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Prevention 2.0: Targeting Cyberbullying @ School

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Abstract

Although cyberbullying is characterized by worrying prevalence rates and associated with a broad range of detrimental consequences, there is a lack of scientifically based and evaluated preventive strategies. Therefore, the present study introduces a theory-based cyberbullying prevention program (Media Heroes; German original: Medienhelden) and evaluates its effectiveness. In a pretest–posttest design (9-month interval), schools were asked to randomly assign their participating classes to either control or intervention group. Longitudinal data were available from 593 middle school students (M Age = 13.3 years, 53 % girls) out of 35 classes, who provided information on cyberbullying behavior as well as socio-demographic and psychosocial variables. While the present results revealed worrying prevalence rates of cyberbullying in middle school, multilevel analyses clearly demonstrate the program’s effectiveness in reducing cyberbullying behavior within intervention classes in contrast to classes of the control group. Hence, this study presents a promising program which evidentially prevents cyberbullying in schools.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the DAPHNE III Program to combat violence against children, young persons, and women, funded by the European Commission (action no. JLS/2008/DAP3/AG/1211-30-CE-0311025/00-69; Cyberbullying in Adolescence: Investigation and Intervention in Six European Countries).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Science and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Ralf Wölfer, Anja Schultze-Krumbholz, Pavle Zagorscak, Anne Jäkel, Kristin Göbel & Herbert Scheithauer

  2. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3UD, UK

    Ralf Wölfer

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  1. Ralf Wölfer
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  2. Anja Schultze-Krumbholz
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  3. Pavle Zagorscak
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  4. Anne Jäkel
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  5. Kristin Göbel
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  6. Herbert Scheithauer
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Correspondence to Ralf Wölfer.

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Wölfer, R., Schultze-Krumbholz, A., Zagorscak, P. et al. Prevention 2.0: Targeting Cyberbullying @ School. Prev Sci 15, 879–887 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-013-0438-y

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