Psicothema was founded in Asturias (northern Spain) in 1989, and is published jointly by the Psychology Faculty of the University of Oviedo and the Psychological Association of the Principality of Asturias (Colegio Oficial de Psicología del Principado de Asturias).
We currently publish four issues per year, which accounts for some 100 articles annually. We admit work from both the basic and applied research fields, and from all areas of Psychology, all manuscripts being anonymously reviewed prior to publication.
Antonio Cabrera-Vázquez, Daniel Falla, Rosario Ortega-Ruiz and Eva M. Romera
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.
Antecedentes: La alegría maliciosa es una emoción moral que conlleva el disfrute ante el sufrimiento ajeno y cuya activación se ha relacionado con conductas transgresoras en la edad adulta. Pese a ello, el estudio de esta emoción en fenómenos de agresión entre escolares ha tenido una menor atención científica, posiblemente por la falta de instrumentos. Se propuso diseñar y proporcionar evidencias de validez y fiabilidad de una escala que midiera la alegría maliciosa en situaciones de agresión online y offline. Método: La muestra estuvo formada por 3,183 estudiantes de educación primaria y secundaria (48.4% chicas; M edad = 12.76; DT = 1.52). Resultados: Los datos confirmaron que el modelo bidimensional fue el que mejor ajuste obtuvo (χ 2 S-B = 81.800; CFI = .984; SRMR = .036; RMSEA = .049). Las puntuaciones de la escala demostraron ser invariantes independientemente del género y la edad y se obtuvieron evidencias de validez predictiva, al encontrar relación entre alegría maliciosa, agresión y ciberagresión. Conclusiones: Estos hallazgos confirman la validez de las puntuaciones del instrumento, que puede ser útil para medir esta emoción en el contexto educativo y orientar intervenciones psicoeducativas destinadas a mejorar la regulación de emociones morales y prevenir el acoso y ciberacoso.
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https://doi.org/10.70478/psicothema.2025.37.14