Cyberbullying in Children and Youth: Implications for Health and Clinical Practice

Abstract

We review the recent literature on cyberbullying and its effects on victimised youth, identifying key points. We conclude that cyberbullying, while following many of the underlying dynamics of more traditional forms of bullying, features some unique qualities that can both magnify the damage caused and make it more difficult to detect. These features include the pervasive, never-ending nature of cyberbullying and the ability to quickly reach large audiences. The potential for anonymity and the related distance afforded by screens and devices compared to in-person interaction allow the cruelty of cyberbullying to go unchecked. Despite the perceived anonymity of cyberbullying, cyberbullying can be perpetrated by friends, who often have intimate knowledge about the victimised youth that can be devastating when made public. Given the difficulty schools face in preventing or even detecting cyberbullying, health care providers are an important ally, due to their knowledge of the youth, the sense of trust they bring to youth, and their independence from the school setting. We conclude by calling for routine screening of bullying by health care providers who deal with paediatric populations. Abré géNous examinons la littérature récente sur la cyberintimidation et son effet sur les adolescents victimisés, et identifions les principaux points. Nous concluons que la cyberintimidation, même si elle suit des dynamiques sous-jacentes de nombreuses formes d'intimidation plus traditionnelles, présente certaines qualités uniques qui peuvent à la fois magnifier les dommages causés et les rendre plus difficiles à détecter. Ces traits sont notamment la nature envahissante, sans fin de la cyberintimidation et la capacité de joindre rapidement un vaste public. Le potentiel d'anonymat et la distance relative que favorisent les écrans et les machines comparativement à l'interaction en personne, permettent à la cruauté de la cyberintimidation de passer sans être contrô lée. Malgré l'anonymat perçu de la cyberintimidation, celle-ci peut être perpétrée par des amis, qui ont souvent des connaissances intimes au sujet de l'adolescent victimisé, lesquelles peuvent être dévastatrices quand elles sont rendues publiques. Étant donné la difficulté qu'éprouvent les écoles à prévenir ou même à détecter la cyberintimidation, les prestataires de soins de santé sont un allié important, en raison de leur connaissance des adolescents, du sentiment de confiance qu'ils inspirent aux jeunes, et de leur indépendance du cadre scolaire. Nous concluons en demandant un dépistage routinier de l'intimidation par les praticiens de la santé qui travaillent auprès des populations pédiatriques.

Cyberbullying: A narrative review

“…And in another study, cyberbullying among children and adolescents was more strongly associated with suicidal ideation than traditional bullying [9]. The greater severity of cyberbullying has been attributed to the attack being seen by a wider audience who can view it repeatedly and, in turn, share it, and it can happen any time of day and any day of the week [10].…”

A Model of Online Protection to Reduce Children’s Online Risk Exposure: Empirical Evidence From Asia

“…Conceptualized in prior studies outlined above, online risks refer to a set of wanted or unwanted inappropriate activities by children (as an actor, a receiver, or a participant), which includes (i) unwanted Sexual solicitation, such as requests to be exposed to unwanted sexual activities/sexual talk/divulging sexual information against their will (Chang et al, 2014;Lareki et al, 2017); (ii) risky sexual online behaviour, in which children participate in sexual behaviour online (Moore et al, 2017;Teimouri et al, 2014); (iii) potentially harmful content, where children are exposed to online violent content such as self-harm, suicide, pro-anorexia, drugs, hate/racism (Schilder, Brusselaers, & Bogaerts, 2016); sexting, which refers to sending/receiving sexual images/videos/texts online (Samimi & Alderson, 2014); (v) cyber-bullying, which refers to children being the victim of aggressive behaviour in the cyberspace (Vaillancourt, Faris, & Mishna, 2017), and (vi) personal data misuse, whereby children's information is misused or they are a victim of Internet fraud or theft (Teimouri et al, 2015). Online risks that children are exposed to, could generally be defined as any wanted or unwanted inappropriate activities by children (as an actor, a receiver, or a participant) which in the present study are specified as: unwanted sexual solicitation, risky sexual behaviour, potential harmful content, sexting, bullying, and personal data misuse.…”

Online Harassment and Cyberbullying Victimization and Its Emotional Impacts among Female Nursing and Non-Nursing Students

“…[29] The primary health care providers have been urged to take а more crucial and active roles in preventing the long-term health consequences associated with youth bullying. [30,31] Several online harassment prevention strategies have been suggested: (1) parental education can be the key to preventing online harassment, establishing clear rules and their implications. (2) Internet safety programs, Internet filters [32], and Anti-Bullying programs have had modest success with the average decrease in incidents being about 15%.…”