exposed to message manipulations posted on a Facebook page aimed at testing the conformity effect, the dissenter effect, and the bystander effect in response to enactment of weight-based bullying. Facebook is a common social media site where cyberbullying is reported. Results indicate that in the dissenting condition, participants' comments were significantly more positive or supporting for the victim, as compared to other conditions. This effect was more pronounced for men than for women. In addition, in the dissenting condition, men were less likely to consider the victim unhealthy than women and men in other conditions. These results support the effectiveness of efforts to model dissenting behavior in the face of bullies and extend them to online contexts. Implications are discussed.

Cross-Cultural Differences in Cyberbullying Behavior

The current study tested the relation between culture and cyberbullying using a short-term longitudinal research design. College-aged participants from the United States ( n = 293) and Japan ( n = 722) completed several questionnaires at Wave 1 that measured cyberbullying frequency, cyberbullying reinforcement, positive attitudes toward cyberbullying, and interdependent self-construal. Approximately 2 months later, participants completed the cyberbullying frequency questionnaire again. Results showed higher levels of cyberbullying change for the U.S. sample compared with the Japanese sample. Follow-up analyses showed that cyberbullying reinforcement and interdependent self-construal moderated this effect. Specifically, cyberbullying change was the highest (showing an increase over time) for the U.S. sample when reinforcement was highest and when interdependent self-construal was the lowest. Theoretical implications are discussed.