If it’s about me, why do it without me? : genuine student engagement in school cyberbullying education

This study reports on a three-year group randomized controlled trial, the Cyber Friendly Schools Project (CFSP), aimed to reduce cyberbullying among grade 8 students during 2010-2012. In each year, 14-15 year old student ‘cyber’ leaders acted as catalysts to develop and implement whole-school activities to reduce cyberbullying-related harms. This paper examines students’ leadership experiences and the effectiveness of their training and intervention efforts. A mixed methods research design comprising interviews and questionnaires was used to collect data from 225 grade 10 students at the end of their leadership years (2010 & 2011). Four to six cyber leaders were recruited from each of the 19 intervention schools involved in each year of the study. The cyber leaders reported high self-efficacy post-training, felt their intervention efforts made a difference, and experienced a sense of agency, belonging and competence when given opportunities for authentic leadership. They identified key barriers and enablers to achieving desired outcomes. Students greatly valued having their voices heard. Their engagement in the development and delivery of whole-school strategies allowed them to contribute to and enhance efforts to promote their peers’ mental health and wellbeing. However, a lack of support from school staff limits students’ effectiveness as changeenablers.peer-reviewe

Young people's voices on cyber bullying: what can age comparisons tell us

This is a report of a youth-led research study, commissioned by the Diana Award. It illuminates contemporary experiences of and attitudes towards cyber bullying, with a particular focus on age comparisons between older and younger youth. This is the largest survey carried out on cyber bullying in England to date that has been steered by young people themselves. It consisted of: one large survey, two online surveys and four focus groups, carried out from September 2009 to July 2011. In total, it encompassed the views of 1,512 young people in England (consisting of 1490 pupils who completed the surveys and 22 who designed the research). It provides a a clearer understanding of the nature and prevalence of cyber bullying among young people and recommends effective ways to strengthen preventative action

Trainee teachers’ perceptions on cyberbullying in educational contexts

This paper analyzes the perceptions of teachers in training regarding cyberbullying in schools. The objectives of the study were: to ascertain their perceptions regarding their concern and their commitment to cyberbullying, their agreement with the measures to address it in educational contexts, as well as the assessment of their capabilities to act and the training they have received and they would like to receive; to determine if the perceptions differ according to gender, age and degree pursued and if there are relationships between the perceptions; and, to define pre-service teachers’ profiles based on perceptions. With a survey research design, 408 students from different undergraduate and graduate education-related degree programs at Spanish public universities participated. Findings highlight the coexistence of three different teacher in training profiles. All profiles exhibit a high level of concern and recognize cyberbullying as a problem. They strongly agree with all the proposed prevention and management measures. Two of the three profiles perceive themselves as highly confident and willing to respond. On the contrary, participants in the third profile do not feel confident enough to act and consider their training insufficient, coinciding with the second profile. The need to approach this issue in the initial training of future education professionals is a main conclusion

Asegúrate: an intervention program against cyberbullying based on teachers' commitment and on design of its instructional materials

This article presents the impact on cyberbullying of the Asegúrate program. This educational program is based on the theory of normative social behavior, self-regulation skills,and the beliefs held by adolescents and consists in a whole package of strategies and resources to help teachers to include in the ordinary curricula. The evaluation of Asegúrate was carried out with a sample of 4779 students (48.9% girls) in 5th and 6th grade in primary education and compulsory secondary education (M = 12.76; SD = 1.67) through a quasi-experimental methodology, with two measures over time. The instrument used was the European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire. The results show that the involvement in cyberbullying as cyber-victim,cyber-aggressor, and cyber-bully-victim increase without intervention, whereas it diminishes when intervention is carried out by the teachers who have received specific training and have used the didactic Asegúrate package. Additionally, the impact of the intervention on the different types of behaviors was analyzed, and the results show that Asegúrate is more effective with some forms than with others. Consequently, the Asegúrate program is effective for decreasing the prevalence of cyberbullying, but some modifications need to be made to impact on all the different forms it can take.Gobierno de España PSI2017-86723-RGobierno de España PSI2016-74871-

Parenting practices as risk or preventive factors for adolescent involvement in cyberbullying: Contribution of children and parent gender

Literature points out the role of parenting on adolescent cyberbullying involvement. However, it is necessary to clarify how gender affects this relationship. The aim of this study has been to examine the relation between the adolescents’ perception about parenting practices, and their involvement in cyberbullying, bearing in mind both girls’ and boys’ gender and progenitors’ gender. The sample comprised 2060 Spanish secondary school students (47.9% girls; Mage = 14.34). Two-way ANOVA and binary logistic regression analyses were carried out. An effect of the interaction between sex and cyberbullying roles in maternal affection and communication, inductive discipline, and psychological control, as well as paternal promotion of autonomy and psychological control, was found. In general, it can be observed that the more negative results were found in cyber-aggressors, especially when this role is assumed by girls. The results of logistic regression analysis suggest that parenting practices explain better cyberbullying involvement in girls compared to boys, finding some important differences between both sexes regarding protective and risk factors. These findings highlight the importance of parenting practices to explain cyberbullying involvement, which supports the necessity of including family among the addresses of intervention programs.Gobierno de España PSI2016-74871-RGobierno de España PSI2015-64114-REuropean Research Council H2020 grant number 75517

Cyberbullying Detection System with Multiple Server Configurations

Due to the proliferation of online networking, friendships and relationships - social communications have reached a whole new level. As a result of this scenario, there is an increasing evidence that social applications are frequently used for bullying. State-of-the-art studies in cyberbullying detection have mainly focused on the content of the conversations while largely ignoring the users involved in cyberbullying. To encounter this problem, we have designed a distributed cyberbullying detection system that will detect bullying messages and drop them before they are sent to the intended receiver. A prototype has been created using the principles of NLP, Machine Learning and Distributed Systems. Preliminary studies conducted with it, indicate a strong promise of our approach

Music as a Resource Against Bullying and Cyberbullying: Intervention in two Centers in Spain

Aggressive conflicts are quite frequent in schools, and all students take part in them. Bullying and cyberbullying are the most common methods used. The main objective of this work was to prevent and reduce aggressive behaviors among school children. In this study we present the results of an intervention that we have carried out in two education centers, one public and one semi-public, with students between the ages of 11 and 14. This intervention was done using music and was reinforced by a talk about human values. Two hundred adolescents from the autonomous city of Melilla, Spain, took part in this study. This was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test/post-test design and an equivalent randomized control group. The instrument used was the Garaigordóbil Cyberbullying Test. The musical intervention lasted for four months. The effect of the intervention program was checked through the t-test of related samples, checking the size of the effect through Cohen's d. The results showed a decrease in victims, aggressors and witnesses of cyberbullying in the semi-public education center and a decrease in victims of bullying in the public center. It is concluded that music can be a valid resource in making people aware of aggressive behaviors and in helping to reduce it

Bullying in a networked era: a literature review

This research update presents an aggregation and summary of recent academic literature on youth bullying. The purpose of this document is to “translate” scholarly research for a concerned public audience, which may include but is not limited to parents, caregivers, educators, and practitioners. This translation highlights recent findings and developments in the literature and makes them accessible to the informed but non-expert reader. The document’s two guiding questions are “What is bullying?” (Section I) and “What can be done about bullying?” (Section II). Section I begins with a brief overview of key definitions and related research conversations and then addresses bullying’s prevalence, the types of individuals involved in bullying, the characteristics of individuals involved and the consequences of their involvement, and community-level dynamics related to bullying. Section II covers four areas where action has been taken to address problems associated with bullying – school policy, curricula, school climate, and parents – and ends on a note about approaches that mix or cut across these areas. The purpose is to render lessons learned from research and assessment accessible to those interested in deepening or expanding their knowledge of bullying-related issues

Cyberbullying in high school: a study of Soweto high school learners' behaviours and beliefs about the phenomenon

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Educational Psychology March 2017This study explored high school learners’ beliefs and behaviours with regards to the phenomenon of cyberbullying. The Social Learning, Social Dominance, and the Social Presence Theories were used in an attempt to understand the learners’ behaviours and beliefs in relation to cyberbullying. The study adopted a quantitative approach. A survey research design was used to collect data. Data was collected from 221 Grade 10, 11 and 12 learners (104 males and 116 females) aged between 14 years old and 21 years old. Data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics were employed to explore how learners react to cyberbullying, what learners do when they witness cyberbullying, their perceptions about the phenomenon, and the reasons cybervictims choose not to report the incidents. A t-test was employed to determine if there were significant relationships between gender and learners’ cyberbullying experience. Furthermore, a One way ANOVA was used to determine if there were statistically significant differences between the grades on how learners experience cyberbullying. The results revealed that most learners found masquerading and outing as the most upsetting forms of cyberbullying. Most learners (23.5%) indicated reporting the cyberbullying to someone who can help the victim while a small fraction (4.5%) stated that they joined in the cyberbullying. For the most part, learners agreed that if someone was being hurt by cyberbullying, it was important to tell a responsible adult, however, most (73.3%) also contradicted themselves by indicating that things that happened online should stay online. This revelation was important in highlighting that due to the learners’ beliefs, most incidents may go unreported. Furthermore, it was noted that most learners did not report cyberbullying incidents because they were of the opinion that adults would not be able to help them. Such findings can inform parents and school authorities to be pro-active when dealing with cyberbullying in order to gain the trust of the youth. The results of the study further suggested no gender differences to how learners experience cyberbullying as a whole except that females reacted by being more upset with regards to cyberbullying compared to males. No grade differences were noted on how learners perceived and experienced cyberbullying. When designing intervention strategies against cyberbullying, policy makers should take cognisance that most learners do not report cyberbullying incidents to parents and teachers, prefer to keep online activities within the cyber environment, and some witnesses tend to join in the cyberbullying perpetration. Based on this, it can be seen that parents need to have open communication with their children about online activities and use in order to build rapport and trust. Furthermore, they need to acquaint themselves with technological gadgets used by their children to effectively supervise their children’s online activities and provide positive support when cyberbullying occurs. On the other hand, the schools need to provide workshops and training for the teachers and school administrators with regards to effective ways to deal with cyberbullying incidents. Furthermore, the Ministry of Education policy makers should include anti-cyberbullying programmes for schools aimed at shifting attitudes of learners towards willingness to intervene by reporting cyberbullying incidents. Thus, a collaborative effort from learners, parents, school authorities, and policy makers is needed to curb and prevent cyberbullying incidents in schools.MT 201