Herbert Scheithauer

Cyberbullying Definition Among Adolescents: A Comparison Across Six European Countries

Several criteria have been proposed for defining cyberbullying to young people, but no studies have proved their relevance. There are also variations across different countries in the meaning and the definition of this behavior. We systematically investigated the role of five definitional criteria for cyberbullying, in six European countries. These criteria (intentionality, imbalance of power, repetition, anonymity, and public vs. private) were combined through a set of 32 scenarios, covering a range of four types of behaviors (written-verbal, visual, exclusion, and impersonation). For each scenario, participants were asked whether it was cyberbullying or not. A randomized version of the questionnaire was shown to 295 Italian, 610 Spanish, 365 German, 320 Sweden, 336 Estonian, and 331 French adolescents aged 11-17 years. Results from multidimensional scaling across country and type of behavior suggested a clear first dimension characterized by imbalance of power and a clear second dimension characterized by intentionality and, at a lower level, by anonymity. In terms of differences across types of behaviors, descriptive frequencies showed a more ambiguous role for exclusion as a form of cyberbullying, but general support was given to the relevance of the two dimensions across all the types of behavior. In terms of country differences, French participants more often perceived the scenarios as cyberbullying as compared with those in other countries, but general support was found for the relevance of the two dimensions across countries.

Social-Behavioral Correlates of Cyberbullying in a German Student Sample

With almost all German households owning mobile phones (99%), personal or laptop computers (99%), and having Internet access (96%) (MPFS, 2008), electronic media play a central role in children’s and adolescents’ lives in Germany and also pose a new venue for potentially harmful behavior and experiences such as cyberbullying. Beside first prevalence studies on cyberbullying (Katzer, 2009), there is a lack of studies on risk and protective factors. Impulses for research on this issue can be gained from research on traditional bullying which has shown low scores on empathy to be associated with the status of bully (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006). Empathy is viewed as the combination of two functionally different aspects: cognitive and affective empathy, with cognitive empathy being the ability to understand another person’s emotions (perspective taking) and affective empathy being the affective response to someone else’s emotions (Hoffman, 1977). Sutton, Smith, and Swettenham (1999) hypothesized that (traditional) bullies are able to process social information very accurately and can use it to their advantage rather than

Structural validation and cross-cultural robustness of the European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire

Cyberbullying is a dynamic relationship between the aggressor and the victim.Establishing the prevalence of cyberbullying is difficult due to the instruments used.The instrument validated integrates the traditional bullying characteristics.Differences in prevalence of cyberbullying among countries using a single instrument. During the last decade, cyberbullying has become an increasing concern which has been addressed by diverse theoretical and methodological approaches. As a result there is a debate about its nature and rigorously validated assessment instruments have not yet been validated. In this context, in the present study an instrument composed of 22 items representing the different types of behaviours and actions that define cyberbullying has been structurally validated and its cross-cultural robustness has been calculated for the two main dimensions: cyber-victimization and cyber-aggression. To this end, 5679 secondary school students from six European countries (Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland, United Kingdom, and Greece) were surveyed through this self-report questionnaire which was designed based on previously existing instruments and the most relevant conceptual elements. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted and the global internal consistency was computed for the instrument and its two dimensions. Identical factor structures were found across all of the six subsamples. The results contribute to existing research by providing an instrument, the European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire, which has been structurally validated in a wide sample from six different countries and that is useful to evaluate psycho-educative interventions against cyberbullying.

Emotional and Behavioural Problems in the Context of Cyberbullying: A Longitudinal Study among German Adolescents.

Although many studies have reported on internalising and externalising problems related to cyberbullying roles, there is a lack of longitudinal research in this area. This study reports (1) cross-sectional data from 412 German middle-school students to examine differences between cyberbullies, cybervictims and cyberbully–victims compared to non-involved students in regard to internalising (depressiveness and loneliness) and externalising (instrumental and reactive aggression) problems; and (2) longitudinal data from 223 students about links of cyberbullying and cybervictimisation with internalising and externalising problems across two measurement occasions, analysed using path analysis (separately by gender). Self-report measures were used. The results revealed no significant differences between groups in internalising problems, but all three cyberbullying groups differed significantly from the non-involved group in externalising problems. Female victims showed increases in externalising problems while male victims did not show changes across time in either internalising or externalising problems. Male bullies reported decreases in internalising problems across time. For boys, scoring high in both cyberbullying and cybervictimisation led to increases in loneliness, while for girls this predicted decreases in reactive aggression.

Deutsche Version des Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-Deu):

Zusammenfassung. Es werden Befunde zur psychometrischen Qualitat der deutschen Fassung des SDQ-Lehrer-/Erzieherfragebogens (T4-16 - SDQ) dargestellt. Dieser wurde an einer Stichprobe von N = 654 Kindern zwischen drei bis funf Jahren in der Augsburger Langsschnittstudie zur Evaluation des Praventionsprogramms Papilio® (ALEPP) eingesetzt. Die dimensionale Struktur des Fragebogens konnte mittels einer Faktorenanalyse mit Varimaxrotation exzellent repliziert werden. Lediglich zwei Items besitzen Nebenladungen, die hoher sind als .40. Die interne Konsistenz (Cronbachs Alpha) ist zufriedenstellend und variiert zwischen α =.73 und α = .86. Insgesamt fallen mit den britischen Grenzwerten (Goodman, 1997) zu viele Kinder in die Kategorien mit erhohten Werten. Es wird empfohlen, die Grenzwerte fur die Skala “Prosoziales Verhalten“ um zwei Punkte zu senken und fur die Problemskalen (auser fur “Emotionale Probleme“) um einen Punkt heraufzusetzen. Alterseffekte zeigen sich fur die Subskala “Hyperaktivitat“ und fur den ...

Entwicklungsorientierte Prävention von aggressiv-dissozialem Verhalten und Substanzmissbrauch

Zusammenfassung. Empirische Befunde verdeutlichen, dass fruhere (positive/negative) Erfahrungen spatere Erfahrungen im Entwicklungsverlauf beeinflussen. Aus diesem Grund setzen Praventionen von aggressiv-dissozialem Verhalten und Substanzmissbrauch oft bereits im fruhen Kindesalter an. Am Beispiel aggressiv-dissozialen Verhaltens und von Substanzmissbrauch werden die theoretischen und empirischen Grundlagen fur entwicklungsorientierte Praventionen im Kindesalter dargestellt. Es wird sowohl auf die Darstellung des Auftretens der Storungen im Entwicklungsverlauf, als auch auf wichtige Risikobedingungen beider Storungen eingegangen. Anschliesend werden Entwicklungsmodelle diskutiert, die zentrale Risikobedingungen der Storungen im Entwicklungsverlauf berucksichtigen. Wesentliche Eigenschaft entwicklungsorientierter Pravention stellt - wie gezeigt wird - die Forderung risikomildernder Bedingungen und die Forderung der Bewaltigung von Entwicklungsaufgaben dar. Abschliesend werden ausgewahlte Praventionsprogram...

Zur Wirkungsweise von Risiko- und Schutzfaktoren in der Entwicklung von Kindern und Jugendlichen

Zusammenfassung. Eine Vielzahl risikoerhohender Faktoren (Vulnerabilitats- und Risikofaktoren) tragen zur Entstehung psychischer Storungen im Kindes- und Jugendalter bei. Dem gegenuber stehen risikomildernde Faktoren, die die Risiken “puffern” bzw. eine Widerstandsfahigkeit (Resilienz) fordern. In der klinischen Forschung herrscht Unklarheit uber die genaue Abgrenzung von Risiko- und Schutzfaktoren, Vulnerabilitat und Resilienz sowie uber die Interaktion risikoerhohender und -mildernder Faktoren. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden wesentliche Risikofaktoren fur psychische Storungen im Kindes- und Jugendalter sowie ein Flusdiagramm zur Bestimmung von Risikofaktoren vorgestellt. An empirischen Beispielen werden insbesondere Risikomechanismen erlautert. Ebenso werden Beispiele fur Phasen erhohter Vulnerabilitat (z.B. Entwicklungsubergange) und Beispiele fur die Wirkung von Risikofaktoren in diesen kritischen Perioden gegeben. Davon abgegrenzt werden wesentliche Schutzfaktoren und Faktoren, die zu einer Widerstan...

A Comparison of Classification Approaches for Cyberbullying and Traditional Bullying Using Data from Six European Countries.

In recently published studies on cyberbullying, students are frequently categorized into distinct (cyber)bully and (cyber)victim clusters based on theoretical assumptions and arbitrary cut-off scores adapted from traditional bullying research. The present study identified involvement classes empirically using latent class analysis (LCA), to compare the classification of cyber- and traditional bullying and to compare LCA and the conventional approach. Participants were 6,260 students (M = 14.8 years, SD = 1.6; 49.1% male) from six European countries. LCA resulted in three classes for cyberbullying and four classes for traditional bullying. Cyber- and traditional bullying differed from each other, as did LCA and the conventional approach. Country, age, and gender differences were found. Implications for the field of traditional and cyberbullying research are discussed.

Explaining and Preventing School Shootings: Chances and Difficulties of Control

School shootings have caused worldwide concern due to several severe incidents in the recent past. In the face of rising numbers of offenses and deaths, two major questions have been raised: (1) what causes school shootings to occur? and (2) how are further incidents to be prevented? In order to find answers to these questions, this chapter first reviews the current state of research on school shootings and then considers the possibilities and difficulties of control. The chapter then closes with further considerations as to how those opportunities may be utilized for preventive purposes.

Prevention of homicidal violence in schools in Germany: The Berlin Leaking Project and the Networks Against School Shootings Project (NETWASS)

Since 1999, Germany has experienced at least twelve serious cases of targeted school violence. This article describes two projects designed to fill the gap between universal prevention and emergency response in preventing severe forms of school violence in Germany. The Berlin Leaking Project examined the viability of preventive efforts based on early identification of leaking behavior that often precedes targeted school attacks. Leaking refers to any behavior or communication that indicates a student is preparing to carry out a violent attack. This would include explicit or implied threats of violence, apparent fascination with prior acts of violence such as Columbine, and any evidence of planning or preparation to carry out an attack. The NETWASS project will test a training program and intervention strategy based on those findings, examining the usefulness of a threat assessment approach to prevent violence by training teachers to recognize leaking behavior by students. This approach is extended by training teachers on a larger scale to identify leaking and then having a school-based team evaluate the student and initiate appropriate interventions, such as mental health services, and in some cases, law enforcement action.