IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v22y2025i3p389-d1607568.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cyberbullying Perpetration and Socio-Behavioral Correlates in Italian and Spanish Preadolescents: A Cross-National Study and Serial Mediation Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Gianluca Mariano Colella

    (Department of Cultures, Education and Society, University of Calabria, Via Pietro Bucci, Arcavacata Di Rende, 87036 Cosenza, Italy)

  • Rocco Carmine Servidio

    (Department of Cultures, Education and Society, University of Calabria, Via Pietro Bucci, Arcavacata Di Rende, 87036 Cosenza, Italy)

  • Anna Lisa Palermiti

    (Department of Cultures, Education and Society, University of Calabria, Via Pietro Bucci, Arcavacata Di Rende, 87036 Cosenza, Italy)

  • Maria Giuseppina Bartolo

    (Department of Cultures, Education and Society, University of Calabria, Via Pietro Bucci, Arcavacata Di Rende, 87036 Cosenza, Italy)

  • Paula García-Carrera

    (Department of Psychology, Universidad de Córdoba, San Alberto Magno s/n, 14071 Córdoba, Spain)

  • Rosario Ortega-Ruiz

    (Department of Psychology, Universidad de Córdoba, San Alberto Magno s/n, 14071 Córdoba, Spain)

  • Eva M. Romera

    (Department of Psychology, Universidad de Córdoba, San Alberto Magno s/n, 14071 Córdoba, Spain)

Abstract

The spread of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has brought advantages and disadvantages, particularly impacting youth, who use the Internet and social media applications daily. In preadolescents’ social development, problematic social media use (PSMU) and cyberbullying (CB) are potential risk factors across several countries. PSMU is defined as the lack of regulation of social media platforms that is associated with negative outcomes in everyday life, while CB refers to using digital technology to harass, threaten, or embarrass another person. Among preadolescents, CB perpetration is frequently associated with cybervictimization (CV) experiences. The underlying mechanisms that drive this relationship have received limited attention. The aim of the cross-national comparative study, rooted in the general aggression model, is to investigate the direct and indirect effects between cyberbullying perpetration and cybervictimization, testing a model involving PSMU and moral disengagement (MD) as serial mediators in this association. A total of 895 Italian and Spanish preadolescents (M age = 11.23, SD age = 1.064) completed a self-report survey during school hours. Descriptive statistics were computed, and a serial mediation model was run. The results show that CV is positively associated with CB, and that PSMU and MD positively serially mediate the CV–CB link. This study’s insights suggest the need for tailored educational interventions targeting European youth, to promote more positive online social interactions and a safer digital environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Gianluca Mariano Colella & Rocco Carmine Servidio & Anna Lisa Palermiti & Maria Giuseppina Bartolo & Paula García-Carrera & Rosario Ortega-Ruiz & Eva M. Romera, 2025. "Cyberbullying Perpetration and Socio-Behavioral Correlates in Italian and Spanish Preadolescents: A Cross-National Study and Serial Mediation Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(3), pages 1-19, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:3:p:389-:d:1607568
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/3/389/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/3/389/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jesús Henares-Montiel & Vivian Benítez-Hidalgo & Isabel Ruiz-Pérez & Guadalupe Pastor-Moreno & Miguel Rodríguez-Barranco, 2022. "Cyberbullying and Associated Factors in Member Countries of the European Union: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Studies with Representative Population Samples," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-13, June.
    2. Elena Bozzola & Giulia Spina & Rino Agostiniani & Sarah Barni & Rocco Russo & Elena Scarpato & Antonio Di Mauro & Antonella Vita Di Stefano & Cinthia Caruso & Giovanni Corsello & Annamaria Staiano, 2022. "The Use of Social Media in Children and Adolescents: Scoping Review on the Potential Risks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-33, August.
    3. Wang, Lin & Ngai, Steven Sek-yum, 2020. "The effects of anonymity, invisibility, asynchrony, and moral disengagement on cyberbullying perpetration among school-aged children in China," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    4. Sebastian Wachs & Juan Manuel Machimbarrena & Michelle F. Wright & Manuel Gámez-Guadix & Soeun Yang & Ruthaychonnee Sittichai & Ritu Singh & Ramakrishna Biswal & Katerina Flora & Vassiliki Daskalou & , 2022. "Associations between Coping Strategies and Cyberhate Involvement: Evidence from Adolescents across Three World Regions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-14, May.
    5. Daniel Falla & Rosario Ortega-Ruiz & Eva M. Romera, 2021. "Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement in the Transition from Cybergossip to Cyberaggression: A Longitudinal Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-12, January.
    6. Maria Lidia Mascia & Mirian Agus & Maria Assunta Zanetti & Maria Luisa Pedditzi & Dolores Rollo & Mirko Lasio & Maria Pietronilla Penna, 2021. "Moral Disengagement, Empathy, and Cybervictim’s Representation as Predictive Factors of Cyberbullying among Italian Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-12, January.
    7. Alina Cosma & Sophie D. Walsh & Kayleigh L. Chester & Mary Callaghan & Michal Molcho & Wendy Craig & William Pickett, 2020. "Bullying victimization: time trends and the overlap between traditional and cyberbullying across countries in Europe and North America," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 65(1), pages 75-85, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ihsana Sabriani Borualogo & Ferran Casas, 2023. "Bullying Victimisation and Children’s Subjective Well-being: A Comparative Study in Seven Asian Countries," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(1), pages 1-27, February.
    2. Chamizo-Nieto, María Teresa & Arrivillaga, Christiane & Gómez-Hombrados, Jorge & Rey, Lourdes, 2024. "Preventing cyberbullying in victims: What role do cognitive coping strategies play in boys and girls?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    3. Lisanne Vonk & Polina Putrik & Thérèse van Amelsvoort & Elien Vanluydt & Philippe Delespaul & Mark Levels & Tim Huijts, 2025. "Likes, Shares, and Symptoms: The Hidden Toll of Early Adolescents’ Social Media Use on Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(1), pages 1-19, January.
    4. Mariana Lopes de Sousa & Maria Manuela Peixoto & Sara Figueiredo Cruz, 2021. "The Association between Externalizing and Internalizing Problems with Bullying Engagement in Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Social Skills," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-14, October.
    5. Ángel Denche-Zamorano & Sabina Barrios-Fernandez & Carmen Galán-Arroyo & Sebastián Sánchez-González & Felipe Montalva-Valenzuela & Antonio Castillo-Paredes & Jorge Rojo-Ramos & Pedro R. Olivares, 2022. "Science Mapping: A Bibliometric Analysis on Cyberbullying and the Psychological Dimensions of the Self," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Dóra Eszter Várnai & Marta Malinowska-Cieślik & Andrea Madarasová Gecková & Ladislav Csémy & Zsolt Horváth, 2022. "Do Neighbors Have More Peaceful Students? Youth Violence Profiles among Adolescents in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-17, June.
    7. Maria Lidia Mascia & Mirian Agus & Maria Assunta Zanetti & Maria Luisa Pedditzi & Dolores Rollo & Mirko Lasio & Maria Pietronilla Penna, 2021. "Moral Disengagement, Empathy, and Cybervictim’s Representation as Predictive Factors of Cyberbullying among Italian Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-12, January.
    8. Jessy Siongers & Bram Spruyt, 2024. "Navigating the Social Media Seas: Understanding the Complex Relationship between Social Media Use and Adolescent Well-being," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 17(1), pages 177-196, February.
    9. Sarah E. Domoff & Stacey B. Armstrong & Heide Rollings & Amy Mancuso & Mary B. Pacheco & Russell Fridson & Carol A. Janney, 2024. "Problematic and Harmful Social Media Use among Adolescents Receiving Intensive Psychiatric Care," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(10), pages 1-14, October.
    10. Hu, Ran & Xue, Jia & Han, Ziqiang, 2021. "School bullying victimization and perpetration among Chinese adolescents: A latent class approach," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    11. Leila Lefi & Sarra Sghaier, 2024. "Investigating the Dark Side of Social Media Marketing: Case of Cyberbullying on Micro Celebrities," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 14(2), pages 13-22, March.
    12. Alessandra Rigo & Elena Pisani & Laura Secco, 2025. "Integrating Green Care Initiatives into Conventional Health Systems: Which Governance Dimensions Can Guide This Process?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(2), pages 1-30, January.
    13. Meytal Grimland & Yuko Mori & Sigita Lesinskiene & Liping Li & Say How Ong & Samir Kumar Praharaj & Tjhin Wiguna & Zahra Zamani & Emmi Heinonen & Sonja Gilbert & Anat Brunstein Klomek & Andre Sourande, 2025. "Cyberbullying Victimization and Suicide Attempt Among Adolescents: A Cross-National Comparison," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(3), pages 1-17, March.
    14. Jones, Chloe N. & Rudaizky, Daniel & Mahalingham, Tamsin & Clarke, Patrick J.F., 2024. "Investigating the links between objective social media use, attentional control, and psychological distress," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 361(C).
    15. Qiong Wang & Ruilin Tu & Yihe Jiang & Wei Hu & Xiao Luo, 2022. "Teasing and Internet Harassment among Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Envy and the Moderating Role of the Zhong-Yong Thinking Style," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-15, May.
    16. Juan de D. Benítez-Sillero & José M. Armada Crespo & Esther Ruiz Córdoba & Javier Raya-González, 2021. "Relationship between Amount, Type, Enjoyment of Physical Activity and Physical Education Performance with Cyberbullying in Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-12, February.
    17. Liu, Jie & Han, Ziqiang & Ma, Xiao & Xin, Ruiping, 2023. "Moral disengagement and cyberbullying perpetration among adolescents: The moderating role of empathy," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    18. Pichel, Rafael & Feijóo, Sandra & Isorna, Manuel & Varela, Jesús & Rial, Antonio, 2022. "Analysis of the relationship between school bullying, cyberbullying, and substance use," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    19. Marta Malinowska-Cieślik & Dorota Kleszczewska & Anna Dzielska & Monika Ścibor & Joanna Mazur, 2023. "Similarities and Differences between Psychosocial Determinants of Bullying and Cyberbullying Perpetration among Polish Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-21, January.
    20. Hannah C. Glaser & Sikke R. Jansma & Hanneke Scholten, 2024. "A diary study investigating the differential impacts of Instagram content on youths’ body image," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:3:p:389-:d:1607568. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.