Cyberbullying in WhatsApp classmates’ groups: Evaluation of an intervention program implemented in Israeli elementary and middle schools

Abstract

Social networking platforms, such as WhatsApp, constitute a major part of adolescents’ social lives. Alongside the positive aspects of such platforms, there is a risk of using them as a means for cyberbullying. Schools have become increasingly aware of this risk and are prioritizing fighting cyberbullying through intervention programs, yet few interventions have been studied for their effectiveness. This study reports the results of a wide-scale school-based intervention designed to reduce cyberbullying and improve usage norms in WhatsApp classmates’ groups. Data were collected from 52 classes in 12 public schools in Israel: n = 47 elementary school classes, 4th to 6th grades, and n = 5 middle school classes, 8th grade. A total of 1402 students answered questionnaires pre-intervention (51% females), while 90% of them ( n = 1268, 52% females) answered questionnaires 1 month post-intervention. Results indicated a significant decrease in WhatsApp cyberbullying and a significant improvement in classroom climate. In addition, improvement in WhatsApp usage norms was positively correlated with a decrease in WhatsApp cyberbullying.

The effectiveness of safe surfing, an anti-cyberbullying intervention program in reducing online and offline bullying and improving perceived popularity and self-esteem

“…However, traditional bullying victimization and other emotional and social factors such as self-esteem and popularity were not measured. The current study is an intervention study that evaluates the effectiveness of the updated version of the intervention program that was described by Aizenkot and Kashy-Rosenbaum (2018) in reducing bullying online and offline and improving student perceived popularity and self-esteem.…”

“…The questionnaire is based on previous questionnaires that examined cyberbullying and bullying (Aizenkot, 2017a;Aizenkot & Kashy-Rosenbaum, 2018;Heiman & Olenik-Shemesh, 2015;RAMA, 2016;Willard, 2007). Bullying online and offline among students was measured using 12 items divided into two types of bullying: (1) cyberbullying (6 items) and (2) bullying (6 items).…”

“…Cyberbullying was measured with reference to three types of cyberbullying: (1) verbal bullying; (2) doxxing, that is posting personal photos without consent, publishing unsolicited content and posting personal and sensitive information about a student; and, (3) exclusion, that is exclusion from a classmates' group and group rejection. This division was based on a taxonomy first proposed by Willard (2007) and structurally validated by Aizenkot (2017a) and Aizenkot and Kashy-Rosenbaum (2018). Aizenkot and Kashy-Rosenbaum (2018) reported results for a confirmatory factor analysis of the theoretical contraction of a 10-item questionnaire, based on a sample of N = 1407 elementary students.…”

“…This division was based on a taxonomy first proposed by Willard (2007) and structurally validated by Aizenkot (2017a) and Aizenkot and Kashy-Rosenbaum (2018). Aizenkot and Kashy-Rosenbaum (2018) reported results for a confirmatory factor analysis of the theoretical contraction of a 10-item questionnaire, based on a sample of N = 1407 elementary students. The exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation results validated the structural division of the questions into distinct dimensions explaining 78% of the variance between items.…”

Understanding the Importance WhatsApp Group and How Indonesian Students Utilize the Platform in Australia

“…Naturally, just like any other communication platform, controlling the delivered content would always pose problems to the participants of WA groups. Hoaxes and hate speech can go viral in an instant through this platform, to the extent that Indonesian government would limit the usage of WA [12], and cases of cyberbullying is also known to be apparent within WA group [13].…”