BULLYING, CYBERBULLYING AND SOCIAL SUPPORT: A STUDY IN A PORTUGUESE SCHOOL Sofia Arriaga 1 , Rita Garcia 1 , Inês Amaral 2 , Fernanda Daniel 3 1 Instituto Superior Miguel Torga (PORTUGAL) 2 Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade da Universidade do Minho / Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa / Instituto Superior Miguel Torga (PORTUGAL) 3 Instituto Superior Miguel Torga / CEIS-UC – Centro de Estudos e Investigação em Saúde da Universidade de Coimbra / CIES – Centro de Investigação e Estudos de Sociologia – ISCTE-IUL (PORTUGAL) Abstract This paper presents a study that was developed with a sample of middle and high school students of the 3rd cycle of a Portuguese school, with an average age of 13.52 years (SD = 0,96) and an almost equal distribution in terms of sex (73 males vs. 70 females) and schooling (44 in the 7th year, 49 in the 8th year and 50 in the 9th year). The results show a prevalence of Observation Behaviour in the Victimization Scale and School Aggression and the dimension Satisfaction with Family in Satisfaction Scale Social Support. It was found that 37% of the sample has experienced Cyberbullying and 59% have had knowledge of Cyberbullying situations, which correlates positively with the Observation and Victimization behaviours of Victimization Scale and School Aggression. Keywords: Bullying; Cyberbullying; Social Support; Victimization; Aggression. 1 INTRODUCTION Violence is an important and growing public health problem, which has serious individual and social consequences particularly for children and young people [1]. In recent years violence has been gaining prominence news, bringing up the concerns of parents and educators. In fact, a serious problem that is present in today's society is violence in schools [2]. This phenomenon can be understood as something more extensive that refers us to diverse domains, such as antisocial behaviour, delinquency and vandalism, among others ([3], [4]). ICT have broadened the phenomenon of bullying to Cyberbullying ([5], [6]). Bullying behaviours are presented as aggressive acts that have the purpose of causing distress or harm. These behaviours present an imbalance of power and strength between the aggressor and the victim, occurring several times over time ([7], [8], [9]) regardless of socioeconomic status, gender or age group ([10], [11], [12]). According to Olweus [13], bullying is a behaviour that poisons the school environment and conditions learning, given that many children and adolescents, victims of this phenomenon, develop fears, phobias, panic and psychosomatic problems. Martins [14] argues that there are three forms of bullying according to the behaviours evidenced. In the first form, direct and physical behaviours involving various acts such as physical assault, theft of foreign objects, extortion of money and coercion on an individual are assumed, forcing them to engage in sexual behaviour. The second form of bullying involves direct and verbal behaviours such as racist, homophobic or otherwise demonstrative insults, epithets, actions, and comments. Finally, there are indirect behaviours that are based on the systematic exclusion of people to achieve some favour, which is reflected in rumours, threats or manipulation of the social life of others. This gives rise to three protagonists of bullying behaviours: aggressors, victims and witnesses. The aggressors are characterized by not demonstrating self-control [15] and more likely to express a high level of inattention and hyperactivity in school [16]. Aggressors also tend to exert power through physique force to frighten their victims and use their leadership skills and attitudes to dominate other children or young people [17]. Several studies point out that aggressors are poorly supervised by parents and live in environments where the model of problem solving is aggressive or impulsive behaviour [18]. The other protagonists are bullying victims, who Jabes and Costa [2] have characterized in three types: passive, the provocative and the aggressor. Passive victims are usually very shy, demonstrate difficulty of socialization, and do not oblige either verbal or physical, showing a fragile structure. The Proceedings of INTED2017 Conference 6th-8th March 2017, Valencia, Spain ISBN: 978-84-617-8491-2 4746