Adolescents’ Involvement in Cyber Bullying and Perceptions of School: The Importance of Perceived Peer Acceptance for Female Adolescents

Abstract

Young people are spending increasing amounts of time using digital technology and, as such, are at great risk of being involved in cyber bullying as a victim, bully, or bully/victim. Despite cyber bullying typically occurring outside the school environment, the impact of being involved in cyber bullying is likely to spill over to school. Fully 285 11- to 15-year-olds (125 male and 160 female, M age = 12.19 years, SD = 1.03) completed measures of cyber bullying involvement, self-esteem, trust, perceived peer acceptance, and perceptions of the value of learning and the importance of school. For young women, involvement in cyber bullying as a victim, bully, or bully/victim negatively predicted perceptions of learning and school, and perceived peer acceptance mediated this relationship. The results indicated that involvement in cyber bullying negatively predicted perceived peer acceptance which, in turn, positively predicted perceptions of learning and school. For young men, fulfilling the bully/victim role negatively predicted perceptions of learning and school. Consequently, for young women in particular, involvement in cyber bullying spills over to impact perceptions of learning. The findings of the current study highlight how stressors external to the school environment can adversely impact young women’s perceptions of school and also have implications for the development of interventions designed to ameliorate the effects of cyber bullying.

Prevalence and psychosocial predictors of cyberaggression and cybervictimization in adolescents: A Spain-Ecuador transcultural study on cyberbullying

“…Cyberbullying is associated with some psychological, social, educational, health and family problems that extend to those involved in the phenomena [3,[14][15][16][17][18]. However, at a greater extent, cybervictims may suffer discrimination among peers, depression, aggressiveness, anxiety, fear, somatic disorders, deterioration of self-esteem, academic problems, substance use, and suicidal attempts and ideation [15,17,19,20].…”

Cyberbullying in Adolescents from Ecuador and Spain: Prevalence and Differences in Gender, School Year and Ethnic-Cultural Background

“…Over the last two decades, the number of adolescents who communicate through the internet has surged, carrying with it the increased risk of being involved in cyberbullying [2][3][4]. This form of violence is linked to serious social, psychological, educational, and health problems for everyone involved [3,[5][6][7][8], but it is the victims who suffer most, with social exclusion, profound depression, the use of addictive substances, or the ideation and attempts or consummation of suicide among the most serious consequences [9,10]. In addition, cyberbullying threatens the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.…”

Hot Topics of Teenage Students’ Cyberbullying Based on Web of Science

“…The more adolescents engage in cyber aggression, the more loneliness they feel, the lower self-worth is, the fewer mutual friendships they have, the fewer the ratings of social acceptance and popularity by peers are. These consequences, in turn, reduce the perception of learning and school for cyberbullies (Betts, Spenser, & Gardner, 2017;Jacobs, Völlink, Dehue, & Lechner, 2014). Ybarra and Mitchell (2004) reported that 34.7% of aggressor-only youth showed problem behavior, 27.8% had low school commitment, 46% indicated cigarette or alcohol use, and 10.2% were severely depressed.…”

“…They could recover from the negative effects faster (Fridh, Lindström, & Rosvall, 2015;Sakellariou, Carroll, & Houghton, 2012). Girls who had experienced cyberbullying had a negative impact on their learning outlook and school value, and were more likely to truancy and took a negative attitude towards school (Betts, Spenser, & Gardner, 2017). However, when faced with cyberbullying, girls are more likely than boys to seek social support for respect, understanding, and a sense of social belonging (Fridh, Lindström, & Rosvall, 2015).…”