Health inequalities between Roma and non-Roma populations in Europe: A study of 118,834 individuals combining the UNDP Roma and the EU-SILC surveys.

AIMS: This study aimed to compare the self-rated health status of the Roma and of the general population by gender and educational level in six Central and Eastern European countries. METHODS: We analysed the United Nations Development Program Regional Roma Survey and EUROSTAT's European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions surveys from 2011 for Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Using logistic regression, predicted probabilities of good or very good self-rated health were estimated for the Roma (n=11,401), Roma neighbours (n=5857) and the general population (n=101,579) stratified by gender, and adjusted by age, country and educational level. RESULTS: There was a distinctive social gradient in self-rated health between the groups among both men and women, and a gap between primary versus secondary or tertiary education among all three groups, but Roma (men) and their neighbours with secondary or higher education had significantly worse predicted self-rated health compared to the general population with similar qualifications. CONCLUSIONS: These results strongly suggest that ethnicity and gender should be considered as fundamental causes that explain structural health inequalities. Consequently, future research and policy initiatives to reduce health inequities should acknowledge the impact of ethnic minorities and how these fundamental causes extend the general population's social gradient in health. Study designs enabling direct comparisons between ethnic groups and the general population should be applied. More and better data about ethnic minorities are needed to document and monitor existing health inequalities.

Intimate Partner Violence against Women during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Spain.

AIMS: To analyze the temporal and geographical distribution of different indicators for the evolution of intimate partner violence against women (IPV) before, during and after the COVID-19 induced lockdown between March and June 2020 in Spain. METHODS: Descriptive ecological study based on numbers of 016-calls, policy reports, women killed, and protection orders (PO) issued due to IPV across Spain as a whole and by province (2015-2020). We calculated quarterly rates for each indicator. A cluster analysis was performed using 016-call rates and protection orders by province in the second quarters of 2019 and 2020. ANOVAs were calculated for clustering by province, unemployment rates by province, and the current IPV prevalence. RESULTS: During the second quarter of 2020, the highest 016-call rate was recorded (12.19 per 10,000 women aged 15 or over). Policy report rates (16.62), POs (2.81), and fatalities (0.19 per 1,000,000 women aged 15 or over) decreased in the second quarter of 2020. In the third quarter, 016-calls decreased, and policy reports and POs increased. Four clusters were identified, and significant differences in unemployment rates between clusters were observed (F = 3.05, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 lockdown fostered a change in IPV-affected women's help-seeking behavior. Differences between the volume of contacts made via 016-call and the policy reports generated provide evidence for the existence of barriers to IPV-service access during the lockdown and the period of remote working. More efforts are needed to reorganize services to cope with IPV in non-presential situations. The provinces with the highest 016-call and PO rates were also those with the highest rates of unemployment, a worrying result given the current socioeconomic crisis.

Continuity and Overlap of Roles in Victims and Aggressors of Bullying and Cyberbullying in Adolescence: A Systematic Review.

The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of research focused on analyzing the overlap and continuity of the roles in victims and aggressors of bullying and cyberbullying, as well as the exchange of roles in both harassment dynamics in adolescents. Searches in the main electronic databases for studies published in the last 20 years identified 19 studies that fulfilled inclusion criteria. The findings of the studies analyzed were not homogeneous, however, the main conclusion of all of them, to a greater or lesser extent, was that there is a component of continuity or superposition in the roles of both forms of bullying. Some studies also found an exchange of roles, especially in the case of victims and cybervictims who decide to reprimand their aggressors in an online context, becoming in cyberaggressors too. It is necessary to continue investigating the coexistence of bullying and cyberbullying and its exchange in certain contexts and people, as well as whether they are part of the same phenomenon with a certain continuity, or if cyberbullying is another expression of traditional bullying. Future intervention programs focusing on traditional school bullying could also evaluate their impact in situations of cyberbullying among peers.

Empathy and Emotional Intelligence in Adolescent Cyberaggressors and Cybervictims.

The main objective of the present research was to examine the role played by emotional intelligence in its three dimensions-emotional attention, emotional clarity, and emotion regulation-and by empathy in its four dimensions-perspective-taking, empathic understanding, empathic stress, and empathic joy-in cyber violence, both in aggressors and victims. A total sample of 1318 adolescents (47% boys; aged between 11 and 17 years), enrolled in four secondary compulsory education schools in Spain, participated in the study. The results indicated that, regarding emotional intelligence, cyberaggressors showed statistically significant differences in the dimension of emotion regulation. Participation in violent online behaviors is associated with a lower capacity to regulate emotions; cybervictims showed statistically significant differences in the three dimensions of emotional intelligence. Regarding empathy, cyberaggressors obtained statistically significant group differences in three of these dimensions: perspective-taking, empathetic joy, and empathic stress. Finally, the empathy dimensions for the cybervictimization groups did not show significant mean differences, indicating that there was no statistical relationship between the degree of cybervictimization and the individual's empathy. These findings stress the relevance of emotion regulation in cyberviolence in students in adolescence and allow us to understand the different roles it plays for offenders and victims.

The Impact of Cybervictimization on Psychological Adjustment in Adolescence: Analyzing the Role of Emotional Intelligence.

Cybervictimization has been associated with serious emotional adjustment problems such as low self-concept and depressive symptomatology. In addition, these problems can negatively affect the well-being of the victims, manifesting in their levels of satisfaction with life. However, it should be noted that not all cybervictims develop these consequences with the same intensity. These differences seem to be related to the development of emotional intelligence (EI), as it can positively influence adolescents' emotional adjustment and well-being even when problems arise. The objective of this work was to analyze the role of EI on cybervictimization and adolescents' emotional adjustment, especially in self-concept, depression, and life satisfaction. The participants in the study were 1318 adolescents of both sexes and aged between 11 and 18 years (M = 13.8, SD = 1.32), from four secondary compulsory education centers in Spain. EI influences the relationship between self-concept and life satisfaction, and between depression and life satisfaction. In addition, the relationships of cybervictimization with self-concept and depression are influenced when introducing EI and its dimensions (emotional attention, clarity, regulation). These data support the idea that EI may affect the relationship between cybervictimization and adolescents' emotional adjustment.

The Role of Emotional Intelligence on Psychological Adjustment and Peer Victimization in a Sample of Spanish Adolescents.

In the last decades, interest in the study of the negative consequences of bullying for the victims has increased. Victims are often known to show emotional adjustment issues, such as negative self-concept and low life satisfaction. Moreover, some studies have observed important associations between self-concept and life satisfaction, in which a positive self-concept is related to high levels of life satisfaction. Other studies have pointed out the importance of emotional intelligence (EI), as a regulatory and protective factor against the negative impact of victimization on adjustment in adolescents. The main objective of this work was to analyze the mediating effect of self-concept on life satisfaction and the moderated mediation effect of EI on self-concept and life satisfaction in the context of peer victimization. The participants in the study were 1,318 Spanish students of both sexes and aged between 11 and 18 (M = 13.8, SD = 1.32) years, from four compulsory secondary education centers. The results indicated that, on the one hand, self-concept mediated the relationship between victimization and life satisfaction. On the other hand, EI was not only positively associated with self-concept, but it also significantly moderated the negative influence of victimization on self-concept. EI may also indirectly moderate the relationship between victimization and life satisfaction through the self-concept. These data show the importance of EI as a possible protective and moderating factor of the negative effect of bullying on emotional adjustment, which is interesting for the design of future prevention and intervention programs in school contexts.

Programas de intervención en acoso escolar y ciberacoso en educación secundaria con eficacia evaluada: una revisión sistemática / Intervention programs in school bullying and cyberbullying in secondary education with effectively evaluated: A systematic review

Resumen En numerosos países no existen hoy normativas que regulen de forma específica e integral la intervención en situaciones de acoso escolar y ciberacoso, sino que existe una diversidad de protocolos y programas que, además, no han sido habitualmente partícipes de un proceso de evaluación de la eficacia de su implementación. El objetivo del presente trabajo tiene como finalidad hacer una revisión sistemática de las publicaciones existentes en las últimas dos décadas de programas de prevención e intervención en acoso escolar y ciberacoso, desarrollados en España, para el estudiantado de secundaria, implementados en escuelas y que, además, hayan incluido una evaluación de su eficacia. Un total de 10 programas cumplieron los criterios de inclusión. El análisis de los programas permite identificar diseños de intervención con eficacia moderada y alta. Sin la diversidad de enfoques, objetivos específicos y medidas de evaluación, no es posible identificar claves de eficacia generalizables.

Abstract There is currently no regulation in many countries that specifically and comprehensively regulates the intervention in bullying and cyberbullying situations, but rather a variety of protocols and programs that, moreover, have not usually been part of a process to evaluate the effectiveness of their implementation. The objective of the present work was to carry out a systematic review of the existing publications in the last two decades on prevention and intervention programs in school bullying and cyberbullying developed in Spain for secondary school students, implemented in schools, and that have also included an evaluation of its effectiveness A total of 10 programs met the inclusion criteria. The analysis of the programs allows the identification of intervention designs with moderate and high efficiency, although the diversity of approaches, specific objectives and evaluation measures does not make it possible to identify generalizable efficiency keys.

The Influence of Bullying and Cyberbullying in the Psychological Adjustment of Victims and Aggressors in Adolescence.

The objective of the present study was to analyze the extent to which violent peer behavior and victimization, both traditional and cybernetic, and predict certain indicators of psychological maladjustment in adolescents, such as self-concept, satisfaction with life, feeling of loneliness, depressive symptomatology, perceived stress, social anxiety, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Participants in the study were 1318 adolescents of both sexes, aged between 11 and 18 years and enrolled in Compulsory Secondary Education schools. The design of the study was cross-sectional. The results indicated that the victims generally present greater maladjustment than the aggressors. Both victims and cybervictims showed a greater decrease in all the dimensions of self-concept, compared with aggressors and cyberaggressors. However, the two types of aggressors showed a higher likelihood of presenting low levels of empathy. Feeling of loneliness, depressive symptomatology, perceived stress, and degree of life satisfaction was more probable to be present in all groups of aggressors and victims. Finally, with regard to emotional intelligence, victims had a higher probability of obtaining low scores in all the dimensions of this construct; this was the case for traditional aggressors only in the dimension of emotion regulation. These results contribute to our understanding of the consequences of harassment in the adaptation of the students involved, with relevant practical implications.