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Because of the negative effects of cyberbullying, and because of its unique characteristics, interventions to stop cyberbullying are needed. For this purpose, more insightful information is needed about cyberbullying victims’ (i.e., the target group) experiences, perceptions, attitudes and motivations related to (coping with) cyberbullying. Five schools with 66 low-educated Dutch adolescents between 12 and 15 (53% female) participated in 10 focus group interviews. Results show that victims do not perceive all behaviors as cyberbullying and traditional bullying is generally perceived as worse than cyberbullying. Cyberbullies are perceived as sad, cowards and embarrassing themselves. Victims are perceived as easy targets, they wear strange clothes, act in a provocative manner and have a bad appearance. These perceptions often depend on context, the level of anonymity, being in a fight or not, the person sending the message and his/her behavior. Further, victims reacted to cyberbullying by acting nonchalant, by not actually saying anything and seeking help from others (i.e., parents are not often asked for help because they do not want to bother them, fear of restricted Internet privileges). It can be concluded that asking cyberbullying victims about their experiences in an open manner, and allowing them to discuss these experiences, likely results in new and insightful information compared to using self-reports. In this questioning the perception of adolescents is key to see what is perceived as cyberbullying.

In this introduction, the definition of cyberbullying will be discussed, instruments to measure cyberbullying will be described, and the state of the art of research on cyberbullying will presented. To date, most studies of cyberbullying investigate demographic factors such as the prevalence of bullying and being victimized, gender, age, and negative outcomes. Some studies investigate responses to cyberbullying, but most of them are limited to technological solutions and informing adults. Hardly any attention is paid to the underlying social psychological mechanisms in relation to antisocial behaviour in online communities and to the role of peer groups. Moreover, most studies are cross-sectional self-reports. The present special issue aims to fill these gaps by presenting studies which are focused on alternative topics using alternative methodologies. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study investigated the relationship between the use of coping strategies to deal with daily stressors in general (n = 325) and the use of coping strategies to deal with cyberbullying in particular (n = 88) among children aged 11 and 12 years. Additionally, it investigated the impact of coping strategies on depression and health in victims of cyberbullying (n = 88). The results showed that victims differed significantly from bully-victims (i.e. victims that also bully) and from children not involved in cyberbullying, in that they use certain emotion-focused coping strategies for daily stressors in general more than others. Additionally, this study investigated among victims of cyberbullying the relation between coping strategies in daily life, cyberspecific coping, depressive feelings and health complaints. Coping through emotional expression, avoidance and depressive coping in daily life will lead to more cyberspecific depressive coping when confronted with cyberbullying. This in turn will lead to more depressive feelings and/or health complaints for victims of cyberbullying. These results stress the importance of teaching children how to stand up for themselves and employ effective coping strategies to deal with stress in daily life in general and to deal with cyberbullying in particular. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Language: en

The study's aim was to obtain an overview of all relevant variables involved in ineffective coping behavior and improvement in coping behavior as it pertains to cyberbullying among adolescents, in order to systematically develop a theory- and evidence-based intervention. This was done by means of a three round online Delphi study. First, 20 key experts listed possible relevant determinants. Next, 70 experts scored these determinants on their relevance and finally, experts rerated relevance of each determinant based on group median scores. The experts agreed that 115 items are relevant for ineffective (62) or improvement in (53) coping behavior. New found determinants were the extent to which one can adjust behavior upon feedback, impulsivity, self-confidence, communication style, personality, decision-making skills, conflict resolution skills, previous participation in personal resilience training, social relationships, rumors and self-disclosure. We conclude that the Delphi technique is useful in discovering new and relevant determinants of behavior.

Dit survey onder Belgische werknemers (N = 497) onderzoekt, uitgaande van het Michigan stressmodel, het verband tussen hoeveelheid sociale steun en tevredenheid daarmee, pesterijen op het werk en lichamelijke gezondheidsklachten. Uit hiërarchische regressieanalyses bleek dat zowel persoonsgerichte als werkgerelateerde pesterijen een negatieve invloed op de ervaren gezondheid hebben. Ook neemt voor werknemers, die een tekort aan sociale steun van collega’s ervaren, het aantal gezondheidsklachten toe naarmate zij vaker slachtoffer zijn van werkgerelateerde pesterijen (d.w.z. moderatie). Daarnaast bleek tevredenheid met de ontvangen sociale steun van leidinggevenden een indirect effect te hebben op de relatie tussen gepest worden en gerapporteerde gezondheidsklachten (d.w.z. mediatie). Deze effecten konden niet vastgesteld worden voor de hoeveelheid ontvangen steun. De resultaten benadrukken de noodzaak van toekomstige studies waarin extra aandacht wordt besteed aan de mate waarin een gepeste werknemer tevreden is met de ontvangen sociale steun.This survey among Belgian employees (N = 497) investigated, starting from the Michigan Stress Model, the relationships among the amount of and satisfaction with social support, being bullied in the workplace, and physical health complaints. Hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that both person-related and work-related bullying influenced perceived health of victimized employees negatively. There was some evidence for a moderation effect of satisfaction with social support: victims of work-related bullying, who experienced a lack of social support from colleagues, reported more health problems. In addition, it was found that satisfaction with received social support from supervisors affected the relationship between being bullied and health complaints indirectly (i.e., mediation). No effects were found for the amount of received support. These results emphasize the need for future studies investigating the influence of satisfaction with received social support on victimized employees.

Bullying at work: the relation with health en absenteeism and the role of coping Bullying at work: the relation with health en absenteeism and the role of coping F. Dehue, C. Bolman, T. Völlink & M. Pouwelse, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 20, June 2009, nr. 2, pp. 97-117 In this study, the influence of coping on the relation between bullying experiences at work and health complaints and absenteeism has been investigated. One thousand randomly chosen employees received a questionnaire which was completed and returned by 361 employees. Results revealed that 139 employees (39%) were bullied at least once a month and 64 employees (18%) at least once a week on at least one of the bullying experiences listed in the questionnaire. Employees who have been bullied weekly, report more health complaints and were absent during more days than employees who have been bullied monthly or who have not been bullied at all. They are also more often inclined to compensate as a means of coping with problematic situations. Compensating and a positive active attitude towards problematic situations are coping strategies which moderate the relation between bullying experiences and health complaints and absenteeism. However, using these coping strategies as a response to bullying experiences is detrimental to one's health and supports absenteeism, just as negative organizational and leadership aspects, which are also associated with bullying experiences.