School bullying continues to be a serious problem around the world. Thus, it seems crucial to clearly identify the risk factors associated with being a victim or a bully. The current study focused in particular on the role that age and socio-economic differences between classmates could play on bullying. Logistic and multilevel analyses were conducted using data from 53,316 5th and 9th grade students from a representative sample of public and private Colombian schools. Higher age and better family socio-economic conditions than classmates were risk factors associated with being a bully, while younger age and poorer socio-economic conditions than classmates were associated with being a victim of bullying. Coming from authoritarian families or violent neighborhoods, and supporting beliefs legitimizing aggression, were also associated with bullying and victimization. Empathy was negatively associated with being a bully, and in some cases positively associated with being a victim. The results highlight the need to take into account possible sources of power imbalances, such as age and socio-economic differences among classmates, when seeking to prevent bullying. In particular, interventions focused on peer group dynamics might contribute to avoid power imbalances or to prevent power imbalances from becoming power abuse. Aggr. Behav. 41:280-293, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Although hate speech is widely recognized as an online phenomenon, very few studies have investigated hate speech among adolescents in offline settings (e.g., schools). At the same time, not much is known about countering hate speech (counterspeech) among adolescents and which factors are associated with it. To this end, the present study used the socio-ecological framework to investigate the direct and indirect links among one contextual factor (i.e., classroom climate) and two intrapersonal factors (i.e., empathy for victims of hate speech, self-efficacy regarding intervention in hate speech) to understand counterspeech among adolescents. The sample is based on self-reports of 3,225 students in Grades 7 to 9 (51.7% self-identified as female) from 36 schools in Germany and Switzerland. Self-report questionnaires were administered to measure classroom climate, empathy, self-efficacy, and counterspeech. After controlling for adolescents’ grade, gender, immigrant background, and socioeconomic status (SES), the 2-(1-1)-1 multilevel mediation analysis showed that classroom climate (L2), empathy for victims of hate speech (L1), and self-efficacy toward intervention in hate speech (L1) had a positive effect on countering hate speech (L1). Classroom climate (L2) was also positively linked to empathy for victims of hate speech (L1), and self-efficacy toward intervention in hate speech (L1). Furthermore, classroom climate (L2) was indirectly associated with countering hate speech (L1) via greater empathy (L1) and self-efficacy (L1). The findings highlight the need to focus on contextual and intrapersonal factors when trying to facilitate adolescents’ willingness to face hate speech with civic courage and proactively engage against it.

Classrooms in Peace (Aulas en Paz) is an elementary school-based multicomponent program for prevention of aggression and promotion of peaceful relationships. Inspired by international programs and socio-emotional research, it includes (1) a classroom universal curriculum, (2) parent workshops and home visits to parents of the 10% most aggressive children, and (3) extracurricular peer groups of two aggressive and four prosocial children. Activities seek to promote socio-emotional competencies such as empathy, anger management, creative generation of alternatives, and assertiveness. A 2-year quasi-experimental evaluation was conducted with 1154 students from 55 classrooms of seven public schools located in neighborhoods with the presence of youth gangs, drug cartels, and high levels of community violence in two Colombian cities. Despite several implementation (e.g., about half of the activities were not implemented) and evaluation (e.g., randomization problems, large number of missing data, and changes between treatment and control groups) challenges, positive results were found in prosocial behavior and in reduction of aggressive behavior, according to teacher reports, and in assertiveness and reduction of verbal victimization, according to student reports. Furthermore, implementation cost (25 US dollars per student per year) was very low compared to other programs in developed countries. This study shows that the Classrooms in Peace program has an important potential to generate positive results and highlights the challenges of implementing and evaluating prevention programs in highly violent environments.

Using a four-wave/seven-month longitudinal design with a sample of 1595 preadolescents (53% boys, 47% girls, M age = 10.2 years) from 63 fourth-, fifth-and sixth-grade classrooms in nine mixed-sex schools in Bogotá, Colombia, we examined whether growth trajectories of measures of overt and relational aggression varied as

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Current issues in the use of peer assessment techniques and sociometric methods are discussed. Attention is paid to the contributions of the four articles in this volume. Together these contributions point to the continual level of change and progress in these techniques. They also show that the paradigm underlying these methods has been unchanged for decades. It is argued that this domain is ripe for a paradigm change that takes advantage of recent developments in statistical techniques and technology.

Hate speech, or intentional derogatory expressions about people based on assigned group characteristics, has been studied primarily in online contexts. Less is known about the occurrence of this phenomenon in schools. As it has negative consequences for victims, perpetrators, and those who witness it, it is crucial to characterize the occurrence of offline (i.e., in the school) and online hate speech to describe similarities and differences between these two socialization contexts. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of hate speech witnessing, victimization, and perpetration, in a sample of 3,620 7–9th graders (51% self-identified as female) from 42 schools in Germany and Switzerland. We found that 67% of the students witnessed hate speech in their school, and 65% witnessed online hate speech at least once in the past 12 months. Approximately 21% of the students self-identified as offline perpetrators and 33% as offline victims, whereas these percentages were lower for online hate speech (13 and 20%, respectively). In both settings, skin color and origin were the most common group references for hate speech (50% offline and 63% online). Offline hate speech mainly came from classmates (88%), unknown sources (e.g., graffiti; 19%), or teachers (12%), whereas online hate speech mostly came from unknown persons (77%). The most frequent forms of offline hate speech were offensive jokes (94%) and the spread of lies and rumors about the members of a specific social group (84%). Significant differences by country, gender, and migration background were observed. Girls reported more offline victimization experiences, less perpetration, and a greater frequency of witnessing hate speech. This difference was larger in magnitude in the online setting. Students in Switzerland reported being exposed to hate speech more often than students in Germany. Students with a migration background reported higher hate speech victimization based on skin color and origin than students without a migration background. The high prevalence of hate speech highlights the need for school-based prevention programs. Our findings are discussed in terms of the practical implications.

Friendship is a desired and meaningful form of human relationship that can be seen at nearly every point in the life cycle. Friendship is characterized by shared activities, reciprocated positive affect, similarity in interests and values, and the use of productive conflict resolution strategies. Persons ascribe multiple relationship features to their friendships including security, intimacy, and support. Friendship serves several basic functions. Beyond providing opportunities for companionship, friendship is a source of validation, protection from victimization and from suboptimal family experiences, and opportunities for healthy moral development.