Australia The nationwide Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Survey (Cross et al., 2009) assessed cyberbullying experiences among 7,418 students. The results indicated that rates of cyberbullying increased with age, with 4.9% of students in Year 4 reporting cyberbullying compared to 7.9% in year nine. Cross et al., (2009) reported that rates of bullying and harassing others were lower, but also increased with age. Only 1.2% of Year 4 students reported cyberbullying others compared to 5.6% of Year 9 students.
China In
mainland China, cyberbullying has yet to receive adequate scholarly attention. A study investigating the risk factors of cyberbullying sampled 1,438 high school students from central China. Data showed that 34.84% had participated in bullying and 56.88% had been bullied online. A study on cyberbullying in
Hong Kong chose 48 out of 7,654 students from elementary school to high school who were classified as potential aggressors related to cyberbullying. 31 out of 48 students declared they barely participated in cyber-attacks. It is common among high school students (28 out of 36 students) to participate in social media platforms; 58% admitted to changing a nickname for others, 56.3% to humiliation, 54.2% to making fun of someone, and 54.2% to spreading rumors. The
Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups interviewed 1,820 teenagers, 17.5% of whom indicated having experienced cyberbullying. This included insults, abuse, and the publishing of personal private pictures on social media without permission. However, in an earlier publication by Hasenbrink et al. (2009), reporting on the results from a meta analysis from European Union countries, the authors estimated (via median results) that approximately 18% of European young people had been "bullied/harassed/stalked" via the internet and mobile phones. Cyberharassment rates for young people across the EU member states ranged from 10% to 52%.
Finland Sourander et al. (2010) conducted a population-based cross-sectional study that took place in
Finland. The authors of this study took the self-reports of 2,215 Finish adolescents between the ages of 13 and 16 about cyberbullying and cybervictimization during the previous six months. It was found that, amongst the total sample, 4.8% were victims only, 7.4% were cyberbullies only, and 5.4% were cyberbully-victims. The authors of this study were able to conclude that cyberbullying, as well as cybervictimization, is associated not only with psychiatric issues, but with psychosomatic issues as well. Many adolescents in the study reported headaches or difficulty sleeping. The authors believe that their results indicate a greater need for new ideas on how to prevent cyberbullying and what to do when it occurs. It is clearly a worldwide problem that needs to be taken seriously.
Ireland The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) pilot survey was carried out in eight post-primary schools across
Ireland, including 318 students aged 15–18. 59% were boys and 41% were girls. Participation in this survey was voluntary for students, and consent had to be obtained from parents, students and the school itself. This survey was anonymous and confidential, and it took 40 minutes to complete. It asked questions on traditional forms of bullying, as well as cyberbullying, risk behaviors and self-reported health and
life satisfaction. 66% of the students said that they had never been bullied, 14% had been victims of traditional forms of bullying, 10% had been victims of cyberbullying, and the remaining 10% had been victims of both traditional forms of bullying and cyberbullying. Boys mostly said they were victims of traditional forms of bullying, and girls mostly were victims of both traditional forms of bullying and cyberbullying. 20% of the students in this survey said that they had been cyberbullied, showing that cyberbullying is on the rise. Arrow DIT claims that 23% of 9–16 year olds in Ireland have been bullied online or offline, compared to 19% in Europe. Although online bullying in Ireland stands at 4% according to Arrow DIT, this is lower than the European average, which stands at 6%, and half that of the UK where 8% reported being cyberbullied. 59% of the bullying was by pupils, mainly on social media, with the rest perpetrated by parents and other school staff. Since teenagers find themselves congregating socially on the internet via social media, they become easy targets for cyberbullying. Cyberbullying may occur via email, text, chat rooms, and social media websites. Some cyberbullies set up websites or blogs to post the target's images, publicize their personal information, gossip about the target, express why they hate the target, request people to agree with the bully's view, and send links to the target to make sure they are watching the activity. Much cyberbullying is an act of
relational aggression, which involves alienating the victim from peers through gossip or ostracism. This kind of attack can be easily launched via texting or other online activities. One 19-year-old Japanese student was targeted by classmates who posted his photo online, insulted him constantly, and asked him to die. Because of the constant harassment, he did attempt suicide twice. Even when he quit school, the attacks did not stop. Cyberbullying can cause serious psychological impact to the victims. They often feel anxious, nervous, tired, and depressed. Other examples of negative psychological trauma include losing confidence as a result of being socially isolated from their schoolmates or friends. Psychological problems can also show up in the form of headaches, skin problems, abdominal pain, sleep problems, bed-wetting, and crying. It may also lead victims to commit suicide to end the bullying.
United States 2000 A 2000 survey by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the
University of New Hampshire found that 6% of the young people who completed the survey had experienced some form of harassment, including threats and negative rumors, and 2% had suffered distressing harassment.
2004 The 2004 I-Safe.org survey of 1,500 students between grades 4 and 8 found: • 42% of children had been bullied online. One in four had experienced it more than once. • 35% had been threatened online. Nearly one in five had experienced it more than once. • 21% had received mean or threatening e-mails or other messages. • 58% admitted that someone had said hurtful things to them online. More than four out of ten said this had happened more than once. • 58% had not told their parents or an adult about something hurtful that had happened to them online.
2005 The Youth Internet Safety Survey–2, conducted by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the
University of New Hampshire in 2005, found that 9% of the young people in the survey had experienced some form of harassment. The survey was a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,500 youth 10–17 years old. One-third reported feeling distressed by the incident, with distress being more likely for younger respondents and those who were the victims of aggressive harassment (including being telephoned, sent gifts, or visited at home by the harasser). Compared to youth not harassed online, victims are more likely to have social problems. On the other hand, youth who harass others are more likely to have problems with rule breaking and aggression. Hinduja and Patchin completed a study in the summer of 2005 of approximately 1,500 Internet-using adolescents and found that over one-third of youth reported being victimized online, and over 16% of respondents admitted to cyberbullying others. While most of the instances of cyberbullying involved relatively minor behavior (41% were disrespected, 19% were called names), over 12% were physically threatened and about 5% were scared for their safety. Notably, fewer than 15% of victims told an adult about the incident. found that youth who report being victims of cyberbullying also experience stress or strain that is related to offline problem behaviors such as running away from home, cheating on a test, skipping school, or using alcohol or marijuana. The authors acknowledge that both of these studies provide only preliminary information about the nature and consequences of online bullying, due to the methodological challenges associated with an online survey. According to a 2005 survey by the
National Children's Home charity and
Tesco Mobile, of 770 youth between the ages of 11 and 19, 20% of respondents revealed that they had been bullied via electronic means. Almost three-quarters (73%) stated that they knew the bully, while 26% stated that the offender was a stranger. 10% of responders indicated that another person had taken a picture and/or video of them via a
cellular phone camera, consequently making them feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, or threatened. Many youths are not comfortable telling an authority figure about their cyberbullying
victimization for fear their access to technology will be taken from them; while 24% and 14% told a parent or teacher respectively, 28% did not tell anyone, and 41% told a friend.
2007 Studies published in 2007 in the
Journal of Adolescent Health indicated young people reporting being victims of electronic aggression in a range of 9% to 35%. In 2007, Debbie Heimowitz, a
Stanford University master's student, created ''
Adina's Deck'', a film based on Stanford-accredited research. She worked in focus groups for ten weeks in three schools to learn about the problem of cyberbullying in northern California. The findings determined that over 60% of students had been cyberbullied and were victims of cyberbullying. The film is now being used in classrooms nationwide as it was designed around learning goals pertaining to problems that students had understanding the topic. The middle school of
Megan Meier is reportedly using the film as a solution to the crisis in their town.
2008 In 2008, researchers
Sameer Hinduja (
Florida Atlantic University) and Justin Patchin (
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire) published a book on cyberbullying that summarized the current state of cyberbullying research (
Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying). Their research documented that cyberbullying instances had been increasing over the preceding several years. They also reported findings from a then-recent study of cyberbullying. In a random sample of approximately 2000 middle-school students from a large school district in the southern United States, about 10% of respondents reported being cyberbullied in the previous 30 days while over 17% reported having been cyberbullied at least once in their lifetime.
2011 According to the 2011 National Crime Victimization Survey, conducted by the
U.S. Department of Justice,
Bureau of Justice Statistics, School Crime Supplement (SCS), 9% of students age 12–18 admitted to having experienced cyberbullying during that school year (with a coefficient of variation between 30% and 50%).
2014 In 2014, Mehari, Farrell, and Le published a study that focused on the literature on cyberbullying among adolescents. They found that researchers have generally assumed that cyberbullying is distinct from aggression perpetrated in person. Mehari et al. suggest that the media through which aggression is perpetrated may be best conceptualized as a new classification of aggression, rather than considering cyberbullying as a distinct counterpart to existing forms of aggression. They suggest that future research on cyberbullying be considered within the context of theoretical and empirical knowledge of aggression in adolescence. Mary Howlett-Brandon's doctoral dissertation analyzed the National Crime Victimization Survey: Student Crime Supplement, 2009, to focus on the cyberbullying victimization of Black and White students in specific conditions.
2015 Cyberbullying on social media has usually been student-to-student, but recently, students have been cyberbullying their teachers. High school students in Colorado created a Twitter site that bullies teachers. This ranges from obscenities to false accusations of inappropriate actions with students. == Legislation ==