Joaquín A. Mora-Merchán
University of Sevilla
Risk and Protective Factors in Bullying and Cyberbullyingl context and social competence in educational environments
Participants: Paula Costa Ferreira1; Virginia Sánchez-Jiménez2; Paz Elipe3 and Esperanza Espino2
1University of Lisboa; 2University of Seville; 3University of Jaen
Symposium Summary
After more than three decades of research on the phenomena of bullying among school children (including new forms of cyberbullying), the study of associated protective and risk factors is still relevant. Identifying these variables help us understand the mechanisms that give rise to long-lasting victimization processes, which may lead to serious consequences for those involved. At the same time, when analysing their protective function, these variables are keys to determine aspects that help us stop the violence dynamics or minimize the impact they generate in those involved.
Most of the studies developed so far focused on individual risk and protective factors, rather than on the contextual factors. Moreover, the study designs used to identify these variables were cross-sectional, thus more research to explore these factors in longitudinal designs is required. This symposium will analyse risk and protective factors to provide relevant results to cover these gaps in knowledge.
On the other hand, identifying the common risk and protective factors among different forms of school violence, including bullying and cyberbullying, is a key element for the design of prevention and intervention proposals that can potentially achieve a greater impact on both problems simultaneously. This aspect is a challenge for those who, from any field, but especially from the Educational Psychology field, are committed to the solution of these phenomena.
Short CV
Senior Lecturer in Developmental and Educational Psychology at the University of Seville, Dr Mora-Merchán has an extensive career in both face-to-face and online bullying research. He has led three European projects on this topic and has been selected by the European Commission to co-lead the technical advice for the Slovenian government on the prevention of bullying and violence among minors. Also, he has participated as an external expert advisor in various European research projects and led a project of excellence in coping with cyberbullying problems. He is the author of many publications in international impact journals, and the Associate Editor of the journal Psychology, Society & Education. He was the coordinator of the Master in Educational Psychology at the University of Seville and gave lectures and courses on this subject in the United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal or Switzerland among others, and in many Spanish universities.