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.

Several criteria have been proposed for defining cyberbullying to young people, but no studies have proved their relevance. There are also variations across different countries in the meaning and the definition of this behavior. We systematically investigated the role of five definitional criteria for cyberbullying, in six European countries. These criteria (intentionality, imbalance of power, repetition, anonymity, and public vs. private) were combined through a set of 32 scenarios, covering a range of four types of behaviors (written-verbal, visual, exclusion, and impersonation). For each scenario, participants were asked whether it was cyberbullying or not. A randomized version of the questionnaire was shown to 295 Italian, 610 Spanish, 365 German, 320 Sweden, 336 Estonian, and 331 French adolescents aged 11–17 years. Results from multidimensional scaling across country and type of behavior suggested a clear first dimension characterized by imbalance of power and a clear second dimension characterized by intentionality and, at a lower level, by anonymity. In terms of differences across types of behaviors, descriptive frequencies showed a more ambiguous role for exclusion as a form of cyberbullying, but general support was given to the relevance of the two dimensions across all the types of behavior. In terms of country differences, French participants more often perceived the scenarios as cyberbullying as compared with those in other countries, but general support was found for the relevance of the two dimensions across countries.

We examine the emotional impact caused to victims of bullying in its traditional form, both directly and indirectly, as well as bullying inflicted by use of new technologies such as mobile phones and the Internet. A sample of 1,671 adolescents and young people responded to a questionnaire which asked if they had been victims of various forms of bullying, as well as the emotions this caused. The results show that although traditional bullying affected significantly more young people than cyberbullying, the latter affected one in ten adolescents. Analysis of the emotions caused showed that traditional bullying produced a wide variety of impacts, with the victims being divided into five different emotional categories, while indirect bullying and cyberbullying presented a narrower variety of results with the victims being classifiable into just two groups: Those who said that they had not been emotionally affected and those who simultaneously suffered from a wide variety of negative emotions. The influence of age, gender, and severity on each emotional category is also analyzed.

The aim of this study is to discover the prevalence of cyberbullying among adolescents from Ecuador and Spain, and identify any differences by gender, school year, and ethnic-cultural background. A culturally-diverse group of 33,303 adolescents took part in the study (Ecuador = 10,918; Spain = 22,385). Our results show that in Ecuador, one in four, and in Spain, one in five teenagers were involved in cyberbullying. In both countries, teenagers in the higher school years were more commonly involved. Significant differences in gender and role of involvement were detected in both countries. In Ecuador, no differences were noted between the different ethnic-cultural groups as regards to the roles of involvement in cyberbullying. However, in Spain, these differences do exist. In this paper, these findings are discussed, and proposals for how to prevent cyberbullying are given.

Background: Bullying is a social problem where there is a phenomenon of intentional aggression that occurs in all schools. It has multiple negative consequences for the victim’s psychological health. As school is a context for learning about life in society, strategies to prevent such attitudes and behaviours should be encouraged. Although some studies seem to indicate the potential of the subject of physical education to promote attitudes and behaviours against bullying, there is still insufficient scientific evidence to deduce a positive impact on the reduction or prevention of this phenomenon. Purpose: This study aimed to analyse the effectiveness of a specific intervention to prevent bullying in Physical Education classes in Secondary Education. 6 specific sessions inserted into the physical education curriculum to find out what bullying is, who its protagonists are and how to prevent it. Participants and setting: In the study, 764 students with an age range of 12–19 years (49.3% girls; age mean [M] = 14.80, standard deviation [SD] = 1.69) from two public educational centres participated. Among them, 439 were randomly assigned to the quasi-experimental group (48.1% girls; age M = 14.70, SD = 1.59) and 325 to the control group (51.1% girls; age M = 14.94, SD = 1.83). Data were collected at two timepoints, pre- and the post-intervention data. Data collection: The Spanish version of the European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (EBIPQ) was used to measure the incidence of bullying. To measure cyberbullying, the Spanish version of the European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (ECIPQ) scale was used. Data analysis: The Student t-test was performed to compare possible differences between the experimental and control groups in the pre-test. To compare the means of the factors obtained based on the variables and the instruments used, as well as the scores obtained from the subjects of the experimental and control groups at the two timepoints, linear models of repeated measurements have been established comparing the pre- and post-intervention moments and the experimental and control groups, introducing sex and grade variables to compare the effectiveness of the programme based on them. Results: There were no differences in the pre-test measurements in any of the variables. After the intervention programme in the quasi-experimental group, the bullying victimisation (F = 16,951; p = .000) and bullying aggression (F = 5,215; p = .023) rates decreased significantly more than they did the control group. Likewise, victimisation in cyberbullying (F = 6,234; p = .013) decreased significantly differently, but aggression in cyberbullying did not (F = 0,099; p = .753). Conclusion: The implementation of a specific intervention to prevent bullying inserted into the physical education curriculum seems to have decreased bullying and cyberbullying victimisation.

The present study contrasts personal bullying with ethnic-cultural bullying. A representative pluricultural sample from a Spanish adolescent population of Secondary Education took part in the study (N = 27369). The sample filled in the EBIPQ to measure personal bullying. Additionally, they filled in an adaptation of this questionnaire to measure the ethnic-cultural bullying: the EBIPQ-ECD. The EBIPQ-ECD validation showed optimal psychometric properties and a bidimensional structure: ethnic-cultural victimization and ethnic-cultural aggression. The same roles of participation in personal bullying —aggressor, victim, bully/victim, non-involved— were observed in ethnic-cultural bullying, but they did not coincide with each other in a considerable part. Therefore, we concluded that ethnic-cultural bullying is a different phenomenon from personal bullying, with the possibility of certain dynamism existing between both. To prevent and mitigate ethnic-cultural bullying, educational inferences are proposed. We also recommend the use of the EBIPQ-ECD as a tool to evaluate and detect ethnic-cultural aggressions and victimization.