Bullying and Cyberbullying in Spain and Poland, and Their Relation to Social, Emotional and Moral Competencies

Abstract

Bullying and cyberbullying have been intensively studied in many countries, and research on the topic has been fruitful. Nevertheless, it is still necessary to advance knowledge on bullying and cyberbullying in many geographical areas and to discover their risk and protective factors. The objective of this study was to describe and compare the involvement in different bullying and cyberbullying roles in Spain and Poland, identifying risk and protective factors such as moral disengagement, social and emotional competencies, moral emotions and empathy. This study was carried out with a sample of 2535 primary and secondary school students from Spain and Poland. More bullying and cyberbullying involvement were found in Poland in comparison with Spain. Different moral disengagement mechanisms were found to be risk factors for involvement in bullying and cyberbullying in both countries. Low moral emotions were a risk factor for bullying and cyberbullying perpetration in Spain and Poland. Different social and emotional competencies were protective against bullying and cyberbullying in both countries. These results suggest the need to design and implement more programs to promote social, emotional and moral competencies in Spain and Poland to protect children against bullying and cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying and empathy among elementary school students: Do special educational needs make a difference?

“…Another finding of the present study is the fact that, generally, empathy in both students with and without SEN negatively predicted their involvement in cyberbullying (as victims/bullies). This finding confirms Hypothesis 2 and related findings conducted on students (mostly adolescents) with typical development (Antoniadou & Kokkinos, 2018;Brewer & Kerslake, 2015;Del Rey et al, 2016;Horzum et al, 2021;Llorent et al, 2021) but it is in contrast with a part of the literature, which mentions that cyber-victims' empathy is similar to non-victims (e.g., Zych, Baldry, et al, 2019). Although being victimized can make it easier for students to identify themselves with peers' negative experiences and feelings (skill indicative of empathy), this did not seem to be the case for the participating students who have been cyber-victims.…”

“…Nevertheless, according to the authors' knowledge, there are no research findings based exclusively on elementary school students regarding the role of empathy in their involvement in cyberbullying episodes (as victims or bullies). Only a limited number of studies, conducted on a mixed sample of both elementary and high or secondary school students, conclude to negative correlations between empathy (especially affective) and cyberbullying involvement (as victims/bullies) (e.g., Antoniadou & Kokkinos, 2018;Llorent, Diaz-Chaves, Zych, Twardowska-Staszek, & Mar ın-L opez, 2021). Therefore, it is deducted that the role of empathy in cyberbullying episodes needs further investigation especially among young students of elementary education.…”

“…According to the majority of the available related findings, the following were expected: the students with SEN engage in cyberbullying (as bullies/victims) to a greater extent (Hypothesis 1a) (Heiman & Olenik Shemesh, 2019; Heiman & Olenik‐Shemesh, 2015) while they express empathy to a lesser extent (Hypothesis 1b) (Buonomo et al ., 2017; Frye, 2018; Golubchik & Weizman, 2020), compared to students without SEN; empathy of students without SEN negatively predicts their involvement in cyberbullying as victims/bullies (Hypothesis 2) (Antoniadou & Kokkinos, 2018; Brewer & Kerslake, 2015; Del Rey et al ., 2016; Horzum et al ., 2021; Llorent et al ., 2021), while in case of students with SEN no Hypothesis was made due to the lack of related research findings; regarding the effect of the type of SEN on students' involvement in cyberbullying and their empathy no hypotheses were made due to the lack of related research findings; and both boys and girls of the two groups of students (with/without SEN) engage in cyberbullying (Hypothesis 3) (Didden et al ., 2009; Heiman & Olenik Shemesh, 2019). …”

How Do Chinese People View Cyberbullying? A Text Analysis Based on Social Media

“…People often obtain information about cyberbullying from news reports on Sina Weibo; according to the framework theory of journalism [56], it is likely that the reported news highlighting anger has guided public opinion. Cyberbullying and emotions are connected [57,58], and anger is a common emotion in different roles (i.e., victim, perpetrator, and bystander) related to cyberbullying [59]. In addition, anxiety can be explained by the most-discussed topic of "critiques on cyberbullying and support for its victims", because criticism means concern about its consequences and victims for the potential harm.…”

Assessing Cyberbullying in Adolescence: New Evidence for the Spanish Version of the European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (ECIP-Q)

“…However, the ECIP-Q, developed by Brighi et al [ 24 ], stands out for being a brief instrument that structures the different forms of cyberbullying through 22 items (11 victimization and 11 aggression) [ 25 ]. Previous studies have confirmed the psychometric properties of the ECIP-Q scores [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. The ECIP-Q’s items, which allow the operationalization of 11 behaviors related to cyberbullying, the briefness of its application, and the homogeneity of the results found when analyzing evidence of its validity and its internal consistency in the different studies allow the ECIP-Q to be considered an adequate instrument for measuring school cyberbullying [ 32 ].…”