a b s t r a c tThe purpose of this study was to investigate how university students perceive their involvement in the cyberbullying phenomenon, and its impact on their well-being. Thus, this study presents a preliminary approach of how college students' perceived involvement in acts of cyberbullying can be measured. Firstly, Exploratory Factor Analysis (N = 349) revealed a unidimensional structure of the four scales included in the Cyberbullying Inventory for College Students. Then, Item Response Theory (N = 170) was used to analyze the unidimensionality of each scale and the interactions between participants and items. Results revealed good item reliability and Cronbach's a for each scale. Results also showed the potential of the instrument and how college students underrated their involvement in acts of cyberbullying. Additionally, aggression types, coping strategies and sources of help to deal with cyberbullying were identified and discussed. Lastly, age, gender and course-related issues were considered in the analysis. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to understand how adolescent cybervictims perceive their school climate and whether telling school community members, such as teachers, play a significant role in these perceptions. Another objective was to understand whether age and gender played a significant role in the relation between whom cybervictims told and their perceived school climate. The Cybervictims Scale for Adolescents and Children and the Perceived School Climate Scale were applied to 3525 Portuguese students of whom 218 were cybervictims attending 6th, 8th, and 11th grades. Results showed that even though adolescent cybervictims reported cybervictimization more to friends and parents, those who told teachers about their experience, tended to report more positive perceptions of their school climate. Gender and age did not play a significant role in the relationship between cybervictimization and perceived school climate. Implications of the findings are discussed with regards to the role of teachers and in‐service training in preventing cyberbullying.

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INTRODUÇÃOO tema da violência escolar tem sido objecto de uma preocupação crescente nas últimas duas décadas, quer por parte da sociedade em geral, quer por parte da comunidade educativa, em particular. Paralelamente a esta preocupação social verificou-se um grande aumento da investigação sobre este tema, em particular sobre um tipo especial de violência escolar -o bullying -termo de origem inglesa que tem sido utilizado para designar determinadas condutas de agressão/vitimação que ocorrem entre pares, em que o abuso de alguém mais forte para com alguém mais fraco, ou o abuso de um grupo sobre uma vítima indefesa parece ser a característica mais saliente (ver Olweus, 1995;. Este tipo de fenómeno tem também sido designado pelos autores ibéricos por maus tratos entre pares (ver Almeida & Del Bairrio, 2002; Ortega Ruiz & MoraMerchán, 2000).Smith e Morita (1999) consideram que o «bullying é uma subcategoria do comportamento agressivo; mas de um tipo particularmente pernicioso, uma vez que é dirigido, com frequência repetidas vezes, a uma vítima que se encontra incapaz de se defender a si própria eficazmente. A criança vitimada pode estar em desvantagem numérica, ou só entre muitos, ser mais nova, menos forte, ou simplesmente ser menos autoconfiante. A criança ou crianças agressivas exploram esta oportunidade para infligir dano, obtendo quer gratificação psicológica, quer estatuto no seu grupo de pares, ou, por vezes, obtendo mesmo ganhos financeiros directos extorquindo dinheiro ou objectos aos outros» (Smith & Morita, 1999, p. 1).O bullying ou os maus tratos entre companheiros manifestam-se de diversas formas, os comportamentos que podem inserir-se nesta categoria são, segundo vários autores (ver Smith & Sharp, 1995;Olweus, 1995;Olweus, 1999a), essencialmente de três tipos:-Directo e físico, inclui bater ou ameaçar fazê-lo; dar pontapés, roubar objectos que pertencem aos colegas, estragar os objectos dos colegas, extorquir dinheiro ou ameaçar fazê-lo, forçar comportamentos sexuais ou amea- MARIA JOSÉ D. MARTINS (**)(*) Este artigo constitui parte de um capítulo da investigação empírica realizada no âmbito do doutoramento que a autora apresentou na Universidade da Extremadura (Espanha), sob orientação do Professor Doutor Vicente Castro e da Professora Doutora Maria José Diaz-Aguado, aos quais se agradece a disponibilidade e a orientação que tornaram possível este trabalho. Agradece-se igualmente a todos os adolescentes, professores e directores executivos que participaram neste estudo.

This study aims to clarify how the quality of the family environment is related to the involvement in cyberbullying behaviors, either as a cyber-victim or as a cyber-aggressor, via a cross-sectional research design. With this purpose a diagnostic questionnaire with questions about both the quality of family environment and cyberbullying was conceived and administered to 3525 adolescents attending 6th, 8th and 11th grades at several schools in Portugal. The results suggested that two family aspects seem to be equally important in protection against cyberbullying: perception of family support and perception of rules within the family. A hierarchical regression analysis reveals that lack of family support is more predictive of cyber-victimization and that a lack of family rules is more predictive of cyber-aggression. The authors discuss the implications for the well-being of adolescents, as well as the challenges that parents face in the supervision of adolescents' use of digital technologies.