WHEN CYBERBULLIES ARE GIRLS: A SURVEY WITH ADOLESCENTS

New technologies have led to increased use of digital devices and a consequent risk of negative experiences in the online world, for example cyberbullying.Cyberbullying is a widespread phenomenon among adolescents and the majority of studies have identified males as the main perpetrators.However, girls may also be perpetrators of similar episodes, although their actions or motivations may be different from those of boys.Aiming to fill this gap in the literature, the current study consists of an exploratory investigation aimed at getting to know the cyberbullying girl from the adolescents' point of view.Middle and high school students (N = 927) completed a questionnaire about the characteristics of adolescents who engage in cyberbullying.They answered 15 open-ended questions about the interests, clothing, feelings and habits of cyberbullying girls.The content of each question was analysed and grouped into categories.Frequencies and percentages were calculated and discussed with the class groups involved in the research project.From the adolescents' representations, the cyberbullying girl seems to be a girl who uses a fake nickname to surf online (Instagram, 29.9%), does not have a specific outfit (42.6%) and follows a Mediterranean diet (28.9%), although she also eats fast food (26.3%).She watches violent series (31.8%) and have specific music tastes (52.6%).According to the participants, the girl cyberbully enjoys aggressive behaviour (61.3%), although she is afraid of situations that may challenge her (57.3%).Negative (31.6%) or popular (34.2%) people are seen as her role models.The class discussions support the results of the questionnaire and were useful to deepen the findings: the students revealed that the cyberbully girl eats dietetic food because she needs to be beautiful to be powerful, or that her aggressive behaviour is indirect, i.e. she uses the social network to spread gossip.