Cyberaggression in Adolescents of Bolivia: Connection with Psychopathological Symptoms, Adaptive and Predictor Variables

Abstract

Concern about the increase of cyberbullying underlies this study, which had four objectives: (1) to calculate the prevalence of cyberaggressors; (2) to compare non-cyberaggressors with cyberaggressors in other bullying/cyberbullying roles, in psychopathological symptoms, and in self-image of masculinity/femininity, happiness, and empathy; (3) to analyze whether cyberaggressors consulted with a psychologist more than non-cyberaggressors; and (4) to identify predictor variables of cyberaggression. Participants were 1558 Bolivian students aged 13 to 17 years. Seven evaluation instruments were administered, using a descriptive, comparative, cross-sectional methodology. Results: (1) 32.7% of cyberaggressors (27.4% occasional, 5.3% severe) were found, with a higher percentage of males; (2) compared to non-cyberaggressors, cyberaggressors engaged in more face-to-face bullying behaviors, suffered more face-to-face victimization and cybervictimization, had more psychopathological symptoms (depression, somatization, obsession-compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, hostility, paranoid ideation, psychoticism), higher overall level of psychopathology, had requested psychological assistance in a greater proportion, self-defined with many attributes associated with masculinity, and felt less happiness and less empathy; and (3) being or having been a cybervictim, being or having been an aggressor of face-to-face bullying, low empathetic joy, and a self-image based on attributes associated with masculinity were predictors of cyberaggression. The need for therapeutic intervention with all those involved and the importance of prevention in the school context are discussed.

Cyberbullying among Adolescents: Psychometric Properties of the CYB-AGS Cyber-Aggressor Scale

“…Giumetti and Kowalski (2016) [63] indicate that 88% of victims and bullies at school play the same role in the online environment. In addition to supporting the continuity of the aggressor's role in different environments, this result also indicates that the perpetrator is involved in a constellation of other antisocial and maladaptive behaviors, as many authors have suggested [43,60].…”

“…The increase in cyberbullying among adolescents is a serious worldwide social concern [13,60]. Technological changes lead to new cyberbullying behaviors that must be analyzed and adequately measured in the scientific field using updated and reliable instruments [5].…”

Anxiety and self-esteem in cyber-victimization profiles of adolescents

“…Dado que estas dos puntuaciones no se encuentran en la misma escala, debido a su diferente número de items, se estandarizaron antes de realizar los análisis (valores positivos indican puntuaciones por encima de la media en la muestra, y valores negativos indican puntuaciones por debajo de la media). Y dado que existen discrepancias en los estudios previos acerca de la relación entre género y victimización (Garaigordobil et al, 2020;Gini et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2010), se incluyó el género como covariada en la estimación de los perfiles latentes. Para determinar qué modelo es el que mejor describe la relación entre las dos medidas de victimización, entre el conjunto de modelos finitos, la estimación se realizó añadiendo al modelo diana sucesivas clases latentes (Nylund et al, 2007).…”

Cyberbullying, Personalidade e Sintomatologia Psicopatológica em Adolescentes e Jovens Adultos

“…A cibervitimização tem recebido atenção estimável por parte da literatura científica, o mesmo não se poderá dizer sobre estudos com ciberagressão e a relação com outras variáveis como sintomatologia psicopatológica (Campbell et al, 2013;Garaigordobil et al, 2020). Alguma literatura tem retratado os impactos psicológicos que padecem os agressores destes comportamentos.…”