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Bài 6-Cyberbullying and its impact on young people's emotional health and well-being

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Bài 6-Cyberbullying and its impact on young people's emotional health and well-being

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Bài 6

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The nature of cyberbullying

Traditional face-to-face bullying has long been identified as a risk factor for the social and emotional adjustment of perpetrators, targets and bully victims during childhood and adolescence; bystanders are also known to be negatively affected. The emergence of cyberbullying indicates that perpetrators have turned their attention to technology (including mobile telephones and the internet) as a powerful means of exerting their power and control over others. Reference Smith, Mahdavi, Carvalho, Fisher, Russell and Tippett10 Cyberbullies have the power to reach their targets at any time of the day or night.

Cyberbullying takes a number of forms, to include:

1. * flaming: electronic transmission of angry or rude messages;

2. * harassment: repeatedly sending insulting or threatening messages;

3. * cyberstalking: threats of harm or intimidation;

4. * denigration: put-downs, spreading cruel rumours;

5. * masquerading: pretending to be someone else and sharing information to damage a person's reputation;

6. * outing: revealing personal information about a person which was shared in confidence;

7. * exclusion: maliciously leaving a person out of a group online, such as a chat line or a game, ganging up on one individual. Reference Schenk and Fremouw11

Cyberbullying often occurs in the context of relationship difficulties, such as the break-up of a friendship or romance, envy of a peer's success, or in the context of prejudiced intolerance of particular groups on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability. Reference Hoff and Mitchell12

A survey of 23 420 children and young people across Europe found that, although the vast majority were never cyberbullied, 5% were being cyberbullied more than once a week, 4% once or twice a month and 10% less often. Reference Livingstone, Haddon, Anke Görzig and Ólafsson13 Many studies indicate a significant overlap between traditional bullying and cyberbullying. Reference Perren, Dooley, Shaw and Cross5,Reference Sourander, Brunstein, Ikomen, Lindroos, Luntamo and Koskelainen6,Reference Kowalski and Limber14,Reference Ybarra and Mitchell15 However, a note of caution is needed when interpreting the frequency and prevalence of cyberbullying. As yet, there is no uniform agreement on its definition and researchers differ in the ways they gather their data, with some, for example, asking participants whether they have 'ever' been cyberbullied and others being more specific, for example, 'in the past 30 days'.

The impact of cyberbullying on emotional health and well-being

Research consistently identifies the consequences of bullying for the emotional health of children and young people. Victims experience lack of acceptance in their peer groups, which results in loneliness and social isolation. The young person's consequent social withdrawal is likely to lead to low self-esteem and depression. Bullies too are at risk. They are more likely than non-bullies to engage in a range of maladaptive and antisocial behaviours, and they are at risk of alcohol and drugs dependency; like victims, they have an increased risk of depression and suicidal ideation. Studies among children and adolescents indicate moderate to strong relationships between being nominated by peers as a bully or a victim at different time points, suggesting a process of continuity. The effects of being bullied at school can persist into young adulthood.

Studies demonstrate that most young people who are cyberbullied are already being bullied by traditional, face-to-face methods. Cyberbullying can extend into the target's life at all times of the day and night and there is evidence for additional risks to the targets of cyberbullying, including damage to self-esteem, academic achievement and emotional well-being. For example, Schenk & Fremouw Reference Schenk and Fremouw11 found that college student victims of cyberbullying scored higher than matched controls on measures of depression, anxiety, phobic anxiety and paranoia. Studies of school-age cyber victims indicate heightened risk of depression, of psychosomatic symptoms such as headaches, abdominal pain and sleeplessness Reference Sourander, Brunstein, Ikomen, Lindroos, Luntamo and Koskelainen6 and of behavioural difficulties including alcohol consumption. Reference Mitchell, Ybarra and Finkelhor25 As found in studies of face-to-face bullying, cyber victims report feeling unsafe and isolated, both at school and at home. Similarly, cyberbullies report a range of social and emotional difficulties, including feeling unsafe at school, perceptions of being unsupported by school staff and a high incidence of headaches. Like traditional bullies, they too are engaged in a range of other antisocial behaviours, conduct disorders, and alcohol and drug misuse.

Technological solutions

The most fundamental way of dealing with cyberbullying is to attempt to prevent it in the first place, through whole-school e-safety policies and through exposure to the wide range of informative websites that abound (e.g. UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS; www.education.gov.uk/ukccis), ChildLine ( www.childline.org.uk)). Many schools now train pupils in e-safety and 'netiquette' to equip them with the critical tools that they will need to understand the complexity of the digital world and become aware of its risks as well as its benefits. Techniques include blocking bullying behaviour online or creating panic buttons for cyber victims to use when under threat. Price & Dalgleish Reference Price and Dalgleish30 found that blocking was considered as a most helpful online action by cyber victims and a number of other studies have additionally found that deleting nasty messages and stopping use of the internet were effective strategies. However, recent research by Kumazaki et al Reference Kumazaki, Kanae, Katsura, Akira and Megumi31 found that training young people in netiquette did not significantly reduce or prevent cyberbullying. Clearly there is a need for further research to evaluate the effectiveness of different types of technological intervention.

Asking adults for help

Parents play an important role in prevention by banning websites and setting age-appropriate limits of using the computer and internet. Reference Kowalski and Limber14 Poor parental monitoring is consistently associated with a higher risk for young people to be involved in both traditional and cyberbullying, whether as perpetrator or target. Reference Ybarra and Mitchell15 However, adults may be less effective in dealing with cyberbullying once it has occurred. Most studies confirm that it is essential to tell someone about the cyberbullying rather than suffer in silence and many students report that they would ask their parents for help in dealing with a cyberbullying incident. On the other hand, some adolescents recommend not consulting adults because they fear loss of privileges (e.g. having and using mobile telephones and their own internet access), and because they fear that their parents would simply advise them to ignore the situation or that they would not be able to help them as they are not accustomed to cyberspace. Reference Smith, Mahdavi, Carvalho, Fisher, Russell and Tippett10,Reference Hoff and Mitchell12,Reference Kowalski and Limber14,Reference Stacey29 In a web-based survey of 12- to 17-year-olds, of whom most had experienced at least one cyberbullying incident in the past year, Juvonen & Gross Reference Juvonen and Gross24 found that 90% of the victims did not tell their parents about their experiences and 50% of them justified it with 'I need to learn to deal with it myself'.

Students also have a rather negative and critical attitude to teachers' support and a large percentage consider telling a teacher or the school principal as rather ineffective. Although 17% of students reported to a teacher after a cyberbullying incident, in 70% of the cases the school did not react to it. Reference Hoff and Mitchell12

Involving peers

Young people are more likely to find it helpful to confide in peers. Reference Livingstone, Haddon, Anke Görzig and Ólafsson13,Reference Price and Dalgleish30,Reference DiBasilio33 Additionally, it is essential to take account of the bystanders who usually play a critical role as audience to the cyberbullying in a range of participant roles, and who have the potential to be mobilised to take action against cyberbullying. For example, a system of young cyber mentors, trained to monitor websites and offer emotional support to cyber victims, was positively evaluated by adolescents. Reference Banerjee, Robinson and Smalley35 Similarly, DiBasilio Reference DiBasilio33 showed that peer leaders in school played a part in prevention of cyberbullying by creating bullying awareness in the school, developing leadership skills among students, establishing bullying intervention practices and team-building initiatives in the student community, and encouraging students to behave proactively as bystanders. This intervention successfully led to a decline in cyberbullying, in that the number of students who participated in electronic bullying decreased, while students' understanding of bullying widened.

Discussion

Although recommended strategies for coping with cyberbullying abound, there remains a lack of evidence about what works best and in what circumstances in counteracting its negative effects. However, it would appear that if we are to solve the problem of cyberbullying, we must also understand the networks and social groups where this type of abuse occurs, including the importance that digital worlds play in the emotional lives of young people today, and the disturbing fact that cyber victims can be targeted at any time and wherever they are, so increasing their vulnerability.

There are some implications for professionals working with children and young people. Punitive methods tend on the whole not to be effective in reducing cyberbullying. In fact, as Shariff & Strong-Wilson Reference Shariff, Strong-Wilson and Kincheloe36 found, zero-tolerance approaches are more likely to criminalise young people and add a burden to the criminal justice system. Interventions that work with peer-group relationships and with young people's value systems have a greater likelihood of success. Professionals also need to focus on the values that are held within their organisations, in particular with regard to tolerance, acceptance and compassion for those in distress. The ethos of the schools where children and young people spend so much of their time is critical. Engagement with school is strongly linked to the development of positive relationships with adults and peers in an environment where care, respect and support are valued and where there is an emphasis on community. As Batson et al Reference Batson, Ahmad, Lishner, Tsang, Snyder and Lopez37 argue, empathy-based socialisation practices encourage perspective-taking and enhance prosocial behaviour, leading to more satisfying relationships and greater tolerance of stigmatised outsider groups. This is particularly relevant to the discussion since researchers have consistently found that high-quality friendship is a protective factor against mental health difficulties among bullied children. Reference Skrzypiec, Slee, Askell-Williams and Lawson38

Finally, research indicates the importance of tackling bullying early before it escalates into something much more serious. This affirms the need for schools to establish a whole-school approach with a range of systems and interventions in place for dealing with all forms of bullying and social exclusion. External controls have their place, but we also need to remember the interpersonal nature of cyberbullying. This suggests that action against cyberbullying should be part of a much wider concern within schools about the creation of an environment where relationships are valued and where conflicts are seen to be resolved in the spirit of justice and fairness.

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Cyberbullying and its impact on young people's emotional health and well-being | The Psychiatrist | Cambridge Core

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Cyberbullying and its impact on young people's emotional health and well-being - Volume 37 Issue 5

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Bài 10- Cyberbullying victimization and nonsuicidal self-injury in adolescents: Testing a moderated mediating model of emotion reactivity and dispositional mindfulness

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Bài 10- Cyberbullying victimization and nonsuicidal self-injury in adolescents: Testing a moderated mediating model of emotion reactivity and dispositional mindfulness

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Bài 14-Prevalence and related risks of cyberbullying and its effects on adolescent

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Bài 14-Prevalence and related risks of cyberbullying and its effects on adolescent

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Prevalence and related risks of cyberbullying and its effects on adolescent - BMC Psychiatry

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Background Cyberbullying is becoming common in inflicting harm on others, especially among adolescents. This study aims to assess the prevalence of cyberbullying, determine the risk factors, and assess the association between cyberbullying and the psychological status of adolescents facing this problem in the Jazan region, Saudi Arabia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 355 students, aged between 12–18 years, through a validated online questionnaire to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of cyberbullying and assess psychological effects based on cyberbullying questionnaire and Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5) questions. Results The participants in this study numbered 355; 68% of participants were females compared to 32% were males. Approximately 20% of the participants spend more than 12 h daily on the Internet, and the estimated overall prevalence of cyberbullying was 42.8%, with the male prevalence slightly higher than females. In addition, 26.3% of the participants were significantly affected in their academic Performance due to cyberbullying. Approximately 20% of all participants considered leaving their schools, 19.7% considered ceasing their Internet use, and 21.1% considered harming themselves due to the consequences of cyberbullying. There are essential links between the frequency of harassment, the effect on academic Performance, and being a cyber victim. Conclusions Cyberbullying showed a high prevalence among adolescents in the Jazan region with significant associated psychological effects. There is an urgency for collaboration between the authorities and the community to protect adolescents from this harmful occurrence.

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Bài 18- Cyberbullying among University Students: Gendered Experiences, Impacts, and Perspectives

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Bài 18- Cyberbullying among University Students: Gendered Experiences, Impacts, and Perspectives

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Bài 2- Cyberbullying victimization and suicidal ideation among in-school adolescents in three countries: implications for prevention and intervention

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Bài 2- Cyberbullying victimization and suicidal ideation among in-school adolescents in three countries: implications for prevention and intervention

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Cyberbullying victimization and suicidal ideation among in-school adolescents in three countries: implications for prevention and intervention - BMC Psychiatry

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Background Countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean are among the countries with the highest adolescent cyberbullying crimes. However, empirical evidence about the effect of cyberbullying victimization on suicidal ideation among in-school adolescents in these countries remains limited. The present study examined the association between cyberbullying victimization and suicidal ideation among in-school adolescents in Argentina, Panama, St Vincent, and the Grenadines. Methods A representative cross-sectional data from 51,405 in-school adolescents was used. Hierarchical logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association between cyberbulling victimization and suicidal ideation. Results Overall, 20% and 21.1% of the adolescents reported cyberbullying victimization and suicidal ideation, respectively in the past year before the survey. Suicidal ideation was higher among adolescents who experienced cyberbullying victimization (38.4%) than those who did not experience cyberbullying victimization (16.6%). Significantly higher odds of suicidal ideation were found among adolescents who had experienced cyberbullying victimization than those who had not experienced cyberbullying victimization [aOR = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.77–1.98]. Conclusion This finding calls for developing and implementing evidence-based programs and practices by school authorities and other relevant stakeholders to reduce cyberbullying victimization among adolescents in this digital age. Protective factors such as parental support and peer support should be encouraged.

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Bài 19- Growing relevance of reports of adolescent cyberbullying victimization among adult outpatients

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Bài 19- Growing relevance of reports of adolescent cyberbullying victimization among adult outpatients

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Growing relevance of reports of adolescent cyberbullying victimization among adult outpatients - BMC Public Health

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In the general population, prevalence rates of cyberbullying victimization have continuously increased over the past decades. However, the extent to which these increasing numbers affect clinical populations seeking treatment in outpatient services remains an open question. The present study sought to examine whether the increase of cyberbullying victimization is also reflected by increased reports of cyberbullying victimization in a clinical outpatient population. In addition, we assessed the incremental contribution of experiences of cyberbullying in the prediction of psychological symptoms when controlling for histories of childhood maltreatment and offline peer victimization. For this purpose, we analyzed routine data from N = 827 outpatients who had sought treatment at a University outpatient clinic for psychotherapy between 2012 and 2021 in a cross-sectional study design. Analyses showed that 8.3% of the patients born in the years 1980 to 2002 indicated the experience of cyberbullying victimization in their adolescence. The rate of reported cyberbullying victimization increased from 1 to 3% in patients born in the years 1980 to 1987 to 24% in patients born in the year 2000. A logistic regression revealed that patients born in the years 1995–2002 were up to nineteen times as likely to report cyberbullying victimization as patients born in the years 1980–1982. In addition, hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that cyberbullying victimization significantly accounted for an incremental proportion of variance (1%) in the prediction of psychological symptom distress after controlling for child maltreatment and offline peer victimization. In conclusion, this retrospective survey indicates an increase of the clinical relevance of cyberbullying victimization both in frequency of and potential contribution to etiology. Raising attention to cyberbullying in clinical care and research seems to be justified and warranted.

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Bài 11- The effects of cyberbullying victimization on depression and suicidal ideation among adolescents and young adults: a three year cohort study from India

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Bài 11- The effects of cyberbullying victimization on depression and suicidal ideation among adolescents and young adults: a three year cohort study from India

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BMC Psychiatry 22, Article number: 599 (2022) Cite this article

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Abstract

Background

Cyberbullying victimisation is considered a global public health issue concerning the psychological development of adolescents that oftentimes persists into adulthood. The current study explored the longitudinal relationship between cyberbullying victimisation and depression and suicidal ideation among adolescents and young adults, given the scarcity of such studies in poor-resource settings like India.

Methods

Data were drawn from the "Understanding the Lives of Adolescents and Young Adults" (UDAYA- 2015-16 and 2018-19) surveys conducted in two most-populated Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Bivariate and logistic regression analysis was conducted to fulfil the objectives of the study using a sample of 4428 and 11,864 adolescent (aged 10-19 years) male and female cohorts, respectively.

Results

The prevalence of cyberbullying victimization increased from 3.8% to 6.4% among female respondents and 1.9% to 5.6% among male respondents over three years. About 33% of females and 16.6% of males had depressive symptoms in their young adulthood. Nearly 7.5% females compared to 2.3% of males, reported that they have seriously considered attempting suicide in the past one year. Adolscents who experienced cyberbullying victimization were 2.07 times more likely to have depressive symptoms comapared to those who did not experience cyberbullying victimization. Similarly, adolescents who experienced cyberbullying victimization were 2.50 times more likely to have suicidal ideation than their counterparts with no experience of cyberbullying victimization.

Conclusion

The findings suggest that cyberbullying victims are at higher risk of depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts and these adverse effects persist for longer period. Therefore, cyberbullying and related mental health problems need to be addressed with more efficient strategies such as increased awareness of nuances of online harassments among adolescent and young adult population.

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Introduction

Technological advancements in the last few years have led to increased social interactions that have negative consequences, known as cyberbullying [ 1]. Being bullied in adolescence is considered a global public health issue concerning the psychological development of adolescents that oftentimes persists into adulthood [ 2, 3]. Features of cyberbullying such as publicity, permanence (i.e., single acts leading repeated harassments through views and distribution by others) and permeability of online messaging exacerbate the negative effects on adolescents' mental health [ 1, 4]. It is documented in multiple studies that adolescents who are cyberbullied by their friends or peers are at greater risk for mental problems including lower levels of self-esteem, feeling of loneliness, depression and suicidal ideation [ 5, 6, 7].

Importantly, victims of cyberbullying among adolescents even if the victimization is at low levels, are at higher risk of future mental health problems [ 7]. Further, several cross-sectional as well as longitudinal studies have reported that cyberbullying victimization is associated with an increased risk of suicidal ideation, self-harm and suicide attempts [ 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. Extant literature has examined various factors such as lack of peer support, emotional intelligence, violent behaviour, substance use and access to social media and internet that may influence the association between cyberbullying victimisation and diverse forms of mental health disturbances [ 1, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]. Also, in multiple studies, adolescent girls' mental health was more compromised than of boys due to exposure to cyberbullying [ 18, 19]. The increased prevalence of cyberbullying victimization among female adolescents than males that lead to mental problems and suicidal ideation is reported in multiple studies [ 11, 20].

A growing body of literature suggests that depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts are elevated among adolescents and young adults who consume alcohol or smoke tobacco or consume illegal drugs [ 21, 22, 23, 24]. Besides, earlier research has shown the co-occurrence of conduct problems and depressed mood among individuals that increases their risk of suicidal ideation [ 25]. Furthermore, family socioeconomic status, measured through family income and parental educational attainment, was significantly associated with adolescent mental health [ 26, 27]. A review of 55 studies among children and adolescents aged four to 18 years revealed that low socioeconomic status was longitudinally related to higher rates of mental health problems. Also,children and adolescents, who were socioeconomically disadvantaged, were two to three times more likely to develop depression and other mental health problems [ 28]. A list of social determinants, namely, place of residence, religion, race or ethnicity, work and education is also considered to influence depression and suicidal thoughts among adolescents and young adults, especially in particular Indian context [ 24, 29, 30].

Several studies have examined the mechanisms underlying the association between cyberbullying victimization and depression among adolescents and young adults, and found that hopelessness [ 31], lowered self-esteem [ 32], psychological insecurity [ 33] and increased fears of loneliness [ 34] mediate such association. Similarly, emotional intelligence [ 35] and depressive symptoms [ 36] were shown to play a buffering role in the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and suicidal thoughts. Although internet and smartphone use come up with numerous benefits, it also has negative consequences and public health concerns in the present time. Since the use of technologies has increased in terms of internet communities and social networking web sites, chat rooms, and mobile phones, the cyberbullying may occur more frequently with greater repercussions than traditional bullying [ 37, 38]. Figure 1 demonstrates how cyberbullying victimization can lead to low level of self-esteem, psychological insecurity and fear of lonliness resulting in depression and sucidial ideation. Examining such association can help inform policymakers the importance of interventions in current mental health policy and pre-existing multi-level approaches supporting mental health and anti-bullying efforts.

Conceptual framework for depression and sucicial thoughts

Adolescents with depression in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) including India carry a double burden of depression and increased risk of engaging in risky behaviors and may impose a health burden on society as a whole [ 39]. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore the longitudinal relationship between cyberbullying victimisation and depression and suicidal ideation in adolescents and young adults, given the scarcity of studies in poor-resource settings like India. The study also explores such associations after controlling for several confounding variables such as violent behaviour, substance use and peer connection among adolescents and young adults.

Methods

Study degisn and setting

The present study used data from the "Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults" (UDAYA) survey, which was conducted in two most populated Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar by Population Council under the guidance of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India [ 40]. The first wave was conducted in 2015-2016, and the follow-up survey was conducted after 3 years in 2018-2019. With the use of a multi-stage sampling procedure, the survey gathered information on family, media, community environment, and quality of transitions to young adulthood indicators, and provide the estimates for states as a whole as well as rural and urban of both states. The detail sampling were presented somewhere else [ 40]. The sample size for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar was 10,161 and 10,433 adolescents aged 10-19 years, respectively.

In wave-1 (2015-16), 20,594 adolescents were interviewed using the structured questionnaire with a response rate of 92%. Moreover, in wave-2 (2018-19), the study again interviewed the participants who were successfully interviewed in 2015-16 and consented to be re-interviewed [ 40]. Of the 20,594 eligible for the re-interview, the survey reinterviewed 4567 unmarried males and 12,251 females. After excluding the respondents who gave an inconsistent response to age and education in the follow-up survey (3%), the fnal follow-up sample covered 4428 males and 11,864 females, with a follow-up rate of 74% for males and 81% for females [ 40]. For this study, a total sample of 16,292 adolescent males and females aged 13-23 in 2018-19 considered with participants who were successfully interviewed in 2015-2016 and consented to be re-interviewed.

Outcome variable

This analysis contains depressive symptoms at wave 2 and suicidal ideation at wave 2 as the outcome variables. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) [ 41]; the respondent were asked about the symptoms in the past two weeks. The nine questions included, (a) had trouble falling asleep or sleeping too much, (b) feeling tired or having little energy, (c) poor appetite or eating too much, (d) trouble concentrating on things, (e) had little interest or pleasure in doing things, (f) feeling down, depressed, or hopeless, (g) feeling bad about yourself, (h) been moving or speaking slowly, (i) had thoughts that respondent would be better off dead. All the above questions were asked on a scale of four, i.e., 0 "not at all," 1 "less than once in a week," 2 "one week or more" and 3 "nearly every day." The scale of 27 points was obtained using the egen command in STATA 14. The variable was recorded as 1 "yes" meaning meeting criteria for a depressive disorder if the respondent scored five and above on 0-27 scale and 0 "no depressive symptom" if the respondent scored less than five on the scale (0-4, minimal) [ 41, 42]. Suicidal Ideation at wave 2 was recoded as 1 "yes" if the respondent had seriously considered attempting suicide in the last 1 years and 0 "no" if there was no such attempt [ 43].

Key explanatory variable

The main explanatory variable was cyberbullying victimization at wave 1 and wave 2, Cyberbullying victimization was assessed using the questions "Has anyone ever used a cell phone or text messaging to bother or harass you or to spread mean words or pictures about you?" and "Has anyone ever used the internet to bother or harass you or to spread mean words or pictures about you?" and it was categorized as 1 "yes" if the respondent had an affirmative answer to either of the questions and 0 "no" if the respondent did not experience cyberbullying through mobile/internet [ 44].

Other explanatory variables

Several potential confounders were selected and included in the current analyses according to the existing literature. Substance use was assessed using the questions "Have you ever had alcohol?" and "Have you ever consumed tobacco products, eg., smoke cigarette, eat paan, gutka etc.?". The variable was recoded as 1 "yes" if the respondent ever consumed tobacco or alcohol and otherwise "no". Violent behavior was assessed using the question "These days, we hear a lot about girls/boys getting involved in fights. In the last 12 months, have you been involved in a physical fight with other girls/boys, I mean, beating up other girls/boys, pulling hair, slapping etc?". It was recoded as 1 "yes" if the respondent had an affirmative answer and otherwise "no" [ 40].

Age was grouped into 13-17 year, 18-20 years and 21-23 years. Sex was categorized as males and females. Marital status was categorized as single and married. Educational level was categorized as illiterate, up to 8 years and 9 years or above. Ownership of mobile-phone was categorized as "Own mobile", if the respondent owned mobile phone, "Access family member's mobile phone" if the respondent can access family member's mobile phone and otherwise "no" if the respondent had not used mobile phone. Internet access was categorized as "yes" and "no". Use of social media was categorized as "yes" and "no". Peer connection was categorized as "good" having 5 or more friends and "bad" having four and less friends. Work status was categorized as "yes" doing paid work in the last 12 months and "no" not doing paid work in the last 12 months. Religion was categorized as Hindu and Non-Hindu. Caste was categorized as schedule caste/schedule tribe (SC/ST), other background classes (OBC) and others. The SC/ST group consists of socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, OBC refers to intermediate group of populations and others consist of people with comparatively higher socioeconomic status.

The survey measured household economic status, using a wealth index composed of household asset data on ownership of selected durable goods, including means of transportation, as well as data on access to a number of amenities. The wealth index was constructed by allocating the scores to a household's reported assets or amenities. Index scores so constructed ranged from 0 to 57. Households were then ranked according to the index score. This ranked sample was divided into quintiles-that is, five groups, each containing an equal number of households-with the first quintile representing households of the lowest (poorest) wealth status and the fifth quintile representing households with the highest (wealthiest) status [ 40]. Place of residence was categorized as rural and urban. States were categorized as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. All the explanatory variables were taken from the follow-up data (wave 2), except the socio-demographic characteristics that did not change over time.

Statistical analysis

Descriptive and bivariate analysis was used to find out the preliminary results. Further, logistic regression was carried out to examine the association between individual, behavioural and physiological variables at wave 1, with respect to depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts at wave 2. The multivariable models were assembled as follow: in model 1, key explanatory variables were entered simultaneously to investigate their mutual independence, and model 2 was adjusted with both key explanatory variables and other variables. The model is usually put into a more compact form as follows:

$$\ln\ \left(\frac{Pi}{1- Pi}\right)=\beta 0+\beta 1x1+\dots {\beta}_M{x}_{m-1}$$

Where, β0..., βM are regression coefficients indicating the relative effect of a particular explanatory variable on the outcome. These coefficients change as per the context in the analysis in the study. The result were presented in the form of odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI).

Result

Mean age of the male participants was 17.79 years, and mean age of the female participants was 19.43 years in this study. Table 1 shows the socio demographic characteristics of the adolescents and young adults. Nearly half of the respondents were from age-group 18-20 years. Majority of the male respondents (94.08%) were unmarried whereas, more than half of the female respondents (50.79%) were married. Two-third of male respondents had their own mobile phone while, same figure for females were only 36.98%. Similarly, the prevalence of internet access and social media use were higher among male respondents (73.92 and 62.47%) than female respondents (33.64 and 22.95%). Male respondents had a better peer connection than female respondents. The prevalence of work participation among male respondents was 44.65% and among female respondents, it was 21.95%. Majority of the respondents were rural residents in this study.

The prevalence of cyberbullying victimization has increased from 3.76 and 1.86% to 6.43 and 5.62% among male and female respondents between wave-1 to wave-2, respectively (Fig. 2). About 16.62% male respondents and 32.95% female respondents had depressive symptoms. Further, the prevalence of suicidal ideation was higher among females than males. About 7.54% of females seriously considered attempting suicide in the past 1 year while the same figure for male respondents was 2.3% (Fig. 3).

Trend of cyberbullying victimization through mobile/internet among adolescent males and females during wave-1 to wave-2 (2015-2016 to 2017-2018)

Percentage of males and females having depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation at wave 2

Table 2 shows the results from the bivariate association for depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation with different socio-demographic variables for male and females separately. Adolescents who experienced cyberbullying at wave 1 had higher prevalence of depressive symptoms (males: 25.8% and females: 41.5%) and suicide ideation (males: 6.2% and females: 11%) at wave 2. Similarily, adolescents who experienced cyberbullying at wave 2 had higher prevalence of depressive symptoms (males: 27.8% and females: 49.1%) and higher suicidal ideations (males: 7.8% and females: 12.1%). It was found that depressive symptoms were significantly more prevalent among females who were ever cyberbullied at both waves. Adoelscents with depressive symptoms at wave 1 had higher prevalence of depressive symtopms (males: 12.1% and females: 49.1%) and suicidal ideations (males: 7.8% and females: 12.1%) at wave-2.

The estimates from the logistic regression analysis for depressive symptoms among adolescents are presented in Table 3. Adolscents who experienced cyberbullying victimization at wave1 and wave-2 were 1.58 and 2.45 times more likely to have depressive symptoms at wave 2, comapared to those who did not experience cyberbullying victimization (Model-1). After adujsuting for socio-demographic variables, the magnitude of odds had slightly changed. Late adolescents aged 18-20 and 21-23 years had significantly higher odds of depressive symptoms as compared to younger adolescents (those aged 13-17 years) (Model-2).

The estimates from the logistic regression analysis for suicidal ideation among adolescents are presented in Table 4. Adolscents who experienced cybullying victimization at wave 2, depression at wave 1 and suicidal ideation at wave 1, were 2.87, 1.74 and 2.25 times more likely to have suicidal ideation at wave 2 than their counterparts (Model-1). After controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, the magnitude of odds had changed slightly. Those who used substance or had violent behavior at wave-2 were more likely to have suicidal ideation. Adolescents aged 18-20 (OR: 1.80; p = < 0.01, CI: 1.36-2.38) and 21-23 years ( p  = < 0.01, CI: 1.19-2.18) were significantly more likely to have suicidal ideation as compared to their younger (aged 13-17 years) counterparts. The likelihood of suicidal ideations were three times higher among females than males (AOR: 3.16; CI: 2.46-4.05) (Model-2).

Discussion

Cyberbullying victimization has become a global phenomenon in a digitalized world, predominantly addressed in the developed world. In an attempt to address research gaps in understanding cyberbullying in India, this is the first study to elucidate the longitudinal association between cyberbullying victimization and mental health among Indian adolescents and young adults. With the rapid advancement and revolutionization of information and communication technologies (ICTs), adolescents and young adults use smartphone devices, internet and social networking services more frequently, which escalates the issue of cyberbullying abruptly, resulting in psychiatric problems and negative thoughts among victims [ 37, 45, 46]. The present study observed a strong association of cyberbullying victimization with depression and suicidal thoughts among adolescents and young adults. The relationships between cyberbullying victimization with depression symptoms and suicidal thoughts were stronger during the cross-sectional period in this study after adjusting for baseline characteristics.

The overall prevalence of cyberbullying victimization through mobile or internet has increased over the study period. Similarly, a repeated study from the United Nations observed an increasing trend of prevalence of cyberbullying victimization from 6 to 11% between the years, 2005 and 2010 [ 47]. This increase indicates that more number of adolescents have access to digital means of communication nowadays than in the past [ 48]. However, the literature is not uniform on this issue across developed and developing countries. The prevalence of cyberbullying victimization was lower in the present study than reported in other studies from India [ 49, 50, 51]. A clinical study from Turkey found that 62.2% of adolescents were victims of cyberbullying, which was much higher than non-clinical adolescent samples [ 52]. The possible explanation of the differences in prevalence in our study and other studies could be due to changes in methodology, survey design and access to and prevalence of internet use. Consistent with previous evidence from India [ 43, 53], this study also found that a considerable number of adolescents and young adults had depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts, which was higher among adolescent and young adult females than males.

Our findings are in line with previous literature that suggested that victims of cyberbullying were more likely to be females [ 19, 45, 54, 55]. Mesch (2009) found in their study that females were two times more likely to be victims of cyberbullying at least once than males [ 54]. This gender pattern may be delineated by cultural stereotypes where male respondents try to tackle the problem by themselves and avoid reporting of victimization as doing so might foul up their sense of masculinity. In reverse, females might encourage reporting of victimization as they perceive cyberbullying as serious problem and give more importance on peer relationships as well [ 45, 55]. However, few studies reported male respondents were more likely to be victims of cyberbullying [ 7, 8] and another study found no significant gender differences in victimization [ 56]. Gender-specific studies are warranted on this direction.

Furthermore, our findings are in concordance with prior studies that have shown that cyberbullying victimization has a negative impact on mental health [ 7, 14, 18] and suicidal thoughts [ 57, 58, 59]. This association was more prominent among those who experienced cyberbullies in follow-up period of the study. Fahy et al. (2016) also found in their longitudinal study that baseline cyberbullying victimization predicted depressive symptoms at follow-up period [ 7]. Similarly, another longitudinal study reported that cyberbullying victimization predicted negative thoughts and suicidal ideation among adolescents [ 56]. Researchers also coined this phenomenon as 'Cyberbullicide', which is defined the act of suicide influenced by experiences with online aggression [ 60]. Previous evidence has shown that being cyberbullied increased the chances of developing pessimistic slant such as loneliness, feeling dehumanized and helpless, leading to greater risk for depression and suicidal thoughts [ 37, 45, 55, 61]. A shred of literature also stated that the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and mental illness generates a vicious cycle. Adolescents with depressive symptoms or poor mental health may be more likely to engage in social media and the internet to divert or covert from their emotions. Consequently, they become more exposed and vulnerable to victimization of cyberbullying, which leads to more risk of severe depression and suicidal thoughts [ 8, 37, 59, 61]. Some authors also argued that these incidents take place in a bidirectional way, such as either depressive symptoms can be a cause or consequence of cyberbullying or vice versa [ 37, 48, 62].

Beside cyber victimization, having depression at baseline, substance uses and having violent bahviour were important risk factors for depression and suicidal thoughts after adjusting for other covariates. This finding suggests that adolescents having depressive symptoms may be more prone to substance use when facing negative experiences such as cyberbullying victimization. It may also reflect that adolescents suffering from online attacks were at higher risk of using substances to cope with the situations [ 55, 57]. We found that violent behavior and depression at baseline were closely related with depression and negative thoughts among adolescents as they are interconnected. Violent behaviour often coexists with anxiety and adolescence is a period in which people often feel disgruntled, resentful or irritable. These kinds of emotions lead to violent behavior among adolescents resulting in depression and negative thoughts [ 63, 64].

The present study revealed variation in prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation across different socio-demographic characteristics. Older adolescents and female participants were more likely to have depression and suicidal thoughts than their younger and male counterparts. This finding is partialy explained by biological theory and peer events occurring around the older and girl adolescents. Additionally, adolescent females may develop more negative perceptions of themselves in certain domains [ 21, 65]. Findings also indicate that being single was a protective factor for depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts. This can be partially explained by the fact that married girls could not express their opinion compared to unmarried respondents [ 43]. This study revealed that having more number of friends leads to poor mental health and suicidal ideation among adolescents and the reasons might be feeling of insecurity, adverse life events among peer group [ 65]. However, having a good peer connection and social connctedness should be further investigated in light of their impact on adolescents' and young adults' mental health status.

This study is not without limitations. Although we utilized longitudinal data for the analysis, all measures included in the current study were self-reported which may lead to recall and desirability bias, especially in case of more sensitive questions. For example, some respondents may not have disclosed their experiences of cyberbullying victimization. Further, information on victimization of cyberbullying was derived from a single question at the time of the survey, but the severity of experience has not been considered in this study. In addition, the study utilized data from the year 2015-2016 and 2018-2019, so interpretation of the findings could not measure recent ongoing situations such as impact of the COVID-19 pandemic when online activity has increased. Therefore, such aforesaid conditions come up with potentially increased cyberbullying victimization rates among adolescents and young adults which need to be further investigated.

Conclusion

The present study adds to the growing body of evidence on the impact of cyberbullying victimization on depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among adolescents and young adults. Our findings suggest that cyberbullying victims are at higher risk of depression and suicidal ideation. Therefore, cyberbullying and related mental health problems need to be addressed with more efficient strategies such as increased awareness of nuances of online harassments among adolescent and young adult population. Also, emphasis should be given to promoting healthy internet use, safeguarding online activities, and providing knowledge of coping and help-seeking skills. Mental health is considered as a major public health concern in our country in National Mental Health Policy 2014. In spite of that, mental health problems associated with cyberbullying among adolescents and young adults should be considered specifically in Rashtriya Kishore Swasthya Karyakram as this program targets adolescents and young adults. Additionally, the policy planning approach should be focused on prevention strategies in case of cyberbullying victimization. A multi-level approach at the individual, household, community, state and national level can be adapted to provide a safer online platform for adolescents and young adults in the country.

Availability of data and materials

Data for the study were extracted from the two waves of the "Understanding the Lives of Adolescents and Young Adults (UDAYA) survey" conducted by Population Council. The data is available only on request from: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/RRXQNT

https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/ZJPKW5

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Acknowledgements

The paper utilized the secondary data collected as part of Population Council's UDAYA study, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. No additional funds were received for the present study.

Funding

Authors did not receive any funding to carry out this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Department of Survey Research and Data Analytics, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400088, India

Chanda Maurya & Preeti Dhillon

2. Department of Family & Generations, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400088, India

T. Muhammad

3. Department of Population and Development, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400088, India

Priya Maurya

Contributions

Conceived and designed the research paper: TM & CM; analyzed the data: CM; Wrote the manuscript: PM, TM & CM; Refined and finalized the manuscript: CM, TM, PD & PM. All the authors read, reviewed and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Priya Maurya.

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Maurya, C., Muhammad, T., Dhillon, P. et al. The effects of cyberbullying victimization on depression and suicidal ideation among adolescents and young adults: a three year cohort study from India. BMC Psychiatry 22, 599 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-04238-x
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Keywords

Adolescents

Cyberbullying

Depressive symptoms

Longitudinal study

Suicidal ideation

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The effects of cyberbullying victimization on depression and suicidal ideation among adolescents and young adults: a three year cohort study from India - BMC Psychiatry

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Background Cyberbullying victimisation is considered a global public health issue concerning the psychological development of adolescents that oftentimes persists into adulthood. The current study explored the longitudinal relationship between cyberbullying victimisation and depression and suicidal ideation among adolescents and young adults, given the scarcity of such studies in poor-resource settings like India.

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Bài 15- Cyberbullying in Adolescent Victims: Perception and Coping

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Bài 15- Cyberbullying in Adolescent Victims: Perception and Coping

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Bài 19: Impacts of Cyberbullying and Its Solutions

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Bài 19: Impacts of Cyberbullying and Its Solutions

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Cyberbullying is an aggressive behavior involving a type of electronic communication intending to harm a victim that can have profound effects on adolescents. This review examines the epidemiology, issues from cyberbullying, presentation to care of…

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Teens and Cyberbullying - Sedona Sky Academy

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Unveiling the damaging effects of cyberbullying on teens. Discover the emotional, academic, social, and physical impact. Protect and empower our youth.

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Bai 12 Cyberbullying and Adolescent Suicide

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Bai 12 Cyberbullying and Adolescent Suicide

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Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law

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Abstract

The unprecedented exposure of today's youth to the Internet and technology carries many benefits but also risks such as cyberbullying and online predation. The incidences of both cyberbullying and adolescent suicide are rising in the United States, with recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showing that 14.9 percent of adolescents have been cyberbullied and 13.6 percent of adolescents have made a serious suicide attempt. Cyberbullying has been associated with suicide of a victim in several recent cases, a phenomenon that has been newly termed cyberbullicide. Parents and youth are frequently unaware of the risks and potential criminal liability associated with cyberbullying. Legislation that protects against online bullying has developed from antibullying laws, and as an expansion of the requirement that schools prohibit any bullying at school or via technology that interferes with learning. Cyberbullying laws exist in certain states, but as there are no federal laws that address bullying or cyberbullying, cyberbullying is prosecuted federally via statutes governing cyberstalking. After examining the epidemiology of adolescent suicidality, cyberbullying, and cyberbullicide, this article reviews recent legislation governing cyberbullying. Finally, this article illustrates the role of the forensic psychiatrist in civil and criminal cases involving suspected cyberbullicide.

Suicide and Cyberbullying Cases

In the absence of epidemiological studies, the data regarding cyberbullying and suicide derive predominantly from accounts of news stories. In 2010, the roommate of 18-year-old college student Tyler Clementi secretly live-streamed Mr. Clementi engaging in physical intimacy with another male alone in their dorm room and publicized it via messaging and Twitter. Two days later, Mr. Clementi took his life. In 2013, 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick was extensively bullied and cyberbullied via multiple online platforms by girls from school, including her former best friends. She switched schools, but the cyberbullying continued, and after a year and a half, Ms. Sedwick took her life. In 2017, 10-year-old Ashawnty Davis confronted a girl who had been allegedly bullying her, and someone posted a video of the fight on an app called Musical.ly, prompting more bullying. Two weeks later, Ms. Davis took her life. In 2019, 16-year-old Channing Smith was outed as gay after explicit text messages he had exchanged with a male classmate were posted on social media; a few hours later, Mr. Smith took his life.

The media has attributed certain cases of suicide to cyberbullying, but correlation does not imply causation. The cause of any suicide is often multifactorial, and attributing a given suicide to cyberbullying alone would be an oversimplification and not fully accurate.

Epidemiology

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death in individuals 10 to 34 years old, occurring at a rate of 10.2 per 100,000 individuals, and its incidence in this age group has risen 56 percent between 2006 and 2016. According to 2019 CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) data, 18.8 percent of high school students seriously considered attempting suicide, 15.7 percent of high school students made a suicide plan, 8.9 percent of high school students attempted suicide, and 2.5 percent of high school students were injured in a suicide attempt. Suicide affects not only the decedent but also family members, and has a ripple effect through the community. Importantly, suicide is often a preventable cause of mortality.

Also per the CDC YRBS data, 14.9 percent of high school students reported having been bullied electronically, and 19 percent of high school students reported being bullied on school property in the past year. The relative risk of being bullied on school property or electronically was higher for female versus male students, for Black versus White and Hispanic students, and for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students versus heterosexual students. Both cyberbullying and bullying are associated with depression, anxiety, behavioral problems, eating disorders, irritability, self-pity, decline in school performance, truancy, and somatic symptoms occurring in victim and offender.

Students who are involved in bullying and cyberbullying (both offenders and victims) have a significantly elevated likelihood of experiencing suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, or completed suicide. A 2014 meta-analysis of nine studies that focused on the relationship between suicidal ideation and peer victimization revealed a robust relationship between peer victimization and suicidal ideation, as well as suicide attempts, across age and gender. A 2017 study of bullying demonstrated a compounding effect from experiencing multiple types of bullying. Bullying or cyberbullying that is rated as more severe or that interferes with learning at school is more likely to correlate with suicidal ideation. Notably, although there is a strong correlation between bullying (online or at school) and suicidality, suicide is a relatively rare occurrence. Cyberbullying and school bullying both appear to increase the risk for suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, however, which are certainly risk factors for completed suicide.

Review of Legislation

In 1999, when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, 12th grade students at Columbine High School in Colorado, killed 12 students, one teacher, and themselves, it was discovered that they had been chronically bullied prior to executing their mass shooting. This event catalyzed a national interest in bullying and the emergence of state antibullying legislation. The first state antibullying law was passed in Georgia in 1999, one month after the Columbine shooting. Several states followed suit, including Colorado in 2001. Following the events at Columbine, there was increased media attention on several youth suicides that occurred in response to bullying, and then increased legislation concerning bullying. An interest in preventing online bullying followed, and regulation of cyberbullying has gradually been adopted into bullying laws. Washington and Oregon were two of the first states, in 2005 and 2007, respectively, to extend their bullying policies to include online bullying. Since the first decade of the 21st century, legislation enacted to protect against online abuse and harassment of young people has burgeoned.

State antibullying and cyberbullying laws have been rapidly adopted through the creation of new statutes and amendments to existing statutes. These statutes typically include some or all of the following components: a statement of purpose, definitions of bullying and cyberbullying, a requirement that the school district develop policies regulating bullying, prescribed components of local district policies, requirements for school district policies, and requirements for state education agencies. Most state statutes include a requirement that the school district develop policies to prevent school bullying, cyberbullying, and harassment. Thus, when students experience persistent bullying or cyberbullying, the board of education and the school system may be held liable for failing to protect the students from foreseeable risk.

Claims against the school may be prosecuted under state law involving claims of negligence or wrongful death, or under federal law on the basis of cyberstalking (as covered in the next section), or as civil rights violations.

First Amendment Challenges

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the government from abridging freedom of speech, thereby restricting the ability of public schools to regulate student speech. Courts have since interpreted the First Amendment to allow certain types of governmental restriction on speech. Examples include speech that causes a substantial and material disruption to the school environment as well as lewd and vulgar speech, overtly offensive language, defamation, libel, fighting words, incitement to violence, and threats that constitute a serious intent to cause violence. There is now considerable debate over which forms of free speech on the Internet should be protected and which should be restricted. In some areas, this has been clearly defined: for example, child pornography has been unequivocally denied protection. Conversely, cyberbullying is so newly defined that the subject lacks authoritative precedent and current legislators have little firsthand knowledge of it.

The courts have both rejected and upheld First Amendment defenses in cases of cyberbullying. For instance, a recent case arguing unconstitutionality of the North Carolina cyberbullying statute reached the North Carolina Supreme Court. The case involved high school student Robert Bishop who, along with peers, cyberbullied his classmate Dillon Price. Mr. Price's mother found him so distraught (crying, throwing things, hitting his head) that she called the police. Mr. Bishop was tried and convicted of one count of cyberbullying in the state district court. The appeal process reached the North Carolina Supreme Court, which reversed the decision, finding the cyberbullying statute unconstitutional on the basis of restricting free speech and thus violating the First Amendment.

State laws have attempted to forestall First Amendment challenges by prohibiting cyberbullying only when it rises above a certain threshold. For example, in California, the threshold is defined as bullying that can be reasonably predicted to cause students to experience a fear of harm to their person or property, a detrimental effect to their physical or mental health, a substantial interference with their academic performance, or a substantial interference with their ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or privileges provided by a school.

Role of the Forensic Psychiatrist

Forensic psychiatrists may be retained in both criminal and civil cases related to cyberbullying associated with suicide. As of January 2021, 48 states (all but Alaska and Wisconsin) include cyberbullying or online harassment in the language of their bullying laws. Most states (with the exception of Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Wyoming) have criminal laws that might apply to bullying and expressly include electronic forms of harassment. Given that statutes governing cyberbullying vary by state, it is imperative that forensic psychiatrists become familiar with applicable statutes in their state or in any state where they may be involved in such cases. State cyberbullying statutes for each state are rapidly changing; however, researchers Hinduja and Patchin maintain a list of cyberbullying laws (last updated January 2021) to which the reader is referred. Training in child and adolescent mental health is helpful in managing these cases in providing a comprehensive understanding of child development, familiarity with normal and aberrant social relationships and educational experiences, and ability to recognize common presentations of psychopathology in minors.

Experts may be asked to evaluate diminished capacity, state of mind, or mitigation pertaining to the defendant, or to conduct a psychological autopsy of the decedent to determine causation. In the case of cyberbullying without death by suicide, a forensic psychiatrist might be asked to assess emotional damages, i.e., whether the minor experienced any short- or long-term psychological injury as a result of the bullying. In the case of suicide, the expert will be asked whether there are any other possible etiologies for the decedent's suicidality beyond the bullying or cyberbullying. The forensic psychiatrist may be asked to opine on liability for the school district or other third parties, such as parents, Internet provider, or software company. Forensic evaluators may or may not be given access to social media material, which is often highly protected.

An analysis of whether cyberbullying was the legal cause of the victim's suicide relies on multiple factors. The defendant's conduct must be both the actual and proximate cause of death, which in many states relies on the question of whether "but for" the defendant's actions, the death would have occurred as it did. In the case of bullying associated with a suicide, the question is whether the suicidal act resulted from extreme pain or suffering inflicted by the bullying, or if the bullying has rendered the victim irresponsible; these questions serve to clarify if the suicide would not have occurred "but for" the bullying. Although this question is determined by the trier of fact, forensic psychiatrists can provide insight into the mindsets of the bully or bullies and decedent victim.

Conclusion

Widespread access to technology among young people has shaped a form of bullying via the Internet that facilitates and even encourages harmful discourse. In areas where most children have access to the Internet, it has become a social tool, and the production of harmful content has become commonplace. Although violence among young people was present prior to the Internet, the social Internet has allowed for a deeper expression of violent language. Cyberbullying has ushered in a relatively new wave of suicides that are postulated to be related to the cyberbullying itself; this phenomenon predominantly affects adolescents as both perpetrators and victims. Forensic psychiatrists may be retained in civil or criminal cases to evaluate the alleged cyberbully, engage in psychological autopsy, and render opinions related to likelihood of recidivism. Forensic psychiatrists who become involved in these cases will need to familiarize themselves with relevant statutes and laws and the questions that arise in doing these evaluations in criminal and in civil settings. We have proposed a six-prong model for approaching criminal evaluations and described a similar approach to civil cases. These cases are complicated by the fact that the victims and alleged perpetrators are most often minors who must be approached with some developmental perspective. This article should serve as a guide for conducting such evaluations.

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The unprecedented exposure of today’s youth to the Internet and technology carries many benefits but also risks such as cyberbullying and online predation. The incidences of both cyberbullying and adolescent suicide are rising in the United States, with recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showing that 14.9 percent of adolescents have been cyberbullied and 13.6 percent of adolescents have made a serious suicide attempt. Cyberbullying has been associated with suicide of a victim in several recent cases, a phenomenon that has been newly termed cyberbullicide. Parents and youth are frequently unaware of the risks and potential criminal liability associated with cyberbullying. Legislation that protects against online bullying has developed from antibullying laws, and as an expansion of the requirement that schools prohibit any bullying at school or via technology that interferes with learning. Cyberbullying laws exist in certain states, but as there are no federal laws that address bullying or cyberbullying, cyberbullying is prosecuted federally via statutes governing cyberstalking. After examining the epidemiology of adolescent suicidality, cyberbullying, and cyberbullicide, this article reviews recent legislation governing cyberbullying. Finally, this article illustrates the role of the forensic psychiatrist in civil and criminal cases involving suspected cyberbullicide.

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Bai 13 Cyberbullying - Social Competence, Motivation and Peer Relationships

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Bai 13 Cyberbullying - Social Competence, Motivation and Peer Relationships

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Bai 5 Prevalence and Correlates of Cyberbullying Perpetration. Findings from a German Representative Student Survey

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Bai 5 Prevalence and Correlates of Cyberbullying Perpetration. Findings from a German Representative Student Survey

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Abstract

Based on a survey of 9512 ninth-grade students conducted in Lower Saxony in 2013, this paper examines the prevalence of cyberbullying perpetration and the correlates of this behavior. Binary logistic multilevel regression was used in order to analyze correlates of sexual and psychological cyberbully perpetration. In the preceding semester, 2.4% of the adolescents were perpetrators of psychological cyberbullying and 0.4% bullied someone online sexually. Low levels of empathy, frequent consumption of violent media, and being victims of aggressive online behaviors are correlated with the risk that a child will become a bully. Female adolescents are less likely than boys to engage in sexual cyberbullying perpetration, but they are more likely to engage in psychological cyberbullying perpetration. Only a small share of adolescents engage in sexual and psychological cyberbullying perpetration. Both behaviors differ in their correlates, however being a victim of aggressive online behaviors increase the risk for perpetration of both behaviors, respectively.

Keywords: psychological cyberbullying perpetration, sexual cyberbullying perpetration, bullying perpetration, student survey

1. Introduction

Almost all young people now have a mobile phone or other form of internet access. The high availability of modern communication technologies in adolescence seems desirable because it ensures access to knowledge, which is a central resource in today's society. But, of course, teenagers, like all other age groups, use these communication technologies for more than mere knowledge acquisition and learning. There are other functions that these technologies enable and that make their use interesting. These include entertainment and social networking. The communication technologies also offer new opportunities for the exercise of aggression namely, cyberbullying.

Unlike conventional forms of bullying, which can include physical as well as verbal or relational forms of aggression, cyberbullying does not involve direct physical harm or theft/destruction of the victim's belongings. Cyberbullying encompasses non-physical forms of aggression essentially designed to harm a person's reputation or damage their self-esteem. The consequences for the victim of such harassment are no less drastic. In fact, because these experiences of antagonism are not limited to specific times, places, and social circles, they can greatly reduce the victims' sense of well-being. In temporal terms, the degrading words or images cannot effectively be removed from the internet. Thus, they can remain in circulation for years to come. In spatial terms, cyberbullying cannot be readily left behind when one leaves the school building. It can follow the victims to every other area of their lives [ 1]. In social terms, it is unbounded because, in principle, everyone can participate in it. Indeed, it is not uncommon for people completely unknown to the victim to join in with the bullying.

Although cyberbullying has long been the subject of scientific studies, there has to date been no representative sample done in Germany to identify how this behavior spreads. The existing studies are mostly selective; they were either conducted as online surveys, were limited to specific localities or regions, or were based on small scale samples. Online surveys are problematic because only a fraction of the potential respondents will participate. Those who participate might systematically differ in various aspects (including the use of communication technologies) from those who do not. In other words, the self-selection of respondents means that the results cannot be generalized. Beyond the lack of representative studies in Germany, at least, studies into those factors potentially influencing this behavior, involving different variables on the individual or on microsystems simultaneously, are also rare. This article therefore has two central concerns: firstly, to identify the prevalence of cyberbullying based on a representative survey of ninth-grade students in the federal state of Lower Saxony, Germany conducted in 2013. Secondly, to test for various potential correlates of this behavior to see if they actually are associated with an increased risk of engaging in cyberbullying perpetration. This seems important, as most research has been done in other cultural contexts. Germany differs from the U.S.-where most of the cyberbullying research has been conducted-since the entry of digital media into everyday youth life took place later than in the U.S. Furthermore, generally speaking, there is a lower level of aggression in Germany, which makes the question of what possible factors influencing cyberbullying perpetration appear important.

The term cyberbullying is a specific variant of conventional bullying as defined by Olweus [ 2], who describes bullying as "an aggressive, intentional act or behavior that is carried out by a group or an individual repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself." For bullying in general, there are three characteristic features: first, the bully's intention to cause harm; second, the fact that there is no defense available to the victim; and third, that the harmful behavior is repeated [ 3]. Further, it is stressed that bullying involves an imbalance of power [ 4]. In cyberbullying, however, this behavior does not occur in person, but is instead mediated via a communication medium (mobile phone, smartphone, internet). Physical violence, theft, and property damage are relevant bullying behaviors in the school context that cannot be afflicted on the victim online. Thus, cyberbullying behaviors are more similar to verbal or psychological bullying behavior in the school context. According to previous studies on behavior in chat rooms (for example [ 3, 5]), it can be assumed that the following behaviors are more common types of cyberbullying: mocking, insults, threats, and the spreading of rumors.

According to the North Rhine-Westphalia study by Katzer et al. [ 5], 32.8% of adolescents experience at least one of these behaviors anywhere from every couple of months to several times a month, while 9.0% report weekly or even daily harassment. On the basis of previous research focusing on adolescents, it can also be assumed that the number of perpetrators is lower than the number of victims [ 6]. Sitzer et al. [ 3] were able to show that 14.1% of the adolescents surveyed reported being victims of cyberbullying, but only 12.6% identified themselves as being perpetrators. For adolescents, this is atypical, since, with conventional bullying, the number of self-reporting perpetrators usually exceeds or equals those who report themselves as victims [ 7, 8]. There are at least two possible reasons for this difference: First, the internet makes it possible for a single perpetrator to be aggressive towards multiple victims at the same time. Degrading messages or statements can be readily posted on multiple homepages or chats. Second, the internet makes it easier to be harassed by people in other age groups. In schools, most aggression occurs between students in a single grade. Online, though, both younger and older offenders as well as age-group peers can more readily participate in bullying. The findings of Smith et al. [ 9] confirm this: only 57.2% of the victims said that they knew the perpetrators from school and 20.7% of the cyberbullies were completely unknown to the victims.

With regard to possible gender differences, many studies have consistently shown that in "conventional bullying" the perpetrators are more likely to be males and the victims females [ 10]. The empirical findings with regard to cyberbullying, however, prove to be less consistent. While the study of Sourander et al. [ 11] confirms parallels to conventional bullying-with cyberbullying victims more likely to be female and offenders more likely to be male-a number of studies have found no significant gender differences between perpetrators and victims [ 3, 9, 12, 13, 14]. This suggests that cyberbullies are equally likely to be girls or boys. An often used line of argumentation, however, for why teenage girls could be more likely to engage in cyberbullying than boys could be the fact that it is an indirect form of aggression, something that girls are in general more likely to engage in than in direct aggression. "Boys engage in more direct physical bullying than females; and ... girls engage in more indirect bullying, such as spreading rumors and manipulation of friendship" [ 15] (p. 19). With regard to gender differences, it should be noted that cyberbullying can take at least two forms. In addition to the already mentioned form of taunting, insulting, etc., there is cyberbullying behavior that is also explicitly sexual. It can be expected that boys are more likely to be the offenders in this sexual cyberbullying than girls. This can be concluded from the existing victim surveys. Two studies report that girls are much more frequently confronted with sexual harassment, offers, or requests than boys [ 16, 17, 18]. The perpetrators of this behavior are predominantly male internet users.

As far as correlates of cyberbullying beyond gender are concerned, current research shows that personality traits such as self-esteem or the ability to feel empathy are relevant. As two other studies show, low self-esteem is associated with more frequent cyberbullying activities [ 19, 20]. This could be explained with the theory of social comparison processes [ 21]. People with low self-esteem strive to increase it. One possible way to do this is to degrade the self-esteem of others to compensate for their own low self-esteem. Cyberbullying, which includes psychological attacks, insults, and other affronts, serves this purpose well. Aggression research also supports the opposite assumption that high self-esteem leads to aggressive behavior [ 22]. For cyberbullying, however, a similar connection has yet to be proven [ 20]. The fact that lacking an ability to feel empathy tends to create perpetrators has been repeatedly shown in studies of the causes of aggressive behavior [ 23]. Those who cannot empathize with others cannot understand the psychological harm that their actions cause. It can therefore be assumed that a high degree of empathy would stop someone from becoming a cyberbully. Pfetsch et al. [ 24] were able to confirm in their study that cyberbullies are significantly less empathetic than bystanders. Other studies show that a lack of empathy and cyberbullying are related as described [ 25, 26, 27, 28].

Further correlates can be found according to Bronfenbrenners ecological model in important micro systems like school and family [ 7]. Regarding school, it can be presumed that students who perform poorly in school are more likely to become cyberbullies. For students who spend a large part of their days in school and find their relevant peer group there, school performance provides a comparative dimension that is crucial for self-esteem. Poorer performance in school can be perceived as degrading and frustrating, leading to more frequent aggressive behaviors against others. Two studies confirm empirically this effect of poor school performance [ 14, 29].

Additionally, Ybarra and Mitchell [ 14] also showed that the quality of children's relationships with their parents can prevent or promote cyberbullying perpetration. Adolescents with weaker emotional attachment to their parents and less pronounced parental control are more likely to engage in cyberbullying perpetration. Wang et al. [ 30] also confirm a link between the lack of parental support and engagement in cyberbullying. In the analyses that follow, it is therefore assumed that a positive parent-child relationship reduces the likelihood of cyberbully perpetration. Parents who nurture such a relationship with their children find it easier to convey the norms of considerate togetherness.

Another factor that could potentially influence the emergence of cyberbullying is media consumption. If this is the case, the more children consume violent media, the more likely they are to be cyberbullies. According to the general aggression model [ 31], the consumption of violent media can, among other things, result in the cognitive storage of aggressive behavioral scripts that are more likely to be activated in the event of conflict. Schiller et al. [ 32] were able to confirm these correlations with regard to cyberbullying. According to their findings, the use of violent video games has a higher correlation to cyberbullying than even to conventional bullying. They argue this occurs because the transfer of aggressive behavioral scripts is easier within the same medium. In other words, aggressive scripts learned in front of screens are more readily tapped when engaging in other online behaviors. With regard to media consumption, both the content and the duration of the exposure appear relevant. Longer periods of internet usage increase the risk of cyberbullying, it is claimed. This would also mean a greater number of contacts being made online that would simply increase the opportunities to behave in a negative way towards others [ 3, 14, 33, 34]. The meta-analysis by Kowalski et al. [ 35] (p. 40) also confirms: "Individuals who spend more time on the Internet will (a) develop greater expertise with the use of technology and (b) probabilistically be more likely to become involved with cyberbullying as victim or perpetrator due to the time spent online." One strength of the study used here to examine the assumptions described above is that it also allows the interrelationships between the victim and the offender and between conventional aggression in schools and cyberbullying. In this regard, the following additional assumptions can be considered:

Victims of aggression at school more frequently turn to cyberbullying. Smith et al. [ 9] report that victims of school bullying are almost twice as likely to become cyberbullies. Dooley et al., Hemphill et al., Raskauskas et al. and Zych et al. [ 1, 36, 37, 38] have shown the same results in their studies. The internet offers bullying victims an opportunity to process their frustrations about their own negative experiences through aggressive behavior in a more or less anonymous form.

Victims of aggressive online behavior are more likely to turn to cyberbullying themselves. The switch from victim to bully is observed in various forms of aggressive behavior. It is expected that cyberbullying would reflect a similar pattern. Schulze-Krumbholz and Scheithauer [ 26] confirm this empirically, finding that 58.3% of cyberbullies are also victims of cyberbullying. Furthermore, aggressors in school engage more frequently in cyberbullying, too [ 3, 17, 38]. For example, Katzer [ 17] reports that 66.7% of school bullies also engage in cyberbullying. Smith et al. [ 9] confirm that perpetrators of school-based bullying are three times as likely to engage in online bullying. Adolescents with behavioral issues in one area are more likely to have them in other areas as well.

2. Materials and Methods

The assumptions made were tested based on a survey of students in the German state of Lower Saxony. The aim was to carry out a representative survey of approximately 10,000 ninth-grade students across the various schooling formats on offer in the state (excluding schools for students with special needs such as mental or physical disabilities, but not those for students with learning disabilities). For this survey 639 classes with 14,764 students were randomly selected. The random selection took place within each school format. Of the selected classes, 154 did not participate; the surveys were therefore administered to 485 classes with 9512 students, corresponding to a response rate of 64.4%. The surveys lasted 90 min each and were conducted in the students' classrooms using paper-pencil questionnaires usually in the presence of a teacher or another adult supervisor. The survey was approved by the state education authority. The students' parents were sent a one-page information sheet about the survey and were required to give their consent for their children to participate. At the beginning of the survey, the students were expressly reminded of the anonymity and voluntary nature of their responses. Accordingly, all students and parents gave their informed consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. The interviews were administered between 7 January and 5 May 2013. The make-up of the sample with regard to school formats proved to be a good reflection of the schooling situation across the state. In 2012-2013, 7.5% of all ninth-graders in Lower Saxony were enrolled in Hauptschulen (the most basic form of secondary education that usually ends with the student taking on an apprenticeship in the trades). This relates to 7.5% of the respondents to the survey, which were enrolled in Hauptschulen. The largest relative deviation was for students in special education, where there were 1.2 times more students in the general population than sampled (3.2% compared to 2.6%). The second largest deviation can be observed for Gesamtschulen (comprehensive schools) (14.4 compared to 12.7%). In order to compensate for these differences and enable representative findings for ninth graders in Lower Saxony, we opted to use data weighting. All of the prevalence results are therefore based on the weighted sample.

The sample characteristics are:

The average age of the respondents was 14.9 years.

50.7% of the respondents were male. 49.3% were female.

10.8% of the respondents were growing up in families receiving some form of public assistance.

30.3% of the respondents indicated that they did not live with both of their biological parents.

24.3% have a "migrant background", with the two largest groups being children born in or descended from at least one migrant from the countries of the former Soviet Union countries and Turkey. The definition of migrant used in the study included those respondents not born in Germany, those who do not have German citizenship, and/or for whom this applies to at least one biological parent.

The survey addressed a multitude of topics and was not dedicated exclusively to cyberbullying perpetration and its correlates. This means that, in some cases, only short instruments were used to record data about the different constructs. In addition, in schools for students with learning disabilities, the entire range of topics could not be queried, because the survey would have taken too long (and the students would not have remained sufficiently focused to provide accurate responses). Therefore, a shortened survey form was administered to these students. This shorter form did not inquire about respondents' own cyberbullying activities, but only if they had been the victims of cyberbullying. Consequently, the following analyses about those who engage in cyberbullying do not include these students. Finally, it should be pointed out that this is a cross-sectional survey that ultimately does not allow conclusions to be drawn about cause-and-effect relationships.

The central variable of the investigation was engagement in acts of cyberbullying. Based on Sitzer et al. [ 3], six statements were included in the survey that were to be answered with regard to the most recent semester. Students were asked to identify the frequency of such occurrences on a scale of "1-never" to "6-several times a week". They were asked how often they had

1. ridiculed, insulted, abused, or threatened others online;

2. spread rumors about other people or dissed them online;

3. posted others' private messages, confidential information, photos, or videos online in order to out them or ridicule them;

4. excluded others from an online group;

5. sent unwanted photos or videos of nude persons or had engaged in unwanted discourse about sex with others;

6. encouraged others to engage in sexual (or sexualized) acts against their will, such as undressing in front of a webcam.

Using Mplus 7.4 (Muthen and Muthen, Los Angeles, CA, USA), two confirmatory factor analyses including the six cyberbullying items were conducted. In the first analysis all six items were forced to load on one factor; the fit indices of this model were not satisfactory (Chi2 = 267.926, df = 8, CFI = 0.817, TLI = 0.657, RMSEA = 0.060, SRMR = 0.072). In the second model the items loaded on two correlated factors: the first four items loaded on the factor "psychological cyberbullying", the last two items on the factor "sexual cyberbullying". The fit indices of this two factor model were significantly better (Chi2 = 35.267, df = 7, CFI = 0.980, TLI = 0.957, RMSEA = 0.021, SRMR = 0.024). Factor loadings varied between λ = 0.53 and λ = 0.78 (psychological cyberbullying) and λ = 0.68 and λ = 0.86 (sexual cyberbullying); the correlation between both factors was φ = 0.63. Because of the results of the confirmatory factor analyses, the two forms of cyberbullying are analyzed separately in the following.

The various correlates were operationalized as follows. To assess adolescents' self-esteem, a subscale of the KINDL [ 39, 40] questionnaire was used. The scale includes four items (e.g., "I was proud of myself last week.") to be rated on a five-point scale (see Table 1). The mean of the responses was 3.19, which is slightly above the theoretical mean. The majority of the adolescents thus report a higher level of self-esteem. The reliability of the scale is satisfactory considering the small number of items. The teenagers' empathy was also measured with four items (e.g., "I am very moved when I see someone crying"). These are based on an inventory for measuring impulsivity, risk-taking, and empathy designed for children aged 9 to 14 [ 41]. The reliability of the scale was good, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.80; the mean response was 2.94. In order to record the respondents' performance in school, they were asked about the last report card grade they received in the subjects of mathematics, German, history, and biology (on the usual German scale where 1 is excellent and 6 is failing). The mean for all four subjects was 3.03 (Cronbach's alpha = 0.73). To obtain information about the parent-child relationship, a scale was used to measure parental care. Respondents were asked with regard to their pre-teen years to indicate how often their mother or father consoled them when they were sad. The six items [ 42] (p. 119) were answered on a five-point Likert scale. These items were queried separately for the mother and father. A mean value for each item was then calculated for both parents and then the mean over all six items. The reliability of the scale was good. The overall mean of 4.00 indicates that most adolescents received a high level of attention. With regard to violent media consumption, five items queried the consumption of violent movies (horror films restricted to ages 16+, those restricted to ages 18+, and other films restricted to 18+) as well as violent games (first- and third-person shooter games, fighting games). The respondents were given a range of answers from "1-never" to "7-daily," with a mean of 2.55. The reliability of the scale was good. The internet usage of respondents was queried using an open-ended question. The respondents were asked to indicate how long (in hours and minutes) they used social networks or chatted on both a typical school day and a typical weekend day. The responses for the former being multiplied by five and those for the latter doubled, added together and divided by seven to obtain a figure for average daily usage. On average, the respondents spend three hours and 38 min a day on social networks and chatting.

In addition to these scales, four additional variables were included in the analyses. The following dummy variables, where students who experienced at least one of the behaviors in question were assigned the value 1, and the rest the value 0, were created:

The dummy variable "victims of aggression in school" is based on six behaviors [ 8] (p. 57) (These were as follows: "I was intentionally beaten or kicked by other students." "Other students teased me or said ugly things about me." "Other students purposely ruined my things." "Other students blackmailed me and forced to give away money or things." "I was excluded from joint ventures because other students wanted me to be excluded." "Other students treated me like air and purposely ignored me." The question set was introduced as follows: "How many times did you experience the following things during the previous semester?"). The variables were dichotomized. If a respondent indicated he or she experienced one or more of the six behaviors, the variable was assigned a value of 1. At least 52.7% of the respondents had experienced one of these aggressions in the previous semester ( Table 2).

Whether the respondents had been victims of online aggression was queried with the same questions as to those who had engaged in such activities in the past semester [ 3]. A distinction was drawn between psychological and sexual bullying. Again, the corresponding variables were dichotomized. A value of 1 was assigned to the corresponding variables, if the respondent indicated they experienced at least one of the activities. Thus, 40.4% of adolescents said that they had been the target of at least one online act of psychological aggression during the semester, while 13.5% reported experiencing at least one act of sexual aggression.

The dummy variable "perpetrator of aggression in school" is based on the same items, which asked if the respondents had experienced such aggression. The variable was created in the same way as the previously described indices. 58.9% of the respondents said that they had engaged in at least one form of aggression in school during the past semester.

3. Results

3.1. Prevalence of Cyberbullying

The proportions of respondents who indicated they had engaged in cyberbullying in the past semester are shown in Table 3. The table shows both those who said that they had only rarely engaged in such acts and those who admitted to engaging in such acts frequently. Respondents who indicated that they had committed such acts "Once or twice" or "three to six times" in the past semester were classed as rarely engaging in such activities. A defining feature of cyberbullying is its repeated occurrence. We set the frequency of aggression that constitutes bullying based on the recommendations of Solberg and Olweus [ 43], who suggest a threshold of two to three times a month, corresponding to the "several times a month" in this survey. Thus, cyberbullies were those who admitted to engaging in such behaviors "several times a month", "once a week", or "several times a week". We label this group in Table 3 as those who engage in those behaviors frequently. According to this definition, 2.4% ( n = 216, weighted data) of the adolescents surveyed could be defined as cyberbullies. Mocking and the spreading of rumors are the more common forms of such cyberbullying. For sexual cyberbullying, 0.4% ( n = 38) of the respondents can be classified as perpetrators. Both forms of sexual cyberbullying occur with approximately equal frequency.

In order to examine whether the perpetrator rates differ significantly from the victim rates for online aggressive behaviors, variance analyses with measurement repetition were performed. For this purpose, the overall rates of aggressive behavior in perpetrators and victims were used. Firstly, the variance analyses show that the proportion of perpetrators is significantly lower than the proportion of victims (26.7 to 40.5%, F = 701,636, p < 0.001). Secondly, with respect to sexually aggressive behavior, the proportion of offenders is also significantly lower than the proportion of victims (2.4 to 13.5%, F = 950,499, p < 0.001). With regard to the gender differences among cyberbullies, 2.9% of the male respondents indicated that they engaged in psychological cyberbullying, while only 1.9% of the girls are perpetrators of psychological cyberbullying. This difference is significant (Cramer's V = 0.032, p < 0.01). There is also a significant gender difference with regard to sexual cyberbully perpetration: 0.6% of the boys admitted to engaging in this behavior at least several times a month, while only 0.2% of the female respondents reported to have committed it (Cramer's V = 0.034, p < 0.01).

3.2. Correlates of Cyberbullying Perpetration

In order to investigate the links between potential correlates and the prevalence of cyberbullying, two multivariate analyses were carried out. Since the dependent variables are binary (engaged in such behavior at least several times per month: no vs. yes), logistic regression analyses were run. In addition, because the survey was conducted within specific school classes, the clustering of pupils within these classes has to be considered when analysing the data. This is made possible by using multilevel analyses. To avoid a high number of missing cases when deleting cases listwise, a multiple imputation strategy was applied. Using Mplus 7.4 missing values were imputed via Bayesian estimation. This was done 20 times, meaning that 20 new datasets with imputed values were calculated (for categorical variables integer values were imputed). For the analyses parameter estimates were averaged over the 20 sets of analyses. Table 4 presents the results of the binary logistic multilevel regression analyses. The analyses include 9512 pupils in 485 classes. In addition to the conventional significance levels, the 10% level is also reported. Due to the sample size, this may seem unusual. It should be noted, however, that only very few respondents ( n = 38) reported engaging in sexual cyberbullying. This makes the identification of significant effects more difficult.

The type of school did not prove to be a significant correlate. In other words, both forms of cyberbullying were more or less equally prevalent across all types of schools. This is particular to cyberbullying, as there are usually significant differences with regard to school-based bullying, where higher rates of engaging in such behaviors are found in lower-level forms of school [ 8] (p. 88).

On the one hand, looking at gender, female respondents engage in sexual cyberbullying significantly less frequently than males. On the other hand, and in contradiction to the bivariate analyses, female adolescents are significantly more likely to engage in psychological cyberbullying. In the multivariate model girls have a greater risk than boys of becoming perpetrators of psychological cyberbullying because factors such as empathy have been controlled. Girls are generally more empathetic than boys; their level of aggression is therefore generally lower than that of boys, if the ability to feel empathy and cyberbullying are correlated. If the genders are compared while controlling for such third factors, there is a higher load on the girls, which is consistent with findings that girls are more prone to indirect forms of aggression and would rather avoid direct, physical confrontation. Self-esteem is slightly associated with an increased risk of psychological cyberbully perpetration; it does not correlate to sexual cyberbullying. A higher level of empathy is significantly associated with a reduced risk for both forms of cyberbully perpetration. Poor school grades are associated with more frequent cyberbully perpetration, but the effect is only significant with regard to psychological bullying. The study also confirmed that parental attention is negatively associated with cyberbullying, at least for psychological forms of cyberbully perpetration. A more frequent consumption of violent media and generally longer time spent online are correlated to a higher frequency of engaging in cyberbullying. Being a victim of aggression at school does not correlate to engaging in cyberbullying. There is only a slight effect for psychological bullying where victims are less likely to engage in cyberbullying. Experiencing online aggressive behavior, however, does show significant effects, but the strength varies. For example, those who experience psychological aggression are more likely to engage in psychological cyberbullying than in sexual cyberbullying. The reverse applies to those who experience acts of sexual aggression. These are more closely related to sexual cyberbullying and less closely tied to psychological cyberbullying. Finally, it can be seen that those who engage in aggressive behaviors at school are significantly more likely to engage in cyberbullying, with an effect for psychological and sexual cyberbullying. All in all, engaging in cyberbullying can be explained quite well with these variables. The models explain 46.4% of the variance in psychological cyberbullying and 46.7% of that in sexual cyberbullying.

4. Discussion

The findings of a representative survey of ninth-grade students in the German state of Lower Saxony shows that online aggressive behavior is a relevant problem. In the past semester, 26.7% of the respondents engaged in at least one act of online psychological aggression and 2.4% engaged in its sexual counterpart. Furthermore, 2.4% of the respondents can be labeled psychological cyberbullies, defined as engaging in this behavior at least several times a month, while 0.4% are sexual cyberbullies. The most prevalent form of cyberbullying is mocking and spreading rumors about others. These prevalence rates are lower, compared to other studies in other cultural settings [ 7]. However, due to the different conceptualization and operationalization the prevalence rates of cyberbully perpetration are not easily comparable [ 44]. At the same time, the analyses show that aggressive behavior is even more widespread in the school setting, where 58.9% of the respondents indicated that they had engaged in such behavior in the past semester. This is in line with other studies reporting that bullying and aggression in schools are more prevalent than those behaviors carried out online [ 7].

In this respect, measures to prevent bullying in schools appear necessary. The findings also suggest that such measures could also reduce cyberbullying perpetration. If preventive measures target aggressive behavior by working to increase the children's ability to feel empathy, this should also prevent cyberbullying, since a strong correlation exists between the two [ 45]. At the same time, there are significant relationships between aggressive behaviors in school and cyberbullying. There is a highly significant correlation between engaging in aggressive behaviors in school and engaging in psychological cyberbullying. This has been shown also by other studies [ 46]. Prevention programs that address aggression in school generally might also reduce the occurrence of cyberbullying.

Sexual cyberbullying perpetration, by contrast, is largely not correlated to such aggressive behaviors in school. Indeed, it is primarily those adolescents with little record of acting out in school who engage in sexual cyberbullying. The correlation between being a victim of and a perpetrator of sexual cyberbullying is particularly strong. Sexual cyberbullying is thus centered on a small group who move between being the bullies and being the victims themselves. Further studies about this small group of adolescents therefore seems desirable.

According to previous research, females are less likely to engage in sexual cyberbullying [ 3, 16]. With regard to psychological cyberbullying perpetration, contrary to the assumption made, it appears that girls, when various background factors are controlled, are more frequently perpetrators than boys. In the end, girls are more likely to use indirect and verbal forms of aggression than direct or physical forms of violence.

With regard to empathy, the consumption of violent media, school grades, and time spent online, our results confirm that these are important predictors of cyberbullying [ 28, 38, 46]. Pupils with less empathy, more frequent use of violent media, lower grades, and more time spent online are more likely to engage in psychological or, in some cases, sexual cyberbullying perpetration.

The parent-child relationship is associated with cyberbullying perpetration, as expected. Those who receive greater parental attention are less likely to engage in psychological cyberbullying. Sexual cyberbullying perpetration, on the other hand, is not correlated to school grades or internet usage. In general, it must be noted that the parental influence could be conveyed by other factors. Parenting choices can, for example, influence factors such as empathy or an affinity to violent media. These factors are closely related to cyberbullying perpetration. Such indirect correlations can be visualized through structural equation models that are still rarely found in cyberbullying research, almost certainly due to the lack of longitudinal studies. Further investigation into the lack of correlation between self-esteem and cyberbullying perpetration is also needed.

In terms of self-esteem, it has been suggested that low self-esteem could result in seeing oneself as worse off than others, resulting in frustration and trying to compensate for this by cutting others down to size. This argument might not apply in two respects. Firstly, low self-esteem may not be the negative experience it is claimed to be (see [ 22]). For adolescents, it is not atypical to doubt themselves during puberty. Consequently, these perceptions do not necessarily result in a pressure to compensate. Secondly, cyberbullying may not be the preferred strategy to deal with negative self-esteem. Adolescents with low self-esteem may be less able to direct their aggression against others than against themselves. Compensation strategies would then be more likely to be in the form of alcohol and drug use, for example.

Finally, we need to address the various limitations to the validity of the analyses presented here. Since this is a cross-sectional study, the question of cause and effect cannot be answered. This question is important, especially with regard to the overlapping of victims and perpetrators. The results show that victims of online aggression are themselves engaging in cyberbullying perpetration. The causal direction could also be the other way around. Only longitudinal studies will be able to present this cycle in a differentiated way. Another limitation relates to the instruments used. As stated, the survey was not primarily about cyberbullying. This is reflected in the operationalization of the cyberbullying with only six items, which, of course, only cover a limited range of behaviors. Furthermore, the aspect of imbalance of power-which is one of the defining aspects of cyberbullying [ 35]-is not covered in the operationalization used in this study. In addition, only short scales could be included to measure the influencing factors. Some of the scales show rather low alpha reliabilities, for example, self-esteem or grades. This is partly due to the relatively low number of items on which the scales are based (between four or six items). Regarding self-esteem, it should be noted that we used the KINDL questionnaire [ 33, 34], the reliability of which has been proven in the past. Finally, it should be noted that only selected conditional factors could be tested, since factors such as the aggressiveness or bullying behavior of friends-both potentially further influences on cyberbullying-were not queried.

5. Conclusions

The findings of a representative survey of ninth-grade students in the German state of Lower Saxony shows that online aggressive behavior is a relevant problem. Defined as engaging in this behavior at least several times a month, 2.4% of the respondents can be classified as psychological cyberbullies, while 0.4% are classified as sexual cyberbullies. The most prevalent form of cyberbullying is mocking and spreading rumors about others.

The prevalence of psychological cyberbullying perpetration is correlated with being female and having high self-esteem, low empathy, bad grades, a low level of parental care, the consumption of violent media, the experience of aggression online (psychological and sexual) and at school, and the perpetration of aggression at school. The prevalence of sexual cyberbullying is correlated with being male, having low empathy, violent media consumption, and the experience of psychological and sexual aggression online.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture for founding the survey. Furthermore, the authors would like to thank the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony for covering the costs to publish in open access.

Author Contributions

Dirk Baier conceived and designed the survey; Marie Christine Bergmann and Dirk Baier conducted the survey, analyzed the data; and wrote the paper.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Prevalence and Correlates of Cyberbullying Perpetration. Findings from a German Representative Student Survey

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Based on a survey of 9512 ninth-grade students conducted in Lower Saxony in 2013, this paper examines the prevalence of cyberbullying perpetration and the correlates of this behavior. Binary logistic multilevel regression was used in order to ...

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Bai 17: Cyberbullying and adolescent mental health: systematic review

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Bai 17: Cyberbullying and adolescent mental health: systematic review