Developmental Trajectories of (Cyber)Bullying Perpetration and Social Intelligence During Early Adolescence

• In Event: Aggression, Bullying, and Fear in a Media-Rich Environment: High-Density Session

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to examine bullying perpetration and social intelligence (SI), which is a socio-cognitive characteristic that has been proposed as a possible regulator of on- and offline bullying. We compared SI for perpetrators and non-perpetrators of traditional bullying and/or cyberbullying and examined longitudinal associations. A four-wave panel study with 6-months time intervals was conducted among 1,103 adolescents aged 10 to 14. Latent class analysis was used to examine developmental trajectories of bullying across two years. Four profiles of bullies were found. In a next step, latent growth curves of SI were calculated for each profile. Cyberbullies have a higher level of SI in comparison to non-involved and traditional bullies. Traditional bullying does not require a high level of SI. For cyberbullies, the difference between their level of SI and that of others seems to matter as it may create “power”.

Authors

• Sara Pabian, University of Antwerp

• Heidi Vandebosch, U of Antwerp