Bullying in school and cyberspace: Associations with depressive symptoms in Swiss and Australian adolescents

Abstract

BackgroundCyber-bullying (i.e., bullying via electronic means) has emerged as a new form of bullying that presents unique challenges to those victimised. Recent studies have demonstrated that there is a significant conceptual and practical overlap between both types of bullying such that most young people who are cyber-bullied also tend to be bullied by more traditional methods. Despite the overlap between traditional and cyber forms of bullying, it remains unclear if being a victim of cyber-bullying has the same negative consequences as being a victim of traditional bullying.MethodThe current study investigated associations between cyber versus traditional bullying and depressive symptoms in 374 and 1320 students from Switzerland and Australia respectively (52% female; Age: M = 13.8, SD = 1.0). All participants completed a bullying questionnaire (assessing perpetration and victimisation of traditional and cyber forms of bullying behaviour) in addition to scales on depressive symptoms.ResultsAcross both samples, traditional victims and bully-victims reported more depressive symptoms than bullies and non-involved children. Importantly, victims of cyber-bullying reported significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms, even when controlling for the involvement in traditional bullying/victimisation.ConclusionsOverall, cyber-victimisation emerged as an additional risk factor for depressive symptoms in adolescents involved in bullying.

Head and Face Injuries in Brazilian Schoolchildren Victims of Physical Bullying: A Population-Based Study

“…Committing bullying against others is more strongly associated with externalizing problems, while being victim is related to internalizing symptoms [6].…”

“…The prevalence of bullying reported in literature shows great variability, with 13.6% among Swiss and Australian adolescents [6], 28.0% among South African students [7] and 47% among Jordanian students [8]. In Brazil, the prevalence ranges from 17.6 % [9] to 30.8 % [10].…”

Correlates of bullying in Quebec high school students: The vulnerability of sexual-minority youth

“…Despite increased awareness and prevention efforts, the prevalence of victims of bullying among students remains high, exceeding 80% in some contexts (Perren et al, 2010;Roberto et al, 2014). In addition to traditional forms of bullying, the growing presence of new technologies in our life, such as easy Internet access, allows for a new form of bullying, namely cyberbullying (Kowalski et al, 2014;Kramer and Vaquera, 2011).…”

Violencia Escolar en La Adolescencia: Diferencias Por Género, Edad Y Tipo De Centro

“…La gran mayoría de los miembros de las comunidades educativas de los centros de la provincia de Ourense perciben un buen ambiente escolar, si bien los tipos de violencia escolar evaluados, aparecen en mayor o menor medida en estos centros educativos. Los valores que se encontraron en este estudio son bajos, similares a los obtenidos en otras investigaciones (Cerezo, 2009;Perren, Dooley, Shaw y Cross, 2010;Sánchez-Lacasa y Cerezo, 2010).…”