Assessing cyberbullying in adolescence: Psychometric properties and external correlates of the Cyberbullying Experience Scale in Italian community-dwelling adolescents

Abstract

ABSTRACT Cyberbullying is a highly relevant phenomenon in adolescence. Making available sound cyberbullying scales in different countries represents an important research issue. The present study aimed at extending previous findings on the Cyberbullying Experience Scale (CES), assessing its psychometric properties in a sample of community-dwelling Italian adolescents (N = 2,112). Results showed that a bifactor model was the best fitting model for both CES Perpetration and Victimisation scale items being provided also with measurement invariance across male and female adolescents. Joint CFA results demonstrated the dissociability of the CES Perpetration and Victimisation scales. Both CES dimensions were provided with adequate internal consistency reliability. Both CES Perpetration and Victimisation scales yielded meaningful relationships with theoretically relevant external variables (e.g. school/behaviour grades, online activities, general aggression measures, and dysfunctional personality dimensions), suggesting also possible gender differences concerning the negative psychological and behavioural outcomes of cyberbullying. This study provides further support for the reliability and validity of CES Perpetration and Victimisation scales, extending its applicability to a different time period (i.e. adolescents) and a different cultural context (i.e. Italy).