Adolescent Involvement in Cybergossip: Influence on Social Adjustment, Bullying and Cyberbullying

Gossip is a type of social behavior present in all types of social networks, and cybergossip is an emerging kind of online social behavior which can both promote and hinder relationships between peers. The aim of this study was to explore the relation between involvement in cybergossip and the development of behavior of social adjustment, bullying and cyberbullying (aggression and victimization), based on gender and age. A total of 510 secondary school students (49.4% girls) aged 12 to 17 years old (M = 14.01; SD = 1.38) were surveyed by self-report. Questionnaires validated with adolescents were used to measure bullying, social adjustment and cyberbullying. The results showed that a high prevalence of involvement in cybergossip was associated with bullying and cyberbullying behavior (aggression and victimization), with girls showing the greatest involvement in cybergossip. The discussion of the results focuses on the gender difference, as well as the importance of the need for training in the proper use of digital devices for social education and socialization. (AU)

Parenting styles and bullying. The mediating role of parental psychological aggression and physical punishment.

Studies concerning parenting styles and disciplinary practices have shown a relationship between both factors and bullying involvement in adolescence. The scarce available evidence suggests that abusive disciplinary practices increase teenagers' vulnerability to abuse in school or the likelihood of them becoming abusers of their peers in the same context. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the indirect effect of parenting styles in adolescents' bullying involvement through disciplinary practices, although a relationship between parenting styles and disciplinary practices has been shown. The aim of this research was to determine the mediating role of punitive parental discipline (physical punishment and psychological aggression) between the dimensions of parents' parenting styles and their children's involvement in bullying victimization and aggression. We used a sample comprising 2060 Spanish high school students (47.9% girls; mean age=14.34). Structural equation modeling was performed to analyze the data. The results confirmed the mediating role of parental discipline between the parenting practices analyzed and students' aggression and victimization. Significant gender-related differences were found for aggression involvement, where boys were for the most part linked to psychological aggression disciplinary practices and girls to physical punishment. Victimization directly correlated with parental psychological aggression discipline behavior across both sexes. In conclusion, the results seem to suggest that non-democratic parenting styles favor the use of punitive discipline, which increases the risk of adolescents' bullying involvement. Therefore, intervention programs must involve parents to make them aware about the important role they play in this process and to improve their parenting styles.

Los estilos educativos paternos y maternos en la adolescencia y su relación con la resiliencia, el apego y la implicación en acoso escolar / Maternal and paternal parenting styles in adolescence and its relationship with resilience, attachment and bullying involvemen

El primer objetivo de este trabajo es establecer una clasificación de estilos parentales y el segundo examinar la relación entre los estilos materno, paterno y la coherencia entre ambos, y el ajuste adolescente, evaluado mediante la resiliencia, el apego y la implicación en bullying. Para ello, una muestra incidental de 626 estudiantes (49.7% chicas) de educación secundaria de la provincia de Córdoba, cumplimentaron la Escala para la evaluación del estilo educativo de padres y madres de adolescentes, el European Bullying Intervention Project Questionaire, la escala de apego CaMir-R y la versión reducida de la Escala de Resiliencia de Connor y Davidson. Los resultados muestran cuatro estilos educativos análogos para madres y padres ('democrático controlador', 'democrático supervisor', 'democrático de baja revelación' y 'moderado'), un estilo 'indiferente' solo hallado en la clasificación paterna y un estilo 'permisivo' solo observado en la categorización materna. Asimismo, se observan diferencias significativas en ajuste adolescente en función del estilo paterno y materno y la coherencia entre ambos, reflejando el mejor ajuste los hijos de padres o madres 'democráticos supervisores' y los que ambos progenitores eran democráticos

The present research has two aims. The first is to create a typology of parenting style, and the second is to explore the relationship between mother´s and father´s parenting styles and the coherence between both, and adolescent adjustment, assessed with the bullying involvement, resilience and attachment. It has been used an incidental sample of 626 high school students (49.7% girls) from Córdoba, who completed the Scale to assessment maternal and paternal parenting style in adolescence, the European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire, the attachment scale CaMir-R and the short version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. The results show four parenting styles, which are the same for mothers and fathers ('supervisor democratic', 'controlling democratic', 'democratic of little disclosure' and 'moderately') and one parenting style only for mothers ('permissive') and other, only for fathers ('indifferent'). It was found statistically significant differences in all measures of adolescent adjustment depending on mother´s and father´s parental styles and the coherence between both. The better psychosocial adjustment was observed in adolescents whose father or mother were supervisor democratic and when both parents were democratic