Student-produced Comics on Cyberbullying: A European Co-participatory Project

This study aimed at giving voice to students from disadvantaged backgrounds using a co-participatory approach. Participants were 59 adolescents aged between 14 and 16 from five European countries who created ten comics to illustrate cyberbullying for a broader audience of peers. We analyzed texts and images according to four primary themes: cyberbullying episodes (types, platforms, co-occurrence with bullying), coping strategies, characters (roles, gender, group membership), and emotions. The content analysis showed that online denigration on social media platforms was widely represented and that cyberbullying co-existed with bullying. Social strategies were frequently adopted and combined with passive and confrontational coping. All roles (cyberbully, cybervictim, bystander, reinforcer, defender) were portrayed among the 154 characters identified, even if victims and defenders appeared in the vignettes more often. Males, females, peers, and adults were represented in all roles. Among the 87 emotions detected, sadness was the most frequently expressed, followed by joy, surprise, anger, and fear. The results have relevant methodological and practical implications, as they emphasize the importance of young people’s voices in research and interventions against cyberbullying.