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The Impact of Cyberbullying and Social Bullying on Optimism, Global and School-Related Happiness and Life Satisfaction Among 10-12-year-old Schoolchildren

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Abstract

Previous research has indicated that victims and perpetrators of bullying are vulnerable to poorer psychological well-being. In this study, we examined whether the roles of victim and perpetrator in cyberbullying and social bullying are related to guarded optimism, global and school-related happiness and specific domains of life satisfaction as indicators of subjective well-being. The relations between these variables were then examined with a sample of Spanish 10-12-year-old schoolchildren (n = 1058). Cyberbullying and social bullying negatively correlated with indicators of subjective well-being. After controlling for gender and grade, multiple regression analyses confirmed these findings, except that cyberbullying perpetration had no predictive value on school-related happiness and specific domains of satisfaction with life. These findings suggest that cyberbullying and social bullying victims, and also social bullying perpetrators, report less subjective well-being than uninvolved children. However, cyberbullying perpetration is associated with guarded optimism and global happiness, but not with less school-related happiness and life satisfaction domains. Implications for prevention and intervention programs are examined.

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Faculty of Education and Humanities, Avda de los Alfares, 42, 16071, Cuenca, Spain

    Raúl Navarro, Elisa Larrañaga & Santiago Yubero

  2. Málaga University, Málaga, Spain

    Roberto Ruiz-Oliva

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  1. Raúl Navarro
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  2. Roberto Ruiz-Oliva
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Correspondence to Raúl Navarro.

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Navarro, R., Ruiz-Oliva, R., Larrañaga, E. et al. The Impact of Cyberbullying and Social Bullying on Optimism, Global and School-Related Happiness and Life Satisfaction Among 10-12-year-old Schoolchildren. Applied Research Quality Life 10, 15–36 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-013-9292-0

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