Background: Bullying
is a national public health problem affecting millions of students. With the
rapid increase in electronic or online communication, bullying is no longer
limited to schools. The goal of the current investigation was to examine the
overlap among targets of, and the similarities between, online and in-school
bullying among Internet-using adolescents. Additionally, a number of common
assumptions regarding online or cyber-bullying were tested.
Methods: An
anonymous Web-based survey was conducted with one thousand four hundred
fifty-four 12- to 17-year-old youth.
Results: Within
the past year, 72% of respondents reported at least 1 online incident of
bullying, 85% of whom also experienced bullying in school. The most frequent
forms of online and in-school bullying involved name-calling or insults, and the
online incidents most typically took place through instant messaging. When
controlling for Internet use, repeated school-based bullying experiences
increased the likelihood of repeated cyber-bullying more than the use of any
particular electronic communication tool. About two thirds of cyber-bullying
victims reported knowing their perpetrators, and half of them knew the bully
from school. Both in-school and online bullying experiences were independently
associated with increased social anxiety. Ninety percent of the sample reported
they do not tell an adult about cyber-bullying, and only a minority of
participants had used digital tools to prevent online incidents.
Conclusions: The
findings have implications for (1) school policies about cyberbullying, (2) parent
education about the risks associated with online communication, and (3) youth
advice regarding strategies to prevent and deal with cyberbullying incidents.
Jaana
Juvonen, PhD a Elisheva F. Gross, PhD b
a Professor, (j_juvonen@yahoo.com),
Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Hilgard Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90095. b Faculty Fellow, (gross@ucla.edu), Department of Psychology,
University of California, Los Angeles, Hilgard Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90095.
Correspondence
to Jaana Juvonen, Professor (j_juvonen@yahoo.com), Department of
Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Hilgard Ave, Los Angeles, CA
90095.