No abstract

Many studies have reported on gender differences in bully and victim rates, but with the majority of reports from a small number of countries. Here we report on such gender differences from five large cross-national data bases. We report on overall male:female (M:F) ratios, and variations in these by age (or grade), by survey time point, and by offline/online bullying. We also compare consistency of M:F ratios across countries, over the five surveys. The preponderance of male perpetrators of bullying is found consistently across surveys, and survey time point. It is also consistent by age, but HBSC data suggest a curvilinear trend in early adolescence. Males also tend to more frequently be victims of bullying, consistent across age and survey time point, but with variations by survey. There is some indication of a decrease in M:F ratio recently in mid-adolescence, possibly related to online bullying. At least relatively, females are more involved as victims of online than offline bullying. Comparing recent findings on M:F ratio across countries for the five surveys, correlations vary from high to near zero.Implications for the explanation of gender differences in different countries, the comparability of data from different surveys, and for gender-specific interventions, are discussed.

No abstract

The characteristics of bullies who act face to face and those who do so in cyberspace were compared directly in one sample across 25 countries. The nature of cross-country differences due to their technological infrastructure was also explored. Cyberbullies compared to face-to-face bullies were more likely to engage in risky online activities, spend more time online, and were finding it easier to be themselves online. Private access to the internet did not make a difference. Gender differences showed girls more likely to be cyber-than face-toface bullies when a profile on a social networking site was present. Age and internet ability beliefs were also positively but not independently associated with cyberbullying. Cross-country differences were small and patterns remained mostly stable across countries, suggesting that individual and not country-level characteristics are pivotal in explaining cyberbullying.