International Journal of Developmental Science

How others behave (descriptive norm) and what they expect from us (injunctive norm) has a strong influence on how we behave. However, children and adolescents often overestimate the prevalence of negative behavior among their peers. The current study tested whether prompting peer norms for cyberbullying may foster anti-cyberbullying norms in an experimental design with N = 510 seventh, eighth and nine graders. In a pre-post control-group design, students completed an online survey during school lessons assessing the individual and classroom anti-cyberbullying norm before and after receiving simulated information about the classroom norm on cyberbullying. Results showed that individual anti-cyberbullying norms are negatively related to cyberbullying behavior. However, students did not change their individual norm differentially after reading the information about the classroom anti-cyberbullying norm. Possibly, the intervention was too minimal to change normative attitudes about cyberbullying or the school class is not a relevant reference group for online behavior of students.

This study examines how bullies, victims, bully-victims, and uninvolved adolescents perceive the activities of the class project of the ViSC social competence program. The ViSC program is a whole school socio-ecological anti-bullying program that was implemented in 43 classes, grade 7, 8, and 9, in three Cypriot schools. A sample of 778 adolescents (52% girls, Mage = 13.9, SD = 0.86) who participated in the ViSC class project, answered open-format questions concerning most-and least-liked class project activities. Applying normative cut-off scores, four groups of adolescents were identified: 47 (6%) bullies, 64 (8%) victims, 45 (6%) bully-victims, and 609 (80%) uninvolved. There were meaningful differences between these groups regarding their most and least liked program activities. While uninvolved adolescents liked the behavioural improvement and victims liked the knowledge improvement more than the other groups; bullies and bully-victims did not like anything about the program content more often compared to the other groups. The findings are discussed regarding their practical implications for program development to better serve the needs of different bully-victim groups.

The purpose of this research was to examine children’s story preferences as a function of age and cultural orientation. Using Hofstede’s (1984) distinction between individualism and collectivism, we examined the extent to which younger (6–8 years old, n = 47, M = 6.94, SD = 0.94) and older (9–12 years old, n = 57, M = 10.35, SD = 1.14) children preferred stories that reflected their cultural orientation. Participants were children (N = 104) of various nationalities enrolled in a summer camp on the island of Mallorca, Spain. Children were classified as either individualist or collectivist using the Children’s Self-Construal Scale. Each child was read six stories, three of which reflected individualist values and three of which reflected collectivist values. Older children preferred stories that were consistent with their cultural orientation while younger children did not. The results suggest that the outcomes of culturally relevant socialization are not readily apparent until the later stages of middle childhood.

As Facebook enables adolescents to present themselves positively by means of their Facebook profile and to gain positive feedback for doing so, the aim of the current study is to investigate which kinds of adolescents’ positive self-presentation in profile pictures and status updates are associated with positive feedback in terms of Likes from the Facebook community, considering gender differences. Data for this study were based on adolescents aged 14–17 years, pursuing a two-method approach, using questionnaire data (N = 703; 71.7% female; M_age = 15.76 years) as well as data from content analysis (N = 143; 63% female; M_age = 15.72 years). Hierarchical multiple regressions were used. The results suggest that the self-presentational strategy of ingratiation seems to be the most advantageous in eliciting positive feedback. In particular, presenting oneself in the company of friends as well as posting about spending time with friends were related to positive feedback.