Cyber bullying and its effects on the adolescent and youth health: A huge problem behind tiny keys

Abstract

Bullying is defined as the repeated act of violence toward victims on the basis of power imbalance. A new type of bullying is derived with the development of digital communication technologies such as the internet and mobile phones which is called "cyber bullying". Today being a victim of cyber bullying has become a major public health problem among adolescents and young people. While the act of cyber bullying is more common among boys, girls are reported to be usually the victim. Being a part of an ethnic minority, gender other than heterosexuality is a risk factor for cyber bullying victimization. There is a relation between eating behavior disorders, anxiety, depression, suicidal tendencies, anger, aggression, non-alcohol-addiction with mental health problems and cyber bullying victimization. Quality of life seems to be low in both victims and bullies. Also, disturbances among parents, siblings' relationships, and academic underperformance are associated with cyber bullying. It can be said that all subjects related to social and mental health can be affected by cyber bullying. The purpose of this review is to reveal what cyber bullying is, its risk factors, and its relationship on adolescents and young adults physical and mental health. IntroductionBullying is defined as an act of violence repeated over time in which there is a power imbalance between the victims and those who bully [1,2]. In traditional bullying, the victim and the bully are face-to-face. Traditional bullying can be categorized as physical like hitting-kicking, verbal like ridicule and threat, and relational like exclusion and spreading rumor. A new kind of bullying came into existence with the development of digital communication technologies such as the internet and mobile phone and is called "Cyber bullying" [3]. Cyber bullying is defined as deliberately and repeatedly damaging someone using digital technologies [4]. Cyber bullying is most commonly performed in the form of annoying messages and social attacks by unidentified messages through e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms, and websites. The target audience in bullying / cyber bullying studies is categorized as the bullies, the victims, those who are both the bully and the victim, and those who are neither the bully nor the victim [1,2]. Modecki and colleagues report in the meta-analysis study of the results of eighty studies that traditional bullying is seen twice as much as cyber bullying, and that traditional and cyber bullying are highly correlated [3]. For this reason, it is seen that most of the studies related to the subject are handled together with traditional and cyber bullying. The purpose of this review is to reveal what cyber bullying is, its risk groups, and its effects on the physical and mental health of adolescents and young adults.

Bullying among Teens: Are Ethnicity and Race Risk Factors for Victimization? A Bibliometric Research

“…As in other fields, a new era is also opening up for the world of violence in the classroom because of the use of information and communication technologies [2]. The bad intention, sometimes with which students can use the internet and mobile phones, generates a new type of aggression called cyberbullying [3]. All these aspects of violence are beginning to be considered a major public health problem [4], specifically for children [5], sometimes generating adverse behavior [6] and even leading to suicidal behavior in young people [7].…”

The Relationship Between Youth Cyberbullying Behaviors and Their Perceptions of Parental Emotional Support

“…As the Internet becomes an increasingly salient part of adolescents' lives, cyberbullying and its potentially harmful effects on youth who are targets of cyberbullying have emerged as major concerns (Boniel-Nissim and Sasson 2018; Patchin and Hinduja 2010). Evidence of how cyberbullying can produce emotional and behavioral harm in children and youth has heightened the urgency to unravel its causes and prevent or at least mitigate its effects (Kim et al 2019;Mishna et al 2016;Tözun 2018;Zych et al 2019).…”

The Mobile Phone Addiction and Depression Among High School Students: The Roles of Cyberbullying Victimization, Perpetration, and Gender

“…Technology use, such as mobile phone addiction, Internet addiction, etc., as personal factors, is directly related to cyberbullying behavior ( Gül et al, 2018 ; Chung and Shin, 2020 ). The high level of bullying victims is significantly associated with high levels of problem internet use and mobile phone addiction ( Li et al, 2020 ), while the victims develop higher levels of depression, perceived stress, loneliness, and social anxiety ( Buelga et al, 2012 ; Iranzo et al, 2019 ; Bochkareva and Strenin, 2021 ), low self-concept, life satisfaction and emotional intelligence ( Cañas et al, 2019 ), leading to suicidal tendencies, aggression, alcohol and drug abuse, truancy, and poor grades ( Kang, 2015 ; Tözun, 2018 ). Therefore, the effect of mobile phone addiction on high school students may be achieved by increasing the risk of cyberbullying victimization.…”