Adolescents’ Cyber Victimization: The Influence of Technologies, Gender, and Gender Stereotype Traits

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of gender and gender stereotype traits (masculinity, femininity) in cyber victimization behaviors (cyber relational victimization, cyber verbal victimization, hacking) through different technologies (mobile phones, gaming consoles, social networking sites). There were 456 8th graders (226 females; M age = 13.66, SD = 0.41) from two midwestern middle schools in the United States included in this study. They completed questionnaires on their endorsement of masculine and feminine traits, and self-reported cyber victimization through different technologies. The findings revealed main effects of types of cyber victimization for boys and of technology for girls. In particular, boys with feminine traits experienced the most victimization by cyber verbal aggression, cyber relational aggression, and hacking when compared to the other groups of boys. Girls with feminine traits experienced the most cyber victimization through social networking sites, gaming consoles, and mobile phones in comparison to the other groups of girls. For girls with feminine traits, they reported more cyber relational victimization and cyber verbal victimization through mobile phones and social networking sites, as well as more hacking via social networking sites. Such findings underscore the importance of considering gender stereotype traits, types of victimization, and technologies when examining cyber victimization.

How is Online Disinhibition Related to Adolescents’ Cyberbullying Perpetration? Empathy and Gender as Moderators

“…To account for the potential confounding effects, three individual factors (i.e., age, trait anger, and cyber-victimization) and one family environmental factor (i.e., families’ economic stress) were considered as control variables when the hypotheses were examined. Prior studies indicate that cyberbullying perpetration is positively associated with these variables (Antoniadou & Kokkinos, 2018; Jiang et al, 2019; Kowalski et al, 2014; Lapa et al, 2013; Schieman & Van Gundy, 2000; Walrave & Heirman, 2011; Wang et al, 2017, 2019b; Wright & Wachs, 2020; Yang et al, 2020; Zych et al, 2019). For instance, the results show that cyberbullying perpetration is often significantly associated with cyber victimization (Zych et al, 2019), and trait anger is significantly and positively associated with cyberbullying perpetration (Wang et al, 2017; Yang et al, 2020).…”

“…Our expectation was roughly supported by some empirical studies. For instance, empathy moderates the association between witnessing homophobic cyberbullying and homophobic cyberbullying perpetration (Wright & Wachs, 2020) and the relationship between bystander of cyberbullying perpetration and depression (Wright et al, 2018). Furthermore, one study recently indicates that high empathy significantly attenuates the relationship between moral disengagement and cyberbullying perpetration (Fang et al, 2020c).…”

The Investigation of Internet Addiction, Cyber Victimization Levels and Perception of Parental Monitoring in Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…İnternetin yoğun kullanımı ile birlikte siber mağduriyet ve siber zorbalık gibi durumların ortaya çıkmasında da artış görülmektedir (7). Siber mağduriyet; internet, oyun konsolları ve cep telefonları gibi bilgi ve iletişim teknolojileri aracılığıyla saldırgan davranışlar yaşamak olarak tanımlanmaktadır (8). Siber mağduriyet sıklığı ile ilgili olarak verilen çalışmaların metodolojisine göre değişmekle birlikte % 4 ile %43 arasında değişkenlik gösterebilmektedir (8).…”

“…Siber mağduriyet; internet, oyun konsolları ve cep telefonları gibi bilgi ve iletişim teknolojileri aracılığıyla saldırgan davranışlar yaşamak olarak tanımlanmaktadır (8). Siber mağduriyet sıklığı ile ilgili olarak verilen çalışmaların metodolojisine göre değişmekle birlikte % 4 ile %43 arasında değişkenlik gösterebilmektedir (8). Siber zorbalığa maruz kalmak çocuk ve gençler üzerinde depresyon, intihar, travma sonrası stres bozukluğu (TSSB), anksiyete bozuklukları, yeme bozuklukları, alkol kullanım bozuklukları gibi bir çok psikiyatrik hastalığa neden olabilmektedir (9)(10)(11).…”

Online dating applications and risk of youth victimization: A lifestyle exposure perspective

“…Research evidence has been somewhat mixed about the relationship between gender and cybervictimization. Some studies have suggested that sexual victimization is more likely among females (see, e.g., Holt et al, 2016), whereas males seem to be more likely to experience online aggression (e.g., Erdur-Baker, 2010), but victimization can also be explained by other factors, such as the extent of gender stereotypic behavior (Wright & Wachs, 2020).…”