WHAT SHAPES CYBERBULLYING PERPETRATION AND VICTIMISATION? EVIDENCE FROM  COUNTRIES

Abstract

Cyberbullying includes harmful, intentional and often repetitive behaviour that occurs in the cyberspace. Considering different prevalence of cyberbullying across countries, cross-national comparison of this phenomenon and its risk factors is important and necessary. The aim of this research was to examine individual factors of cyberbullying perpetration and victimisation including a cross-national perspective. The sample consisted of  high school students from  countries: Belgium, China, Croatia, Czechia, Egypt, Hungary, India, Italy, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Thailand, and Turkey. Two multilevel analyses (for perpetration and victimisation, separately) with a stepwise procedure were carried out with three blocks of predictors: ) since cybervictimisation and cyberperpetration are highly correlated, in the case of prediction of cyberperpetration, cybervictimisation was included in the fi rst block as a control and vice versa; ) group membership based on protected characteristics (female gender, minority based on nationality or religion, asylum seeking or disability status); ) social media addiction and self-esteem. Results showed that country level explained only -% of variance in cyberperpetration and cybervictimisation, while individual factors explained the rest of the variance. Furthermore, male students, those who belong to national minorities, asylum seekers and with excessive social media use showed a greater tendency to perpetrate cyberbullying. In case of cybervictimisation, religion minorities, students with disabilities, students with excessive social media use and lower self-esteem are more often victimised. Results indicated different risk factors of cyber-perpetration and cybervictimisation and highlighted the need for different prevention strategies among groups with protected characteristics