Cyberbullying and emotional distress in adolescents: the importance of family, peers and school

Abstract

The paper examines the role of socioeconomic status, family, parenting styles, peer relations and school factors in cyber-bullying with focus on emotional consequences. A survey was conducted with 259 participants (202 female) aged 19–25. 58,1% experienced some form of cyber violence, and 56,8% did not bully others. 21% report regular cyber victimization with distinct emotional disturbance (31,3%), anger (20,8%), helplessness (13,1%) and sorrow (20,5%). Girls talk to others about cyberbullying more often (p<,05). Boys (p<,05) and younger participants cyberbully others more (p<,01). Students with lower academic achievement cyberbully others more than those with average academic success (p<,01). Cyberbullying correlates negatively with traditional protective factors in risk behaviour aetiology (family, school and peer relations). Younger male participants (p<,01), who have less educated mothers (p<,05), lower academic achievement (p<,01) and report lower satisfaction with family life, peer relations and school attainment (p<,01) represent an average cyberbully profile. Age (p<,01) and school success (p<,01) predict cyberbullying for younger and academically less efficient participants. Emotional distress and reactiveness is the strongest predictor of cyber victimization (p<,001), while cyber victimization represents the strongest predictor for cyberbullying perpetration (p<,001). Peer pressure positively predicts cyber victimization (p<,01). Finally, lower family life quality predicts cyber victimization (p<,001), as well as cyberbullying perpetration (p<,05).

Exploring the Mediating Roles of State and Trait Anxiety on the Relationship between Middle Adolescents’ Cyberbullying and Depression

“…Cyberbullies usually exhibit school problems (i.e., substance use and aggressive behavior [ 13 , 18 , 19 ], they have low self-esteem, show hyperactivity, they have difficulty to express emotions appropriately (e.g., anger), and usually use technology as a way to vent their frustrations [ 20 , 21 ]. Due to their ability to keep their identity unknown and the lack of face-to-face contact with the victim, cyberbullies are mostly unlikely to experience compassion or sympathy toward the victim [ 22 ].…”

Elektroničko nasilje među djecom i mladima

“…U okviru čimbenika koji pridonose pojavi elektroničkog nasilja autori naglašavaju nasilno ponašanje prema vršnjacima u školi, probleme u ponašanju (Sticca, Ruggieri, Alsaker i Perren, 2013), vršnjačku neprihvaćenost (Hinduja i Patchin, 2013;Piccoli, Carnaghi, Grassi, Stragà i Bianchi, 2020), upuštanje u rizična ponašanja na internetu (npr. slanje provokativnih fotografija, dopisivanje s nepoznatim osobama), prekomjerno korištenje interneta (Schultze-Krumbholz, Schultze, Zagorscak, Wölfer i Scheithauer, 2016) te slabije razvijenu empatiju (Livazović i Ham, 2019), samokontrolu (Rivituso, 2019), niži stupanj emocionalne kompetencije i iskustvo ranije viktimizacije (Kircaburun, Demetrovics, Király i Griffiths, 2020;Yang i Salmivalli, 2013). Od obiteljskih su se varijabli značajnim prediktorima pokazali izostanak roditeljske podrške i povezanosti (Wang, Iannotti i Nansel, 2009) i roditeljskoga nadzora (Nocentini, Fiorentini, Di Paola i Menesini, 2018), ali i strogo discipliniranje i kažnjavanje (Wong, 2010) kao drugi krajevi kontinuuma roditeljske uključenosti.…”

Correlation Between Emotional Peer Support and Cyberbullying Behaviour in Senior High School Students

“…A survey was conducted with 259 participants as the sample (202 female), with all of the respondents aged 19-25 years of. In this survey, 58,1% had experienced some form of cyberviolence (Ham & Livazovic, 2019). Cyberbullying perpetration indicates the"repeated violation, harassment and ridicule of others online, or using mobilephones or even other electronic devices" (Patchin and Hinduja, 2012).…”

“…There is a vulnerability associated with the negative impact of smartphone use in adolescents, both emotionally and socially. Based on the results of the study, it shows that 21% report regular cyber-victimization with a distinct emotional disturbance (31,3%), anger (20,8%), helplessness (13,1%) and sorrow (20,5%) (Ham & Livazovic, 2019). The victims also feel insecure in any situation and they often experience despair due to the oppression in cyberspace (Vaillancourt, Faris, & Mishna, 2017).…”