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Adolescents’ Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Cyberbullying: an Exploratory Study Using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) and Self-Report Measures

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Abstract

The current study reports the findings of an experiment in which adolescents’ explicit and implicit attitudes toward cyberbullying were explored. Participants first completed an explicit measure of their attitudes toward cyberbullying, followed by an implicit measure in the form of the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). Results revealed that participants displayed a combination of anti- and pro-cyberbullying attitudes. There was no statistically significant correlation between participants’ implicit and explicit attitudes toward cyberbullying. The current findings may have important implications for our understanding of adolescents’ attitudes toward cyberbullying and the development of relevant educational programs.

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Funding

This research was funded by an Irish Research Council grant awarded to Anita Munnelly.

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Correspondence to Louise McHugh.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Munnelly, A., Farrell, L., O’Connor, M. et al. Adolescents’ Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Cyberbullying: an Exploratory Study Using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) and Self-Report Measures. Psychol Rec 68, 1–10 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-017-0261-0

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