Cyberbullying Victimization Research Articles

Cyberbullying in first-year university students and its influence on their intentions to drop out

ABSTRACT University dropout is a phenomenon of growing interest in the knowledge society. However, it is a complex phenomenon in which a variety of academic and social variables interact with each other. Cyberbullying is also something that has been the subject of increased research recently, and although it has most often been studied in primary and secondary education, it cannot be discounted from higher education. Because of that, the objective of this study was to determine whether there was a relationship between intentions to complete higher education or not and having been the victim of cyberbullying. We used a sample of 1653 students at a university in Spain who were asked to respond to an adaptation of the University Violence Questionnaire (UVC), analysing the data collected via descriptive statistics and the decision tree test. The results indicated that there was a relationship between having been the victim of cyberbullying and the intention to drop out of a university course, especially when the bullying behavior was social exclusion, impersonation, or spreading sexual images without consent. This study aimed to enhance understanding of university dropout, looking at how being the victim of cyberbullying interacted with the likelihood of students finishing their courses.

Juridical Analysis About Cyberbullying Cases by Child Perpetrators Against Child Victims

This study discusses the legal protection of a child victim of cyberbullying and a child perpetrator. This research raised a case where a child with the initial “Z” who became a victim of cyberbullying from her schoolmate with the initial “S”. The research method used is the normative-juridical method: processing legal materials collected through a literature review.This study aims to determine the applicable law (legal protection) against the child victims of cyberbullying, based on Law No.35 of 2014 in conjunction with Law No.11 of 2008. In terms of the child perpetrator of cyberbullying, the criminal justice system of the children must be based on Law No. 11 of 2012.The result shows that “Z”, the child victim of Cyberbullying, has received positive legal protection in Indonesia based on Article 76C of Law 35/2014, and Article 27 paragraph (4) juncto Article 28 paragraph (2) of Law 11/2012. Child “S” who terrorizes Child “Z” via WhatsApp may be subject to criminal sanctions in accordance to Article 80 paragraph (1) of Law 35/2014 juncto Article 45 paragraph (1) and (2) of Law 11/2008 junctis Article 81 of Law 11/2012. This case criminal sanctions can be imposed on Child “S” with Law 11/2012.

Cybervictimization and Depression among Adolescents: Coping Strategies as Mediators.

Studies have shown the relationships among cybervictimization, coping strategies, and depression, but no study has examined the mechanism that links the three variables. Accordingly, this study used the transactional model of stress and coping theory as a conceptual framework and proposed that coping strategies are mediators for the effects of cybervictimization on depression. A total of 387 adolescents were recruited by using the purposive sampling method. The results showed that cybervictimization is not directly associated with depression. All the coping strategies are found to be associated with cybervictimization, but only the avoidant coping strategy is the statistical mediator for the effects of cybervictimization on depression. This study’s findings suggest that the transactional model of stress and coping theory may provide a framework in the area of cyberbullying and recommend more actions to be taken in order to reduce the use of avoidance coping strategies among victims of cyberbullying.

The Effect of Cyber-bullying Victimization Experience on Suicidal Ideation: The Sequential Mediation Effects of Self-esteem and Depression

본 연구는 중학생의 사이버폭력 피해경험과 자살생각의 관계에서 우울과 자아존중감의 이중매개효과를 살펴봄으로써 청소년의 자살예방을 위한 개입방안을 모색하는데 목적이 있다. 이를 위하여 한국청소년정책연구원의 ‘2016년 아동·청소년 인권실태조사’의 중학생 3,775명 데이터를 활용하여 각 변인 간의 관계를 분석하였다. 사이버폭력 피해경험과 자살생각과의 관계에서 자아존중감과 우울의 이중매개효과는 PROCESS macro를 사용하여 분석하였으며 간접효과의 유의성을 검증하기 위해 부트스트랩 방법을 사용하였다. 본 연구의 주요 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 사이버폭력 피해경험은 우울과 자살생각에 정적으로, 자아존중감은 자살생각에 부적으로 유의미한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 사이버폭력 피해경험과 자살생각과의 관계에서 자아존중감과 우울은 이중매개 효과가 있는 것으로 검증되었다. 이와 같은 연구결과를 바탕으로 사이버폭력 예방 및 자살예방에 대한 개입방안을 제시하고 후속연구를 위한 방안을 제시하였다.

Cyberbullying victimization among adolescencts: results of the International self-report delinquency study 3

ABSTRACT The study is based on a wide international research study, the International Self-Report Delinquency Study 3 (ISRD-3), with the aim of understanding if there is a relationship between having lived traumatic intrafamily experiences and potentially being a victim of cyberbullying. The data have been collected by a questionnaire ISRD-3 administered to a 20 European country sample of 57.463 students from 7th to 9th grade. Results show a statistically significant relationship between traumatic intrafamilial experiences such as a serious illness of one of the parents, episodes of violence suffered and assisted, separation or divorce of the parents, and being victimized in adolescence of cyberbullying.

Analysis of Social Networks among Students in Abidjan City

This paper investigates the social networks usage by students in Abidjan city, Côte d’Ivoire. We focus on a descriptive or quantitative analysis to understand the motivations and how students make use of internet and social networks. More than six hundred forms were distributed to persons we have deemed as students. In return, we received more than 93% of the forms that have been processed. The study highlights the materials and the digital platforms that students used the most. The majority of the respondents reported to have access to the social networks in their mobile phones, with WhatsApp leading this application ranking, followed by Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Tik Tok. The survey shows that two third of our respondents are aged from 19 to 25 years old and almost half of the respondents spend daily 2 to 5 hours on digital platforms. The investigation also reveals that the main online activities are the e-commerce, chatting, information, and entertainment. The paper addresses also the online harassment of the students and it shows that more than one tenth of them have been victims of cyber-bullying. This study might be useful for governments, institutions, academia, individuals and professionals in order to communicate efficiently with a given population for a better use of social networks and to prevent students from harassment.

Zakonodavstvo o sajber nasilju - uloga zakona o sajber nasilju

Faced with the increasing number of cases of cyberbullying and its consequences, states are trying to find the best way of its sanctioning. The latest tragic event, in which a young man from Republika Srpska committed suicide because he was mocked on one of the social networks, has triggered a public debate on whether cyberbullying is adequately sanctioned in our country. Based on the way individual countries sanction cyberbullying, we can divide them into two groups. The first group includes those countries that sanction cyberbullying through the application of one of the existing criminal offenses (insult, defamation, persecution, unauthorised filming, hate speech). The second one refers to those countries where cyberbullying has been treated as a special criminal offense. The aim of this paper is to make suggestions for possible changes, based on an analysis of the existing legislation on cyberbullying in our country as well as in some European countries, in order to protect the victims of cyberbullying more effectively. In the paper, the authors have used a normative-legal method for the analysis of legal regulations including a comparative method for a comparative presentation of a legal regulation of cyberbullying in other countries. On the grounds of the analysis conducted, there is a conclusion that a legal protection against digital violence in our country does not provide adequate remedies for the victims of cyberbullying.

Examination of the Correlation Between 8th grade Students’ Cyber Bully/Victim Behaviors and their Self-confidence Values

In the study, the correlation between cyberbullying and cyber victimization, which is included in the digital literacy skill in the Social Studies Curriculum, and self-confidence value was examined. From this point of view, the research aims to determine the degree and direction of the correlation between 8th grade students cyberbully/victim behaviors and their self-confidence value. As a data collection tool; The CyberBully/Victim Scale developed by Ayas and Horzum (2010); The Self-Confidence Scale developed by Akin (2007), and the Personal Information Form developed by the researcher were used to access personal information. The research sample consists of a total of 455 students studying at the 8th grade of public and private schools in the Nilufer, Yildirim, and Kestel districts of Bursa. Spearman’s Rho Correlation analysis was used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the study, a statistically significant moderate-level inverse correlation was found between students cyberbully/victim status and their tendency levels of self-confidence.

Use of electronic vaping products and mental health among adolescent high school students in the United States: The moderating effect of sex

Although studies have investigated the association between conventional tobacco smoking and mental health outcomes among adolescents in the United States, few studies have examined the association between electronic vaping products (EVPs) and mental health among adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the cross-sectional association between EVPs use, symptoms of depression, and suicidal behaviors among adolescents. Data were pooled from the 2017 and 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. An analytic sample of 14,285 adolescents (50.3% female) was analyzed using binary logistic regression. The outcome variables investigated were symptoms of depression, suicidal ideation, suicide plan, and suicide attempts, and the main explanatory variable was EVPs use. Of the 14,285 adolescents, 22.2%, 19.2%, and 58.8% were current, former and never users of EVPs, respectively. Controlling for other factors, current users of EVPs were significantly more likely to report having symptoms of depression (AOR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.58–2.09), having suicidal ideation (AOR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.30–1.86), making a suicide plan (AOR = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.34–1.97), or attempting suicide (AOR = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.41–2.18) when compared to never users of EVPs. Gender moderated the association between EVPs use, symptoms of depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide plan. Racial minority identity, sexual minority identity, sexual violence victimization, victim of school and cyberbullying, alcohol use, and cigarette smoking were all significantly associated with depression and suicidal behaviors. Study findings support the association between EVPs use and adolescent mental health. Future studies that employ longitudinal designs may offer more insight into the mechanisms underlying this association.

Smartphone Addiction and Personality: Review of International Research

Mobile phones are perhaps the most popular digital devices that accompany us all the time. Smartphones certainly provide us with many conveniences but at the same time these devices are the reason why many users develop a pathological condition known as nomophobia or smartphone addiction, i. e., fear of losing phone contact or being away from network coverage. Many people, especially teenagers and children, cannot imagine their life without smartphones and try never to part with them. Phone addicts, due to the fact that their attention is constantly riveted to the smartphone screen, cannot efficiently study, do work thoughtfully and productively, establish relationships with others and, in general, live a full-fledged life. Smartphone addiction is a new phenomenon, one of the most widespread non-medical addictions, which in its scale has already left behind Internet addiction and addiction to gambling, forming a dangerous conglomerate with them. Numerous studies show that smartphone addiction has a detrimental effect on many important aspects of modern life. The purpose of this article is to provide an analytical review of international studies on the relationship between smartphone addiction and psychological and socio-psychological characteristics of personality. The choice of international studies as the initial data for the analysis was made due to the fact that it was in them (much earlier than in Russian ones) that the largest number of empirical results were obtained, which are of significant theoretical and practical interest. The number of Russian studies on this topic is much smaller, while many of them were carried out on small samples or were only discussions of international research results. Thus, it can be stated that the extensive information accumulated by international researcher on the dependence on smartphones is used insufficiently in Russian scientific community. The smartphone addiction is positively associated with such negative factors as depression, anxiety, stress, decreased self-esteem and self-control, sleep and health problems, low quality of life and dissatisfaction with it, family problems, poor school performance and the danger of becoming a victim of cyberbullying. Much higher smartphone addiction is typical of younger users. Assessments of smartphone dependence are positively correlated with being female, with smoking and consuming alcohol. A serious obstacle to relevant Russian research was the lack of Russian-language measuring instruments. To eliminate this obstacle, the author adapted and validated The Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS) by M. Kwon et al. for the Russian-speaking society, and developed a reliable and valid Short Version of the Smartphone Addiction Questionnaire. In Russian studies on smartphone addiction, the results obtained on international samples can serve as basis for working hypotheses as well as initial data in cross-cultural research.

Perceptions and Challenges Regarding Cyberbullying during the Covid-19 Pandemic

The increased use of the Internet and digital communication platforms has facilitated the emergence and development of the phenomenon known in the literature as cyberbullying. This research aims to examine the perception of the interviewees about the phenomenon of cyberbullying in the period marked by the Covid 19 pandemic. In this research the method of sociological survey based on questionnaire was used. The research was attended by 541 people, mostly young people (83.5% of the interviewees are under 30 years old). The findings showed that the interviewees know to a large extent the phenomenon of cyberbullying; respondents believe that this phenomenon spread during the Covid 19 pandemic; half of those surveyed witnessed the phenomenon of cyberbullying, while 44.7% say they know people who have been victims of cyberbullying. The present study analyzes the way in which the interviewees position themselves in relation to different acts specific to cyberbullying. The study also highlights the opinions of the interviewees on effective action strategies to combat cyberbullying.

Bullying, Cyberbullying and Mental Health: The Role of Student Connectedness as a School Protective Factor.

Traditional bullying and cyberbullying are linked to adverse mental health outcomes. Student connectedness has been recently identified as a potential protective factor in these relationships. Nonetheless, the multilevel nature of these interactions has been frequently overlooked. The present study pretends to fill this gap by exploring the associations between individual levels of bullying and cyberbullying and three adjustment outcomes (i.e., suicidal behavior, symptoms of depression, and self-esteem), as well as the moderating role of the school level of student connectedness on these relationships. The participants in this work were 1,774 students aged 14-18 years (M = 15.70, SD = 1.26), of which 53.7% were female, from 31 secondary schools in Spain. We used previously validated self-reported questionnaires in this study. Traditional victimization and cybervictimization, as well as cyberbullying, were positively related to suicidal behavior and depression, and were negatively related to self-esteem. Conversely, individual levels of student connectedness were associated with lower levels of suicidal behavior and depression, and with higher levels of self-esteem. Moreover, school levels of student connectedness buffered the adjustment problems experienced by victims of cyberbullying. These findings highlight the importance of student connectedness as a possible target for school-based cyberbullying prevention.

Parental Mediation : Komunikasi Orang Tua dan Fenomena Cyberbullying pada Anak

Advances in technology and communication have influenced how people's consumption patterns use media, one of which is internet media. Internet media is currently also used by children to access social media. Unfortunately, the use of internet media by children is not accompanied by their parents. Bullying behavior on social media is a vulnerable thing for children. For this reason, it is important to have parental mediation for children to avoid being perpetrators or victims of cyberbullying. This study uses phenomenological analysis, to see individual experiences. The results of this study indicate that parental mediation carried out by parents can be in the form of how parents have good media literacy, especially internet media which is the ability to access, analyze, and evaluate the power of images, sounds, and messages in communicating and assisting children in accessing digital media. The phenomenon of cyberbullying is understood by respondents by the presence of intimidating behavior, in the form of mocking expressions at other individuals. Even so, the child feels that this behavior is just a joke, not to bully.

ANALISIS PERILAKU BULLYING MENURUT PANDANGAN TEORI KEPRIBADIAN SERTA IMPLIKASINYA BAGI BIMBINGAN DAN KONSELING

Most definitions of bullying are categorized as a part of aggressive behavior involving the intention to hurt other people. Bullies have high score on psychoticism, physical strength, attitude towards violence, extroversion. Self-esteem bullies are higher than victims in all of these dimensions. Bullies have aggressive, impulsive behavior, not feeling guilty, and do not feel empathy towards the victims, if seen from Eysenck’s personality dimension, this is a part of extravert neurotic. Intervention strategies to handle bullying at school, and creating more peaceful school environment could be seen as an important moral action. More researches about the effective programs to handle bullying are needed; also the longitudinal effect for bullies and victims of physical bullying, verbal bullying, and cyber bullying also need to be researched

Social Media and Cyber-Bullying in Autistic Adults

Social media can lead to rejection, cyber-bullying victimisation, and cyber-aggression, and these experiences are not fully understood as experienced by autistic adults. To investigate this, 78 autistic adults completed self-report measures of social media use, cyber-bullying victimisation, cyber-aggression, and self-esteem. High levels of social media use were found to be associated with an increased risk of cyber-victimisation; whereas self-esteem was positively correlated with feelings of belonging to an online community and negatively correlated with feelings of being ignored on social network sites and chat rooms. Future studies are needed to further investigate the experience of cyber-bullying victimisation of autistic adults.

The Relationship between Bullying Victimization and Suicidal Ideation among Chinese Adolescents: The Role of Depressive Symptoms and Gender Differences

ABSTRACT Both traditional school bullying and cyber bullying among adolescents have become international concerns across many countries including China. The role of depressive symptoms in the relationship between various forms of bullying victimization and suicidal ideation has not been adequately studied in the Chinese context. This study aims to explore this issue using self-report data collected from 1,814 high school students in a city in southern China. The results of the structural equation modeling analyses showed that, after controlling for a set of bullying-related variables and demographic information, depressive symptoms played a mediating role in the relationship between certain forms of bullying victimization and suicidal ideation. The effects also differed by gender. Specifically, depressive symptoms mediated the relationship between verbal victimization and suicidal ideation for boys and girls alike. However, depressive symptoms mediated the effects of relational and cyber bullying victimization on suicidal ideation among girls only. In addition, both the effects of cyber bullying victimization and depressive symptoms on suicidal ideation were stronger for girls than boys. Policy implications were then discussed in the Discussion and Conclusion section.

Will I Like Myself If You Hurt Me? Experiences of Violence and Adolescents’ Self-Esteem

Self-esteem seems to be a crucial factor in adolescents’ psychological well-being. Our study aimed to identify the likelihood of high/medium/low adolescents’ self-esteem in personal experiences of abuse and/or violence (abuse by an adult in childhood, bullying and cyberbullying, and dating violence victimization), different socioeconomic characteristics, perceived social support, and ability to resolve social problems. The study participants were 1451 students from secondary schools (age 13–16) in Spain, Italy, Romania, Portugal, Poland and the UK. We calculated relative risk ratios using multinomial regression models to understand how socioeconomic characteristics, personal experiences of abuse and/or violence, perceived social support, ability to resolve social problems were associated with a self-esteem level. Having no experience of being a victim of physical and sexual abuse in childhood and not being a victim of bullying and cyberbullying is connected with the likelihood of high self-esteem regarding having low self-esteem. Taking as reference those who have never been in a dating relationship, the probability of medium and high self-esteem, decreases when teens are in a romantic or dating relationship and they are victims of intimate partner violence, but the negative effect is explained when other violent variables are included in the model. Being a boy, begin a younger teenager, mother’s paid work, high problem-solving skills and perceptions of social support is in relation with the prospect for higher self-esteem. Promoting adolescent self-esteem means preventing all forms of violence perpetrated by significant others, as well as increasing the ability of youth to seek social support and develop problem-solving skills.

Cyberbullying Victimization: Hope for Life among Victimized University Graduates

This research study is focused on cyber-bullying victimisation, as well as the hope of the victimized graduates to live their lives fearlessly. For this purpose, university victimised graduates were interviewed using the snowball sampling technique. The results of the study are alarming in terms of their nature and intensity –the victimized graduates were blackmailed and thinking of suicide, they were socially stigmatized, they sacrificed their lives and some surrendered or compromised with what the bully said to do. They isolated themselves and alike. The study suggested that students should avoid sharing their personal information via social networking sites with those people who are not known to them. The study also suggested that parents should keep an eye on social media accounts as well as ICTs’ devices of their children. Also, educational intuitions should organize awareness seminars to make students aware of cyber-bullying and how to escape from being victimized.

Victims of Cyberbullying: An Examination of Social Cognitive Processes Associated with Cyberbullying Victimization

ABSTRACT It has been consistently demonstrated that cyberbullying victimization is associated with poor mental health. This is of growing concern as access to the internet is increasing among adolescents. To ameliorate the negative impacts of victimization the role of coping self-efficacy has been extensively investigated in the context of face-to-face bullying, but has received little examination in the cyber context. The aim of the present study was to redress this omission by investigating the role of coping self-efficacy in mediating the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and depression. Adolescents aged between 11 and 16 years from independent schools in a large urban city in Australia participated in this study (51% Anglo/Celtic). High levels of cyberbullying victimization were related to high levels of depression. In addition, lower coping self-efficacy was related to higher depression, and this was evident for all the coping self-efficacy subscales. Consistent with research involving face-to-face victimization, it was shown that coping self-efficacy for avoiding self-blame and self-efficacy for proactive behavior partially mediated the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and depression. Implications of these findings for intervention programs and future research are discussed.

What awareness variables are associated with motivation for changing risky behaviors to prevent recurring victims of cyberbullying?

The detrimental consequences for victims of cyberbullying is becoming a major public health problem in many countries. However, it is a possibility that such victims will experience repeated cyberbullying in future. Therefore, a sustainable, long-term solution is to train victims to prevent cyberbullying and cope effectively with future situations. This aim of this study was to further our understanding of the factors involved in both raising awareness and increasing motivation in relation to the process of changing risky social media behaviors in order to reduce future incidences of cyberbullying. The study was conducted with a group of 541 late adolescents, who studied at university level and were victims of cyberbullying, and 397 parents. Data was collected using online questionnaires, which were designed according to I-Change Model (ICM) theory, and statistically analyzed to determine the presence of a causal relationship using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results of this study showed that family communication, loneliness, perceived susceptibility, and message and channel type had direct influences on victims’ awareness of risky behaviors. Based on parental views, the channel had a direct influence on the awareness of victims and this, in turn, had a direct influence on motivation for enacting changes in health behavior (including both psychological and physical health). It was also found that motivation for improving psychological health has a strong influence on physical health. The study results were consistent for both victims and parents. Therefore, in future, issues that should be prioritized and acted upon include promoting cooperation between victims, parents, schools, and mental health professionals in order to train and educate victims and develop an intervention program that takes into account family and personal relationships. These actions may reduce behaviors among adolescents that put them at risk of being ongoing victims of cyberbullying.