Why Do Students Become Cyberbullies? Elucidating the Contributions of Specific Developmental Risks to Cyberbullying

Susanne Wallner,Mark Stemmler

doi:10.3390/psych3040051

Abstract

Cyberbullying is currently considered as a widespread problem among children and adolescents; in particular, the risks of cyberbullying have recently been examined. The empirical analyses of the present work are based on data from a German longitudinal study. The self-reports of adolescents from Dortmund and Nuremberg on both cyberbullying and individual and contextual characteristics were taken into account. The two-wave panel encompasses N = 871 adolescents (44.5% male); the average age was M = 15.1 years (SD = 0.83) at t1. Data on cyberbullying refer to sending insults or threats to others via the Internet, spreading rumours or talking badly about others via the Internet, and sending private e-mails, photos or similar from others in order to embarrass or ridicule the persons concerned. Other characteristics relate to single aspects of psychopathy (egocentric egotism, low self-control, empathy deficits), acceptance of violence, and delinquent peers. The path analytical findings illustrate the predictive relationships between both individual and contextual risks and cyberbullying in adolescence. The empirical results are discussed, among others, from the perspective of developmental and life-course criminology.

Highlights

Our empirical results are in accordance with international developmental-criminological research on cyberbullying, confirming the assumption that both individual risks, comprising psychopathic traits, and contextual risks in combination are leading to the development of later cyberbullying in adolescence
Strong, cross-sectional relations between psychopathic traits and acceptance of violence along with clear cross-sectional relationships between psychopathic traits and having delinquent peers highlight the potential importance of individual characteristics regarding psychopathy for the strongly behavior-related variables acceptance of violence and delinquent peers
Relating to our study, the single individual characteristics might increase the risk for both socializing with delinquent peers and having violence-accepting attitudes and subsequently might increase the risk of cyberbullying, whereas low self-control seems to be of particular relevance

Summary

Introduction

Soutullo and Natasha Loi. Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Along with the rapid increase, frequent use, and wide dissemination of modern technologies, with cyberbullying, a new type of bullying among children and adolescents has emerged. ) bullying via electronic forms of contact or communication—such as emails, mobile, chat room, instant messaging, websites Cyberbullying refers to “( . . . ) bullying via electronic forms of contact or communication—such as emails, mobile, chat room, instant messaging, websites ( . . . )” [1]

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