What is cyberbullying and why is it dangerous?

In the age of social media, cyberbullying is of serious concern for youth, as traditional in person bullying has another outlet online. Online platforms such as Wikipedia were launched in 2001, Facebook in 2004 and Twitter in 2005. By 2006 Cyberbullying was described as concerning as offline bullying (Patchin and Hinduja, 2006). Cyberbullying has a more dangerous element in that it can be conducted anonymously, meaning that exposing the culprit can be challenging.

The term cyberbullying refers to ‘verbal aggression, hostility, and other attempts to cause harm in online communications and encompasses terms such as flaming, outing, hate speech, online drama and online harassments’ (Finkelhor et al. 2021). There are debates as to what can be adequately defined as cyberbullying. A lack of a standardised definition causes problems for the design of detection mechanisms, analysis of the prevalence of cyberbullying and the creation of educational materials to prevent cyberbullying. Whilst the previous definition provides a wide all-encompassing definition Gaffney et al. argues that there should be three key elements satisfied to qualify as cyberbullying:

• Intention to harm
• Repetitive nature
• Clear power imbalance

(Gaffney et al. 2019)

Victims of cyberbullying are commonly targeted by anonymous individuals, often using techniques such as sharing videos, photos, making comments and spreading rumours about an individual. An increase in cyberbullying has been correlated with an increase in online disinhibition. Online disinhibition has been defined as any behaviour characterized by an apparent reduction in concerns for self-presentation and judgment of others’ (Joinson, 1998). Cyberbullying is most commonly perpetrated through online gaming for elementary school children (DePalois and Williford, 2015). With adolescents, it is most commonly conducted through social media platforms.

A worldwide concern?

With a significant and growing population of worldwide youth having access to the Internet, cyberbullying is an international problem that is on the rise. It has been found that cyberbullying affects youth from elementary school to university level. Two studies found that in the U.S and Canada 7-50% of adolescents had faced cyberbullying (Aoyama and Talbert, 2010; Kowalski and Limber, 2007). Two studies conducted in Asia additionally found that 60% of Chinese youth and 67% of Japanese middle school students had experienced cyberbullying (Aoyama and Talbert, 2010; Li, 2005).

Damaging effects

It is extremely important to develop methods to decrease this phenomenon as cyberbullying can have serious effects on adolescents’ mental and physical health. Studies have recognised that youth who experience cyberbullying have reported lower self-esteem, increases in suicidal thoughts, higher rates of depression and increased problems during education (Hindjua, 2013). Internet addition has also been found to be increased by cyber-bullying as the internet is used excessively by victims to ‘escape of evade the distress’ caused by cyberbullying ((Gamez-Guadux et al. 2013). Sourander et al found that victims of cyberbullying reported high levels of insomnia, headaches, and abdominal pain (2010).

Factors that increase victimisation

• Multiple studies analysing middle and high school youth have found that girls are at increased risk of being cyberbullied (Baldry et al., 2015; Guo, 2016).
• Several studies have found that LGBTQ youth experience cyberbullying more than their heterosexual peers (Venat et al.,2015; Kessel Schenider et al., 2012).
• A study found that high school students with ADHD are more likely to experience cyberbullying than those without a disability (Heiman et al., 2015)
• A 2013 study additionally found that youth that are depressed are more likely to experience cyberbullying (Gamez-Guadux et al. 2013).
• Low self-esteem has been found my multiple studies to be a common risk factor among middle and high school students for cyberbullying victimisation (Chen et al., 2016; Baldry et al., 2015).
• A lack of self-control, low empathy, low social intelligence have been identified as risk factors (Baldry et al., 2015).
• Social anxiety and moral disengagement in youth are recognised risk factors (Kowakski et al., 2014).
• Youth with a lack of peer support have been found to be at heightened risk of being cyberbullied (Kowalski et al., 2014).
• Youth with a negative family environment and/or family conflict are more likely to be cyberbullied (Guo, 2016; Ortega-Barton et al., 2016).

Factors that increase perpetration

• Youth that are involved in forms of ‘traditional’ in person bullying have been found to be 5 times more likely to engage in cyberbullying perpetration when compared with those that are not involved in traditional bullying (Baldry et al., 2016).
• Low self-esteem has been found to be a risk factor for cyberbullying perpetration in middle and high school students (Baldry et al., 2015).
• Low empathy has been found to be ‘significantly related to low levels of empathy in high school students’ (Baldry et al., 2015; Del Rey et al., 2015).
• Antisocial personality traits including narcissism have also been found to be significant predicators of cyberbullying perpetration (Guo, 2016).
• Depression is additionally a predicator for perpetration of cyberbullying (Chen et al., 2016).
• Low levels of self-control, impulsivity and thrill-seeking behaviours have been found to be risk factors for perpetration. (Antoniadou et al., 2016; Baldry et al., 2015). These risk factors have been identified across age groups ranging from elementary school to university (Peterson and Densley, 2017).
• Delinquent behaviour including ‘maladaptive, illegal or age-inappropriate behaviour such as alcohol abuse, smoking, drug abuse, and school misconduct’ (Bottino et al., 2015), has been found to be a ‘significant risk factor’ for cyberbullying perpetration (Aboujoude., 2015).
• A lack of family emotional support and parental control has been found to be linked to cyberbully perpetration (Guo, 2016; Kowalski et al., 2014).

Prevention methods

Gaffney et al. found that anti-cyberbullying programs can reduce cyberbullying by 9-15% (2019). The majority of the literature on cyberbullying prevention however focuses on elementary school prevention programs lacking a crucial focus on cyberbullying prevention at an adolescent level. While elementary prevention programs attempt to instil facts and prevention methods into children at a young age to prevent cyberbullying further down the line, children change vastly over short periods of time. In addition, events may happen in a child’s life that make them more susceptible to cyberbullying or more likely to become a cyberbully after elementary school prevention programs have finished. It is therefore important that prevention programs exist at every level of education. In the age of social media cyberbullying is commonplace as far as university education, I therefore argue that prevention programs should be extended to this level of education.

It is also worth noting that the prevention of cyberbullying should not be restricted to school led initiatives as parents, care physicians, social workers and youth themselves should be key players in prevention. As previously highlighted, factors that increase victimisation such as low self-esteem, depression, social anxiety are predicators that can be addressed before cyberbullying occurs. The building of support systems around all children, paying special attention to those who have increased vulnerabilities such as disabled children or those with challenging circumstances at home, could assist in aiding their personal development which will in turn reduce the efficacy of cyberbullying.

If you have experienced cyberbullying and need support…

• https://kidshelpline.com.au/teens/issues/cyberbullying
• https://www.unicef.org/jordan/stories/cyberbullying-what-it-and-how-stop-it

Ella Allen