Emotional intelligence and self-efficacy in bullies and victims. Research and intervention with high school students.

Adolescents involved in bullying have lower levels of emotional intelligence. Research highlights the importance of a multifaceted approach to promoting emotional competencies as a means to address this issue: developing emotional regulation skills is crucial for both bullies and victims (Ruenda et al. 2021; Baroncelli & Ciucci, 2014). This study aims to: (1) identify different emotional difficulties associated with bullying and victimization, (2) analyze the effect of an intervention conducted with high school students to improve socio-emotional competencies. Participants were 102 high school students (14-16 years, M = 14.9, 61 boys). Two classes participated in the training (IG, N = 57); two classes only participated in the research (CG, N = 47). All the students filled (before and after the trainig): Florence Bullying-Victimization Scales (Palladino et al., 2016), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997); Regulatory Self-Efficacy Scale (Pastorelli, Picconi, 2001) and Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS; Grazzani et al., 2009). Regression analyses and multivariate ANOVAs were conducted. Victimization was negatively predicted by Emotion Regulation (β = -.24; p <.05), while bullying by Regulatory Self-Efficacy (β = -.33; p = .002). Manova showed a growth in the General Difficulties as measured by SDQ only in the CG (F1,88 = 3.84; p = .05). Findings confirm that different emotional difficulties correspond to the roles of bully and victim. Victims struggle with emotional regulation, and bullies are unable to resist peer pressure. Socio-emotional training showed efficacy in containing emotional and behavioral issues that can increase throughout the school year.