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Bullying and its electronic evolution, cyberbullying, are widespread problems among children and adolescents. Numerous studies have been conducted that address the prevalence, nature, and possible impact of cyberbullying and strategies to prevent it ( Patchin & Hinduja, 2013 ). Some recent papers have reviewed existing instruments designed to measure cyberbullying (Berne et al., 2013; Vivolo-Kantor, Martell, Holland, & Westby, 2014), while others have reviewed risk factors (Kowalski et al., 2014). The aim of the present study is to present what is known about risk factors associated with cyberbullying and cybervictimization by using an ecological framework, addressing the importance of adopting a risk and needs assessment approach to identify early who is at risk and tailor interventions. We conducted a review of cyberbullying risk factors, as well as of assessment and measurement instruments and risk and needs assessment to identify which papers fulfilled the purpose of this study. Multiple online databases ( i.e. , PsychInfo, SocIndex and PubMed) were searched to identify relevant studies. The keyword search criteria were: (bull* or cyberbull* or school viol* or juvenile delinquency) AND (risk* or threat* or assess*) AND (measure* or *method*) between 2000 and February 2015. Article titles and abstracts were reviewed, and all articles that appeared relevant were retrieved in full-text format and evaluated for inclusion in the review. In addition, articles accessed electronically were hand-searched for other relevant studies. A total of 7199 potential articles were located. Of these, only 53 were considered to be directly relevant and used for the purpose of the present work. Because of the large variability of methods, construct definitions, measures and item wording used in the different studies, a meta-analysis was not possible, therefore a narrative review approach was adopted to identify risk factors according to the ecological theoretical framework. Results regarding risk factors showed that individual as well as socio-family related factors were associated with cyberbullying and cybervictimization with some slight differences for boys and girls. The strongest risk factor that was associated with cyberbullying is school bullying. This review is of relevance because it is innovative in proposing a conceptual framework for developing a risk and needs assessment tool for cyberbullying and cybervictimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) constitute suitable tools for interventions with children and adolescents promoting their emotional, psychological and social wellbeing. Recently, in the field of bullying and cyberbullying prevention, some programs started to be implemented using the benefits offered by the virtual environments. The current paper aims to carry out a systematic review on anti-bullying ICT-mediated intervention, analyzing the characteristics of the main programs and the evidence of their effectiveness. The review conducted on three databases (PsycINFO, Scopus and PubMed) yielded 32 full text papers finally evaluated. Overall, considering the enormous development of digital tools and the importance of this experience for young students, the review underlines that ICT tools are generally under-used in prevention and intervention against bullying and cyberbullying (13 programs emerged from the search). In recent years some advances in this direction can be found with the use of different ICTs (serious game, virtual reality, online platforms, internet activities, technological solution). The need for scientific studies on the effectiveness of these virtual interventions is evident from this review and necessary in order to assist practitioners, policy makers, and administrators in deciding which interventions can work or not and why. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bullying and cyberbullying are studied all over the world. Nevertheless, even though prevalence rates are extremely high in the poor countries, not much attention is paid to them. Similarly, unequal attention is being paid to different topics. Thus, this work is a review of the studies with the highest impact on the field, pointing out what is already broadly recognized and raising concern about issues which still need more attention. With this purpose, the ten most cited articles on bullying and also on cyberbullying in each year published throughout the whole history of research in the field were analyzed. In total 309 articles were analyzed in categories such as the number of authors, country of origin, international collaboration, journal, field and main topic. Results show that most of the highly cited papers come from Northern Europe and Northern America, that teamwork and international collaboration increased with time and that the highest percentage of articles were published in the field of psychology. The vast majority of articles focused on the nature and dynamics of the phenomena and also on related variables. More studies are needed in relation to involvement of minorities and, above all, on prevention and intervention in bullying and cyberbullying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic review of cyberbullying intervention programs that are either in current practice and/or have been well documented. There are negative effects associated with cyberbullying including, poor academic, social, and mental health outcomes. Consequently, there is a need to develop evidence-based interventions. Critical content and evaluation elements of traditional bullying interventions provided a framework, due to the limited evidence on effective features for addressing cyberbullying. The review is based on a set of criteria for traditional bullying by Craig, Pepler, and Shelley (2004), which emphasizes scientific merit and ease of implementation. Results suggest that most studies are lacking in scientific merit, with most studies meeting less than half of the criteria. The average ease of implementation score was higher than that of scientific merit, however only 3 programs provided maintenance after implementation. Recommendations are made for best practices for cyberbullying interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing use of information and communication technology has led to the development of the global phenomenon of cyberbullying. Causes and consequences of cyberbullying, and the detection and prevention of it have been widely analysed in the fields of psychology and computer science. However, research on cyberbullying in China to date has been extremely limited, despite its recent growth in significance. As such, this research seeks to use the principles of semantics and pragmatics, and language policy and planning to analyse cyberbullying through the content analysis method. This research focuses primarily on cyberbullying word categories, the relationship between word use and forms of cyberbullying, the consequences of cyberbullying, and potential protocols for addressing this phenomenon. The primary findings reveal that internet users prefer strong or directly offensive words to mild or indirectly offensive language when the intention is to attack others or to express anger online. Contextual factors are primary and influential elements which may enable detection and/or prevention of cyberbullying. Informed by these findings, this paper considers the potential social problems caused by word usage in cyberbullying, and contributes to the development and refinement of media regulation and governance guidelines. • Cyberbullying is a growing global problem facilitated by social media, and is becoming increasingly prevalent in China. • The scope of this research is based on semantics and pragmatics theory, language policy and planning, and internet research. • Content-based features are the key aspects for the analysis of cyberbullying and the detection and prevention of it. • Cyberbullying can cause serious societal problems with a particular impact on children and young people. • Legislative and technical approaches to prevent or detect cyberbullying are 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' in different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]