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Cyberbullying is the act of using unjustified aggression to harm or harass via digital devices. Currently regarded as a widespread problem, the phenomenon has attracted growing research interest in different measures of cyberbullying and the similarities and differences across countries and cultures. This article presents the Colombian validation of the European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (ECIPQ) involving 3,830 high school students (M = 13.9 years old, standard deviation = 1.61; 48.9 percent male), of which 1,931 were Colombian and 1,899 Spanish. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), content validation, and multigroup analysis were performed with each of the sample subgroups. The optimal fits and psychometric properties obtained confirm the robustness and suitability of the assessment instrument to jointly measure cyber-aggression and cyber-victimization. The results corroborated the theoretical construct and the two-dimensional and universal nature of cyberbullying. The multigroup analysis showed that cyberbullying dynamics are similar in both countries. The comparative analyses of prevalence revealed that Colombian students are less involved in cyberbullying. The results indicate the suitability of the instrument and the advantages of using such a tool to evaluate and guide psychoeducational interventions aimed at preventing cyberbullying in countries where few studies have been performed.

Cybergossip is the act of two or more people making evaluative comments via digital devices about somebody who is not present. This cyberbehavior affects the social group in which it occurs and can either promote or hinder peer relationships. Scientific studies that assess the nature of this emerging and interactive behavior in the virtual world are limited. Some research on traditional gossip has identified it as an inherent and defining element of indirect relational aggression. This paper adopts and argues for a wider definition of gossip that includes positive comments and motivations. This work also suggests that cybergossip has to be measured independently from traditional gossip due to key differences when it occurs through ICT. This paper presents the Colombian and Spanish validation of the Cybergossip Questionnaire for Adolescents (CGQ-A), involving 3,747 high school students (M = 13.98 years old, SD = 1.69; 48.5% male), of which 1,931 were Colombian and 1,816 were Spanish. Test models derived from item response theory, confirmatory factor analysis, content validation, and multi-group analysis were run on the full sample and subsamples for each country and both genders. The obtained optimal fit and psychometric properties confirm the robustness and suitability of a one-dimensional structure for the cybergossip instrument. The multi-group analysis shows that the cybergossip construct is understood similarly in both countries and between girls and boys. The composite reliability ratifies convergent and divergent validity of the scale. Descriptive results show that Colombian adolescents gossip less than their Spanish counterparts and that boys and girls use cybergossip to the same extent. As a conclusion, this study confirmes the relationship between cybergossip and cyberbullying, but it also supports a focus on positive cybergossip in psychoeducational interventions to build positive virtual relationships and prevent risky cyberbehaviors.

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International research on the risk and protective factors of cyberbullying focus on individual personality variables and the use of technological devices. However, it is necessary to examine in greater depth the interpersonal context as a factor that may influence cyberbullying and the possible differences between cultures. The objective of this article was to analyze the relationship of influence of two interpersonal variables, multidimensional social competence and social motivation, on cyberaggression and cybervictimization through a cultural study of Spain and Colombia, which will permit generalizing the influence of interpersonal variables on cyberbullying in different cultural settings. The sample consisted of 3,830 secondary school students (50.4% Colombian and 49.6% Spanish). Self-reporting measurement instruments validated with different European samples were used. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were performed. A model of mutual influence revealing the inverse relationship of normative adjustment and the direct relationship of popularity goals in cyberaggression was obtained. Cybervictimization was explained by the direct influence of prosocial behaviors and avoidance goals and the inverse influence of perceived social efficacy, development goals, and social and normative adjustment. As conclusion, this study demonstrates the homogeneity of the Colombian and Spanish models and the important role that the face-to-face context plays in cyberbullying involvement. This article highlights and supports the design of cyberbullying prevention programs, which requires the inclusion of multidimensional social competence and social goals.

Objectives(1) To examine the psychometric properties of the Basic Empathy Scale (BES) with Spanish adolescents, comparing a two and a three-dimensional structure;(2) To analyse the relationship between the three-dimensional empathy and social and normative adjustment in school.DesignTransversal and ex post facto retrospective study. Confirmatory factorial analysis, multifactorial invariance analysis and structural equations models were used.Participants747 students (51.3% girls) from Cordoba, Spain, aged 12–17 years (M=13.8; SD=1.21).ResultsThe original two-dimensional structure was confirmed (cognitive empathy, affective empathy), but a three-dimensional structure showed better psychometric properties, highlighting the good fit found in confirmatory factorial analysis and adequate internal consistent valued, measured with Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega. Composite reliability and average variance extracted showed better indices for a three-factor model. The research also showed evidence of measurement invariance across gender. All the factors of the final three-dimensional BES model were direct and significantly associated with social and normative adjustment, being most strongly related to cognitive empathy.ConclusionsThis research supports the advances in neuroscience, developmental psychology and psychopathology through a three-dimensional version of the BES, which represents an improvement in the original two-factorial model. The organisation of empathy in three factors benefits the understanding of social and normative adjustment in adolescents, in which emotional disengagement favours adjusted peer relationships. Psychoeducational interventions aimed at improving the quality of social life in schools should target these components of empathy.

The present study aims to collect data about the prevalence of cyberbullying and the role of self-esteem, empathy, and social skills in predicting cybervictimization and cyberaggression in two different countries: Spain and Ecuador. Additionally, it compares the similarities found in both countries. A wide sample of adolescents from Secondary Education (N = 24943; mean age = 13.92; SD = 1.30, girls = 49.9%) from both countries (Spain = 14,206 and Ecuador = 10,737) took part by filling in a set of self-reports. Weighted analyses and structural equation models were used. The results revealed that 8.8% were cybervictims, 3.1% were cyberaggressors and 4.9% cybervictims-cyberaggressors in Spain; whereas 8.7% were cybervictims, 5.1% were cyberaggressors and 14.3% were cybervictims-cyberaggressors in Ecuador. Cybervictimization could be predicted in both countries by means of self-deprecation and social skills, although the meaning of some skills was different depending on the country. Cyberaggression could be predicted in both countries by means of empathy, assertiveness, and conflict-resolution skills, as well as by communicative and relational skills. Self-deprecation was a predictor of cyberaggression only in Spain. These results are discussed, and educational inferences are drawn for prevention.

Two important challenges in research on bullying are to have reliable tools to measure traditional bullying and discriminatory bullying related to special educational needs (SEN), and to learn more about their prevalence. We present the validations of two instruments to measure bullying (European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire, EBIPQ) and discriminatory bullying with respect to SEN (EBIPQ–Special Education Needs Discrimination version, henceforth EBIPQ-SEND). A total of 17,309 teenagers from Ecuador took part in the study (M = 14.76, SD = 1.65; 49.9% male). The item response theory analyses evidenced accuracy and quality of the measures. The confirmatory factor analyses of the EBIPQ and the EBIPQ-SEND revealed the same two-factor structure—aggression and victimization—regardless of gender, showing optimal fit indexes. We present the results of the prevalence according to the roles of participation in traditional bullying and discriminatory bullying around SEN. Significant gender and age differences were observed for involvement in both phenomena. We also discuss the advantages of applying the EBIPQ and the EBIPQ-SEND to evaluate and diagnose harassment and discriminatory harassment around SEN.