Peer victimization is a frequent occurrence for many adolescents; however, some of the psychometric properties of self-report scales assessing these experiences remain unclear.Furthermore, with an increase in access to technology, electronic aggression should also be considered. The study examined the psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale (MPVS, Mynard & Joseph, 2000), and developed versions to include the assessment of electronic aggression according to whether the adolescent was the target or perpetrator of peer victimization. Three hundred and 71 (191 girls and 180 boys Mage = 13 years 4 months, SDage= 1 year 2 months) adolescents in the UK completed the MPVS including 5 newly developed items assessing electronic aggression, a version of the MPVS designed to assess victimization perpetration, and a measure of self-esteem. Confirmatory factor analyses yielded a five-factor structure comprising: Physical, social manipulation, verbal, attacks on property, and electronic for both scales. Convergent validity was established through negative associations between the victimization scales and self-esteem.Sex differences also emerged. One revised scale and one new scale are subsequently proposed: The Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale -Revised (MPVS-R) and the Multidimensional Peer Bullying Scale (MPVS-RB).

Literature has acknowledged the alliance between face-to-face bullying behaviours and humour. However, comparably, little is known regarding humour and cyberbullying. Humour may be a motivating factor and, as such, explain why some individuals engage in cyberbullying. This study aimed to gain insight into adolescents' views and perceptions of how humour and 'banter' play a role within cyberbullying. Seven focus groups were carried out with 28 United Kingdom based secondary school students (female =20, male=8) aged between 11 and 15 years old. Reflexive thematic analysis identified three prominent overarching themes which became salient across each focus group: Banter as a social interaction, Online misinterpretation, and "Bad" banter and cyberbullying. Results indicate young people have a shared understanding of online humoristic aggressive behaviours, such as online banter, describing them as ambiguous and difficult to interpret. Participants demonstrated an understanding of how ambiguity, caused by the online environment combined with banter interactions, can be interpreted as perceived or fully acknowledged cyberbullying behaviour. Motivations for these behaviours are considered within the findings of the data analysis and previous literature. Findings are discussed with potential preventative implications and considerations for future research.

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Vignette methods are widely used in psychology and the social sciences to obtain responses to multi‐dimensional scenarios or situations. Where quantitative data are collected this presents challenges to the selection of an appropriate statistical model. This depends on subtle details of the design and allocation of vignettes to participants. A key distinction is between factorial survey experiments where each participant receives a different allocation of vignettes from the full universe of possible vignettes and experimental vignette studies where this restriction is relaxed. The former leads to nested designs with a single random factor and the latter to designs with two crossed random factors. In addition, the allocation of vignettes to participants may lead to fractional or unbalanced designs and a consequent loss of efficiency or aliasing of the effects of interest. Many vignette studies (including some factorial survey experiments) include unmodeled heterogeneity between vignettes leading to potentially serious problems if traditional regression approaches are adopted. These issues are reviewed and recommendations are made for the efficient design of vignette studies including the allocation of vignettes to participants. Multilevel models are proposed as a general approach to handling nested and crossed designs including unbalanced and fractional designs. This is illustrated with a small vignette data set looking at judgements of online and offline bullying and harassment.