No abstract

The present study was designed to qualitatively investigate secondary students' interpretations and experiences of bullying (and victimization) in Greek schools, with a focus on gender similarities and differences. Overall, 95 students (50 boys and 45 girls), 15 or 16 years old, participated in focus group interviews that were homogeneous in terms of grade and gender. Data analysis, using the interpretative phenomenological approach, showed that different interpretations and meanings of bullying between genders have important consequences on actual behavior. Furthermore, students do not reveal bullying and victimization to either parents or teachers, who are described as indifferent and ineffective. Results are indicative of a school culture that is conducive to bullying behaviors and have important implications for antibullying interventions. C 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The present study aimed to investigate internet addiction among psychology students, as well as the role of resilience and perceived economic hardship in the manifestation of the phenomenon. The study involved 252 students (233 women, 19 men) of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. They completed a self-report questionnaire, which included a short version of a scale on resilience (The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale - CD-RISC), a scale on perceived economic hardship (Economic Hardship Questionnaire), and a scale on Internet Addiction (Internet Addiction Test). The results showed that students of Psychology, regardless of their academic year, make above-average/normal and excessive/addictive internet use displaying indicative behaviors (e.g., uncontrollable internet use, neglect of social life). Furthermore, based on the path analysis models, it seemed that students’ resilience is a negative predictor of above-average/normal and excessive/addictive internet use (and their indicative behaviors). An indirect positive predictive relationship was also found between students’ perceived economic hardship and their above-average/normal and excessive/addictive internet use (and their indicative behaviors) through their sense of resilience. The findings emphasize the need to implement preventive counselling actions within university campuses to engender a safe internet culture among students and strengthen their sense of resilience, especially in a period of recovery from economic crisis.

Although elementary schools are considered a fertile ground for promoting positive behaviors among students (such as safe online practices), to date, almost no study has examined the effectiveness of a cyberbullying prevention program among elementary school students of typical and non-typical development. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of such a school-based European funded preventive program (TABBY, Threat Assessment of Bullying Behavior in Youth) among sixth graders with and without special educational needs (SEN). The study also examined the predictive role of self-esteem in students’ cyberbullying involvement. Overall, 240 students from randomly selected Greek schools completed a self-report questionnaire, which included a scale on cyberbullying and self-esteem. Following an experimental longitudinal research design, the intervention was applied to the experimental (N = 120) but not to the control group of students (N = 120). Each group consisted of both students with (N = 60) and without SEN (N = 60). The evaluation was based on the completion of the self-report questionnaire before (1st phase), immediately after (2nd phase), and 6 months after the intervention was completed (3rd phase) by trained general and special education teachers. According to the findings, students’ cyberbullying engagement (as bullies/victims) decreased significantly in the second and third phase, and especially for those with SEN. Additionally, self-esteem negatively predicted students’ involvement in cyberbullying (as bullies/victims) in all three phases. The findings partially support the appropriateness of interventions within the elementary school context in order to enhance self-esteem and promote a safe online culture among students of typical as well as atypical development.

The aim of this dyadic study was to investigate whether the economic strain (i.e., perceived deterioration of the financial situation and difficulty to respond to family obligations) experienced by married couples with children relates to their satisfaction with life, and whether marital satisfaction and parental self-efficacy mediate this relationship. To this end, we took both actor (i.e., partners' economic strain was expected to relate to their own life satisfaction via their own marital satisfaction and parental self-agency), as well as partner (i.e., partners' economic strain was expected to relate to their spouses' life satisfaction via their spouse's marital satisfaction and parental self-agency) effects into account. A total of 134 married couples with children participated in the study. Dyadic analyses revealed that wives’ perceived difficulty to respond to family obligations related to their husbands’ life satisfaction, via their husbands’ parental self-agency. Moreover, annual family income related negatively to wives’ life satisfaction, via wives’ difficulty to respond to their family obligations. In addition, husbands’ deterioration of their financial situation related negatively to their life satisfaction, via their marital satisfaction. Last but not least, husbands’ deterioration of their financial situation related negatively to their wives’ marital satisfaction and parental self-agency. These findings have important implications for counseling because they suggest that married couples' subjective well-being suffers in times of financial turmoil, while gender differences determine the psychological processes through which economic strain relates to husbands' and wives' life satisfaction.