Ersilia Menesini
Biographic Data
| ID | 198062 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ersilia Menesini |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ersilia |
| FAMILY NAME | Menesini |
| SIGNATURE | MENESINI E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Florence |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2302-3048 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 115 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Standing Against Bullying
Bystanders’ decision to intervene in defense of victims plays a fundamental role in reducing bullying. Previous research has demonstrated that teachers’ support for victims and school connectedness encourage bystanders’ defending behavior. This study examines the longitudinal associations among these variables within a comprehensive model testing for additive, partial, or fully mediated effects. A total of 363 adolescents (34% females; age M = 13…
Antibullying Interventions, Their Effects, and Lessons Learned
Bullying and cyberbullying impact students’ health and development. This study aimed to synthesize and critically evaluate the effectiveness of antibullying interventions. An umbrella review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. Five databases were consulted, and all the articles retrieved and identified were exported to the Rayyan platform. The review process was conducted using a multi-stage approach. Methodological quality and risk…
Collective stressful events and individual future orientation
Future orientation is a core human feature shaping people’s behavior and development. It is associated with mental health and well-being, especially under stressful situations. With increasing emphasis on the impact of several collective stressful events (e.g., terrorist attacks, wars, pandemics, natural disasters, climate change, and economic crisis) on people’s mental health, research has focused on individual future orientation over the last t…
Perceived parental prejudice and a tolerant class context in ethnic bullying
INTRODUCTION: Despite recent efforts to understand the possible impact of contextual factors on adolescents' involvement in ethnic bullying, most existing studies have focused on the effects of one context at a time. As adolescents are simultaneously exposed to the influence of multiple socialization agents, the aim of this study was to investigate whether teachers' and classmates' tolerance towards ethnic minorities could buffer the effect of pe…
Longitudinal association between teachers’ social, emotional, and moral competencies and their teaching of social, emotional, and moral competencies
This longitudinal study examined the association between teachers’ Social, Emotional, and Moral Competencies (SEMC) and their teaching of SEMC, considering the mediating effect of perception of the importance of promoting SEMC and planning of the teaching of SEMC. The sample included 731 teachers at Wave 1 and 1131 teachers at Wave 2, with 370 teachers participating in both waves. Results showed that teachers’ SEMC positively predicted their teac…
Cybervictimization and Online Sexual Harassment
Online sexual harassment and cybervictimization are related phenomena with a co-occurrence of around 22%; being a victim of cybervictimization is positively associated with being a victim of OSH-P. However, risk factors are different: cybervictimization is more easily explained by social and contextual factors, while online sexual harassment is explained by individual factors
Exposure to and Speaking Up Against Online Ethnic Hate Speech
Nowadays, adolescents have extensive access to Information and Communication Technologies, which allow them to engage in social networking activities that may expose them to Online Hate Speech (OHS). While there are few cross-sectional studies about the effects of OHS Exposure on attitudes and aggressive behavior, no study aims to analyze the tendency to Speak Up when exposed to certain content (e.g., reporting, etc.). In addition, no instruments…
The association between school burnout, school connectedness, and bullying victimization
Despite the importance of school connectedness and bullying victimization in students’ school burnout, to our knowledge, very few studies have analyzed their reciprocal associations, and most of them have used cross-sectional designs. So, the nature and directions of these relations have not been established yet. The general aim of this study was to address this gap by testing a longitudinal model of the association between the mentioned variable…
Co-development of internalizing symptoms and regulatory emotional self-efficacy in adolescence
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted opportunities for adolescents to progress through a typical developmental trajectory of adjustment and self-regulation. Adolescents across many contexts have shown an increase in adjustment difficulties during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic levels. Utilizing data collected from 830 Italian adolescents from one time-point just prior to when pandemic restrictions were enacted, and then at two additional time-p…
Adolescents’ ethnic hate speech exposure and ethnic bullying perpetration
Information and Communication Technologies have become powerful tools for adolescents, but they have enabled a huge number of online risks, such as being exposed to Online Hate Speech (OHS). High exposure to hateful content has been linked to despicable offline actions, including hate crimes. However, there is a lack of studies considering the associations with certain specific forms, such as the perpetration of bullying. The purpose of this stud…
Does Online Jealousy Lead to Online Control in Dating Adolescents? The Moderation Role of Moral Disengagement and Socio-Emotional Competence
The present study focuses on understanding the online aggression in adolescent couples from a gender-sensitive perspective. Specifically, the aims were: (1) to analyze the direct relationship between online jealousy and online control among adolescent boys and girls and (2) to explore the moderating role of moral disengagement and socio-emotional competence in the association between online jealousy and online control by gender. The sample compri…
Reciprocal associations between peer problems and non‐suicidal self‐injury throughout adolescence
BACKGROUND: Peer problems have emerged as important predictors of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) development during adolescence. However, the possibility that adolescents who engage in NSSI may, in turn, be at increased risk for experiencing difficulties with their peers has rarely been examined. This study investigated the reciprocal associations between peer problems (e.g. peer victimization, friendship stress and loneliness) and NSSI througho…
ICTs opportunities and risks
The Safer Internet Centre project aims to promote initiatives to make the Internet a better and more secure space for youths. Across the nation, schools were involved in activities aimed at raising awareness throughout a full school year. The first goal of this study is to analyze whether the project was effective, based on three aspects: (a) students’ awareness of online risks; (b) students’ perception of the schools’ policy both on ICTs risk pr…
Pathways to resilience
The strong intercorrelated change between children's ED and FW during the lockdown does not seem influenced by preexisting levels of individual and family functioning. Findings supported the view that for some families, the COVID-19 lockdown was also an opportunity to experience deeper emotional connections, contributing to a decrease in ED. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Adolescence
For many adolescents, the COVID-19 pandemic represents a uniquely challenging period, and concerns have been raised about whether COVID-19-related stress may increase the risk for self-injurious behaviors among adolescents. This study examined the impact of pre-existing vulnerabilities on the occurrence and frequency of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) through COVID-19-related stress, and whether the impact of COVID-19-related stress on NSSI was b…
The effect of the NoTrap! Antibullying program on ethnic victimization
Nowadays, an increasing number of children and adolescents living in Europe have an immigrant background. Because ethnicity is a recognizable characteristic that may become the driver of bullying, these youths are at high risk of victimization. School interventions based on peer-led approaches, assuming all the conditions postulated in contact theory, could be suitable to counteract bias-based bullying and victimization.This study aims to analyze…
Longitudinal Risk Profiles for Physical, Psychological, and Sexual Dating Aggression
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). Lat…
The role of traditional and online moral disengagement on cyberbullying
Parents, family characteristics and bullying behavior
How to Stop Victims’ Suffering? Indirect Effects of an Anti-Bullying Program on Internalizing Symptoms
Victims of bullying and cyberbullying present internalizing problems, such as anxiety, psychosomatic and depressive symptoms, and are at higher risk of considering or attempting suicide. Researchers have put great effort into developing interventions able to stop bullying and cyberbullying, and thus buffering possible negative consequences. Despite this, only a few of them have investigated the effects of these programs on the psychological suffe…
For Whom Is Anti-Bullying Intervention Most Effective? The Role of Temperament
Studying moderators of the effects of anti-bullying universal interventions is essential to elucidate what works for whom and to tailor more intensive, selective, and indicated programs which meet the needs of non-responders. The present study investigated whether early adolescents' temperament-effortful control (EC), negative emotionality (NE), and positive emotionality (PE)-moderates the effects of the KiVa anti-bullying program. The sample con…
The Efficacy of the “Dat-e Adolescence” Prevention Program in the Reduction of Dating Violence and Bullying
Background : The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of the school-based "Dat-e Adolescence" prevention program in the reduction of dating aggression and victimization and bullying in adolescents. Method : a RCT design with three waves (pre-test, post-test and follow-up six months apart) and two groups (an experimental group and a control group) were used. One thousand four hundred and twenty three (1423) adolescents, mean age 14.98 (557…
Bullying in residential care for children
Bullying in schools
During the school years, bullying is one of the most common expressions of violence in the peer context. Research on bullying started more than forty years ago, when the phenomenon was defined as 'aggressive, intentional acts carried out by a group or an individual repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him- or herself'. Three criteria are relevant in order to define aggressive behaviour as bullying: (1) repetition, (2…
Teachers’ Reaction in Homophobic Bullying Incidents
Moral emotions and bullying
This study aims to analyse the role of moral emotions and reasoning in relation to children's behaviour in a bullying situation. On the basis of a peer nomination questionnaire [Salmivalli et al., 1996; Sutton and Smith, 1999], children from three different cities (Seville, Florence, and Cosenza) were assigned to one of three different status groups: bullies, victims, or outsiders. Subsequently they were interviewed about their feelings in relati…
Friendship and loneliness among bullies and victims
Research suggests that the relationship between school bullying and its various risk factors should be clearer among girls than boys, and should become stronger with age, as roles within the peer group stabilise. This paper tests this theory by comparing sex, school type, and bully/victim status differences in friendships and playground social interactions, using data from nine surveys in seven countries: China, England, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Po…
Enhancing children's responsibility to take action against bullying
This paper reports on the evaluation of a peer support model implemented in two Italian secondary middle schools as an anti‐bullying intervention. Specifically, the aims of the intervention were (1) to reduce bullying episodes through developing in bullies an awareness of their own and others' behaviour, (2) to enhance children's capacity to offer support to the victims of bullying, (3) to enhance responsibility and involvement on the part of bys…
Parents' Definitions of Children's Bullying in a Five-Country Comparison
This study was carried out with 30- to 55-year-old parents of children ages 6 to 13 years in five different countries: Italy, Spain, Portugal, England, and Japan. It aimed at analyzing similarities and differences between words in five languages used to describe different types of bullying and social exclusion and identifying which terms are more appropriate to use in comparisons across cultures and languages. Target terms were selected using foc…
Evidence‐based intervention against bullying and cyberbullying
The NoTrap! (Noncadiamointrappola!) program is a school-based intervention, which utilizes a peer-led approach to prevent and combat both traditional bullying and cyberbullying. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of the third Edition of the program in accordance with the recent criteria for evidence-based interventions. Towards this aim, two quasi-experimental trials involving adolescents (age M = 14.91, SD = .98) attending…
Teachers’ Reaction in Homophobic Bullying Incidents
The efficacy of teachers’ responses to incidents of bullying and victimization
Teachers respond differently to bullying and victimization. Socio-cognitive and moral domain theory suggest that students process teachers' behavior cognitively and that teachers' responses to incidents of bullying and victimization could affect students' level of moral disengagement. We examined the mediating effect of students' moral disengagement between types of teachers' responses to situations of bullying and victimization and individual bu…
The effect of the NoTrap! Antibullying program on ethnic victimization
Nowadays, an increasing number of children and adolescents living in Europe have an immigrant background. Because ethnicity is a recognizable characteristic that may become the driver of bullying, these youths are at high risk of victimization. School interventions based on peer-led approaches, assuming all the conditions postulated in contact theory, could be suitable to counteract bias-based bullying and victimization.This study aims to analyze…
Does Online Jealousy Lead to Online Control in Dating Adolescents? The Moderation Role of Moral Disengagement and Socio-Emotional Competence
The present study focuses on understanding the online aggression in adolescent couples from a gender-sensitive perspective. Specifically, the aims were: (1) to analyze the direct relationship between online jealousy and online control among adolescent boys and girls and (2) to explore the moderating role of moral disengagement and socio-emotional competence in the association between online jealousy and online control by gender. The sample compri…
Longitudinal Risk Profiles for Physical, Psychological, and Sexual Dating Aggression
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). Lat…
Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Adolescence
For many adolescents, the COVID-19 pandemic represents a uniquely challenging period, and concerns have been raised about whether COVID-19-related stress may increase the risk for self-injurious behaviors among adolescents. This study examined the impact of pre-existing vulnerabilities on the occurrence and frequency of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) through COVID-19-related stress, and whether the impact of COVID-19-related stress on NSSI was b…
The Coping with Cyberbullying Questionnaire
Victims of cyberbullying report a number of undesirable outcomes regarding their well-being, especially those who are not able to successfully cope with cyber victimization. Research on coping with cyberbullying has identified a number of different coping strategies that seem to be differentially adaptive in cases of cyber victimization. However, knowledge regarding the effectiveness of these strategies is scarce. This scarcity is partially due t…
Behavioural Correlates of Friendship Status among Italian Schoolchildren
The purpose of the present study is to examine whether friendship status, in terms of reciprocity and perceived quality of the relationship, is related to behavioural characteristics of school-aged children, as evaluated by themselves and their teachers. Children's nominations for `best friends', a questionnaire on children's perception of friendship quality and self-evaluation of social behaviour were administered to middle-class Italian primary…
Cross-national comparison of children's attitudes towards bully/victim problems in school
Using large-scale survey data from Italy, and England, findings are reported for attitudes to school bullying; specifically the extent to which children expect their teachers, or other children, to intervene in bullying; and the extent to which children either empathise with victims of bullying, or state that they themselves would do something about it. Findings were broadly similar in most respects, in the two countries. Teachers were thought to…
Behavioural Correlates of Friendship Status among Italian Schoolchildren
The purpose of the present study is to examine whether friendship status, in terms of reciprocity and perceived quality of the relationship, is related to behavioural characteristics of school-aged children, as evaluated by themselves and their teachers. Children's nominations for `best friends', a questionnaire on children's perception of friendship quality and self-evaluation of social behaviour were administered to middle-class Italian primary…
Moral emotions and bullying
This study aims to analyse the role of moral emotions and reasoning in relation to children's behaviour in a bullying situation. On the basis of a peer nomination questionnaire [Salmivalli et al., 1996; Sutton and Smith, 1999], children from three different cities (Seville, Florence, and Cosenza) were assigned to one of three different status groups: bullies, victims, or outsiders. Subsequently they were interviewed about their feelings in relati…
Enhancing children's responsibility to take action against bullying
This paper reports on the evaluation of a peer support model implemented in two Italian secondary middle schools as an anti‐bullying intervention. Specifically, the aims of the intervention were (1) to reduce bullying episodes through developing in bullies an awareness of their own and others' behaviour, (2) to enhance children's capacity to offer support to the victims of bullying, (3) to enhance responsibility and involvement on the part of bys…
Parents' Definitions of Children's Bullying in a Five-Country Comparison
This study was carried out with 30- to 55-year-old parents of children ages 6 to 13 years in five different countries: Italy, Spain, Portugal, England, and Japan. It aimed at analyzing similarities and differences between words in five languages used to describe different types of bullying and social exclusion and identifying which terms are more appropriate to use in comparisons across cultures and languages. Target terms were selected using foc…
Friendship and loneliness among bullies and victims
Research suggests that the relationship between school bullying and its various risk factors should be clearer among girls than boys, and should become stronger with age, as roles within the peer group stabilise. This paper tests this theory by comparing sex, school type, and bully/victim status differences in friendships and playground social interactions, using data from nine surveys in seven countries: China, England, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Po…
Cyberbullying
This study aims to examine students' perception of the term used to label cyberbullying, the perception of different forms and behaviours (written, verbal, visual, exclusion and impersonation) and the perception of the criteria used for its definition (imbalance of power, intention, repetition, anonymity and publicity) in three different European countries: Italy, Spain and Germany. Seventy adolescents took part in nine focus groups, using the sa…
The Measurement of Cyberbullying
In relation to a sample of 1,092 Italian adolescents (50.9% females), the present study aims to: (a) analyze the most parsimonious structure of the cyberbullying and cybervictimization construct in male and female Italian adolescents through confirmatory factor analysis; and (b) analyze the severity and the discrimination parameters of each act using the item response theory. Results showed that the structure of the cyberbullying scale for perpet…
Cyberbullying Definition Among Adolescents
Several criteria have been proposed for defining cyberbullying to young people, but no studies have proved their relevance. There are also variations across different countries in the meaning and the definition of this behavior. We systematically investigated the role of five definitional criteria for cyberbullying, in six European countries. These criteria (intentionality, imbalance of power, repetition, anonymity, and public vs. private) were c…
Noncadiamointrappola! [Let’s Not Fall into the Trap!]
This chapter incorporates the topic of cyberbullying into traditional anti-bullying awareness-raising and curriculum-based activities. It analyses the longitudinal differences in bullying, victimisation, cyberbullying, and cybervictimisation and between the control and experimental group. The chapter describes the progress of Noncadiamointrappola! and give an empirical evaluation of the school-based universal program. It highlights the online act…
The Coping with Cyberbullying Questionnaire
Victims of cyberbullying report a number of undesirable outcomes regarding their well-being, especially those who are not able to successfully cope with cyber victimization. Research on coping with cyberbullying has identified a number of different coping strategies that seem to be differentially adaptive in cases of cyber victimization. However, knowledge regarding the effectiveness of these strategies is scarce. This scarcity is partially due t…
Evidence‐based intervention against bullying and cyberbullying
The NoTrap! (Noncadiamointrappola!) program is a school-based intervention, which utilizes a peer-led approach to prevent and combat both traditional bullying and cyberbullying. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of the third Edition of the program in accordance with the recent criteria for evidence-based interventions. Towards this aim, two quasi-experimental trials involving adolescents (age M = 14.91, SD = .98) attending…
Bullying in schools
During the school years, bullying is one of the most common expressions of violence in the peer context. Research on bullying started more than forty years ago, when the phenomenon was defined as 'aggressive, intentional acts carried out by a group or an individual repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him- or herself'. Three criteria are relevant in order to define aggressive behaviour as bullying: (1) repetition, (2…
Teachers’ Reaction in Homophobic Bullying Incidents
The efficacy of teachers’ responses to incidents of bullying and victimization
Teachers respond differently to bullying and victimization. Socio-cognitive and moral domain theory suggest that students process teachers' behavior cognitively and that teachers' responses to incidents of bullying and victimization could affect students' level of moral disengagement. We examined the mediating effect of students' moral disengagement between types of teachers' responses to situations of bullying and victimization and individual bu…
Parents, family characteristics and bullying behavior
How to Stop Victims’ Suffering? Indirect Effects of an Anti-Bullying Program on Internalizing Symptoms
Victims of bullying and cyberbullying present internalizing problems, such as anxiety, psychosomatic and depressive symptoms, and are at higher risk of considering or attempting suicide. Researchers have put great effort into developing interventions able to stop bullying and cyberbullying, and thus buffering possible negative consequences. Despite this, only a few of them have investigated the effects of these programs on the psychological suffe…
For Whom Is Anti-Bullying Intervention Most Effective? The Role of Temperament
Studying moderators of the effects of anti-bullying universal interventions is essential to elucidate what works for whom and to tailor more intensive, selective, and indicated programs which meet the needs of non-responders. The present study investigated whether early adolescents' temperament-effortful control (EC), negative emotionality (NE), and positive emotionality (PE)-moderates the effects of the KiVa anti-bullying program. The sample con…
The Efficacy of the “Dat-e Adolescence” Prevention Program in the Reduction of Dating Violence and Bullying
Background : The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of the school-based "Dat-e Adolescence" prevention program in the reduction of dating aggression and victimization and bullying in adolescents. Method : a RCT design with three waves (pre-test, post-test and follow-up six months apart) and two groups (an experimental group and a control group) were used. One thousand four hundred and twenty three (1423) adolescents, mean age 14.98 (557…
Bullying in residential care for children
The role of traditional and online moral disengagement on cyberbullying
Longitudinal Risk Profiles for Physical, Psychological, and Sexual Dating Aggression
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). Lat…
Reciprocal associations between peer problems and non‐suicidal self‐injury throughout adolescence
BACKGROUND: Peer problems have emerged as important predictors of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) development during adolescence. However, the possibility that adolescents who engage in NSSI may, in turn, be at increased risk for experiencing difficulties with their peers has rarely been examined. This study investigated the reciprocal associations between peer problems (e.g. peer victimization, friendship stress and loneliness) and NSSI througho…
ICTs opportunities and risks
The Safer Internet Centre project aims to promote initiatives to make the Internet a better and more secure space for youths. Across the nation, schools were involved in activities aimed at raising awareness throughout a full school year. The first goal of this study is to analyze whether the project was effective, based on three aspects: (a) students’ awareness of online risks; (b) students’ perception of the schools’ policy both on ICTs risk pr…
Pathways to resilience
The strong intercorrelated change between children's ED and FW during the lockdown does not seem influenced by preexisting levels of individual and family functioning. Findings supported the view that for some families, the COVID-19 lockdown was also an opportunity to experience deeper emotional connections, contributing to a decrease in ED. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Psychology (32 works) · Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression (28 works) · Social Psychology (25 works) · Developmental psychology (24 works) · Medicine (23 works) · Clinical Psychology (16 works) · Poison control (15 works) · Psychiatry (12 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Clinical Psychology (11 works)