The purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in the overlap between school and cyberbullying according to the different types of involvement in such behaviors. The current study involved 2,785 Italian students, ages 11–17 recruited from 7 secondary schools, who anonymously self-reported about school and cyberbullying as victims and/or perpetrators. Based on their responses, students were classified as ‘only-bullies,’ ‘only-victims,’ ‘bully/victims,’ or ‘not involved’ in school and/or online. To explain the relationship between school and online bullying, 2 theoretical frames were tested: role continuity and role inversion. Results showed that, for girls, ‘school only-bullies’ were not overlapping with ‘cyber only-bullies,’ and ‘school only-victims’ were not overlapping with ‘cyber only-victims,’ but these categories were related for boys. ‘School bully/victims’ were significantly overlapping with ‘cyber bully/victims’ for both boys and girls. It was concluded that the role continuity approach is most appropriate to explain these 2 disturbing problems in adolescents especially for boys. Intervention efforts should especially target the bully/victims group.

Despite the growing diffusion of cyberbullying among students and the numerous studies in the literature, to date relatively little is known about its relationship with school bullying. This article seeks to understand if there is an overlap between the roles of bullies and victims in traditional and electronic bullying. In order to investigate this, 5,058 Italian middle and high school students were surveyed about their experiences of cyberbullying and cybervictimisation, looking also at their involvement in school bullying. The results highlighted a significant overlap between school bullying and cyberbullying, with 12.1% of all students who bullied others at least sometimes being also cyberbullies. Similarly, there was a significant overlap between school victimisation and cybervictimisation, with 7.4% of all students who were victimised at school at least sometimes being also cybervictimised. Our findings confirm the existence of an overlap between school bullying and cyberbullying. We discuss useful intervention programs to reduce or prevent cyberbullying

Background. This article presents results from the evaluation of the Tabby Improved Prevention and Intervention Program (TIPIP) for cyberbullying and cybervictimization. TIPIP is theoretically designed to address cyberbullying and cybervictimization. It is the first program in this field developed combining the Ecological System Theory and the Threat Assessment Approach. Method. The Tabby Improved program was evaluated using an experimental design with 759 Italian students (aged 10–17 years) randomly allocated via their classes to either the Experimental or Control Group. Results. Repeated measures ANOVAs showed a significant decrease both in cyberbullying and cybervictimization among students who received the intervention with a follow-up period of six months. The program was more effective for boys than for girls. Conclusions. Because cyberbullying is a cruel problem negatively affecting those involved, validated interventions that prove their efficacy in reducing the problem using experimental designs should be widely tested and promoted, paying particular attention to implementing a program fully to increase and guarantee its effectiveness.