The aim of this work is to analyze the predictive value of several variables that may affect the likelihood of occasional or severe cibervictimization in adolescence, including sociodemographic (gender and age), psychological (self-esteem and shyness-social anxiety), educational (off-line school victimization, training and socio-emotional support, and academic achievement), family (parental control), and technological (frequency of use and risky Internet behaviors) factors. To achieve this, three self-reports were applied to 3,180 Compulsory Secondary Education students from Asturias (Spain), aged between 11 and 19 years old. The multinomial logistic regression results show that age, off-line school victimization, parental control, risky Internet behaviors, using online social networks or instant messaging applications and frequency of Internet use during weekends are statistically significant risk factors for both occasional and severe cybervictimization. Self-esteem is a protective factor for occasional cybervictimization. Having their own mobile phone, playing on-line with others and frequency of Internet use during weekdays are risk factors for severe cybervictimization. The implications of these results are discussed with regard to prevention, detection and treatment of cybervictimization.

The objective of the present work is to analyse the prevalence of cyber-aggression and cyber-victimization among adolescents in Asturias (Spain) and to identify possible gender differences. To this end, 3,175 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years were randomly selected from the student population attending compulsory secondary education in Asturias and assessed. They completed three self-reported tests: an ad hoc questionnaire on sociodemographic data and communication technologies management; the “Cyber-aggression Questionnaire for Adolescents” (CYBA), to assess how frequently adolescents acknowledge having exercised various cyber-aggressive behaviours in the previous three months; and the “Cyber-victimization Questionnaire for Adolescents” (CYVIC), to assess how frequently adolescents acknowledge having been a victim of various types of cyber-aggression in the previous three months. The results obtained show a high variation in prevalence based on the type of cyber-aggression or cyber-victimization analysed. Verbal cyber-aggression and online exclusion are more common than impersonation and visual cyber-aggression. There are generally no statistically significant differences between boys and girls. When differences do appear, boys generally tend to be more aggressive than girls, while girls are more likely to be victims. However, these differences are either small or very small. The implications of these results for future research and educational treatment of the problem are discussed. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivos analizar la prevalencia de la ciberagresión y la cibervictimización entre adolescentes en Asturias (España) e identificar posibles diferencias de género. Para ello, fueron evaluados 3.175 adolescentes, de 12 a 18 años, seleccionados aleatoriamente de entre la población de estudiantes de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria de Asturias. Se aplicaron tres autoinformes: un cuestionario «ad hoc» sobre datos sociodemográficos y manejo de tecnologías de comunicación; el «Cuestionario de Ciberagresión para Adolescentes» (CYBA), para evaluar con qué frecuencia el adolescente evaluado reconoce haber ejercido diferentes conductas de ciberagresión durante los últimos tres meses; y el «Cuestionario de Cibervictimización para adolescentes» (CYVIC), para evaluar con qué frecuencia el adolescente reconoce haber sido víctima de diferentes tipos de ciberagresión en los últimos tres meses. Los resultados obtenidos muestran una prevalencia muy variable en función del tipo de ciberagresión o cibervictimización analizado. La ciberagresión verbal y la exclusión online son más habituales que la suplantación y la ciberagresión visual. Por lo general, no existen diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre chicos y chicas. En los casos en que existen, la tendencia general es que los chicos son más agresores que las chicas y las chicas más víctimas que los chicos, si bien las diferencias son pequeñas o muy pequeñas. Se discuten las implicaciones de estos resultados para la investigación futura y el tratamiento educativo del problema.

The aim of this work is to analyze the relationship between parental control and cyber-victimization in adolescence, considering the possible mediating effect of impulsivity, and high-risk internet behavior. To that end we analyzed the responses of 3360 adolescents aged between 11 and 18 (M = 14.02; SD = 1.40), from Asturias (Spain), to four previously validated questionnaires in order to measure the level of parental control over the use of the internet (restriction and supervision), along with high-risk internet behaviors, impulsivity, and cyber-victimization in the adolescents. The results show that parental control tends to have a protective effect on the likelihood of the children being victims of cyber-aggression, with impulsivity, and high-risk internet behaviors as mediating variables. More specifically, parental restriction and supervision are positively related to each other; both forms of parental control are negatively related with the adolescent’s engaging in high-risk internet behaviors; supervision is negatively related with impulsivity; impulsivity is positively related with high-risk internet behaviors; and both impulsivity and high-risk internet behaviors are positively related to being a victim of cyber-aggression. The practical implications of these results are discussed.

The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context Vol. . Num. . :Individual, Family, and Community Predictors of Cyber-aggression among Adolescents

The Cybervictimization Questionnaire (CYVIC) for adolescents was designed to assess the extent to which the informant is a victim of aggression by mobile phone or Internet. The goal of this study is to analyze its factor and criterion validity and reliability in a sample of adolescents of Asturias (Spain). For this purpose, the CYVIC was applied to 3159 young people, aged 12 to 18, along with three scales to measure Internet Risk Behaviors, Offline School Victimization, and Self-esteem. Regarding factor validity, the model that best represents the internal structure of the CYVIC has four factors (Impersonation, Visual-Sexual Cybervictimization, Written-Verbal Cybervictimization, and Online Exclusion) and four additional indicators of Visual Cybervictimization-Teasing/Happy slapping. Regarding criterion validity, the CYVIC scores correlate positively with Internet Risk Behaviors and Offline School Victimization, and negatively with Self-esteem, three variables that previous empirical evidence indicates correlate with cybervictimization. The reliability of the CYVIC factors and items are both adequate. Therefore, it is concluded that the CYVIC is a valid and reliable self-report measure of cybervictimization in adolescents. The CYVIC was tested using a large representative sample of Spanish adolescents.It is a valid and reliable self-report measure of cybervictimization in adolescents.Four factors: Written-verbal, Visual-Sexual, Online exclusion and Impersonation.Four additional indicators of Visual Cybervictimization-Teasing/Happy slapping.Scores correlate with Internet Risk Behaviors, School Victimization and Self-esteem.