Bullying and cyberbullying have serious consequences for all those involved, especially the victims, and its prevalence is high throughout all the years of schooling, which emphasizes the importance of prevention. This article describes an intervention proposal, made up of a program (Cyberprogram 2.0 Garaigordobil and Martínez-Valderrey, 2014a) and a videogame (Cooperative Cybereduca 2.0 Garaigordobil and Martínez-Valderrey, 2016b) which aims to prevent and reduce cyberbullying during adolescence and which has been validated experimentally. The proposal has four objectives: (1) To know what bullying and cyberbullying are, to reflect on the people involved in these situations; (2) to become aware of the harm caused by such behaviors and the severe consequences for all involved; (3) to learn guidelines to prevent and deal with these situations: know what to do when one suffers this kind of violence or when observing that someone else is suffering it; and (4) to foster the development of social and emotional factors that inhibit violent behavior (e.g., communication, ethical-moral values, empathy, cooperation…). The proposal is structured around 25 activities to fulfill these goals and it ends with the videogame. The activities are carried out in the classroom, and the online video is the last activity, which represents the end of the intervention program. The videogame (www.cybereduca.com) is a trivial pursuit game with questions and answers related to bullying/cyberbullying. This cybernetic trivial pursuit is organized around a fantasy story, a comic that guides the game. The videogame contains 120 questions about 5 topics: cyberphenomena, computer technology and safety, cybersexuality, consequences of bullying/cyberbullying, and coping with bullying/cyberbullying. To evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention, a quasi-experimental design, with repeated pretest-posttest measures and control groups, was used. During the pretest and posttest stages, 8 assessment instruments were administered. The experimental group randomly received the intervention proposal, which consisted of one weekly 1-h session during the entire school year. The results obtained with the analyses of variance of the data collected before and after the intervention in the experimental and control groups showed that the proposal significantly promoted the following aspects in the experimental group: (1) a decrease in face-to-face bullying and cyberbullying behaviors, in different types of school violence, premeditated and impulsive aggressiveness, and in the use of aggressive conflict-resolution strategies; and (2) an increase of positive social behaviors, self-esteem, cooperative conflict-resolution strategies, and the capacity for empathy. The results provide empirical evidence for the proposal. The importance of implementing programs to prevent bullying in all its forms, from the beginning of schooling and throughout formal education, is discussed.

Some antibullying interventions have shown positive outcomes with regard to reducing violence. The aim of the study was to experimentally assess the effects on school violence and aggressiveness of a program to prevent and reduce cyberbullying. The sample was comprised of a randomly selected sample of 176 adolescents (93 experimental, 83 control), aged 13–15 years. The study used a repeated measures pre-posttest design with a control group. Before and after the program, two assessment instruments were administered: the “Cuestionario de Violencia Escolar-Revisado” (CUVE-R [School Violence Questionnaire – Revised]; Álvarez-García et al., 2011) and the “Cuestionario de agresividad premeditada e impulsiva” (CAPI-A [Premeditated and Impulsive Aggressiveness Questionnaire]; Andreu, 2010). The intervention consisted of 19 one-hour sessions carried out during the school term. The program contains 25 activities with the following objectives: (1) to identify and conceptualize bullying/cyberbullying; (2) to analyze the consequences of bullying/cyberbullying, promoting participants’ capacity to report such actions when they are discovered; (3) to develop coping strategies to prevent and reduce bullying/cyberbullying; and (4) to achieve other transversal goals, such as developing positive variables (empathy, active listening, social skills, constructive conflict resolution, etc.). The pre-posttest ANCOVAs confirmed that the program stimulated a decrease in: (1) diverse types of school violence—teachers’ violence toward students (ridiculing or publicly humiliating students in front of the class, etc.); students’ physical violence (fights, blows, shoves… aimed at the victim, or at his or her property, etc.); students’ verbal violence (using offensive language, cruel, embarrassing, or insulting words… toward classmates and teachers); social exclusion (rejection or exclusion of a person or group, etc.), and violence through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT; violent behaviors by means of electronic instruments such as mobile phones and the Internet)—; and (2) premeditated and impulsive aggressiveness. Pre-posttest MANCOVA revealed differences between conditions with a medium effect size. This work contributes an efficacious intervention tool for the prevention and reduction of peer violence. The conclusions drawn from this study have interesting implications for educational and clinical intervention.

ResumenEl estudio tuvo como principal objetivo evaluar experimentalmente los efectos de un programa antibullying (Cyberprogram 2.0) en conductas de victimización por bullying «cara-a-cara» y en diversas conductas sociales. Se utilizó una muestra de 176 adolescentes, de 13 a 15 años, 93 experimentales y 83 de control. El estudio utilizó un diseño de medidas repetidas pretest-postest con grupo de control. Antes y después del programa (19 sesiones) se administraron dos instrumentos de evaluación. Los ANCOVAs postest confirmaron que el programa estimuló una disminución significativa de la victimización y un aumento de las conductas sociales positivas (conformidad social, ayuda-colaboración, seguridad-firmeza, liderazgo prosocial). La intervención disminuyó significativamente más algunas conductas sociales negativas de las mujeres, aunque en el resto de las variables el cambio fue similar en ambos sexos. La discusión se centra en la importancia de implementar programas para fomentar el desarrollo socioemocional y prevenir la violencia.Palabras clave: Bullying, ciberbullying, adolescencia, conducta social, género. AbstractThe main purpose of the study was to assess experimentally the effects of an antibullying program (Cyberprogram 2.0) on behaviors of victimization due to «face-to-face» bullying and on diverse social behaviors. The sample comprised 176 adolescents, aged 13-15 years, grouped into 93 experimental subjects and 83 control subjects. The study used a repeated measures pretest-posttest design with a control group. Before and after the program (19 sessions), two assessment instruments were administered. ANCOVAs posttest confirmed that the program stimulated a significant decrease in victimization and an increase of positive social behaviors (social conformity, help-collaboration, selfassurance-firmness, prosocial leadership). The intervention significantly decreased some negative social behaviors to a greater extent in females, although in the remaining variables, the change was similar both sexes. The discussion focuses on the importance of implementing programs to promote socio-emotional development and prevent violence.

Los problemas de convivencia escolar están muy presentes en las aulas, y no sólo dificultan el desarrollo de los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje, sino que además tienen consecuencias nefastas para el desarrollo humano. Con esta contextualización, el estudio tuvo tres objetivos: 1) Analizar si existen diferencias en función del género y el nivel socio-económico-cultural en victimización; 2) Estudiar las relaciones entre victimización y otras variables como autoestima, empatía, y agresividad, explorando si existen diferencias entre víctimas y no-víctimas en estas variables; e 3) Identificar variables predictoras de victimización, es decir, de ser víctima de bullying “cara a cara”. La muestra se configura con 178 participantes de 13 a 15 años. Se utilizó un diseño correlacional, administrando cuatro instrumentos de evaluación. Los resultados confirmaron que el nivel de victimización en varones y mujeres fue similar. Además, se constató que en los tres niveles socio-económico-culturales (bajo-medio-alto) la victimización fue análoga. Los adolescentes de ambos sexos con altas puntuaciones en victimización tuvieron significativamente menor nivel de autoestima. Sin embargo, no se hallaron correlaciones entre victimización (ser víctima de bullying “cara a cara”) y empatía, ni tampoco entre victimización y agresividad (ni impulsiva, ni premeditada). Además, en el análisis de regresión dos variables resultaron predictoras de victimización: baja autoestima y menor nivel de edad.

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