Peer Victimization in Overweight Adolescents and Its Effect on Their Self-Esteem and Peer Difficulties

This study has three objectives: to examine whether adolescents who perceive themselves as overweight differ from others in terms of offline victimization at school, cybervictimization, self-esteem, and difficulties relating to peers; to examine the possible effects of offline and cybervictimization on self-esteem and difficulties relating to peers; and to examine the possible moderating role of perceiving oneself as overweight on those effects. Previously validated questionnaires were applied to a sample of 3145 adolescents in Asturias (Spain). Descriptive, inferential, correlational, and structural equation analyses were performed. Adolescents who perceived themselves as overweight reported being victims of both offline victimization and most forms of cybervictimization to a greater extent than those who did not perceive themselves as overweight. They also reported lower self-esteem and more peer difficulties (shyness or social anxiety). In both groups of adolescents, victimization and cybervictimization were correlated with each other, both types of victimization had direct, negative effects on self-esteem, and self-esteem in turn had a direct, negative effect on peer difficulties. Furthermore, offline victimization had a direct, positive effect on peer difficulties. Perceiving oneself as overweight moderated the effect of self-esteem on peer difficulties. In adolescents perceiving themselves as overweight, low self-esteem was a stronger risk factor of peer difficulties than in the rest of the adolescents. With high overall self-esteem there were no significant differences in peer difficulties between the adolescents perceiving themselves as overweight and the rest of the adolescents

Traditional and cyberbullying victimization as correlates of psychosocial distress and barriers to a healthy lifestyle among severely obese adolescents : a matched case-control study on prevalence and results from a cross-sectional study

Background: Obese youth are at increased risk for peer victimization, which may heighten their risk of psychosocial problems and physical activity avoidance, and lower the effectiveness of professional and lifestyle weight-loss initiatives. Little is known about obese adolescents' risk for victimization from cyber-bullying and how this relates to psychosocial functioning and healthy lifestyle barriers. The purpose of the study was to assess traditional and cyber-victimization among adolescents with severe obesity and its relation to psychosocial distress and barriers to healthy lifestyles. Methods: A sample of 102 obese adolescents (mean age = 15.32 +/- 1.71) in residential treatment was matched with 102 normal-weight youngsters from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study (mean age = 15.30 +/- 1.73). Results: Adolescents with obesity were significantly more often cyber-victimized than normal-weight peers. Obese youth victimized by traditional bullying experienced lower quality of life, lower motivation for physical activity and higher avoidance and emotional coping towards healthy lifestyles than those non-victimized. Obese cyber-victims experienced significantly higher suicidal ideation. Conclusions: Traditional and cyber-victimization may hinder treatment effectiveness and healthy lifestyle change in adolescents with obesity. Health professionals should pro-actively address peer victimization and psychosocial functioning during multidisciplinary obesity treatment. Schools could contribute to a better physical and psychosocial health of obese youth by implementing multi-behavioral health-promotion programs

Cibervictimización sexual entre adolescentes: desarrollo y validación de una escala

Background/Objective: The study of sexual cyberbehaviour in adolescence has received much attention in recent years, because of the risks associated with exposure to pornography, unwanted sexual solicitations, and gender-based sexual harassment. The prevalence of this phenomenon varies from study to study due to a lack of consensus around how to define and measure peer sexual cybervictimization. This study aims to contribute to this research topic by developing and validating a measure of peer sexual cybervictimization among adolescents. Method: 601 adolescents (mean age 14.06) from two Spanish cities participated in this study. Cross-validation was performed using EFA and CFA. In a second step, a multi-group analysis was conducted to compare the equivalence of the measure by gender. Results: The results confirmed a second-order model comprising two first-order factors: Ambiguous sexual Cybervictimization and Personal sexual Cybervictimization. The model was invariant by gender. Descriptive analyses showed significant differences in Ambiguous sexual aybervictimization, this being more frequent in boys than in girls. Prevalence rates varied from 17 to 26%, with less involvement observed in the Personal dimension. Conclusions: This work proposes a valid and gender invariant measure to analyze peer sexual cybervictimization in adolescence.Antecedentes/Objetivo: El estudio de la ciberconducta sexual en la adolescencia ha recibido mucha atención en los últimos años, especialmente la referida a los riesgos que factosuponen la exposición a la pornografía, las solicitudes sexuales indeseadas y el hostigamientosexual basado en el género. La prevalencia del fenómeno varía entre los diferentes estudios debido a una falta de consenso en la definición y medida del constructo cibervictimizaciónsexual. Este trabajo pretende contribuir en esta área, desarrollando y validando una escala paramedir victimización sexual online. Método: Una muestra de 601 adolescentes de dos ciudades españolas (edad media 14,06) participaron en el estudio. Se realizó una validación cruzada empleando AFE y AFC, así como un análisis multigrupo para comparar la equivalencia de la medida por sexo. Resultados: se confirmó un modelo de segundo orden compuesto por dos factores (Cibervictimización sexual ambigua y Cibervictimización sexual personal) invariante por sexo. Los análisis indicaron diferencias significativas en la dimensión ambigua, siendo más frecuente en ellos. Los datos revelaron una prevalencia entre el 17 y 26%, siendo menor la implicación en la forma personal. Conclusiones: Se propone una medida válida e invariante en ambos sexos de la cibervictimización sexual por parte de los iguales en la adolescencia.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (España) PSI2013-45118-

Cyberbullying and traditional bullying involvement among heterosexual and non-heterosexual adolescents, and their associations with age and gender

Traditional (offline) bullying and cyberbullying involvement are associated with severe psychosocial problems. Non-heterosexual (LGBQ) youth are more often victimized by traditional bullying than heterosexual (non-LGBQ) youth, but little research is available on LGBQ youth's cyberbullying victimization and perpetration rates. Moreover, rates may differ by youth's age and gender, and victimization may be higher for sexual forms of cyberbullying. A cross-sectional, school-based survey was conducted in Flanders, Belgium among 1037 adolescents aged 12\u201318 years. Traditional and cyberbullying involvement were measured using validated single items for each type of involvement (victimization, perpetration), and complemented with items on specific types of cyberbullying victimization (by messaging and posts; by sexual images; by personally embarrassing images). Sexual orientation was determined based on sexual attraction. Logistic regression analyses were conducted, corrected for age and gender. LGBQ youth were more often victimized by traditional victimization than non-LGBQ youth and more often perpetrator of cyberbullying. No gender differences were found, and no increased rates of traditional bullying perpetration were noted once interaction effects with age and gender were taken into account. A significant interaction effect was found with age for traditional victimization, cyberbullying victimization, and cyberbullying victimization by messaging/posts and by sexual images: these prevalence rates were higher among older LGBQ youth but decreased or remained stable among non-LGBQ youth with age. This study highlights the need for tailored prevention and intervention programs specific for LGBQ youth in late adolescence, whereas most current programs are targeted at early adolescence when there is a peak in victimization for the general population

Traditional, Cyber and Combined Bullying Roles: Differences in Risky Online and Offline Activities

This study (1) reports frequency rates of mutually exclusive traditional, cyber and combined (both traditional and cyber) bullying roles; and (2) investigates whether adolescents belonging to particular bullying roles show higher levels of involvement in risky online activities (Compulsive Internet Use (CIU), online grooming victimization, and sexting) and risky offline activities (bad behavior in school, drinking alcohol and truancy) than non-involved adolescents. The sample comprised self-reports of 1928 German, Dutch and Thai adolescents (Age = 12–18; M = 14.52; SD = 1.6). The results revealed age, sex and country differences in bullying frequency rates. CIU, sending of sexts and risky offline activities were most strongly associated with combined bully-victims. The receiving of sexts was most strongly associated with combined bullies; and online grooming victimization was most strongly related to cyber bully-victims. Another important finding is that the associations between risky offline activities and combined bullying are stronger than for traditional and cyber bullying. The findings contribute to better understanding of the associations between varying bullying roles and risky online and offline activities among adolescents. In sum, the results underscore the need to promote life skills rather than adopting more conventional approaches, which focus almost exclusively on reduction of risks

Detection and fine-grained classification of cyberbullying events

In the current era of online interactions, both positive and negative experiences are abundant on the Web. As in real life, negative experiences can have a serious impact on youngsters. Recent studies have reported cybervictimization rates among teenagers that vary between 20% and 40%. In this paper, we focus on cyberbullying as a particular form of cybervictimization and explore its automatic detection and fine-grained classification. Data containing cyberbullying was collected from the social networking site Ask.fm. We developed and applied a new scheme for cyberbullying annotation, which describes the presence and severity of cyberbullying, a post author's role (harasser, victim or bystander) and a number of fine-grained categories related to cyberbullying, such as insults and threats. We present experimental results on the automatic detection of cyberbullying and explore the feasibility of detecting the more fine-grained cyberbullying categories in online posts. For the first task, an F-score of 55.39% is obtained. We observe that the detection of the fine-grained categories (e.g. threats) is more challenging, presumably due to data sparsity, and because they are often expressed in a subtle and implicit way

Sexting among adolescents: The emotional impact and influence of the need for popularity

Sexting refers to the exchange of sexual content material via technological devices. The definitions of this phenomenon vary greatly, mainly, depending on the types of sexting: primary and secondary. Besides the above, there is no common perspective on whether sexting is a risk behavior that entails some type of impact by itself or not and, in such a case, whether this impact varies according to gender. In addition, the need to be popular has shown to be a factor that could increase the probability of being involved in sexting. The present study analyzes the potential emotional impact of sexting as well as the effect of the need for popularity on this phenomenon and if it varies according to gender. The sample comprised 2,356 high school students (46.8% female, 53.2% male; age range 11–18 years old, M = 13.72; SD = 1.31) belonging to 12 compulsory secondary education (ESO) schools from the south of Spain. To assess sexting implication, four questions were presented to participants (sending, receiving, forwarding, and receiving sexts via intermediary). Scales, self-report, about emotional impact (depressed, annoyed, and active) and need for popularity were also applied. The results obtained show that, although sexting has a clear emotional impact on adolescents, it does not appear to generate a negative impact among those involved, at least in the short term. Concretely, this phenomenon seems to trigger emotions related to activation in boys and girls (I feel lively, energetic, satisfied, ready, determined, active). Additionally, with respect to the need for popularity, its relevance, specially, in relation to active emotional impact has been confirmed by the analyses. Statistical models found for boys and girls were similar. In addition, some differences in emotional impact by gender were found, girls feeling more depressed and annoyed in secondary sexting, and boys more active regarding both types of sexting.National Research Plan of the Government of Spain PSI2017-86723-RNational Research Plan of the Government of Spain EDU201344627-PMinistry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Government of Spain for the Training of University Teachers FPU15/0503

Fear and perceived likelihood of victimization in the traditional and cyber settings

This study considers the influence of perceived likelihood, demographics (gender and education) and personality on fear of victimization and cyber-victimization using a survey design (N=159). The results suggest that perceived likelihood of victimization predicts fear of victimization in traditional contexts. Women tend to be more fearful of victimization in traditional and cyber contexts, confirming previous research. No group differences emerged in relation to education. Self-esteem and self-efficacy were not significant predictors of fear or perceived likelihood of victimization. However, perceived likelihood was a significant predictor of fear of victimization in traditional settings. This may suggest that different variables (such as awareness of vulnerability) may play a role in fear of victimization in cyber settings. Further group comparisons revealed that fear of victimization and cybervictimization depended on whether or not participants reported high or low perceived likelihood of victimization and internet use. Higher internet use was associated with greater fear of victimization, especially in combination with greater perceived likelihood of victimization. This may suggest an exposure effect, in that being online more frequently may also increase awareness of cyber incidents

Cyberbullying and adolescent mental health: systematic review

Cyberbullying is a new form of violence that is expressed through electronic media and has given rise to concern for parents, educators and researchers. in this paper, an association between cyberbullying and adolescent mental health will be assessed through a systematic review of two databases: PubMed and Virtual Health Library (BVS). the prevalence of cyberbullying ranged from 6.5% to 35.4%. Previous or current experiences of traditional bullying were associated with victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying. Daily use of three or more hours of Internet, web camera, text messages, posting personal information and harassing others online were associated with cyberbullying. Cybervictims and cyberbullies had more emotional and psychosomatic problems, social difficulties and did not feel safe and cared for in school. Cyberbullying was associated with moderate to severe depressive symptoms, substance use, ideation and suicide attempts. Health professionals should be aware of the violent nature of interactions occurring in the virtual environment and its harm to the mental health of adolescents.Department of Psychiatry at the Federal University of São PauloAcademic League for Violence Prevention and Intervention (LAPIV)Universidade Federal de São Paulo, BR-05414012 São Paulo, BrazilUniv São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, BR-05414012 São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Technological Resources to Prevent Cyberbullying During Adolescence: the Cyberprogram 2.0 Program and the Cooperative Cybereduca 2.0 Videogame

Bullying and cyberbullying have serious consequences for all those involved, especially the victims, and its prevalence is high throughout all the years of schooling, which emphasizes the importance of prevention. This article describes an intervention proposal, made up of a program (Cyberprogram 2.0 Garaigordobil and Martinez-Valderrey, 2014a) and a videogame (Cooperative Cybereduca 2.0 Garaigordobil and Martinez-Valderrey, 2016b) which aims to prevent and reduce cyberbullying during adolescence and which has been validated experimentally. The proposal has four objectives: (1) To know what bullying and cyberbullying are, to reflect on the people involved in these situations; (2) to become aware of the harm caused by such behaviors and the severe consequences for all involved; (3) to learn guidelines to prevent and deal with these situations: know what to do when one suffers this kind of violence or when observing that someone else is suffering it; and (4) to foster the development of social and emotional factors that inhibit violent behavior (e.g., communication, ethical-moral values, empathy, cooperation.). The proposal is structured around 25 activities to fulfill these goals and it ends with the videogame. The activities are carried out in the classroom, and the online video is the last activity, which represents the end of the intervention program. The videogame (www. cybereduca. com) is a trivial pursuit game with questions and answers related to bullying/cyberbullying. This cybernetic trivial pursuit is organized around a fantasy story, a comic that guides the game. The videogame contains 120 questions about 5 topics: cyberphenomena, computer technology and safety, cybersexuality, consequences of bullying/cyberbullying, and coping with bullying/cyberbullying. To evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention, a quasi-experimental design, with repeated pretest-posttestmeasures and control groups, was used. During the pretest and posttest stages, 8 assessment instruments were administered. The experimental group randomly received the intervention proposal, which consisted of one weekly 1-h session during the entire school year. The results obtained with the analyses of variance of the data collected before and after the intervention in the experimental and control groups showed that the proposal significantly promoted the following aspects in the experimental group: (1) a decrease in face-to-face bullying and cyberbullying behaviors, in different types of school violence, premeditated and impulsive aggressiveness, and in the use of aggressive conflict-resolution strategies; and (2) an increase of positive social behaviors, self-esteem, cooperative conflict-resolution strategies, and the capacity for empathy. The results provide empirical evidence for the proposal. The importance of implementing programs to prevent bullying in all its forms, from the beginning of schooling and throughout formal education, is discussed.Study financed by the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (PPG17/31), and by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (PSI2017-90650-REDT)