Cyberbullying and Social Anxiety: A Latent Class Analysis among Spanish Adolescents.

María C Martínez-Monteagudo,Beatriz Delgado,Cándido J Inglés,Raquel Escortell

doi:10.3390/ijerph17020406

Abstract

Cyberbullying is a common social maladjustment that has negative repercussions on the wellbeing and development of adolescents, but numerous questions remain as to the relationship between cyberbullying and social anxiety in adolescence. This study analyzes cyberbullying profiles (screening of harassment among peers) and assesses whether these profiles vary with respect to the level of social anxiety (social anxiety scale for adolescents). The sample consisted of 1412 Spanish secondary education students aged 12 to 18 (M = 14.36, SD = 1.65). Latent class analysis and ANOVA were performed. Analyses revealed three profiles: high cyberbullying (high victimization, aggression, and aggression-victimization), low cyberbullying (moderate victimization, aggression, and aggression-victimization), and non-cyberbullying. The cyberbullying patterns varied significantly for all social anxiety subscales. Students with the high cyberbullying profile (bully–victims) presented high scores on social avoidance and distress in social situations in general with peers, whereas these students presented lower levels of fear of negative evaluation and distress and social avoidance in new situations as compared to the low cyberbullying (rarely victim/bully) and non-involved student profiles. Implications for psychologists and educational counselors and cyberbullying preventive interventions are discussed.

Highlights

Over the past decade, a major increase has been seen in news of bullying carried out by school-aged children using the new information and communication technologies (ICT)
In contrast to that established in the first hypothesis, in which it was expected to find four groupings based on the traditional concept of bullying, the results of the latent class analysis (LCA) suggest a better fit for the solution of the model with three classes: non cyberbullying, high cyberbullying, and low cyberbullying
This study provides novel information that is of great relevance to the study of cyberbullying during the period of adolescence

Summary

Introduction

A major increase has been seen in news of bullying carried out by school-aged children using the new information and communication technologies (ICT). Some students having a great domain of the ICT have taken advantage of these new virtual scenarios to engage in aggressive behavior towards their peers (such as insults, humiliation, coercion, the publication of confidential information, threats, denigration, violation of privacy, social exclusion, the spreading of rumors, identity theft, the dissemination of physical assaults, etc.). This phenomenon, known as cyberbullying, is defined as “a type of aggressive and intentional behavior that repeats frequently over time through the individual or group use of electronic devices with a victim that is unable to defend him/herself” International reviews have reported mean prevalences ranging from 4% to 36% for

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