Development and Validation of Schadenfreude in Bullying and Cyberbullying Scale (SBCS)
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Keywords

Moral emotions
Bullying
Cyberbullying
Validation
Adolescents Emociones morales
Agresión
Ciberagresión
Validación
Adolescentes

How to Cite

Cabrera-Vázquez, A., Falla, D., Ortega-Ruiz, R., & Romera, E. M. (2025). Development and Validation of Schadenfreude in Bullying and Cyberbullying Scale (SBCS). Psicothema, 37(2), 32–41. Retrieved from https://reunido.uniovi.es/index.php/PST/article/view/23496

Abstract

Background: Schadenfreude is a moral emotion consisting of enjoyment when seeing other people suffer, and whose activation has been related to transgressive behaviour in adulthood. Despite this, the study of this emotion in aggression phenomena among schoolchildren has received little scientific attention, possibly due to a lack of instruments. We aimed to design and provide evidence of the validity and reliability of a scale for measuring schadenfreude in situations of online and offline bullying. Methods: The sample consisted of 3,183 primary and secondary school pupils (48.4% girls; M age = 12.76; SD = 1.52). Results: The data confirmed that the two-dimensional model was the best fit (χ 2 S-B = 81.800; CFI = .984; SRMR = .036; RMSEA = .049). Scale scores were shown to be invariant with regard to gender and age, and evidence was provided of predictive validity, with a clear relationship found between schadenfreude, bullying and cyberbullying. Conclusions: These findings confirm the validity of the instrument scores, which may be useful for measuring this emotion in educational contexts and guiding psycho-educational interventions aimed at improving moral emotion regulation and preventing bullying and cyberbullying.

 

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