Against Cyberbullying Actions: An Italian Case Study

Abstract

The paper aimed to analyse cyberbullying knowledge and awareness among students, teachers, and parents of 22 Italian primary schools to extract elements to consider for defining successful cyberbullying prevention and management strategies in coherence with some sustainable development goals defined in the 2030 Agenda. Four different research questions have been addressed to analyse: what the level of cyberbullying diffusion is, its triggering factors, its knowledge and awareness, and how the problem is addressed. The study highlighted both the importance of adopting a collaborative perspective among the students, teachers and parents, and to prevent and solve cyberbullying problems stimulating a collective awareness about cyber safety in schools. Some generalisable lessons emerged from the study.

1. Introduction

Cyberbullying has emerged as a new form of bullying that is affecting more and more schools; cyberbullying across the educational lifespan continues to be a critical issue for a proportion of students. Despite the wealth of high-quality research over three decades, the problem still needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency [1]. The term “cyberbullying” includes related constructs such as internet/online bullying and internet harassment, and involves hurting someone else using information and communication technologies (ICT) [2]. This may include sending harassing messages (via social media), posting disparaging comments and/or humiliating pictures on a social networking site, or intimidating or threatening someone electronically. Compared to traditional bullying, cyberbullying reaches an unlimited number of people with increased exposure across time and space. The main characteristic of bullying in an online environment is that a single aggressive act can have unlimited victimising repetitions, without further action by the perpetrator after the initial act of bullying [3].

Moreover, the anonymity of the perpetrator increases a victim’s negative feelings, such as powerlessness [3]. Many existing studies have focussed on examining cyberbullying among children [4,5] and teenagers [6,7]. In this paper, we present the results of a study carried out in cooperation with 22 schools in the province of Viterbo in Italy aiming to analyse the level of knowledge, awareness, and perception of cyberbullying by students, teachers, and parents. This study aims to discuss the issue of cyberbullying through a holistic perspective, including information on the types of cyberbullying and how it is known and perceived by students, teachers, and families, to promote successful cyberbullying prevention and management strategies in coherence with some of the sustainable development goals defined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [8]. Some elements to consider for defining successful sustainable cyberbullying strategies have been proposed in our work. For the analysis, an approach was used that engaged students, teachers, and parents in a process of interaction that enabled them to share knowledge and increase the collective awareness of the phenomenon and understand their behaviours, reasons, and perception. The study was planned and carried out within the “Against Cyberbullying acTions (ACT)” project, funded by the Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca of Italy. In particular, four different research questions (RQs) have been addressed in the paper: (i) what is the diffusion of the cyberbullying phenomenon?; (ii) what are the factors in triggering cyberbullying?; (iii) what is the knowledge and awareness of the cyberbullying phenomenon?; and (iv) how is the cyberbullying problem addressed? The paper is structured as follows: the second section introduces some studies on the cyberbullying phenomenon; the third section illustrates the method used for the analysis. In the fourth section, a discussion on the main results is provided. Section five concludes the paper.

2. Background

According to the latest data released by UNICEF [9], around 175,000 children and young people connect to the network every day for the first time, on average one every half second. Young people under 18 spend the most time on the web, with rates of 71% compared to 48% of the total population. A serious problem is that many children easily access and use the internet unsupervised [10]; teachers and parents often do not know how and why teenagers use ICT [6]. This exposes them to a series of risks such as viewing images and videos that are not appropriate for their age and, in the worst cases, harmful. Among the risks connected with the use of the internet by children and young people, there is the cyberbullying phenomenon. It is generally referred to as “a deliberate and repeated aggressive act intentionally performed by an individual or a group, using electronic forms of contact (e.g., computers and smartphones) against an individual who cannot easily defend himself or herself” [11]. There are different types of cyberbullying, usually classified according to the electronic devices/media used to bully others [12]. Cyberbullying is a severe impediment to achieving the (SDGs) [13]. According to Wolf, at al. [14], education is the route towards sustainable development, so addressing cyberbullying for ensuring non-violent and inclusive learning environments for all children worldwide is essential to guarantee sustainability [15]. Some studies have reported the existence of cyberbullying among school children worldwide [16]; it is widespread among students of all school levels, from primary school [17], to middle school [18] and high school [19]. It can seriously affect students’ social and psychological wellbeing [6]. There are consequences of cyberbullying at individual and school levels [16]. At the school level, cyberbullying undermines the school climate and disrupts school safety and academic achievement. Brewer et al. [20] emphasised the importance of understanding and predicting bullying in schools to improve the school climate. According to the authors, the main predictor for bullying and victimisation is being distracted in class; thus, educational plans to reduce distractions and involve all students positively become necessary. Moreover, teachers are aware of cyberbullying as an issue, but especially in the past, they often had a low level of understanding regarding how to prevent and resolve it [21]. Additionally, parents often seem to underestimate their children’s involvement in cyberbullying and overestimate their effectiveness in enforcing parental rules [22].

According to Andrews [23], effective collaboration between parents and teachers can help to define cyberbullying prevention and management strategies that can build a more inclusive educational environment that guarantees access and the involvement of any person with vulnerable situations (according to SDG 4.5). Preventing and managing cyberbullying also means ensuring that “all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development” (as specified by SDG 4.7).

Teachers can arm parents with the required information, and parents with their support can construct positive behaviours and teach skills so that children know how to intervene when bullying occurs. However, according to Law, et al. [24] there is a need for a better understanding of what teachers do when they involve parents and how well these interventions work in routine practice. This also has implications for applying evidence-based practice and the precise nature of the interventions employed (advice to parents, etc.).

3. Materials and Methods

Data were collected from a sample of students (aged from six to thirteen years), teachers, and parents. Three different questionnaires have been used.

Table 1. Respondents to the questionnaires.

	Number	Male	Females	Average Age
Students	933	54%	46%	10
Parents	539	27%	73%	43
Teachers	161	11%	89%	48.5

shows the number of respondents per type, gender, and the average age.

Questionnaires were structured in five different macro-areas that analysed, according to the reference target, the following issues: (i) socio-demographic information: to collect data related to the age and gender of respondents; (ii) spread: to analyse the scope of cyberbullying in the involved schools (in particular, questions addressed to the students investigated their knowledge about other students subjected to the phenomenon, if they were victims or they participated in bullying, and the cyberbullying experiences or suffered); (iii) motivation: to analyse the motivations that lead students to implement cyberbullying actions or being bullied (for students, the level of satisfaction of appearance and academic progress and the need to be accepted by friends or schoolmates was investigated in particular; for parents and teachers, their perceptions about possible motivations were investigated); (iv) knowledge: to analyse the level of knowledge and perception of the cyberbullying phenomenon and the structures and/or institutions to turn to in the case of cyberbullying episodes; (questions addressed to parents and teachers investigated their knowledge of the phenomenon, the ability to manage it and their direct experience of the phenomenon through their children or students); (v) dialogue: to analyse the level of dialogue between parents/students, teachers/students and parents/teachers, and the actors’ knowledge to turn to. Different kinds of questions were used in the questionnaires: structured questions based on closed dichotomous, multiple-choice questions, open questions, and a 5-point Likert-type scale.

Cronbach’s alpha was calculated for the two dimensions, knowledge of the phenomenon and dialogue, to evaluate the internal consistency of the items. Regarding the questionnaire addressed to teachers, Cronbach’s alpha values were significantly high, ranging from 0.74 (knowledge) to 0.84 (dialogue). Regarding the questionnaire addressed to parents, the Cronbach’s alpha values ranged from 0.63 (knowledge) to 0.69 (dialogue). In the questionnaire addressed to students, Cronbach’s alpha was calculated for the dialogue dimension, and the value was 0.65. Factors with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.6–0.7 indicate an acceptable level of reliability, and 0.8 or greater an excellent level [25]. The reliability analysis results showed alpha coefficients for all dimensions that were above 0.6, indicating acceptable internal reliability. The questionnaires were pilot tested to verify their content’s validity and comprehensibility. Furthermore, they were submitted to the Ethics Committees within the ACT project for its approval. The questionnaires were sent to schools both in print and through an online link to access from school computers to encourage high participation. A total of 22 schools in the province of Viterbo in Italy were involved (a convenience sample was used; although this sample is not representative of the overall population at large, it is representative of the case study, as established from the ACT project). Additionally, teachers at the involved schools and parents filled out the online questionnaire. The collected data were analysed by using the SPSS Statistical Package (SPSS, 2012).

4. Results

A total of 933 students filled out questionnaires from primary and middle schools (54% male and 46% female, with students aged from six to thirteen years), 539 parents (27% male and 73% female), and 161 teachers (11% male and 89% female). This section presents and discusses the results of the questionnaires according to the four RQs that have previously been introduced.

4.1. What Is the Diffusion of the Cyberbullying Phenomenon?

Cyberbullying appeared to be a quite widespread phenomenon in the schools involved in the study. A total of 34% of the students stated that they knew people subjected to it, while 14% said they had been victims, and 8% had taken part. An important point was reported by 3% of the students who, despite declaring that they had never personally taken part in such episodes, were able to indicate the type of behaviour adopted, making some inconsistency evident in their responses. The girls appeared to be more targeted than the boys and, at the same time, seemed to be more directly involved as active perpetrators. On the contrary, in some other studies such as Calmaestra et al. [26], boys were more often involved in cyberbullying than girls. Thus, our results emphasise the presence of possible gender differences in the forms of victimisation. However, this issue requires further investigation with wider samples at a different scale (national and European), which would allow for the collection of data in different societal and cultural contexts and enable the extraction of correlations between the victimisation of peers and the personal characteristics of students as well as the peculiarities of interpersonal relationships in a group for understanding the mechanisms causing cyberbullying actions. This can be investigated in future work.

The cyberbullying experiences reported by the students (identifying the types of action) were jokes or mute phone calls; SMSs received on the phone; insults received via instant messages and the web; photos and/or videos sent on the mobile phones; emails and more (see Figure 1A).

4.2. What Are The Factors in Triggering Cyberbullying?

The study makes evident that the main factors in triggering cyberbullying are: (i) negative perception of one’s appearance; (ii) a low level of satisfaction with one’s scholastic progress; and (iii) the need to be accepted by friends or schoolmates. All these factors are deeply related to students’ psychological health and wellbeing. In

Table 2. Mean scores and standard deviations for students.

Items	Mean Scores	Standard Deviation
Students’ satisfaction with their school performance	3.57	0.94
Students’ satisfaction regarding their appearance	3.49	0.97
Student’s perception of the need to be accepted by friends or schoolmates	2.01	1.20

, the mean scores and standard deviations for students’ results from the analysis are illustrated.

Physical aspect (appearance) defines a person’s identity among others or their peer group. From this perspective, the perception of personal appearance plays an important role, in particular, for the psychology of children and adolescents.

The importance of the physical aspect, especially during adolescence, makes some at this age potential victims of cyberbullying [27]. The students who stated that they were critical of their physical appearance were more sensitive and therefore more vulnerable (and subjected) to cyberbullying actions. In the collective imagination, victims have low self-esteem, while the perpetrators have high self-esteem that they tend to inflate by bullying the weakest. However, the data that resulted from this study did not seem to confirm this popular belief. As shown in Figure 1B, the number of students stating to be satisfied with their appearance was higher among victims than among perpetrators. The y-axis of the graph indicates the students’ experience (victim/participation) of cyberbullying, while the x-axis shows the level of satisfaction with their appearance. The graphs illustrate both the percentage and the number of students (at the bottom of the graphs). The students’ satisfaction with their school performance represents (as mentioned above) another important factor; it indicates the value that students attribute to themselves. It is not a simple self-evaluation of the student’s school abilities and successes, but the extent to which each student perceives that they are good enough. It was observed that children who were neither victims of cyberbullying nor perpetrators reported that they were very satisfied with their school performance (see Figure 2A).

Another important aspect connected to cyberbullying behaviours (as mentioned above) is the need to be accepted by friends or schoolmates. When children do not feel accepted or included within their peer group, they begin to experience emotional problems. The analysis showed that the relationship between the victims/perpetrators of cyberbullying actions and the need to be accepted by friends or schoolmates is not strongly perceived among students. Almost half of the sample indicated that, in their opinion, this need does not affect behaviours in any way and that cyberbullying is not connected to this factor. However, among the students who emphasised the importance of being accepted, the victims perceived the phenomenon to be more dependent on this variable, because they did not feel integrated within their peer group compared to students who were not victims. On the other hand, the perpetrators of cyberbullying seemed to perform these acts to feel stronger themselves within the group and to demonstrate their supremacy over others (see Figure 2B). The y-axis of the graph indicates the students’ experience (victim/participation) of cyberbullying; the x-axis shows their perception of the need to be accepted by friends or schoolmates.

4.3. What Is the Knowledge and Awareness of Cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying knowledge and awareness are important elements to consider for the definition of strategies aiming at preventing and managing cyberbullying through the creation of a more inclusive education environment helping people with vulnerable situations (according to SDG 4.5) and the diffusion of peace and non-violence culture (as specified by SDG 4.7).

A total of 57% of the students believed to be aware of the seriousness of the phenomenon, even if 28% said they did not know how to respond, showing a poor knowledge of how to tackle the problem. The remaining students considered cyberbullying as a funny joke. Both teachers and parents believe that the students’ awareness of the phenomenon is minimal; in fact, 89% of teachers and 72% of parents stated that when students send text messages, pictures, or videos, or they share offensive posts, they believe that the authors are making a joke. Only 11% of teachers and 28% of parents considered students to be worried about the tragic consequences of cyberbullying. Regarding knowledge of the phenomenon, only 15% of parents stated knowing about the problem “very well”, and 51% said they know about it “quite well”. A further 17% of parents had direct experience of the phenomenon because their children confessed to being perpetrators, victims, or witnesses. It is important to emphasise that there is greater involvement of mothers versus fathers. This result is also related to the employment situation by gender in Italy. According to Censis [28], Italy, is the lowest country in Europe for female employment, equal to 49.5%. Although the role of paternity in Italy is changing in terms of a greater fathers’ presence and involvement in childcare, sometimes there is still a level of bias related to personal and work organisation which does not foresee that fathers dedicate the time they deem appropriate to their children. The father figure (although present and supportive) does not have the same degree of centrality of mothers for the care burden. There is still a difficulty in deeply involving fathers in a role more related to educational paths and school activities such as tasks, learning processes, disappointments, etc. Future work will also address these issues to understand the reasons and face this bias, because a wider father’s involvement could be relevant to the prevention of the phenomenon.

A direct experience of the phenomenon was also confirmed by 41% of teachers, who stated that they had received testimony from students as victims, perpetrators, or witnesses. The analysis highlighted that parents and teachers’ knowledge of the phenomenon is directly proportional to the children’s direct experiences (see Figure 3). The y-axes of the graphs indicate direct experience, while the x-axes indicate their knowledge of the phenomenon.

Another important aspect is represented by the positive relationship between the knowledge of the phenomenon and the ability to manage it. Data show that the greater the parents’ knowledge of cyberbullying, the greater their ability is to manage it (see Figure 4A). Compared to parents, teachers are more familiar with the phenomenon; 24% of the teachers know it very well, and 60% knew enough. The ability to face the problem for 13% of the teachers is similar to that highlighted by the parents, and as for the parents, an increase in knowledge about the phenomenon by teachers leads to an increase in the ability to manage it (see Figure 4B). The y-axes of the following graphs indicate parents/teachers’ perception of their ability to manage cyberbullying, while the x-axes indicate their knowledge of it.

Table 3. Mean scores and standard deviations of the knowledge and management of cyberbullying.

	Parents		Teachers
Items	Mean Score	Standard Deviation	Mean Score	Standard Deviation
Direct experience and knowledge of the cyberbullying phenomenon	2.81	0.79	3.09	0.67
Ability to manage cyberbullying phenomenon	2.58	0.92	2.72	0.726

shows the mean scores and standard deviations about knowledge and management for parents and teachers resulting from the analysis.

4.4. How Is the Cyberbullying Problem Addressed?

A significant issue regarding cyberbullying is to know how to it is addressed. Usually, it is not opportune to ignore any cyberbullying action and behaviour; it can be appropriate to require that parents or teachers perform a mediation. The need for mediation implies that students, parents, and teachers should establish a dialogue. Our study’s data show that there is a good level of dialogue between students, parents, and teachers. Most of the students (74%) reported that they have a dialogue with their parents and turn to them to solve personal problems (59%).

Regarding the dialogue with teachers, 32% of students reported that they have a dialogue with them, even if only 24% turn to them to solve personal problems. The dialogue between parents and teachers is good too. Both parents (36%) and teachers (47%) stated that they have a good dialogue. Concerning the knowledge of the structures and/or institutions in their community to turn to in case cyberbullying episodes occur, a large number of students (81%) stated that they knew where to turn. Of these students, 71% indicated that they would go to the police, followed by the carabinieri and ASL (ASL means Azienda Sanitaria Locale, i.e., in English it indicates the Italian Local Health Department). These data suggest that there is already a large quantity of information, which must, however, be increased. Of the actors who can help prevent the phenomenon and support students involved in cyberbullying, the primary resources are parents and teachers, followed by external professionals (institutions and friends). Many (77%) of the parents surveyed did not know the structures and/or institution to consult if necessary. The fact that 51% of teachers did not know where to turn is a worrying finding. Both parents and teachers expressed the need to be better informed about specific problems concerning children, such as surfing the internet, the modalities with which cyberbullying occurs, and didactic and support opportunities. They considered information and dialogue important channels for addressing the phenomenon. Education and training are also important for improving students’ awareness of the behaviours to adopt for preventing the problem. From this perspective, educational meetings with cyberbullying experts should be organised and attended, as well as specific courses and/or projects. Dialogue with the family is also considered essential to increase education on the phenomenon’s risks. Furthermore, it is necessary to create a holistic collaboration between institutions, stakeholders, and civil society, raising awareness and developing sustainable actions to address cyberbullying.

Table 4. Mean scores and standard deviations about dialogue.

.	Items.	Mean Score	Standard Deviation
Parents	Dialogue with their child	4.00	0.81
	Discussion of problems with their child	3.99	0.88
	Dialogue with teachers	3.21	0.92
	Their child discusses their problems with teachers	3.086	0.99
Teachers	Dialogue with students	3.80	0.72
	Discussion of problems with students	3.57	0.80
	Dialogue with parents	3.40	0.87
	Their child discusses their problems with parents	3.31	0.87
Students	Dialogue with parents	4.07	1.01
	Discussion of problems with parents	3.60	1.14
	Dialogue with teachers	3.11	0.98
	Discussion of problems with teachers	2.68	1.13

shows the mean scores and standard deviations about dialogue resulting from the analysis.

5. Discussion

Results highlighted the students’, parents’, and teachers’ levels of knowledge and awareness of the problem. Students claimed to know many people or had themselves been victims/perpetrators of cyberbullying actions. The cyberbullying victims said that they addressed the problem mainly by turning to parents, teachers, or friends. Only some participants directly addressed the problem by asking the bully to stop texting or calling them and, in some cases, the problem was solved—for example, by turning off their phones.

Three main factors in triggering cyberbullying have been considered: (i) the perception of one’s appearance; (ii) satisfaction with one’s scholastic progress; and (iii) the need to be accepted by friends or schoolmates. Analysis of the data revealed a relationship between the level of satisfaction with personal appearance, school performance, and having suffered cyberbullying. It seems that those who declare themselves less satisfied are usually more exposed to victims. Satisfaction with personal appearance and school performance are also related to playing an active role in cyberbullying. In this case, it seems that those who are more satisfied usually do not take part in cyberbullying. The analysis has also shown that the relationship between perpetrating or suffering cyberbullying and the need to be accepted by friends or schoolmates is not strongly perceived by students. Victims perceive this need more, because usually they do not feel integrated into the group compared to those who are not victims; on the other hand, perpetrators performing such actions seem to aim to feel stronger within the group. This aspect is also perceived as very important by parents and teachers, who consider it a common condition that pushes children to perpetrate or suffer cyberbullying behaviours. Parents instead highlighted poor knowledge, and preparation to address the problem, despite knowledge of the students’ direct/indirect experiences. Teachers showed good knowledge and preparation in facing the phenomenon. The data showed that the parents’ and teachers’ level of knowledge about the problem was connected and directly proportional to their preparedness to manage it.

Furthermore, a positive relationship was highlighted between having had direct experiences of the phenomenon and knowledge of it. However, parents and teachers indicated the need to exchange more information about the structures and/or institutions to turn to in their community in the case of cyberbullying episodes; they felt a lack of this type of information, despite the strong institutional effort. A lesson emerging from this survey is that to reduce the risk of cyberbullying in schools, it is necessary to create a good social climate with clear rules and strong social support, as suggested by Sims-Schouten [29]. For this purpose, it is important to implement long- and short-term initiatives in coherence with the SDGs goals. Long-term cyber safety awareness initiatives are needed to establish a long-term culture of cyber safety within the school environment. Among them, there are: (i) the implementation of methods and monitoring of plans to support the cyber safety initiatives in schools; (ii) the implementation of cyber safety procedures; (iii) the inclusion of cyber safety in the school curriculum; and (iv) the improvement of cyber safety education for teachers and students through training. However, due to the current lack of long-term initiatives, short-term cyber safety initiatives (even small initiatives) can be implemented to enhance cyber safety, such as posters, workshops, workbooks, classroom activities, competitions, discussion forums, etc.

The previous discussion makes evident the elements that are important for defining successful cyberbullying prevention and management strategies in coherence with SDGs, through the creation of a more inclusive educational environment. This will enable involving and helping people with vulnerable situations (according to SDG 4.5) and the diffusion of peace and non-violence culture (as specified by SDG 4.7) (as shown in

Table 5. Elements for successful and cyberbullying prevention and management strategies.

SDG Topics	Elements to Consider:
4.5; 4.7	Actively involve students: - Encouraging and rewarding students for respecting each other - Encouraging student’s voice
	Actively involve teachers: - Monitoring cyberbullying incidents - Teaching students how to handle being bullied - Evaluating cyberbullying prevention and management strategies
	Actively involve parents: - Observing children for signs they might be being bullied - Setting boundaries with technology - Educate children about relationships with peers.

).

5.1. Actively Involve Students

Contrasting cyberbullying is a collaborative endeavour between school staff and the students. The school needs to understand what the student knows about the problem and to intercept if there are specific bullying events. Therefore, a major significant role, in particular for the teachers, is to manage the learning culture of the classroom about the cyberbullying problem to improve the students’ awareness and to maximise students’ motivation to keenly engage and face the problem. If the students are not motivated to participate, no dialogue can be implemented, and any knowledge and collective awareness cannot be built. Such a result will not help to plan the next steps. The student’s involvement could be:

• Encouraging and rewarding students for respecting each other

Encouraging and rewarding students for respecting each other and for recognising the right of each student to be free from bullying is an essential element to consider. Peers can provide a supportive social context that discourages cyberbullying. Therefore, one of the best elements for defining strategies to prevent and manage cyberbullying is to create a climate of fairness and trust, where all can actively intervene rather than act as bystanders and provide mutual support through positive peer support systems.

• Encouraging student’s voice

Cyberbullying too often goes unreported because many students do not feel that the school environment is comfortable for explicitly discussing it, and they sometimes could be fearful that if they report, they will be bullied in retaliation. An activity, such as an annual survey, can allow students to give a picture about cyberbullying, such as where it takes place, how often, and if the cyberbullying prevention and management strategies are working, etc.

5.2. Actively Involve Teachers

Teachers can help students engaging in positive behaviour, creating an environment of mutual respect and tolerance in the classroom. Teachers can also participate in training to better understand the phenomenon and learn strategies for managing it. Moreover, they can teach students how to intervene when bullying occurs. The teacher’s involvement could be:

• Monitoring cyberbullying incidents

Teachers should also be trained in early warning signs that identify victims of cyberbullying, including rejection or isolation from their peers and being the focus of other, more traditional forms of bullying. They should also be vigilant about looking for the circulation of video clips/pictures, used to ridicule and defame a particular students’ character.

• Teaching students how to handle being bullied

Until something can be done on an administrative level, work with children should concentrate on how to handle bullying without being crushed or defeated, such as practicing scenarios at home where the child learns how to ignore a bully and/or develop assertive strategies for coping with bullying, and helping children to identify teachers and friends that can help them if they are worried about being bullied.

• Evaluating cyberbullying prevention and management strategies

Teachers need to continue to evaluate and upgrade their cyberbullying prevention and management strategies. An annual survey can help school staff to monitor their effectiveness and determine if any changes are needed.

5.3. Actively Involve Parents

Implementing successful cyberbullying prevention and management strategies requires that students, school staff, and also parents are actively involved. The unwillingness of parents to be involved can affect the success of the strategies. Including parents in selecting and implementing the cyberbullying strategies and showing them that their efforts in strategies are appreciated are all conditions that will increase the possibility of strategies’ success and sustainability. The parent’s involvement could be:

• Observing the child for signs they might be being bullied

It is essential to stimulate parents in observing their child. Children may not always be explicit about being bullied. Signs include hesitation about going to school, ripped clothing, nightmares, crying, decreased appetite, or general depression and anxiety. If parents discover their child is being bullied, they should have open-ended conversations for understanding what is going on at school in order to, consequently, take the appropriate steps to rectify the situation. This dialogue should also be established with teachers, to complete the picture of the situation.

• Setting boundaries with technology

Making the family computer the only computer for children, and having it in a public place in the home where it is visible and can be monitored it is an important element for parents. If parents decide to give their child a cell phone, they should think carefully before allowing them to have a camera option. Moreover, they should monitor their messages and ask that phones are stored in a public area, such as the kitchen, by a certain time at night to eliminate night-time cyberbullying and inappropriate messaging.

• Educate children about relationships with peers

Children learn behaviour through their parents. Parents should give positive examples in the relationships with other people; aggressive behaviour at home makes children more inclined to bully others. Furthermore, parents’ correct information to children on legal consequences of their behaviours and actions is fundamental.

6. Conclusions

Cyberbullying prevention and management strategies have to be thought of as a part of a whole educational approach that aims to contribute to achieving the SDG 4, which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education, and in particular: (i) SDG 4.5 which aims to involve and help people with vulnerable situations; and (ii) SDG 4.7 which aims for the diffusion of peace and non-violence culture. Violence in schools is a violation of the rights of children and adolescents to education, health and wellbeing. It is necessary to define cyberbullying prevention and management strategies. In this study, students, parents, and teachers’ different views on cyberbullying have been analysed, with the aim of extracting the elements to consider for promoting successful and sustainable cyberbullying prevention and management strategies. In particular, the analysis provides significant contributions to theory and practice and underlining imitations and suggestions for future research as described in the following paragraphs.

6.1. Contributions to Theory

The analysis identified some problems on which to reflect related to the implementation of targeted initiatives for the prevention and solution of the phenomenon from a collaborative perspective. Our study makes it evident that parents are not fully aware of the seriousness of the phenomenon; indeed, some of them tend to underestimate it. This is in line with data provided from Censis [30] in collaboration with the Postal and Communications Police in Italy. Although teachers have a greater awareness of the cyberbullying phenomenon than parents, both frequently have difficulties understanding it and addressing solutions and appropriate strategies. There is a need for teacher and parent training to provide them with action models for prevention and intervention. The need for substantial involvement of teachers and specific training for them has been confirmed by other studies [16,31]. The teachers involved in our survey emphasised the importance of building a social network involving all actors to reduce the isolation that often causes phenomena such as cyberbullying. The study of Monks et al. [32] confirmed the need to join teachers and parents’ efforts to ensure supervision and control of the internet, which are key elements in reducing the risk of cyberbullying. Teachers involved in our study stressed the need for collaboration with families; however, often, this is not easy to implement. The bullies frequently have family criticalities: economic hardship, conflictual separated parents, absent parents, and so on.

Moreover, teachers emphasised the need to spend more time talking with students to establish a real dialogue by becoming a reference point and a trusted adult to discuss personal problems. The school has to be regarded as a place essential for students’ personal growth, and families should collaborate to bridge any gaps related to full awareness and potential solutions of the problems. The Italian law 71/2017 for the prevention of cyberbullying works in this direction. This law suggests activating initiatives to prevent and combat the phenomenon, and implement training activities for teachers, parents, and students in collaboration with the Postal Police and the Associations and youth centres within the community. Cilliers and Chinyamurindi [16], described a similar approach that suggests implementing and monitoring plans for supporting cyber safety initiatives in schools by introducing cyberbullying as a topic in the curriculum and training teachers. Social workers also play an essential role in preventing, identifying, and intervening in the cyberbullying phenomenon. This role should be emphasised in Italian schools. According to Elbedour, et al. [33], advocacy for prevention, intervention, and more effective management strategies by social workers is of paramount importance for students’ and the school community’s wellbeing and safety.

6.2. Contributions to Practice

This analysis emphasised the need for each Italian school to be in charge of psychoeducation and socio-affective education strategies, which can help social workers in the prevention of cyberbullying at school and increase the teachers’ and parents’ knowledge of the causes and signals of discomfort or aggressive dynamics inside and outside the school. In more detail, the implementation of social and psychoeducation strategies supports informing and training parents, teachers, and students, making them more aware; this contributes to improving scientific and updated knowledge related to the ways to manage this phenomenon, and reduce its negative consequences. Training can develop and enhance communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, in addition to boosting assertiveness. Meanwhile, by using participatory techniques, socio-affective education strategies promote increasing levels of self-awareness and self-efficacy in the students, which produces greater competence in expressing and managing their emotions.

6.3. Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research

Future studies must be focused on implementing these targeted solutions for promoting successful and cyberbullying prevention and management strategies and addressing the phenomenon at a local, national, and international level, considering differences due to different contexts. In the implementation of such strategies, schools should collaborate with police authorities and the associations present at national and European levels. This can represent a significant contribution, especially considering that the European level legislation does not refer to a single legal act that completely and directly regulates cyberbullying issues. Therefore, the key aim remains as working on harmonising and amending legal regulations of the member states in the European area. Although this study involved a large number of students from Italian schools, it was limited ethnically and geographically. Thus, future research should involve more students in various geographical areas and use representative samples. Furthermore, it would be interesting to study the relationship between the school’s measures and the students’ effective coping strategies to set out recommendations for intervention.