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Face-to-face and Cyber Victimization among Adolescents in Six Countries: The Interaction between Attributions and Coping Strategies

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of publicity (private, public) and medium (face-to-face, cyber) on the associations between attributions (i.e., self-blame, aggressor-blame) and coping strategies (i.e., social support, retaliation, ignoring, helplessness) for hypothetical victimization scenarios among 3,442 adolescents (age range 11–15 years; 49% girls) from China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, India, Japan, and the United States. When Indian and Czech adolescents made more of the aggressor-blame attribution, they used retaliation more for public face-to-face victimization when compared to private face-to-face victimization and public and private cyber victimization. In addition, helplessness was used more for public face-to-face victimization when Chinese adolescents utilized more of the aggressor-blame attribution and the self-blame attribution. Similar patterns were found for Cypriot adolescents, the self-blame attribution, and ignoring. The results have implications for the development of prevention and intervention programs that take into account the various contexts of peer victimization.

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Correspondence to Michelle F. Wright.

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Wright, M.F., Yanagida, T., Macháčková, H. et al. Face-to-face and Cyber Victimization among Adolescents in Six Countries: The Interaction between Attributions and Coping Strategies. Journ Child Adol Trauma 11, 99–112 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-018-0210-3

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