Perceived reasons for the negative impact of cyberbullying and traditional bullying

We investigated what perceived reasons may be involved in the negative feelings that a victim of bullying may have, and how these relate to four forms of bullying (direct traditional bullying, indirect traditional bullying, cyberbullying public forms, and cyberbullying private forms). In Study 1, nineteen Swedish pupils participated in focus groups to elicit a range of perceived reasons for negative emotional experiences when bullied, yielding reasons of Publicity, Threat, Lack of effective coping strategies, Lack of social support, Persistence, No escape and Anonymity. In Study 2 we investigated how relevant these seven reasons were for the four types of bullying, with 499 Swedish pupils aged 12–16 years. Reasons differed by age, gender, and type of bullying. Findings are discussed in relation to coping and support strategies for different types of bullying.     

Cyberbullying: Another main type of bullying?

Cyberbullying has recently emerged as a new form of bullying and harassment. 360 adolescents (12-20 years), were surveyed to examine the nature and extent of cyberbullying in Swedish schools. Four categories of cyberbullying (by text message, email, phone call and picture/video clip) were examined in relation to age and gender, perceived impact, telling others, and perception of adults becoming aware of such bullying. There was a significant incidence of cyberbullying in lower secondary schools, less in sixth-form colleges. Gender differences were few. The impact of cyberbullying was perceived as highly negative for picture/video clip bullying. Cybervictims most often chose to either tell their friends or no one at all about the cyberbullying, so adults may not be aware of cyberbullying, and (apart from picture/video clip bullying) this is how it was perceived by pupils. Findings are discussed in relation to similarities and differences between cyberbullying and the more traditional forms of bullying.     

Comments on cyberbullying article: A rejoinder

In this article, I discuss many of the points raised in the thoughtful comments by Hinduja and Patchin (2012, this issue), Menesini (2012, this issue), and Smith (2012, this issue) on my original article “Cyberbullying: An overrated phenomenon” (Olweus, 2012, this issue). After having seriously considered the arguments of my commentators, I still think there is strong empirical evidence for my original position—supported by one or more but not all of my commentators—that cyberbullying is a basically low-frequent phenomenon and that there has not occurred a marked increase in the prevalence rates of cyberbullying over the past five or six years. With regard to the possible negative effects of cyberbullying, over and above the effects of traditional bullying, I note with appreciation that this issue has received some attention in the recent research literature but I also make a call for more systematic consideration of potential confounders in such studies. A good deal of the discussion in the comments and the current article concerned the issue of whether cyberbullying should be regarded as a form of bullying on a par with traditional forms of bullying or if it is distinct enough to be considered a partly separate phenomenon or dimension. I conclude by arguing that in order for research on cyberbullying to proceed in a systematic and fruitful way, it is necessary to place it in proper context (along with traditional bullying) and to communicate a somewhat more realistic picture of its prevalence and nature.     

现实受欺负与青少年网络欺负行为：愤怒反刍的中介作用及道德推脱的调节作用

摘 要 本研究采用整体抽样法对2407名青少年进行问卷调查,探讨了现实受欺负对网络欺负行为的影响,以及愤怒反刍的中介作用和道德推脱的调节作用。结果表明：（1）现实受欺负可以显著地正向预测网络欺负行为。（2）愤怒反刍在现实受欺负与网络欺负行为之间起部分中介作用。（3）现实受欺负通过愤怒反刍对网络欺负行为产生影响的间接效应受到道德推脱的调节。具体来说,对于道德推脱水平高的青少年而言,愤怒反刍会对网络欺负行为产生显著的正向预测作用;而对于道德推脱水平低的青少年而言,愤怒反刍对网络欺负行为的预测效应变得不再显著。     

Emotional adjustment in victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying and traditional bullying

Given the rise in cyberbullying among secondary education students and the importance of certain psychological adjustment variables for the comprehension of this type of violent behavior, both in bullies and in victims, the purpose of the present study was to analyse the emotional adjustment of those involved in cyber- and traditional bullying. The adjustment variables studied were self-concept, perceived stress, loneliness, depressive symptomatology, social anxiety, life satisfaction, and emotional intelligence. Using a sample of 1318 adolescents (47% boys), aged between 11 and 17 years, four groups were established to compare victims and cybervictims (uninvolved students, traditional victims, cybervictims, and traditional–cybervictims). The analysis of variance showed that students who performed the same role (bully or victim) in both contexts (at school and online). In particular, those who suffered traditional or cyberbullying or both conjointly presented lower scores in physical and social self-concept, life satisfaction, emotional clarity, and emotion regulation, as well as higher scores in perceived stress, loneliness, depression, and social anxiety. In bullies—traditional, cyberbullying or both simultaneously—higher scores were observed in perceived stress, loneliness, depressive symptomatology, fear of negative assessment, avoidance, and general social anxiety, and lower scores in the dimensions of academic and family self-concept, life satisfaction, emotional clarity, and emotion regulation. In general, the findings indicate that students who were involved in bullying situations, both victims and bullies, presented more damaged emotional profiles than those who are uninvolved, especially students who performed the same role (bully or victim) in both contexts (at school and online).

     

Cyberbullying: the challenge to define

Cyberbullying is a reality of the digital age. To address this phenomenon, it becomes imperative to understand exactly what cyberbullying is. Thus, establishing a workable and theoretically sound definition is essential. This article contributes to the existing literature in relation to the definition of cyberbullying. The specific elements of repetition, power imbalance, intention, and aggression, regarded as essential criteria of traditional face-to-face bullying, are considered in the cyber context. It is posited that the core bullying elements retain their importance and applicability in relation to cyberbullying. The element of repetition is in need of redefining, given the public nature of material in the online environment. In this article, a clear distinction between direct and indirect cyberbullying is made and a model definition of cyberbullying is offered. Overall, the analysis provided lends insight into how the essential bullying elements have evolved and should apply in our parallel cyber universe.     

Bullying and cyberbullying in adulthood and the workplace

Two studies generated profiles of cyberbullying/cyberincivility and traditional bullying/incivility in adults, particularly within the workplace. In Study 1, 20% of 3,699 participants had the majority of cyberbullying victimization and 7.5% had the majority of traditional bullying victimization occur in adulthood, with 30% saying they were bullied at work. Relationships between bullying and negative outcomes were found. Because of the clear evidence of bullying and cyberbullying in the workplace in Study 1, Study 2 addressed the relationship of these constructs to workplace incivility. Workplace face-to-face incivility and bullying were related among 321 participants, as were workplace cyberbullying and cyberincivility. Face-to-face incivility was more common than online incivility, face-to-face bullying, or online bullying, yet all four behaviors were associated with negative outcomes. Differences in intentionality, acceptability, and severity were observed, with workplace face-to-face bullying perceived as the most severe and having the greatest intentionality to harm. These results emphasize the importance of studying bullying among adults, and highlight the conceptual independence of bullying and incivility. Correlates of workplace aggression are discussed using job demands-resources theory.     

Cyber- and face-to-face bullying: who crosses over?

A total of 3956 children aged 12–13 years who completed the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC Wave 5) were studied about their experiences of traditional face-to-face bullying and cyberbullying in the last month. In terms of prevalence, sixty percent of the sample had been involved in traditional bullying as the victim and/or the offender whereas eight percent had been involved in cyberbullying as victim and/or offender. The vast majority (95 %) of those involved in cyberbullying were also involved in traditional bullying. Children involved in both traditional bullying and cyberbullying were compared with those involved in only traditional bullying. Boys were more likely to be involved in both types of bullying than girls. Children with friends involved in delinquent activities and who did not have trustworthy and supportive friends were more likely to bully both traditionally and in cyberspace. Computer proficiency and use did not differentiate children who had crossed over from those who had not, although computer use for socializing purposes had some predictive value in identifying those children who crossed over. The study reflects the value of school interventions for children as they approach adolescence, covering both traditional bullying and cyberbullying, and targeting social relationships in order to teach children how to manage them safely and intelligently.     

Still a rite of passage? A perspective on current therapeutic attitudes and interventions in relation to cyberbullying

This paper examines cyberbullying concerning therapeutic interventions. A section on bullying and how bullying impacts the therapeutic environment is included. The author provides his definition of bullying to incorporate cyberbullying and how it is no longer a “new issue” but an evolving one. The current status of therapeutic interventions used to support victims of cyberbullying has been explored, emphasising their effectiveness in assisting those experiencing bullying. A segment has been implemented to comprehend whether practitioners fully understand the potential implications of cyberbullying on clients, whether bullying is still seen as a “rite of passage” and what the possible consequences of this could be. Peer interventions and support groups concerning cyberbullying have been referenced, including The KiVa Programme, the Shared Concern Method and The Circle of Friends Method. These have highlighted specific examples of therapeutic and nontherapeutic approaches to intervene with cyberbullying. A section on potential further training is presented for practitioners working within educational environments. Moreover, physical, psychological, sexual and relational bullying are discussed in the article when applicable, with the umbrella term “bullying” used to discuss all forms of bullying at once. The paper has uncovered two key messages: (1) cyberbullying requires more awareness in counselling and is no longer a new issue and (2) more extensive training is required to assist therapists to work with cyberbullying victims.     

Empathic Skills and Cyberbullying: Relationship of Different Measures of Empathy to Cyberbullying in Comparison to Offline Bullying Among Young Adults

ABSTRACT

Empathy, as the ability to understand and feel the emotions of others, is related to less bullying behavior. However, the link of bullying behavior with self-reports of empathy seems to be stronger than with behavioral measures of empathy (e.g., empathic accuracy). Few studies have analyzed the relationship of affective and cognitive empathy to cyberbullying behavior, especially among young adults. In a quasiexperimental dyadic interaction paradigm with 72 young adults, empathic accuracy was operationalized as the match of other- and self-reported emotions for the target, and emotional congruence as the match of the target's and the perceiver's self-reported emotions. Affective and cognitive empathy, offline bullying behavior, and cyberbullying behavior were measured using self-reports. Empathic accuracy and cognitive empathy were found to be negatively linked. Emotional congruence, self-reported affective and cognitive empathy did not correlate with offline bullying behavior or cyberbullying behavior. Only empathic accuracy was significantly negatively linked to offline bullying behavior. In group tests, higher empathic accuracy (but not emotional congruence) was connected to less offline bullying behavior. In a multiple regression analysis only emotional congruence was a predictor of cyberbullying behavior. Thus, while empathic accuracy might diminish offline bullying behavior, emotional congruence might diminish cyberbullying behavior.     

Morality,values, traditional bullying,and cyberbullying in adolescence

The aim of the present study was to investigate moral aspects and human values in traditional bullying and cyberbullying, in order to detect differences between the two types of bullying and to test the role of immoral and disengaged behaviours in mediating the relationships between personal values and involvement in bullying. Sample comprised 390 adolescents aged 14–18, balanced for gender, attending different high schools. Traditional and cyberbullying were detected by means of two self‐report measures, while the Portrait Values Questionnaire was used to assess 10 values in four dimensions according to the value system model by Schwartz (1992): self‐trascendence, self‐enhancement, openness to change, and conservation. Finally, immoral and disengaged behaviours were assessed by means of five items about behavioural and personal aspects salient for morality. Results showed that, irrespective of gender, self‐enhancement and self‐trascendence moderately predicted cyber and traditional bullying, respectively, while immoral and disengaged behaviours predicted both. Indirect effects showed that self‐enhancement and openness to change predicted both forms of bullying through immoral behaviour. Results are discussed in terms of similarities and differences between cyber and traditional bullying and with attention to the central role of morality in explaining bullying nature.     

Bystanders’ responses to offline bullying and cyberbullying: The role of empathy and normative beliefs about aggression

Cyberbullying often takes place with the virtual presence or knowledge of bystanders. While we have some evidence about the determinants of bystanders’ responses to offline bullying, we lack empirical studies concerning the variables that influence bystanders’ responses to cyberbullying. The current study examines bystanders’ responses to offline bullying and cyberbullying incidents. Two types of responses were captured: support toward the victims and the reinforcement of bullies’ actions. Using data from 321 German adolescents (ages 12–18; M = 14.99; 44% girls), the association between bystanders’ responses and normative beliefs about verbal aggression and cyberaggression, and affective and cognitive empathy, were tested in a path model. Both types of normative beliefs positively predicted the reinforcement of bullies, and normative belief about verbal aggression also predicted support for the victims of offline bullying. Both types of empathy predicted support in offline bullying, but only affective empathy predicted support in cyberbullying. There was no link between affective or cognitive empathy to the reinforcement of bullies. Moreover, bystanders’ tendencies to respond supportively to the victim or to reinforce the bully were rather consistent in both cyber‐ and offline bullying, but there was no link between support and reinforcement. The findings are discussed with regard to implications for prevention and intervention efforts.     

Cross-contextual stability of bullying victimization: a person-oriented analysis of cyber and traditional bullying experiences among adolescents

Using a person-oriented approach the study examined whether bullying victimization at school continued into cyberspace victimization in a large sample of high school students in Lithuania (N = 1667, 58% girls), age 15-19 (M = 17.29, SD = 0.95). Three forms of traditional bullying (verbal, physical and relational) and seven forms of cyberbullying victimization through cell phones and computers were included in the analysis. The findings revealed that 35% of traditional bullying victims were also bullied in cyberspace. In particular, adolescents who experienced predominantly verbal and relational bullying at school, showed a higher risk of victimization in cyberspace a year later, while this was not observed for predominantly physical forms of traditional bullying. The findings point to the importance of a cross-contextual perspective in studies on stability of bullying victimization.     

Morally disengaged and unempathic: do cyberbullies fit these definitions? An exploratory study

In recent years, the phenomenon of cyberbullying has been gaining scholars' growing interest under various aspects, including its overlap with face-to-face bullying. Nevertheless, its relationships with cognitive and affective empathy, proactive and reactive aggression, and moral disengagement, constructs that proved to be crucial in distinguishing aggressive subjects from their targets and nonaggressive peers in traditional bullying, still represent, to some extent, an unexplored domain. The main purpose of the present exploratory study was to investigate the associations between cyberbullying and the mentioned constructs among Italian adolescents. 819 high-school students (mean age 16.08) were administered a battery of standardized tools, along with Cyberties, a new instrument created to assess the prevalence of (and the type of involvement in) different forms of electronic assaults. Analyses of variance were conducted to compare four roles ("pure" bullies, "pure" victims, bully victims, and noninvolved subjects). Participants who identified themselves as cyberbullies or cyberbully victims showed significantly higher levels of overall moral disengagement and of both types of aggression. Cyberbullies also displayed a lack of affective empathy. Our findings are in line with the ones in extant literature about correlates of traditional and electronic forms of bullying. Implications for prevention strategies are discussed.     

Cyberbullying: The right value of the phenomenon. Comments on the paper “Cyberbullying: An overrated phenomenon?”

This comment will try to discuss the point raised by Olweus: is cyberbullying just one type of bullying or a distinct phenomenon and how much does it need a specific approach to be investigated? Specifically I will try to support my perspective taking into consideration five areas of investigation: definition, measurement, association between traditional bullying and cyberbullying, possible consequences and interventions.     

Differences in Proactive and Reactive Aggression in Traditional Bullies and Cyberbullies

This study examined how proactive and reactive aggression related to traditional bullying and cyberbullying. Participants were 851 students in Grades 6 through 8 who completed a survey that assessed bullying behaviors, proactive aggression, and reactive aggression. Most of these students were Caucasian and from a rural background. For both traditional bullying and cyberbullying groups, uninvolved students were found to have significantly lower proactive and reactive aggression than bullies and bully-victims. Further, it was found that for traditional and cyberbullying groups, bully-victims had significantly higher proactive and reactive aggression than bullies. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

Teacher,parent and student perceptions of the motives of cyberbullies

Understanding the motivation of students who cyberbully is important for both prevention and intervention efforts for this insidious form of bullying. This qualitative exploratory study used focus groups to examine the views of teachers, parents and students as to the motivation of students who cyberbully and who bully in other traditional forms. In addition, these groups were asked to explain their understanding of what defines bullying and cyberbullying. The results suggested that not only were there differences in definitions of cyberbullying and bullying between the three groups, but also that there were differences in perceptions of what motivates some youth to cyberbully. The implications of these results are discussed for both prevention and intervention strategies.     

同伴拒绝与网络欺负的关系:愤怒的中介作用和感知匿名性的调节作用

网络欺负是随着互联网和移动通讯工具快速发展而产生的一种新的欺负形式。本研究旨在探讨同伴拒绝和网络欺负的关系以及愤怒在其中的中介作用和感知匿名性在其中的调节作用。以武汉市703名初中生为研究对象,采用问卷法对其同伴拒绝、网络欺负、愤怒和感知匿名性进行调查。结果表明：（1）在控制性别、年龄和每天上网时间后,同伴拒绝能够显著正向预测网络欺负;（2）愤怒在同伴拒绝和网络欺负的关系中起中介作用;（3）同伴拒绝对网络欺负的直接作用和愤怒在二者关系中的中介作用均会受到感知匿名性的调节,相对于感知匿名性水平低的个体,直接效应和中介效应在感知匿名性水平高的个体中更强。研究结果支持同伴拒绝和网络欺负的关系是一个有调节的中介模型,这对于制定青少年网络欺负的干预和预防措施具有重要意义。     

Behavior during cyberbullying episodes: Initial validation of a new self-report scale

Research on cyberbullying has been growing worldwide, with much of the focus on the characteristics of perpetrators and targets of cyberbullying. In recent years, increasing attention has been paid on bystanders of cyber-attacks. This study presents the Italian validation of a newly developed self-report scale that measures different forms of participation in cyberbullying, namely cyberbullying, cybervictimization, cyber-defending and cyber-passive bystanding. We used responses from 561 young adolescents (289 girls; mean age = 12 years, 1 month; SD = 9 months) attending middle schools in Italy. A 16-item scale was developed paralleling the content of an already existing scale that measures young adolescents’ behavior in traditional bullying. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the four-dimensional structure of the scale and the four subscale's scores showed acceptable levels of internal consistency. Multigroup analyses demonstrated full scalar invariance of the scale across gender groups. Finally, each behavior in the electronic context was positively correlated with its counterpart in the school context, suggesting certain stability across contexts. It is concluded that the scale may be a first, promising attempt to measure different youths’ behavior during cyberbullying episodes.     

Bullying,Cyberbullying, Student Life Satisfaction and the Community of Chilean Adolescents

Feeling support from the community is a vital aspect of adolescents’ quality of life. Negative experiences at school, such as bullying and cyberbullying can have an adverse impact on adolescents’ life satisfaction that can expand to different domains of their lives including community variables. The goal of the present study was to examine the association between peer victimization, life satisfaction and community support among Chilean adolescents. We used a sample of 497 youths enrolled in grades 9 to 12 of public and private schools in different Chilean districts. Results indicate a negative association between bullying and cyberbullying behavior on community support through life satisfaction. Peer victimization can have negative consequences for youths at a personal level on their assessments of life satisfaction, which can expand to feeling less support from the community. Feeling less support from the community can be detrimental to healthy youth development and adolescents’ quality of life. Community prevention efforts can thus provide emotional support for youth victims of bullying and cyberbullying.