Bullying victimization can harm victims' mental health. Numerous studies have shown that, when an adolescent is a victim of cyberbullying, the risk of developing numerous mental health problems increases. Tackling the problem of cyberbullying victims' worsening mental health involves at least (1) reducing bullying itself, as this would reduce the prevalence of victimization, and (2) building resilience in the victims so that their mental health does not worsen. In recent years, a number of preventive interventions have been developed aimed at reducing cyberbullying but not so much focused on building resilience in the victims. Very recently, interest in scientific social psychology has grown due to a new approach to interventions, which have been called wise interventions. This approach involves a set of rigorous techniques, based on theory and research, that address specific psychological processes to help people thrive in various life environments. The main objective of this project is to extend the previous findings to the mental health effects of online victimization in adolescents. In this project it will be designed and evaluated the effectiveness of an wise intervention aimed at (1) reducing online bullying, as this would reduce the prevalence of victimization; and (2) building resilience in victims so that the negative impact of victimization on their mental health will be reduced. The secondary objective will be to evaluate the moderating role of gender and the degree of development in the effects of the intervention.The study will involve the evaluation of the intervention in a sample of around 600 adolescents randomly allocated to experimental and control condition.
This study evaluates the effectiveness of a wise intervention based on self-affirmation (SA) and Implicit Theories of Personality (ITP) building resilience in victims. Half of the participants will receive the experimental intervention, while the other half will receive a control intervention.