University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain.
PLoS One. 2019 Nov 15;14(11):e0224755. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224755. eCollection 2019.
The incremental theory of personality interventions (ITPI) teaches adolescents that people can change. Researchers have found that these interventions can reduce the perpetration of bullying and cyberbullying. Moreover, there is reciprocity between perpetrating bullying behaviors and being a victim of them. The objective of this study was to examine whether the ITPI reduces the reciprocity between victimization and perpetration of bullying and cyberbullying. A sample of 858 high school students (52% boys) aged 12 to 17 at pretest (M = 14.56, SD = 0.97) participated in a double-blind randomized controlled trial (452 participants were assigned to the experimental condition and 406 to the control condition). Measures of bullying and cyberbullying were taken at baseline, six-month, and 12-month follow-ups. The results indicated that victimization was a strong predictor of perpetration for bullying and cyberbullying over time. Perpetration was not a predictor of victimization. Consistently, for both forms of aggressive behavior, the intervention reduced the intensity of the association between victimization and perpetration. This effect was not moderated by the age or sex of the participants. Finally, the effectiveness of the ITPI was moderated by age. Specifically, among the youngest (< 14.48 years), those who received the ITPI showed a slight tendency to reduce aggressive behavior that contrasted with the growing trend in the control group. Among the oldest participants (> 14.48), the trajectories were similar in the two groups. Our findings show that influencing adolescents' reactions to peer aggression victimization is one of the mechanisms that could explain the beneficial effects of the ITPI and other preventive interventions.
人格干预的增量理论（ITPI）教导青少年，人是可以改变的。研究人员发现，这些干预措施可以减少欺凌和网络欺凌的发生。此外，欺凌行为的实施者和受害者之间存在相互作用。本研究的目的是检验 ITPI 是否可以减少欺凌和网络欺凌中受害与施害之间的相互作用。一项由 858 名 12 至 17 岁的高中生（52%为男生）参与的双盲随机对照试验（452 名参与者被分配到实验组，406 名参与者被分配到对照组）。在基线、6 个月和 12 个月的随访中，对欺凌和网络欺凌行为进行了测量。结果表明，随着时间的推移，受害是欺凌和网络欺凌行为施害的一个强有力的预测因素。而施害行为并不是受害的预测因素。一致的是，对于这两种形式的攻击行为，干预措施降低了受害与施害之间关联的强度。这种效果不受参与者年龄或性别的调节。最后，ITPI 的有效性受年龄调节。具体来说，在年龄最小的（<14.48 岁）参与者中，接受 ITPI 的人表现出轻微的减少攻击行为的趋势，与对照组的增长趋势形成对比。在年龄最大的参与者中（>14.48 岁），两组的轨迹相似。我们的研究结果表明，影响青少年对同伴攻击受害的反应是解释 ITPI 和其他预防干预措施有益效果的机制之一。
