Cyberbullying among Turkish Adolescents

Abstract

Cyberbullying, harassment through the use of information and communication technology such as cell phones and the Internet, is an emerging phenomenon all around the world. Extensive research on aggression and bullying is guiding educators' understanding of cyberbullying. Yet the gap between the advancement in technology and the dearth of study on cyberbullying suggests that more research is needed to understand the scope of this form of bullying. In order to fill the gap in literature, 269 secondary school Turkish students were surveyed on their engagement in and coping strategies for cyberbullying. The results show that 35.7% of the students displayed bully behaviors, and 23.8% of the students displayed bully-victim behaviors. Only 5.9% of the students were victims. More boys displayed bully, victim, and bully-victim behaviors than girls. When faced with cyberbullying, 25% of the students reported telling their peers and parents about the cyberbullying incident, and 30.6% of the students reported finding active solutions such as blocking the harasser. The implication of the study for future research is discussed.

Bullying and Cyberbullying in Thailand: Coping Strategies and Relation to Age, Gender, Religion and Victim Status

“…Technical solutions can include avoidant coping behaviors such as changing the username or account ID, changing email address or phone number, unfriending on social media, and/or blocking messages or users (Aricak et al, 2008;Juvonen & Gross, 2008;Smith et al, 2008). Juvonen and Gross (2008) reported that 67% of participants in a US sample had blocked someone, 33% had removed the person from their friends list on the website, and 26% had changed their username or email.…”

Cyberbullying Among Secondary School Students

“…For instance, spreading rumors (7.8 %) on the internet were found to be common in this research. Arıcak et al (2008) found that spreading rumors (14.7 %) was more common among secondary school students. In contrary, Çetinkaya (2010) found that spreading rumors (2.9 %) was not very common.…”

“…Arıcak et al (2008) also found that saying things online that would not be said face to face was the most common cyber bullying behavior.…”

“…According to the results of the research carried out with 269 secondary school students by Arıcak et al (2008), 35.7 % of the participants were cyber bully, 5.5 % of the students were cyber victim and 23.8 % of them were both bully and victim. It was also found that male students showed more bully, victim and bully-victim behaviors than female students.…”

Aggression, Victimization and Sexual Harassment among Young Adolescents in Turkey

“…In a Turkish study, unwanted phone calls, text messages or comments on the phone, or on the internet were reported to be the most common forms of cyber aggression among the young adolescents (Yurtal & Cenkseven, 2016). In another study, 23.8% of young adolescents reported themselves to be both perpetrators and victims of cyber aggression, 35.7% were perpetrators only, and 5.9% victims only (Aricak et al, 2008). Yilmaz (2011) found that 17.9% of the responding young adolescents reported victimization from cyber aggression, and 6.4% of them reported perpetration of cyber aggression, with 'posting mean or hurtful comments online' being the most common form of cyber aggression.…”