Through structural equation modeling, this study tested a path of relations in which different levels of empathic responsiveness were posited to be differently associated to bullying and defending behavior. Three hundred and eighteen Italian adolescents (142 girls and 176 boys; mean age = 13.2 years) completed the Davis's Interpersonal Reactivity Index [Davis, 1983] for empathy and the Participant role scales [Salmivalli et al., 1996] for bullying and defending behavior. The results revealed that the model fitted the data adequately, but only in the case of boys. As hypothesized, low levels of empathic responsiveness were associated to students' involvement in bullying others. In contrast, empathy was positively associated with actively helping victimized schoolmates. However, the estimates algorithm did not reach convergence with girls' data. The current findings confirm and extend the literature on the relation between empathy, prosociality and aggressive behavior. Educational implications are also discussed.

The literature on participant roles in bullying lacks empirical studies that seek to explain what differentiates defenders from outsiders (or passive bystanders). The present study tested a conceptual model in which two personal characteristics of early adolescent students (empathy and perceived social self‐efficacy) were considered as possible determinants of their participant behavior in bullying episodes. A total of 294 Italian early adolescents (mean age=13.3 years, range: 12–14) participated in the study. The structural equation modeling showed that high levels of empathic responsiveness were positively associated with both active defending and passive bystanding behavior, as assessed through peer nominations. In contrast, high levels of social self‐efficacy were associated with helping behavior, whereas low levels of social self‐efficacy were associated with passive bystanding behavior. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications for researchers and educational practitioners.

This paper reports on the evaluation of a peer support model implemented in two Italian secondary middle schools as an anti-bullying intervention. Specifically, the aims of the intervention were (1) to reduce bullying episodes through developing in bullies an awareness of their own and others' behaviour, (2) to enhance children's capacity to offer support to the victims of bullying, (3) to enhance responsibility and involvement on the part of bystanders, (4) to improve the quality of interpersonal relationships in the class group, and (5) to analyse possible age and gender differences related to the effect of intervention.Two middle schools from central Italy took part in the study (age range of pupils, 11-14 years). In the two schools, nine classes (94 boys and 84 girls ) were part of the experimental group, whereas the remaining five classes formed the control group (63 boys and 52 girls). The intervention was implemented for one school year, from October 1998 to May 1999. Before and after the intervention, two measures were administered in the experimental and control classes: (1) a questionnaire on the participants' roles in bully/victim relationships, originally developed by Salmivalli et al. [1996: Aggressive Behavior 22:1-15] and revised for younger children by Sutton and Smith [1999: Aggressive Behavior 25:97-111], and (2) a questionnaire on attitudes toward bullying-an Italian questionnaire comprising 11 attitude items previously developed : EARLI Conference] on the basis of Rigby and Slee's [1991: Journal of Social Psychology 131:615-627] pro-victim scale. Given the within-subjects design of the study, a MANOVA was run using time as the within-subjects factor and sex and age as between-subject factors.The results of this short-term study highlight the fact that a befriending intervention had a positive effect on the experimental classes, preventing the increase of negative behaviours and attitudes reported in the group that did not receive the intervention. The findings that related to the pro-bullying roles and to the role of outsiders are particularly relevant since these roles remained stable or decreased in the experimental group, whereas they clearly increased in the control group. The opposite trend was registered for children's pro-victim attitude, which shows a decrease in the control sample and good stability in the experimental group. On the whole, the intervention seemed to prevent the escalation of negative behaviours and attitudes that often develop spontaneously in young people of this age. Aggr.

Some authors have suggested that definitional skills include metalinguistic components (Watson, 1985; Snow, 1990; McGhee-Bidlack, 1991). The present study therefore empirically investigated relations between the ability to define words and level of metalinguistic awareness in 280 Italian children (with ages ranging from 5 to 11 years) and in two groups of 40 adults each (with low and high educational levels, respectively). We used a definitional task presenting 24 terms (nouns, verbs, and adjectives, which were either concrete or abstract) and a task examining 6 different aspects of metalinguistic awareness. Our aim was to demonstrate that metalinguistic skills can positively predict the formal quality of definitions and to identify various aspects of metalinguistic skills that might be directly related to definitional skills. Results showed better performance on both tasks as a function of age and educational level; they also confirmed the important roles of metalinguistic ability and educational level in producing well-structured formal definitions.

Three studies were carried out in order to account for development of word definitions. Study 1 was aimed at analysing the role of class inclusion skills and age (5-and 7-year-olds and adults) in production of definitions containing superordinate categorical terms. No differences were found between 7-year-olds who had passed a class inclusion task and those who had not passed it as regards number of definitions containing superordinates, while differences were found between younger and older children and between children and adults. Study 2 was aimed at obtaining some normative criteria on the 'goodness' of definitions provided in Study 1, by using adult judges. It was found that the best definitions are those which contain both categorical terms and specific information about the to-be-defined object. It was also found that adults may adjust their standard definitional criteria to the kind of interlocutor (i.e. a child or a Martian). Study 3 confirms that younger children's definitions fall far short of the adult informativeness and completeness criteria while, by the age of ten, such criteria are met. Overall results were interpreted as conforming to a progressive conventionalization of children's strategies for defining objects.