WHY ARE TEACHERS NOT ALWAYS WILLING TO FIGHT AGAINST CYBERBULLYING? EXPLORING THE BELIEFS, ATTITUDES AND COPING STRATEGIES OF TEACHERS IN A MULTI-COUNTRY CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

The increasing phenomenon of cyberbullying among adolescents in all countries needs preven-tive, educational, legal, and psycho-interventional measures. The present study aimed to identify the opinions of teachers about cyberbullying and their coping strategies. Material and methods: The study included 798 teachers from six countries (Italy, Portugal, Greece, Turkiye, Lithuania, and Romania). An online questionnaire was especially constructed for this research, gathering socio-demographic and job-related data along with information about teachers' opinions about the cyberbullying phenomenon, about victims and perpetra-tors, and their most frequent behaviors and coping strategies used to deal with the problem. The questionnaire also included 3 psychometric instruments. Results: The analysis of ques-tionnaires revealed that even if only 38.5% of the teachers took a course on cyberbullying, more than 70% of them answered that they knew how to deal with cyberbullying. In teach-ers' opinions, cyberbullying occurs equally in boys and girls. The age 11-14 is the most ex-posed to bullying, while 15-18 is the most exposed to cyberbullying. More than 60% consid-ered that students were responsible for bullying and cyberbullying. Age, gender, length of experience in the field of education, type of institution, and marital status influence cyb er-bullying perceptions and coping strategies. Conclusions: Personal beliefs and the occurrence of observed and reported incidents determine teachers' willingness to intervene in cyberbul-lying. The results are important for teachers and trainers to consider the teachers' role in analyzing both duties and barriers in fighting the cyberbullying phenomenon.