Cyberbulling and prosocial behavior on the net: the influence of some socio-cognitve and contextual factors in a sample of italian high school students

Cyberbullying is a despicable phenomenon increasingly frequent among students. It is necessary to try to formulate effective interventions to counter it in schools, the institutions most dedicated to the education and to the moral growth of individuals The present study is aimed at analysing the relationships between variables objectively observable, such as those related to the school attended and to the use of social media, with subjective characteristics such as the formulation of strategies of thought for moral justification. The results obtained through the diffusion of an online questionnaire indicate that the adolescents who participated in the study more frequently perform aggressive virtual behavior if they attend technical schools and that these behaviors are related to the frequent use of social media. In addition, cyberbullies also seem more likely to formulate processes of thought aimed at moral disengagement.