Bullying and cyberbullying, what do they have in common and what not? A latent class analysis

Bullying and cyberbullying are risky behaviours which normally occur during adolescence. Although an important relationship has been recognized between the two phenomena, issues related to their prevalence, the similarity and difference between them, the transfer of roles, as well as the emotional, social, and moral aspects associated with them, remain unresolved. The aim of this study was to explore the roles of involvement in bullying and cyberbullying through an analysis of latent classes, and examine their association with moral disengagement, social and normative adjustment, and anger rumination. The study had a two-stage longitudinal design, with 3,006 secondary school students (M-age = 13.53; 51.9% girls), using extensively validated self- reports in the reference population. The results showed four latent classes: uninvolved, victim-cybervictim, bullyvictim and wholly involved. Logistic regression analyses identified a low social adjustment in those wholly involved, low normative adjustment and high moral disengagement in mixed profiles, and high anger rumination in all involvement profiles, mainly in bully-victim. These results are discussed in terms of their value in understanding the distinctions between bullying and cyberbullying, the existence of pure and mixed roles, and the associated emotional, social, and moral variables.