Papers by ERSILIA MENESINI
Prevention Science
The prevalence of bullying worldwide is high (UNESCO, 2018). Over the past decades, many anti-bul... more The prevalence of bullying worldwide is high (UNESCO, 2018). Over the past decades, many anti-bullying interventions have been developed to remediate this problem. However, we lack insight into for whom these interventions work and what individual intervention components drive the total intervention effects. We conducted a large-scale individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis using data from 39,793 children and adolescents aged five to 20 years (Mage = 12.58, SD = 2.34) who had participated in quasi-experimental or randomized controlled trials of school-based anti-bullying interventions (i.e., 10 studies testing nine interventions). Multilevel logistic regression analyses showed that anti-bullying interventions significantly reduced self-reported victimization (d = − 0.14) and bullying perpetration (d = − 0.07). Anti-bullying interventions more strongly reduced bullying perpetration in younger participants (i.e., under age 12) and victimization for youth who were more heavil...
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Child Abuse & Neglect, 2020
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Developmental Psychology
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Sexuality Research and Social Policy, Nov 8, 2017
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International Journal of Bullying Prevention
The COVID-19 pandemic affected adolescents’ social interactions and mental health. However, it is... more The COVID-19 pandemic affected adolescents’ social interactions and mental health. However, it is still unclear how the developmental trajectories of individuals at higher risk of social exclusion and victimization changed during this challenging period. Using the Latent Growth Curve Analysis (LGCA), the present study aims to investigate whether belonging to a minority ethnic group might be an additional risk factor, by analyzing trends over time in both bullying victimization (V) and emotional symptoms (ES) from the pre-pandemic period to 15-months after the outbreak. 826 students (46.4% females; Mage=15.22; SD = 0.63; 18.5% with an immigrant background) attending the first year of high school were followed before the pandemic (T1-January 2020), to 12 months (T2-February 2021) and 15-months (T3-May 2021) after the outbreak. Findings highlighted the pervasive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on all students, with no differences between natives and students with immigrant background. ...
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Cyberbullying is a ubiquitous topic when considering young people and internet and communication ... more Cyberbullying is a ubiquitous topic when considering young people and internet and communication technologies (ICTs). For interventional purposes, it is essential to take into account the perspective of adolescents. This is the reason why our main focus is (1) investigating the role of different criteria in the perceived severity of cyberbullying incidents, and (2) examining the differences between countries in the perceived severity of cyberbullying. The sample consisted of 1,964 adolescents (48.2% girls) from middle and high schools of four different countries, i.e., Estonia, Italy, Germany, and Turkey. The participants' age ranged from 12 to 20 years old with a mean age of 14.49 (SD = 1.66) years. To assess perceived severity, participants rated a set of 128 scenarios, which systematically included one or more of five criteria (intentionality, repetition, imbalance of power, public vs. private, and anonymity) and represented four types of cyberbullying behaviors (Written—Verb...
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Frontiers in Psychology, 2022
Research has underlined that moral disengagement processes, by which people switch off their mora... more Research has underlined that moral disengagement processes, by which people switch off their moral values and act aggressively without experiencing guilt, are highly connected with contextual factors. However, research on situational variations in moral disengagement is limited, especially considering the associations with characteristics such as the ethnic origin of potential victims. The general aim of the present study was to develop a brief, specific measure of ethnic moral disengagement able to catch individual justification used in the case of ethnic bullying and cyberbullying, and test its validity and reliability. An eight items scale was developed and administered in study 1, in a sample of 961students attending several Italian high schools (53.5% female; Mage 15 years). Considering the results of the CFA, we modified one of the items and the scale was administered again, in a second sample of 1,229 students (49.9% female; Mage 15.62 years) in study 2. A one-factor model of...
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International Psychogeriatrics, 2021
ABSTRACTObjective:Loneliness and the onset of depression in old age are growing problems related ... more ABSTRACTObjective:Loneliness and the onset of depression in old age are growing problems related to the greater life expectancy nowadays. This review investigated the longitudinal association between loneliness and depressive symptoms in the elderly.Design:A comprehensive search was conducted using three databases (Scopus, PsycInfo, and PubMed) combing for empirical studies published up until July 2020. A total of 4.549 abstracts and 221 full-text articles were assessed. Three authors independently reviewed titles and abstracts; disagreements were resolved by consensus.Results:Ten studies were included in the final review. We identified two categories of studies based on the outcome considered in each article: 1) the longitudinal effect of loneliness on depressive symptoms and 2) the clinical course of depression and its association with loneliness. All the articles reported a significant and positive association between loneliness and depressive symptoms in their longitudinal desig...
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Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 2021
Introduction Understanding the specific risk profile for distinct forms of dating aggression (DA)... more Introduction Understanding the specific risk profile for distinct forms of dating aggression (DA) is very informative to define cross-cutting interventions. The study aims to evaluate whether specific profiles of risk defined using a person-oriented approach predicted physical, sexual, and psychological DA after 6 months. Methods Eight hundred sixty-six Spanish adolescents were interviewed at two time points (50.5% male; average age = 15.04). Latent profile analysis at T1 was used to delineate profiles of individual and relational risk. Results A three-class model best represents the data: a “normative” class (N = 768; 88%); a “highly aggressive” class characterized by acceptance of violent norms, bullying behaviors, and anger dysregulation (N = 13, 1.5%); a “jealous-conflictual” class characterized by cognitive and emotional jealousy, negative couple quality, and anger dysregulation (N = 85, 10%). Controlling for age, sex, and longitudinal stability, physical DA was predicted signi...
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In recent years, dating aggression has been identified as a serious problem among teenagers. Betw... more In recent years, dating aggression has been identified as a serious problem among teenagers. Between 30% and 50% of teenagers report having experienced some form of physical aggression while dating. The most common forms include slapping, pushing, and making threats. But more severe acts of violence can occur as well. Girls are just as likely as boys to report committing acts of aggression, although it is important to note that research does not tell us about girls’ and boys’ intentions and so it is premature to conclude that boys and girls are similarly aggressive.
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Aggression and Violent Behavior, 2021
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MALTRATTAMENTO E ABUSO ALL'INFANZIA, 2021
Il bullismo costituisce un problema rilevante nel contesto scolastico, tuttavia mancano a li-vell... more Il bullismo costituisce un problema rilevante nel contesto scolastico, tuttavia mancano a li-vello nazionale ed internazionale protocolli strutturati per la gestione del fenomeno. Lo stu-dio propone la valutazione del progetto PEBUC, protocollo standardizzato per le azioni in-dicate in caso di bullismo. Hanno partecipato al progetto 11 insegnanti di 2 scuole toscane. Il protocollo prevede strumenti di prima segnalazione, di valutazione approfondita, di moni-toraggio dell'intervento da parte degli insegnati. I risultati mostrano come gli insegnanti sia-no stati in grado di prendere in carico le segnalazioni attivando percorsi funzionali in rela-zione alla gravità del caso. Lo studio evidenzia l'importanza di dotare le scuole di sistemi di segnalazione e protocolli standardizzati per gestire episodi di bullismo e cyberbullismo.
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Prevention Science, 2020
There is a debate in scientific literature about the effectiveness of a peer-led approach to anti... more There is a debate in scientific literature about the effectiveness of a peer-led approach to anti-bullying interventions. In order to understand which circumstances and for whom these approaches work best, the present study was carried out within the NoTrap! anti-bullying program. Using a cluster design, classes were randomly assigned into two different peer educator recruitment strategies: volunteering (N = 500; 48% females; mean age = 13.5 years, ds = 1.3) vs peer nominated (N = 466; 38% females; mean age = 13.9 years, ds = 1.3). Results showed that voluntary peer educators suffered a higher level of victimization, while the nominated ones tended to be more popular and likable. Furthermore, a set of linear mixed-effect models showed that the program was effective in reducing bullying and victimization, and in increasing defending behaviour only in the voluntary recruitment condition. On the contrary, in classrooms under the peer nominated recruitment condition, bullying and victim...
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Frontiers in Psychology, 2020
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