Previous research on adolescents with minority ethnic backgrounds has often centered on risks and vulnerabilities due to the effects of racism in society. This however leaves a gap in the literature when it comes to positive aspects of ethnic identity, and the gap is even more pronounced when it comes to European contexts since the few previous studies have largely been performed in the United States. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore positive ethnic identity content among adolescents with minority ethnic backgrounds living in Sweden. Fifteen late adolescents, self-identifying with a minority ethnic background, who reported that their ethnicity was central to their sense of self and who had explored what their ethnic identity meant to them, were interviewed. The interviews were inductively coded and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Three main themes with subthemes were identified. The first main theme was A Minority Ethnic Identity - a Sense of Belonging, in which the adolescents' positive content related to their minority ethnic background was characterized as being close to their hearts and connected to family and home. The second, A Swedish Identity - Being an Active Part of Swedish Society, contained positive content about values in Swedish society, such as tolerance and gender equality as well as their agency in utilizing opportunities in society. In the last theme, A Pluricultural Identity - Cultural Richness, positive content centered around an appreciation of having several ethnicities and cultural backgrounds as part of one's ethnic identity, rendering a whole that is more than the sum of its parts. The present study illuminates differences in what constitutes positive ethnic identity content among minority adolescents in Sweden depending on which aspect of their ethnic identity is in focus. This has implications for research on ethnic identity as it underlines the need to be deliberate and specific when formulating questions about someone's ethnic identity, lest valuable information and complexity go undiscovered.

IntroductionThe aim of this study was to explore how resilience is manifested in the experiences of emerging adults who were subjected to bullying victimization in school and have high levels of psychological functioning in emerging adulthood.MethodsFifteen Swedish emerging adults (Mage = 29.13, SD = 0.52) who, despite experiences of bullying victimization at age 10, had high levels of psychological functioning as emerging adults were interviewed. The interviews focused on experiences of bullying victimization and the long‐term outcomes of these experiences. Qualitative methods were used in the analysis, with a specific focus on resilience.Results/ConclusionThe findings illustrate how long‐term outcomes of bullying victimization in school, in relation to resilience, comprise a dynamic process between personal agency and social resources in the environmental context.

This study aimed to explore how student teachers experienced the framing of ethnicity in initial teacher education in Sweden. Ten focus group discussions were conducted (N = 42; 21% minoritized ethnic background). An inductive thematic analysis was used. The findings showed that ethnicity was framed as mainly concerning "others" and that it was framed as sensitive. The current framing of ethnicity suggests that initial teacher education does not prepare student teachers to support positive youth ethnic-racial identity development. The findings highlight a need for student teachers, and teacher educators, to explore their own ethnic-racial identities through critical discussions that challenge notions of ethnicity as something that concerns "others". Furthermore, the findings highlight student teachers' and teacher educators' needs for structured support in how to critically engage in "sensitive" discussions. Further, the results illustrate how the framing of ethnicity resonates with aspects of social identity theory and with the postcolonial concept "othering".

Ethnicity plays a significant role in adolescents' everyday lives, but there is a limited understanding of adolescents' own experiences with how ethnicity is addressed in different contexts. Three contexts of importance during adolescence are investigated in the present study: schools, social media, and sports. A closer contextual examination has the potential to provide insights into how multiple contexts shape experiences with ethnicity. The aim of the study was to understand more about adolescents' experiences of how ethnicity is addressed in schools, on social media, and in sports. Six focus groups with a total of 21 adolescents (Mage = 14.5, SDage = 0.5, female = 76%) discussed their experiences. Data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a close‐to‐data, inductive thematic analysis. The analysis resulted in three main themes and seven subthemes, indicating that ethnicity was addressed differently in the three studied contexts. For the main theme of how ethnicity was addressed in schools, the subthemes were: Addressing ethnicity is important; Ethnicity is addressed through stereotypes and Everyday racism. The main theme of ethnicity on social media consisted of two subthemes: Sharing ethnic and cultural narratives and Hateful remarks. The main theme of ethnicity in sports also consisted of two subthemes: On equal terms and Clear consequences for racist behaviors. To better understand the multiple contexts, the results are discussed guided by the ecological systems theory. The adolescents highlighted that there are many benefits of addressing ethnicity and that it is important to do so in multiple contexts of adolescent life, just not in the same way. When ethnicity was addressed carelessly, such as through stereotypes or via racism masked as jokes, it had the potential to cause harm. When ethnicity was addressed with reflection, it instead had the potential to build understanding, lead to positive experiences, and provide learning opportunities.

Finding developmentally appropriate ways to support youth in understanding their own ethnic-racial identity is needed, particularly in contexts like Sweden where such support is not the norm. This preregistered longitudinal study examined whether an 8-week school-based intervention, the Identity Project, impacted youth ethnic-racial identity exploration (participation and search), resolution, private regard, and centrality. Participants were 509 adolescents in the 10th grade (Mage = 16.28, SD = 0.80; 65% self-identified girls; 52% minoritized ethnic background), who were randomized into an intervention or wait-list control group and assessed at baseline and three times post-intervention. The findings indicated an initial and simultaneous effect of the intervention only for exploration participation and resolution but did not show the expected chain of effects with earlier exploration predicting later resolution. Growth models indicated a greater increase in exploration participation over time for the intervention group than the control group. The findings indicate a mixed picture about the effectiveness of the intervention, with effects primarily narrowly targeted to exploration participation, but nevertheless highlight the potential for supporting Swedish youth in engaging with their ethnic-racial identities.

A global challenge for developmental psychology is to better understand how young people around the world make sense of their identities growing up in pluralistic societies. The study of ethnic-racial identity provides an important lens for this process. This paper describes how five European countries (Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, and Sweden) adapted the Identity Project, an 8-week school-based intervention originally developed in the United States to promote adolescents' ethnic-racial identity exploration and resolution. Across the five countries, deep structure adaptations included revised or added content regarding key terminology used, a focus on migration and foreignness rather than 'race,' and discussions regarding national and regional identities, in addition to ethnic-racial identities, and how they may relate to one another. The process and content of adaptation we describe addresses two fundamental issues relevant to a globalized developmental psychology: 1) contributing to theoretical advances on key aspects of development by taking sociohistorical context seriously, and 2) moving between etic and emic perspectives to arrive at psychological constructs that can be appropriately studied across diverse cultural contexts.

Findings from interviews with 15 emerging adults ( M age = 29.00, SD = .37) subjected to bullying victimization as children and suffering from poor psychological health in emerging adulthood revealed experiences of a very long duration of victimization, coping through adaptation to the bullying, and experiences of not receiving help from school personnel. Many participants described experiences of depression, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts during the school-years victimization. They perceived several direct long-term consequences of the victimization in emerging adulthood: feelings of insecurity; actively avoiding social situations; an identity formed into viewing oneself as worthless; and body-image problems. Additionally, many of them still felt anger towards school personnel who they remembered as not stopping the victimization. A longitudinal and prospective design enabled insights into victims’ experiences of both the childhood victimization as well as perceived long-term consequences on their emerging adulthood – and into how the victims experience that these aspects might be related.

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between cybervictimization and three body-related concerns: body-esteem, self-objectification, and internalization of body ideals. The aim was also to examine these relationships not only to cybervictimization in general but also to appearance-related cybervictimization more specifically. The sample comprised 482 adolescents (233 girls and 247 boys aged 13-15; two participants did not answer the question about gender) from four Swedish schools. The results showed that victims of appearance-related cyberbullying suffered from more body-related concerns: they had a poorer view of their general appearance and of their weight. They also reported more body shame, thin-ideal internalization, and appearance-related pressure from the media. This study shows that cyberbullying that focuses on the victim's appearance is associated with several body-related concerns that have not previously been studied. A novel finding was also that body-related concerns were not related to cyberbullying in general, as has been implied in earlier research, but specifically related to cyberbullying directed at the victim's appearance. The findings suggest that there is a need to include attention to the specific relationships between appearance-related cyberbullying and body-related concerns in future prevention and intervention work.

This study's aim was to explore high school students' suggestions for supporting younger pupils prevent and deal with cyberbullying. Seventy-eight high school students participated in 11 focus groups, and had many concrete suggestions for ways they could support younger pupils against cyberbullying. The suggestions covered a range of activities, for instance advising younger pupils on how to avoid becoming victims of cyberbullying by teaching them netiquette. Furthermore, the students were positive toward involving adults in counteracting cyberbullying among younger pupils, for example educating younger pupils' parents about cyberbullying. Moreover, the students suggested that they could show support for victims of cyberbullying by taking on the role of a friend when a younger pupil is cyberbullied and spend time with her/him during breaks. They also had ideas about supporting younger pupils in getting cyberbullies to stop, for instance by teaching the younger pupils technical skills for dealing with the cyberbullying on the Internet. To conclude, the findings in this study indicate that high school students want to be involved in supporting younger pupils against cyberbullying, and have many concrete suggestions for how this can be done. These findings have implications for counteracting cyberbullying in schools.

Today, a substantial part of many young people’s everyday lives take place online. One of the possible downsides of peer interaction on the Internet is cyberbullying. This form of bullying is conducted through modern information and communication technology and can involve for instance hurtful photos, videos and texts that are uploaded to pages on the Internet and offensive text messages. Cyberbullying is a relatively new phenomenon; therefore, this chapter begins with a short overview of how cyberbullying can be defined and which behaviours it is that are included in this form of aggressive peer interaction. Research shows that being bullied online is associated with several negative consequences such as somatic symptoms and poor body esteem. The chapter therefore includes a section on students’ experiences of and reactions to cyberbullying. A question that is posed in the chapter is: What can be done to counteract cyberbullying? In order to answer this question suggestions given by Swedish youths are presented.

The Internet and especially social networking sites provide potent contexts for the formation of individuals’ views of their bodies and appearance. So far, however, research has almost exclusively focused on the negative aspects of these experiences. This chapter proposes that the online context can also be an influential context for positive body-related experiences. In order to make the online context a more positive arena, appearance-related cyberbullying needs to be stopped. Therefore, this chapter starts with a review of appearance-related cyberbullying and elaborates on what can be done about this growing problem. The second part concerns the positive aspects of body image–defining experiences online, such as body acceptance and body activism movements, which may promote positive body image and embodiment. How the online context may constitute an arena for exploration of alternative ideals, resistant communications, and body activism is discussed.

The aim of this study was to investigate the coping strategies that Swedish 10 and 12 year-olds (N = 694) suggested they would use if they were cyberbullied, with a special focus on whether there are differences in these strategies related to age and gender. The most commonly suggested coping strategy was telling someone, especially parents and teachers (70.5%). Surprisingly few of the pupils reported that they would tell a friend (2.6%). Differences in suggested coping strategies were found related to age and gender. Findings are discussed in relation to the Swedish sociocultural context as well as in relation to the implications for prevention strategies against cyberbullying.

The aim of this study was to explore 15-year-old adolescents' experiences of appearance-related cyberbullying. Twenty-seven adolescents participated in four focus groups. The adolescents in this study perceived that it is common to be targeted in appearance-related cyberbullying, especially for girls, and that appearance-related cyberbullying is considered to be a potent strategy when attempting to hurt girls. Girls often received comments about being fat, while among boys, it was common to receive comments about looking or seeming "gay." According to the adolescents, an important reason for engaging in appearance-related cyberbullying was to attain higher social status in the peer group. The girls and boys reacted differently to appearance-related cyberbullying. Boys tended to act out or take no offence, while girls experienced lower self-esteem and feelings of depression. Findings in this study contribute to research on cyberbullying as well as to research on girls' body esteem development.

Cyberbullying is one of the darker and more troubling aspects to the growing accessibility of new media technologies. Children in developed countries engage with cyberspace at younger and younger ages, and the use of the internet as a means to bully and harass has been greeted with alarm by educationalists, parents, the media, and governments. This important new book is the result of a four-year international collaboration, funded by the EU, to better understand how we can cope and confront cyberbullying, and how new media technologies can be used to actually support the victims of such abuse. The articles initially define the historical and theoretical context to cyberbullying, before examining key issues involved in managing this pervasive phenomenon. Coverage includes: The definition and measurement of cyberbullying. The legal challenges in tackling cyberbullying across a number of international contexts. The role of mobile phone companies and Internet service providers in monitoring and prevention How the media frame and present the issue, and how that influences our understanding. How victims can cope with the effects of cyberbullying, and the guidelines and advice provided in different countries. How cyber-bullying can continue from school into further education, and the strategies that can be used to prevent it. The ways in which accessing 'youth voice', or maximising the contribution of young people themselves to the research process, can enhance our understanding The book concludes with practical guidance to help confront the trauma that cyberbullying can cause. It will be a valuable resource for researchers, students, policy makers and administrators with an interest in how children and young people are rendered vulnerable to bullying and harassment through a variety of online channels.

This study investigates the relationship between cybervictimization and body esteem among 1076 pupils, ages 10-15. More specifically we investigated if being the victim of cyberbullying was related to body esteem, and if there were any grade and gender differences in these relationships. Additionally, we examined how often pupils' believed that cyberbullying was directed at the victims' appearance, and if this view was more common when girls were cybervictims compared to when boys were cybervictims. Pupils in fourth grade (10-year-olds), sixth grade (12-year-olds) and ninth grade (15-year-olds), from 21 different schools in Gothenburg were surveyed. The main finding was that victims of cyberbullying reported poorer body esteem than non-cybervictims. The results also showed that pupils believed that cyberbullying was directed at the victims' appearance, especially when girls were victims. This study provides unique data concerning the links between being exposed to cyberbullying and body esteem.

Although several instruments to assess cyberbullying have been developed, there is nevertheless a lack of knowledge about their psychometric properties. The aim of the present systematic review is to provide a representative overview of the current instruments designed to assess cyberbullying. Further, emphasis will be placed on the structural and psychometric properties of cyberbullying instruments, such as validity and reliability, as well as their conceptual and definitional bases. It will also provide criteria for readers to evaluate and choose instruments according to their own aims. A systematic literature review, limited to publications published prior to October 2010, generated 636 citations. A total of 61 publications fulfilled the delineated selection criteria and were included in the review, resulting in 44 instruments. Following a rater training, relevant information was coded by using a structured coding manual. The raters were the nine authors of this review. Almost half of the instruments included in this review do not use the concept of cyberbullying. The constructs measured by the instruments range from internet harassment behavior to electronic bullying behavior to cyberbullying. Even though many of the authors use other concepts than cyberbullying they claim that their instruments do measure it. For the purpose of this systematic review, we have chosen to categorize them as two different groups, cyberbullying instruments and related instruments. Additionally, most of the included instruments had limited reports of reliability and validity testing. The systematic review reveals a need for investigating the validity and reliability of most of the existing instruments, and resolving the conceptual and definitional fluctuations related to cyberbullying.

Several criteria have been proposed for defining cyberbullying to young people, but no studies have proved their relevance. There are also variations across different countries in the meaning and the definition of this behavior. We systematically investigated the role of five definitional criteria for cyberbullying, in six European countries. These criteria (intentionality, imbalance of power, repetition, anonymity, and public vs. private) were combined through a set of 32 scenarios, covering a range of four types of behaviors (written-verbal, visual, exclusion, and impersonation). For each scenario, participants were asked whether it was cyberbullying or not. A randomized version of the questionnaire was shown to 295 Italian, 610 Spanish, 365 German, 320 Sweden, 336 Estonian, and 331 French adolescents aged 11-17 years. Results from multidimensional scaling across country and type of behavior suggested a clear first dimension characterized by imbalance of power and a clear second dimension characterized by intentionality and, at a lower level, by anonymity. In terms of differences across types of behaviors, descriptive frequencies showed a more ambiguous role for exclusion as a form of cyberbullying, but general support was given to the relevance of the two dimensions across all the types of behavior. In terms of country differences, French participants more often perceived the scenarios as cyberbullying as compared with those in other countries, but general support was found for the relevance of the two dimensions across countries.