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• Based on previous findings that indicated a negative relationship between empathy and aggressive behaviour, it was tested whether cyberbullies show a lack of empathic responsiveness.
• 2,070 students from Luxembourg secondary schools, aged 12-24, reported their internet habits and completed a German version of the cyberbullying questionnaire (Smith et al., 2006) and a novel empathy scale.
• Analyses of variances substantiated that empathic responsiveness for others being victimized was lower for cyberbullies than for non-cyberbullies.
• It was also found that 85% of cyberbullies were also traditional bullies. In addition, victims of traditional bullying tended to become cyberbullies.
• With the finding that a lack of empathy appears to be a risk factor for cyberbullying behaviour, training empathy skills might be an important tool to decrease cyberbullying.
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Relevant publications |
Steffgen, G., König, A., Pfetsch, J., & Melzer, A. (2011). Are cyberbullies less empathic? Adolescents’ cyberbullying behavior and empathic responsiveness. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(11), 643-648. / Bredemus, L. (2010). Cyberbullying in Luxemburg. Bestandsaufnahme in den luxemburgischen Lyzeen. Unpublished manuscript, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg. / Steffgen, G., Pfetsch, J., König, A, & Melzer, A. (2010). Effects of traditional bullying and empathy on cyberbullying. In R. Zukauskiene (Ed.), Conference proceedings. XIV European Conference on Developmental Psychology ECDP (pp. 485-490). Pianoro, Italy: Medimond. / Steffgen, G., & König, A. (2009). Cyber bullying: The role of traditional bullying and empathy. In B. Sapeo, L. Haddon, E. Mante-Meijer, L. Fortunati, T. Turk & E. Loos (Eds.), Conference Proceedings: Vol. II. The good, the bad and the challenging (pp. 1041-1047). Brussels, Belgium: Cost office. / Steffgen, G., König, A., Pfetsch, J., & Melzer, A. (2009). The role of empathy for adolescents’ cyberbullying behaviour. Kwartalnik Pedagogiczny,4(214), 183-198. / Steffgen, G., Pfetsch, J., König, A., & Bredemus, L. (2009, August). Cyber bullying among school aged children in Luxembourg. Paper presented at the XIVth European Conference on Developmental Psychology: Post-Conference Workshop: Cyberbullying: Definition and Measurement, Vilnius, Lithuania.
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