Spanish Youth Perceptions About Cyberbullying: Qualitative Research into Understanding Cyberbullying and the Role That Parents Play in Its Solution

Abstract

Studies on cyberbullying have been a recurring theme in psychological research over the past 10 years. These studies, as previously occurred with school bullying, have attempted to know the nature of this phenomenon and lower its prevalence, considering the negative consequences for both victims and perpetrators. However, given the epidemiological approach of initial studies, cyberbullying research has predominantly used a quantitative approach where surveys have been the most widely used methodology to evaluate cyberbullying.Research from this quantitative methodology has been devoted to analyze cyberbullying prevalence and risk and protective factors related to this phenomenon. Less attention has been paid to the meanings that youth confer to cyberbullying, considering the social nature of such interactions as well as the role that socialization agents (e.g., the family) play in cyberbullying. In this sense, qualitative research offers new ways to know youth's perspectives about cyberbullying, not only their own definitions about this type of aggression but also what role they believe that adults have to play in preventing and intervening in cyberbullying. Indeed, during the past few years, qualitative research has been increasingly fruitful. Several studies have analyzed the way children and adolescents from different countries perceive cyberbullying, the behaviors that they include as part of it, the impact of cyberbullying on those who suffer it, the reasons why youths engage in cyberbullying, and the coping strategies they use to stop cyberbullying (Ackers 2012;Agatston et al. 2007;Bryce and Fraser 2013;Cassidy et al. 2009;Compton et al. 2014;Frisén et al.

¿Qué hacen los menores en internet? Usos de las TIC, estrategias de supervisión parental y exposición a riesgos

“…Esta labor es muy importante para prevenir a los menores de los riesgos en la red que tanto impactan en su contexto personal y social (Navarro y Serna, 2016). En los últimos años se han sucedido estudios que tratan de conocer las estrategias que padres y madres ponen en marcha en su labor de supervisión.…”

Ideas for addressing electronic harassment among adolescents attending a video blogging convention

“…All research team members reviewed the vignette prior to use in the survey. Research has shown that both adolescents and researchers have differing definitions of cyberbullying [ 25 , 34 ]. As such, the term “cyberbullying” was intentionally excluded from the vignette to capture responses that considered broad electronic harassment behavior.…”

“…Internet and mobile use as well as the prevalence of electronic harassment in adolescent online communities establish adolescents as key stakeholders in developing electronic harassment interventions. Qualitative approaches to adolescent perspectives on the topic of electronic harassment are growing, and various methodologies exploring adolescent generated solutions have been utilized [ 25 , 26 ]. Some studies have approached this topic using surveys that asked participants to choose from predetermined solutions [ 27 , 28 ].…”

Trabajo colaborativo en el aula, bullying y cyberbullying: Estudio con adolescentes

“…Las consecuencias de este tipo de agresiones son similares a las del bullying tradicional, con especial énfasis de sus dimensiones verbal y psicológica. De hecho, este tipo de actuaciones suelen tener una mayor prolongación en el tiempo al pasar inadvertidas a los familiares, responsables educativos, etc., ocasionando graves consecuencias (Moore, y otros, 2017;Navarro & Serna, 2016). Dado el incremento exponencial que se ha producido en el uso de nuevas tecnologías en los jóvenes adolescentes, ligado al escaso control parental y la inestabilidad propia de la etapa adolescente, el cyberbullying se constituye como un fenómeno de igual o mayor relevancia que el anteriormente mencionado bullying (Elçi, 2016;Garaigordobil, 2013).…”