research design in cyberbullying

• Research article
• Open access
• Published: 28 May 2019

“I felt angry, but I couldn’t do anything about it”: a qualitative study of cyberbullying among Taiwanese high school students

• Chia-Wen Wang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5020-6395 1 ,
• Patou Masika Musumari 2 ,
• Teeranee Techasrivichien 1 , 2 ,
• S. Pilar Suguimoto 1 , 3 ,
• Chang-Chuan Chan 4 ,
• Masako Ono-Kihara 2 ,
• Masahiro Kihara 1 &
• Takeo Nakayama 1  

BMC Public Health volume  19 , Article number:  654 ( 2019 ) Cite this article

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Cyberbullying is a growing public health concern threatening the well-being of adolescents in both developed and developing countries. In Taiwan, qualitative research exploring the experiences and perceptions of cyberbullying among Taiwanese young people is lacking.

We conducted in-depth interviews with a convenience sample of high school students (aged 16 to 18) from five schools in Taipei, Taiwan, without prior knowledge of their cyberbullying experiences. In total, 48 participants were interviewed.

We found that the experience of cyberbullying is common, frequently occurs anonymously and publicly on unofficial school Facebook pages created by students themselves, and manifests in multiple ways, such as name-calling, uploading photos, and/or excluding victims from online groups of friends. Exclusion, which may be a type of cyberbullying unique to the Asian context, causes a sense of isolation, helplessness, or hopelessness, even producing mental health effects in the victims because people place the utmost importance on interpersonal harmony due to the Confucian values in collectivistic Asian societies. In addition, our study revealed reasons for cyberbullying that also potentially reflect the collectivistic values of Asian societies. These reasons included fun, discrimination, jealousy, revenge, and punishment of peers who broke school or social rules/norms, for example, by cheating others or being promiscuous.

Conclusions

Our findings reveal the pressing need for the Taiwanese school system to develop cyberbullying prevention programmes considering the nature and sociocultural characteristics of cyberbullying.

Peer Review reports

In recent years, with the rapid growth of information and communication technologies (ICTs), including the internet, social networking services (SNSs), and smartphones, a particular form of bullying referred to as cyberbullying has emerged. Past studies have documented the adverse health effects of traditional bullying on victims, including but not limited to psychosomatic problems [ 1 ], anxiety and depression [ 2 ], and suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviours [ 3 ]. Cyberbullying is often characterized by anonymity and publicity [ 4 , 5 , 6 ] and may result in significantly more negative consequences than traditional bullying. Past studies have suggested that victims of cyberbullying experienced more distress and had a higher risk of suicide ideation and attempts than victims of traditional bullying at school [ 7 , 8 , 9 ].

Asia, with approximately 4.2 billion people, has the largest population in the world and has been experiencing exponential growth of ICT usage during the last few decades. One statistical report documented that internet usage in Asia has increased 1670% since 2000 [ 10 ]. In particular, the overall penetration of internet usage has exceeded 80% of the population in certain countries, such as Hong Kong (87.0%), Japan (93.3%), South Korea (92.6%), and Taiwan (87.9%) [ 11 ]. In this context, the pervasiveness of ICT usage is alarming considering the urgent and critical issue of cyberbullying in Asian countries [ 12 ]. Although this issue has received little attention, the phenomenon has been found to be pervasive among adolescents in Asia. Studies from Taiwan, China, South Korea, and Japan have shown prevalence rates ranging from 6.3 to 34.8% for cyberbullying perpetration and from 14.6 to 56.9% for cyberbullying victimization [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. These studies suggest that factors such as gender [ 13 , 14 , 15 ], electronic media (instant messaging, chat rooms, websites and bulletin board systems, e-mail, cell phones, SNSs, etc.) [ 13 , 14 ], academic achievement [ 14 ], internet usage time [ 14 , 15 ], and prior traditional bullying experiences [ 14 , 15 ] are associated with cyberbullying.

Many studies on cyberbullying have been conducted in Western countries [ 5 , 7 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ] using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, whereas research on cyberbullying in Asian regions [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 22 ], whether qualitative or quantitative, remains scarce. Furthermore, past studies on cyberbullying in Asia have predominately been conducted using a quantitative approach to analyse the prevalence and related factors regarding cyberbullying, yet adolescents’ experiences and perceptions in the Asian context have not received much attention.

Cyberbullying is context-dependent, namely, influenced by the sociocultural environment [ 13 ]. Some studies have suggested that sociocultural factors should be considered to understand differences in the cyberbullying phenomenon between Asian and Western countries. For example, Shapka and Law (2013) found that ethnic differences between Canadian adolescents of East Asian and European descent were related to cyberbullying engagement [ 23 ]. Li (2008) found different patterns regarding cyberbullying experiences between Canadian and Chinese students, also suggesting that access to various ICTs may increase the risk of being involved in cyberbullying [ 24 ]. Furthermore, a short-term longitudinal study indicated cultural differences in cyberbullying between U.S. students and Japanese students [ 25 ].

A qualitative approach offers a useful means to explore the cyberbullying experiences of adolescents in the Asian social context in depth. This study employed a qualitative approach to explore the experiences and perceptions of cyberbullying among high school students in Taiwan.

Study design, participants, and setting

This is a qualitative study conducted between June and November 2016 using convenience sampling of high school students aged 16–18 from five high schools in Taipei, Taiwan. Participants in this study were recruited without prior knowledge of their cyberbullying experiences either as victims or perpetrators owing to the difficulties of identifying the victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying as indicated in previous studies [ 5 , 21 ]. Teachers announced the interview opportunity in class to help recruit student volunteers. Given the sensitive nature of the topic of cyberbullying, the teachers did not mention the word “bullying” in the announcement. They mentioned only that the researchers wanted to interview students about their internet usage experiences. Subsequently, potential student volunteers contacted the teachers privately to obtain more details about the interview (namely, that the interview would address their opinions, perceptions and experiences regarding cyberbullying) to decide whether to participate. If the students and their legal guardians both agreed, then the researchers arranged an interview time. This study relied on voluntary participation. All participants and their guardians received information about the study’s purpose, its strict confidentiality, the voluntary nature of their participation, and their right to withdraw from the interview at any time. The participants and their guardians provided written informed consent prior to the interviews. Psychotherapy or mental health counselling was provided by the researcher during the study when requested by a participant. In addition, participants were referred to a hospital psychiatrist or clinical psychologist if they were found to be experiencing psychological distress or were identified as having severe suicidal ideation. We provided stationery and snacks to the students as tokens of appreciation for their time.

Data collection and analysis

Data were collected through in-depth interviews guided by a semi-structured questionnaire. All interviews were audio-recorded and conducted in Mandarin by the same researcher (first author), and each interview lasted 30 to 100 min. The interviews were conducted in a designated room at each school that was occupied only by the researcher and participant to ensure the participants’ privacy and confidentiality. Prior to the interviews, the participants answered a short questionnaire including questions regarding sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, etc.) and internet and ICT-related factors (internet usage time, tools to access the internet, etc.). The interviews explored the students’ experiences and perceptions of cyberbullying. Table  1 displays the topics and items included in the in-depth interviews.

The interviews were transcribed verbatim and imported into QSR International’s Nvivo10 software. To perform the analyses, we used investigator triangulation and thematic analysis, an approach that involves familiarization with the data through an iterative process of reading the transcripts, generating codes, and arranging them into larger categorical groups (subcategories, categories, and themes) until a saturated thematic map of the data is obtained [ 26 ]. We revised and refined the themes until we achieved a consensus.

In total, 48 participants were interviewed [26 male students (54.2%) and 22 female students (45.8%)]. Most of the participants (77.1%) lived with both their parents, used a smartphone as a tool to access the internet (75.0%), and used the internet for at least 2 hours per day (66.7%) (Table  2 ).

Of the 48 participants, 12 students (25.0%) reported a personal history of being a victim of cyberbullying, and the majority of the victims [10 of 12 (83.3%)] also reported being witnesses. The remainder of the students (75.0%) reported witnessing cyberbullying by friends, classmates, or schoolmates; however, none of them reported ever being a perpetrator. We identified six main themes, which are presented below along with supporting quotes. In some instances, the quotes were slightly edited for fluency.

Theme 1: the sites of cyberbullying

Most participants [38 of 48 (79.2%)] reported that SNSs were the venues in which they were most likely to experience or witness cyberbullying, including unofficial school Facebook pages, personal Facebook pages, Instagram and Meteor (an SNS that is popular among Taiwanese high school students). In particular, they explained that cyberbullying often emerged on unofficial school Facebook pages. These pages are unrestricted and are created by students themselves to anonymously express their feelings or complaints concerning someone or something related to their school. One of the victims stated:

“I saw that they verbally abused me on our unofficial school Facebook page, and many idiots (schoolmates) didn’t know the truth, and then, they clicked the ‘Like’ button on that post. I felt angry that they agreed with the perpetrators. I couldn’t do anything about it [angry face].” [16, M]

Some participants [10 of 48 (20.8%)] also reported instances of cyberbullying such as uploading photos without approval through instant messaging applications such as LINE (a popular app in Taiwan for instant communication). One participant said:

“She felt angry that her classmates downloaded her Facebook photos without permission and re-uploaded the photos without her approval to the LINE class group.” [17, F]

A few of the participants [4 of 48 (8.3%)], particularly boys, indicated that online gaming, specifically multi-player or violent games, was another online context where they had witnessed or experienced cyberbullying. One victim said:

“They [the online game players] verbally abused me because my performance was poor. Then, they would command you to change the online game character. If you did not follow their requests, they would attack you repeatedly. I felt very uncomfortable when I played the game.” [17, M]

Theme 2: the features of cyberbullying

In the interviews, the participants reported some features of cyberbullying, including anonymity, publicity, and permanency, which result in negative feelings such as anger or sadness.

The majority of participants [32 of 48 (66.7%)] stated that cyberbullying was characterized by anonymity, indicating that perpetrators could attack victims but remain anonymous. According to the victims, nearly half of the victims [5 of 12 (41.7%)] stated that in their experience, they were cyberbullied anonymously. They mentioned that they felt powerless when being bullied online. This feeling was mostly related to the fact that the perpetrators were anonymous, precluding the victims from taking action to resolve the issue (for example, by removing inappropriate content from SNSs), as expressed in the following statements:

“Someone attacked and verbally abused me online, and what he/she said was not the truth. It’s been hurtful to me. Things got worse, and some people believed what that person posted about me. I felt like I couldn’t defend myself, and whatever I said, people didn’t believe me.” [16, F]

“If the perpetrator is anonymous, you don’t know who he/she is, and you cannot ask him/her to delete the content [degrading photos or embarrassing videos].” [17, F]

In addition, some of the participants [11 of 48 (22.9%)] mentioned how the perpetrators remained anonymous on social media sites. For example, Crush Ninja was popular among students for managing their own anonymous pages as well as public unofficial school Facebook pages to maintain anonymity or hide their IP addresses. One participant said:

“They [the perpetrators] verbally abused someone on our unofficial school Facebook page. However, their names were not shown on that page. They submitted their posts to the third-party platform (CrushNinja), and then the posts were submitted by the third-party platform without revealing their identities.” [18, M]

This study found that an anonymous social media site called Meteor is highly popular among Taiwanese high school students. On this site, perpetrators can attack victims without revealing their identities. One victim stated:

“Someone verbally abused me and my friend on Meteor. I felt very hurt. The post was anonymous and did not show who posted the message. I didn’t know who attacked us.” [16, F]

In addition, half of the participants [25 of 48 (52.1%)] frequently mentioned the public nature of cyberbullying, resulting in public exposure of the victims and easy engagement of other cyber bystanders as one of the participants described:

“Sometimes, they [the perpetrators] directly write your student number, and your classmates will recognize you through your student number and tag you [on Facebook]. Then, they would verbally abuse you jointly.” [16, F]

Some participants [12 of 48 (25.0%)] mentioned that they felt awful or hurt due to the permanency of cyberbullying on SNSs. From the victims’ perspective, some victims [4 of 12 (33.3%)] felt angry that they could not remove demeaning or embarrassing content themselves. Additionally, a few participants [5 of 48 (10.4%)] felt terrified that once posted online, the content would remain there forever. The participants stated:

“I think our unofficial school Facebook page should be removed. Someone called me names on it. I felt very uncomfortable [angry face].” [18, F]

“The posts on our unofficial school Facebook page would remain online forever. Even if you later felt sorry about attacking the victims, you couldn’t withdraw what you posted.” [16, F]

“One of my classmates wanted to remove what she had posted on our unofficial school Facebook page. Although she contacted the manager of our unofficial school Facebook page, the manager did not remove the post.” [16, F]

Theme 3: the types of cyberbullying

The participants reported that the most common type of cyberbullying was name-calling (gossiping) [38 of 48 (79.2%)], followed by posting photos [12 of 48 (25.0%)] and exclusion (isolation) [4 of 48 (8.3%)], as shown in the following statements:

Name-calling (gossiping)

“They [the perpetrators] created two accounts on Instagram. One was open to the public, and the other one was privately shared between a few good friends. They used the private account to gossip and call other classmates or schoolmates names. ” [17, F]

“She gossiped about me on her private Instagram account, and one of my classmates who followed her account took a screenshot of the malicious gossip and forwarded it to me.” [16, F]

Posting photos

“I once witnessed someone intentionally posting a girl’s photo using an anonymous account on our unofficial school Facebook page. He [or she] took the photo of the girl, uploaded it, and verbally abused her. I felt like s/he [the perpetrator] intentionally did it to hurt the girl.” [17, F]

Exclusion (isolation)

The participants reported that to isolate them, perpetrators would exclude victims by creating a group on LINE that included all their classmates except for the victims. The participants stated:

“He is very bai-mu [a slang term in the local Taiwanese language used to describe an individual who does not understand a situation and then engages in inappropriate behaviour to annoy other people], so classmates dislike him, and he is not in our LINE class group; none of our classmates have included him in the group, although sometimes important class announcements are posted on the group [without informing him].” [17, F]

“Well, a girl was rude, so our classmates disliked her. They created a group (on LINE) to speak ill of her. All our classmates were included in that group except for her. I was also included in that group, although I didn’t want to be. However, if I quit the group, it would be like I was on her side. So, I didn’t know what to do.” [17, F]

The overlap with traditional bullying

Although we did not explicitly ask about traditional bullying, we found an overlap between cyberbullying and traditional bullying. Some of the victims [4 of 12 (33.3%)] of cyberbullying also reported having experienced traditional bullying at school. They reported that they felt sad for being bullied not only at school but also on the internet. One of the victims stated:

“When I was walking over, they [the classmates] called me bitch, and they often gossiped about me. I couldn’t do anything because no one stood by my side [sad face]. If I fought back, they would attack me even more aggressively…Someone [publicly] insulted me [on Meteor, a highly popular SNS among Taiwanese high school students] and gossiped that I had sex with someone and called me a bitch.” [16, F]

Theme 4: motivation for cyberbullying

The participants mentioned several reasons for cyberbullying, including fun, punishment, discrimination, jealousy, and revenge.

Nearly half of the participants [23 of 48 (47.9%)] reported that the most common reason for cyberbullying was “ for entertainment or for fun. ” One participant stated:

“They felt that it was fun to post his [a classmate with emotional disorders] videos on the Facebook page.” [18, M]

For punishment

Some participants [15 of 48 (31.3%)] reported that other schoolmates (or classmates) were annoyed because the victims did something wrong at school, such as cheating or being sexually promiscuous, or the victims were rude or bai-mu , which is why the victims were then bullied. The participants stated:

“A girl in our class was verbally abused on our unofficial school Facebook page because she cheated on an exam. She was depressed for a long time.” [17, F]

“A girl was repeatedly attacked on our unofficial school Facebook page because she was hooking up with many guys at our school, and her real name was posted openly.” [18, M]

“I saw that a schoolmate’s name was posted and that he was verbally abused on our unofficial school Facebook page. I knew him because we were classmates in 10 th grade. He is bai-mu and obnoxious. Many people hate him, including me.” [18, M]

For revenge

Revenge as a reason for cyberbullying was mentioned by a few participants [5 of 48 (10.4%)]. For example, one of the participants described an incident of cyberbullying that occurred in her class. A victim of traditional bullying could not tolerate his perpetrator’s constant teasing of him in class, and the victim therefore took revenge on the perpetrator online. The participant stated:

“The boy thought that it was very funny to tease him [the victim]. In the beginning, I thought that it was funny, too. However, he made fun of him almost every class. It turned out that XXX [the victim’s name] anonymously verbally abused the boy who always made fun of him on our unofficial school Facebook page.” [16, F]

For discrimination

In a few instances [3 of 48 (6.3%)], minorities (sexual minorities and disabled students) at school were the targets of cyberbullying. Participants reported the following:

“I have been insulted [on Facebook Messenger] by my schoolmates because I’m homosexual. They called me the lady boy and told me that I’m disgusting.” [17, F]

“We created a specific page for him [a student with emotional disorders] on Facebook to post his behaviours. [He (the victim)] cannot control his emotions... sometimes a video in which he was shouting was posted....” [18, M]

From jealousy

A few participants [2 of 48 (4.2%)] mentioned that some of the perpetrators were jealous of the victims’ success in sports or academics as one of the participants described:

“ Not only was he an athlete on the national team but his academic performance was also excellent. Some schoolmates felt that he was up on a high horse. So, they attacked him on our unofficial school Facebook page. ” [17, F]

Theme 5: ambiguity and context dependency

The notion of cyberbullying was not clear to many of the participants, which caused confusion regarding whether certain behaviours would be considered cyberbullying. Many participants [26 of 48 (54.2%)] found distinguishing between cyberbullying and “ just having fun ” on LINE or other SNSs difficult. This difficulty is illustrated in the following quotes:

“They posted my photo as the cover photo of our LINE class group, but I did not care because I thought they were just kidding.” [17, M]

“He [an unfamiliar classmate] uploaded my photo, and I didn’t like it. I’m not sure whether this behaviour could be called cyberbullying.” [18, M]

In addition, the participants mentioned that whether a particular behaviour would be considered cyberbullying was based on the nature of the relationship of the involved students. They argued that between good friends, actions are interpreted as jokes, but these actions would be perceived as cyberbullying attacks if they came from unfamiliar people. For example, the participants explained:

“My sleeping photos have often been posted as the cover photos of our LINE class group since the 10 th grade. However, I do not care. I know that they are kidding rather than trying to hurt me. Additionally, the classmates who always post my photos have a good relationship with me, so I feel that it’s OK. If unfamiliar people [classmates or schoolmates] post my photos, I will demand that they remove the photos. It depends on the relationship with that person [to differentiate between jokes and cyberbullying].” [18, F]

“They uploaded my photos on the LINE group. We were good friends, so I felt very amused. I thought they were just kidding.” [16, M]

Theme 6: coping strategies of victims

Coping with cyberbullying seemed difficult; half of the victims [6 of 12 (50.0%)] reported that they ignored the bullying. However, some of the victims reported coping strategies, including talking with friends, expecting teachers to intervene, confrontation, and leaving the group.

Ignoring cyberbullying/taking no action

Half of the victims [6 of 12 (50.0%)] reported that they ignored cyberbullying or took no action when they experienced cyberbullying.

“They verbally abused me on our unofficial school Facebook page. I thought that they had nothing better to do and I just ignored it [cyberbullying].” [18, F]

“I felt angry, but I couldn’t do anything about it [cyberbullying] since he/she remained anonymous. I could not figure out who attacked me.” [17, F]

Talking with friends

Three of the 12 victims (25.0%) talked with friends to express their feelings. One victim said:

“I felt very angry, but I couldn’t do anything about it. The one thing that I could do was talk to my friends. My friends comforted me and told me not to take it so seriously.” [18, F]

Expecting teachers to intervene

In a few instances [2 of 12 (16.7%)], the victims explained that responding to cyberbullying was difficult due to the anonymity of the perpetrators and expressed the hope that teachers could identify the perpetrators. However, they felt that teachers could not address cyberbullying since the perpetrators remained anonymous. One participant described the following:

“I think that the teachers should deal with cyberbullying. However, the teachers may not be able to find out who the perpetrator is due to anonymity.” [18, F]

Confrontation

In a few cases [2 of 12 (16.7%)] where the victim knew the identity of the perpetrator, some victims felt angry or hurt and confronted the perpetrator(s) to demand the removal of demeaning content from SNSs. A victim stated:

“ He [the classmate] uploaded my photo as his Facebook profile picture, but I demanded that he remove my photo.” [18, M]

Leaving the group

Only one of the 12 victims (8.3%) mentioned she left a chat group in response to cyberbullying. She said:

“ They [the schoolmates] were gossiping about me on the chat group on Facebook Messenger, but I didn’t reply to the message and quit the chat group.” [17, F]

Table  3 displays the percentage representations of the six themes.

To our knowledge, this is the first qualitative study to explore cyberbullying among Taiwanese high school students. Most previous studies have used a quantitative approach [ 13 , 22 , 27 ]. However, due to the complexity and sensitivity of cyberbullying, quantitative studies may not fully capture the breadth and depth of the problem.

From the results, we found some similarities and differences between Asian and Western contexts. Regarding the sites of cyberbullying, similar to Western societies [ 28 , 29 ], cyberbullying predominantly occurs through SNSs. However, our study highlighted that students consistently mentioned cyberbullying experienced or witnessed on their unofficial school Facebook pages, which has rarely been reported in other studies. In Taiwan, many high school students have created unofficial school Facebook pages to express their feelings or complaints concerning someone or something at school. The anonymity and publicity [ 6 , 30 ] of such sites were utilized to provide a cover for insults, humiliation, personal attacks, or assaults, allowing many cyber bystanders to attack victims jointly. The anonymity and publicity of cyberbullying, together with its permanency, create serious negative consequences that may cause long-term psychological effects for cyber victims.

With respect to the types of cyberbullying, name-calling (gossiping), posting photos, and an overlap with traditional bullying have also been reported in the Western context [ 18 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. In this study, we found that students used SNSs (Instagram) to gossip or call other people names, implying that they may learn about name-calling (gossiping) via Instagram as victims or bystanders. We recommend that future studies should address this issue to clarify whether students are actively participating in cyberbullying.

In addition, we found that group exclusion was very common, as reported in other Asian societies [ 14 , 35 , 36 ]. This study found that students used group exclusion to isolate a victim, for example, by creating a LINE group including everyone except for the victim(s). Previous studies from China and Hong Kong have documented group exclusion, including the use of online text to socially isolate victims [ 35 ] or kicking someone out of a chat room [ 14 ]. Such exclusion may cause feelings of isolation, helplessness, or hopelessness, producing mental health effects in victims of cyberbullying because people place the utmost importance on interpersonal harmony and a sense of belonging due to the Confucian values in collectivistic Asian societies [ 13 , 37 , 38 ].

Regarding the motivations for cyberbullying, fun [ 39 ], discrimination [ 40 , 41 ], jealousy [ 42 ], and revenge [ 39 , 41 , 42 , 43 ] were consistent with previous studies in Western societies. In addition, we found that punishment may be a significant motivation to cyberbully peers who break school rules, such as cheating, or social norms, such as traditional heterosexual roles [ 44 ] in Asian societies. In particular, group conformity is an important social rule in Asian society [ 38 ]; in this study, if students did something wrong or were different from others, as in the case of sexual minorities, they were easily targeted by other students.

In this study, we found that cyberbullying is ambiguous or highly context-dependent in Asian countries. Previous Western studies [ 20 , 45 ] have mentioned “intention” as a critical criterion to distinguish cyberbullying from cyber jokes. However, our study showed that the distinction between cyberbullying and conventional jokes and pranks between friends was not clear to many students. Judgments regarding whether a particular act or behaviour could be considered cyberbullying were based on the closeness to or the nature of the relationship with the perpetrator. Therefore, most behaviours, however offensive, would be regarded as a joke or “ just for fun ” if they were performed by someone close because participants felt that such behaviours were not performed with the intent to hurt someone. This observation may explain why many high school students mentioned that cyberbullying was carried out for entertainment or fun. We suggest that in addition to the intention of the perpetrator, his or her relationship with peers can be used to define cyberbullying among adolescents in the Asian context. Additionally, power imbalance is an essential criterion for defining cyberbullying [ 45 , 46 ]. Perpetrators may expose victims publicly, issuing psychological threats and causing the victims to feel powerless in the face of the potential cyber audience (based on the number of comments, likes, and shares) [ 47 ].

Regarding coping strategies, consistent with one study in China, most victims reported that they ignored the attacks [ 14 ]. This behaviour may indicate that passive coping strategies are predominantly adopted in Asian societies because these societies value interpersonal harmony and tolerance due to the social rules in relationships, again implying the core Confucian values in Asian contexts.

In contrast, active coping strategies, such as attempting to resolve problems or blocking a bully, have been commonly reported in Western countries [ 32 , 48 ].

Although this study provided some insight into Taiwanese students’ experiences and perceptions of cyberbullying, we need to acknowledge some limitations. First, despite our efforts to ensure privacy during the interview, place participants at ease, and maintain strict confidentiality, students were reluctant to report being victims or perpetrators of cyberbullying (in the interviews, we found that a few participants initially spoke in the third person. However, they later spoke in the first person to disclose their stories). Due to the sensitive nature of the topic and the social desirability effect, we may have failed to capture some important aspects of cyberbullying in this study, especially the cyber perpetrators’ perspective. Second, voluntary participation may have introduced a self-selection bias.

The experience of cyberbullying appears to be common among high school students and occurs in multiple forms (name-calling, posting photos, exclusion from online groups, etc.) and on multiple platforms (Facebook and instant messaging applications). Our findings underscore the pressing need for the Taiwanese school system to take action to prevent and stop cyberbullying, including developing students’ and teachers’ skills and appropriate response strategies, considering the nature of cyberbullying and sociocultural characteristics in Taiwan.

Availability of data and materials

This study is based on qualitative data, including observation field notes and interview transcripts. The participants did not consent to have their full transcripts shared publicly.

Abbreviations

Information and communication technologies

• Social networking services

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the contribution and cooperation of all participants and school teachers in this study.

Chia-Wen Wang was supported by the 2016 Kyoto University School of Public Health – Super Global Course travel scholarship to Taiwan through the Top Global University Project “Japan Gateway: Kyoto University Top Global Program” and a scholarship from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), Japan.

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CW, MOK and MK conceived the study design. CW carried out the interviews. CW, MOK and MK discussed, revised and refined the themes. CW and PM drafted the manuscript, which was edited by TT, SS, MK and TN. MOK and CC helped supervise the whole process of the study. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Wang, CW., Musumari, P.M., Techasrivichien, T. et al. “I felt angry, but I couldn’t do anything about it”: a qualitative study of cyberbullying among Taiwanese high school students. BMC Public Health 19 , 654 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7005-9

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Research Article

How childhood psychological abuse affects adolescent cyberbullying: The chain mediating role of self-efficacy and psychological resilience

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* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation School of Education Science, Nanjing Normal University, Jiangsu, China

Roles Investigation, Writing – original draft

Affiliation School of Computing, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Jiangsu, China

• Haihua Ying, 

• Published: September 9, 2024
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309959
• Peer Review
• Reader Comments

Despite the recognition of the impact of childhood psychological abuse, self-efficacy, and psychological resilience on cyberbullying, there is still a gap in understanding the specific mechanisms through which childhood psychological abuse impacts cyberbullying via self-efficacy and psychological resilience.

Based on the Social Cognitive Theory, this study aims to investigate the link between childhood psychological abuse and cyberbullying in adolescents, mediated by the sequential roles of self-efficacy and psychological resilience. The sample consisted of 891 students ( M = 15.40, SD = 1.698) selected from four public secondary schools in Jiangsu Province, Eastern China. All the participants filled in the structured self-report questionnaires on childhood psychological abuse, self-efficacy, psychological resilience, and cyberbullying. The data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0 and structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS 24.0.

The findings of this study are as follows: (1) Childhood psychological abuse is positively associated with adolescent cyberbullying; (2) Self-efficacy plays a mediating role between childhood psychological abuse and adolescent cyberbullying; (3) Psychological resilience plays a mediating role between childhood psychological abuse and adolescent cyberbullying; (4) Self-efficacy and psychological resilience play a chain mediation role between childhood psychological abuse and adolescent cyberbullying.

This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms linking childhood psychological abuse to adolescent cyberbullying, shedding light on potential pathways for targeted interventions and support programs to promote the well-being of adolescents in the face of early adversity.

Citation: Ying H, Han Y (2024) How childhood psychological abuse affects adolescent cyberbullying: The chain mediating role of self-efficacy and psychological resilience. PLoS ONE 19(9): e0309959. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309959

Editor: Amgad Muneer, The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Received: February 6, 2024; Accepted: August 21, 2024; Published: September 9, 2024

Copyright: © 2024 Ying, Han. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting information files.

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

1. Introduction

The rapid development of the internet has brought many conveniences to our lives, but it has also brought numerous negative impacts, such as internet addiction [ 1 ], online fraud [ 2 ], and cyberbullying [ 3 ]. Among these, cyberbullying has been referred to as an “invisible fist”, with its harm being greater than traditional bullying and having a wider impact [ 4 ]. Cyberbullying is characterized by deliberate, repetitive, and malicious acts which are carried out using modern communication technologies, aimed at causing harm to others [ 5 , 6 ]. It comprises two dimensions: cyberbullying victimization and cyberbullying perpetration [ 7 ]. This pervasive issue is recognized globally [ 8 ], as evidenced by data from 2019, which revealed that one-third of young people from 30 countries consistently reported being victims of cyberbullying [ 9 ]. In China, the number of underage internet users reached 183 million in 2020, with 24.3% of minors reporting experiencing cyber violence, according to the “Research Report on Internet Usage among Minors in China in 2020” [ 10 ]. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to cyberbullying [ 11 ]. The survey results indicate that approximately 52.2% of adolescents in China have experienced at least one incident of cyberbullying in the past year [ 12 ]. Cyberbullying not only impacts the psychological well-being of adolescents, but also lead to their difficulties in social adaptation and potentially tragic outcomes [ 13 ]. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore the factors influencing adolescent cyberbullying for prevention and intervention.

Cyberbullying is influenced by both environmental factors and individual factors [ 14 ]. Childhood psychological abuse is an important environmental factor influencing cyberbullying [ 15 ]. Child psychological abuse refers to the series of inappropriate fostering methods that are repeatedly and continuously adopted by the fosterer during the process of children’s growth, including intimidation, neglect, disparagement, interference, and indulgence [ 16 ]. Previous research has established a positive correlation between childhood psychological abuse and adolescent cyberbullying [ 17 , 18 ]. High levels of childhood psychological abuse have been associated with higher levels of cyberbullying, while low levels of childhood psychological abuse can hinder adolescent cyberbullying [ 19 ]. Self-efficacy and psychological resilience are two individual factors that have been extensively explored in relation to cyberbullying [ 20 ]. Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s confidence and expectation in their ability to take effective action and accomplish tasks in specific situations [ 21 ]. Psychological resilience is defined as the adaptive ability to maintain an active life despite adversity and stressful events [ 22 ]. They have been found to exhibit a negative correlation with adolescent cyberbullying. For example, Özdemir and Bektaş suggested that self-efficacy plays a negative role in cyberbullying [ 23 ]. Similarly, Clark and Bussey observed a noteworthy negative association between self-efficacy and cyberbullying among adolescents [ 24 ]. Güçlü-Aydogan et al. posited that psychological resilience has a negative impact on cyberbullying [ 20 ]. The findings highlight the importance of considering both self-efficacy and psychological resilience in understanding adolescent cyberbullying.

Despite scholars proposing the influence of these factors on adolescent cyberbullying, the specific mechanisms through which childhood psychological abuse affects adolescent cyberbullying via self-efficacy and psychological resilience remain understudied. To address this research gap, this study aims to investigate the interactive effects of childhood psychological abuse, self-efficacy, psychological resilience on adolescent cyberbullying, thereby providing a holistic understanding of the relationship between these factors. Furthermore, the study endeavors to investigate the impact of childhood psychological abuse on adolescent cyberbullying, with a specific focus on the mediating roles of self-efficacy and psychological resilience. This study seeks to address the following questions: First, what is the relationship between childhood psychological abuse and adolescent cyberbullying? Second, does self-efficacy mediate the relationship between childhood psychological abuse and adolescent cyberbullying? Third, does psychological resilience mediate the relationship between childhood psychological abuse and adolescent cyberbullying? Fourth, is there a serial mediation effect of self-efficacy and psychological resilience between childhood psychological abuse and adolescent cyberbullying? This study is significant as it addresses a gap in the existing literature and provides insights into the determinants of adolescent cyberbullying. Moreover, by exploring the mediating mechanisms through which childhood psychological abuse impacts adolescent cyberbullying, this study provides valuable guidance for educators and parents seeking to reduce adolescent cyberbullying.

The structure of the remaining sections of this article is as follows. Section 2 provides an overview of the theoretical background and hypothesis development. Section 3 details the materials and methods, encompassing participants, the research process, research instruments, and statistical analysis. Section 4 covers common method variance, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, examination of the model, and testing for mediation effects. Section 6 presents the findings, limitations, and implications.

2. Theoretical background and hypothesis development

2.1 theoretical background.

Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), originally proposed by Bandura [ 21 ], provides a robust theoretical framework for this study. The theory includes three elements: environment, personal factors, and behavior [ 25 ]. Environment is defined as the external influences that affect an individual’s behavior, such as social norms, cultural values, and physical surroundings, while personal factors refer to an individual’s cognitive, affective, and biological characteristics, including beliefs, emotions, and genetic predispositions [ 26 ]. Behavior encompasses the actions and responses exhibited by an individual in various situations [ 21 ]. Unlike some other theories that focus solely on either environmental or personal determinants of behavior, SCT emphasizes the dynamic interaction between environment, personal factors, and behavior. It posits that individuals are not simply passive recipients of environmental influences, but rather they actively engage with and interpret their surroundings. Personal factors, such as cognitive processes and emotional states, play a crucial role in mediating the impact of the environment on behavior. Similarly, an individual’s behavior can also influence and modify their environment and personal factors. In this study, childhood psychological abuse is considered an environmental factor, while self-efficacy and psychological resilience as two personal factors. Cyberbullying, heralded as individuals’ social behavior, can also be explained by environmental and personal factors [ 27 ]. Childhood psychological abuse has a significant impact on the development of individuals’ self-efficacy. An enhanced sense of self-efficacy enables individuals to effectively cope with academic and social challenges, engage actively in demanding learning tasks, and develop psychological resilience [ 28 ]. Moreover, self-efficacy significantly reduces the occurrence of cyberbullying by bolstering individuals’ confidence and coping abilities, while psychological resilience lowers the risk of becoming a victim of cyberbullying by improving individuals’ adaptability to adversity [ 20 ]. By employing this theoretical framework, we can gain a comprehensive understanding of the association between childhood psychological abuse and cyberbullying, elucidating the mediating roles of self-efficacy and psychological resilience. This theoretical model in the study is visually represented in Fig 1 .

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2.2 Hypothesis development

2.2.1 childhood psychological abuse and cyberbullying..

Numerous studies have provided compelling evidence of the link between childhood psychological abuse and subsequent engagement in cyberbullying behaviors [ 15 , 29 , 30 ]. Research has proposed that adverse experiences of psychological abuse in childhood can impact brain function states, such as persistent stress and heightened neurotic anxiety, prompting individuals to suppress and bury these feelings in their subconscious, ultimately leading to engaging in cyberbullying behavior [ 31 ]. Research has also proposed that childhood psychological abuse can have an impact on psychological development, thus leading to cyberbullying [ 19 , 32 ]. For instance, Xu and Zheng demonstrated that childhood emotional abuse can damage an individual’s self-esteem and self-confidence, making them seek to control and gain a sense of power through cyberbullying [ 33 ]. Moreover, Li et al. identified that childhood psychological abuse may lead to inner feelings of anger in individuals, causing them to seek comfort and escape from reality in online environments, ultimately leading them to release these negative emotions by bullying others online [ 34 ]. Based on the evidence presented in the literature, it is hypothesized:

• H1: Childhood psychological abuse is positively associated with adolescent cyberbullying.

2.2.2 Self-efficacy as a mediator.

There is a well-established negative relationship between childhood psychological abuse and self-efficacy [ 35 ]. For example, Soffer et al. conducted a study that revealed individuals who experienced childhood psychological abuse reported lower levels of self-efficacy in various domains, such as academic, social, and personal domains [ 36 ]. This suggests that the negative experiences associated with abuse can undermine an individual’s belief in their capabilities. Supporting this notion, Hosey emphasized the detrimental effects of childhood psychological abuse on an individual’s self-efficacy beliefs [ 37 ]. Their research highlighted the long-lasting impact of abuse on self-efficacy. Furthermore, Bentley and Zamir conducted a longitudinal study that found the negative relationship between childhood psychological abuse and self-efficacy persisted over time [ 38 ]. This suggests that the effects of abuse on self-efficacy may endure throughout adolescence and beyond. Taken together, these studies provide compelling evidence that childhood psychological abuse can significantly impact an individual’s self-efficacy.

Studies have explored the relationship between self-efficacy and cyberbullying [ 23 , 39 ]. Clark and Bussey conducted a study examining the relationship between self-efficacy and cyberbullying victimization and revealed that higher levels of self-efficacy were associated with higher rates of defending behavior during cyberbullying episodes [ 24 ]. Similarly, Bussey et al. investigated the relationship between self-efficacy and cyberbullying defending and indicated that individuals with a high level of self-efficacy were more likely to defend cyberbullying [ 40 ]. Ferreira et al. surveyed 676 students from the fifth to twelfth grade and found that self-efficacy significantly impacted cyberbullying behavior, with students exhibiting higher self-efficacy demonstrating more proactive problem-solving behavior, thereby reducing instances of cyberbullying [ 41 ]. Additionally, Ybarra and Mitchell found that self-efficacy plays a crucial role in moderating the negative effects of cyberbullying [ 42 ]. Their studies revealed that individuals with higher self-efficacy were better able to cope with and overcome the negative consequences of cyberbullying.

The above views indicate that childhood psychological abuse may negatively affect individuals’ self-efficacy, which in turn, may contribute to an increased likelihood of engaging in cyberbullying behavior. Based on these, the following assumption is proposed:

• H2: Self-efficacy may play a mediating role in the association between childhood psychological abuse and adolescent cyberbullying.

2.2.3 Psychological resilience as a mediator.

It has been found that psychological resilience can be influenced by childhood psychological abuse [ 43 ]. Yang et al. carried out a cross-sectional survey among 1607 adolescents and proposed that childhood psychological abuse may contribute to the development of psychological resilience during the learning process [ 44 ]. Additionally, Arslan conducted a survey involving 937 adolescents from various high schools and emphasized that childhood psychological abuse was a consistent predictor of psychological resilience [ 45 ]. These findings collectively support the notion that childhood psychological abuse may have a positive impact on the psychological resilience of adolescents.

Studies have shown that psychological resilience can influence cyberbullying [ 46 , 47 ]. Students with higher levels of resilience were less likely to engage in cyberbullying behaviors [ 48 ]. Hinduja and Patchin have argued that students with more psychological resilience were less likely to report being online victims, and among those who did report being victims, their psychological resilience worked as a “buffer,” preventing negative effects at school [ 49 ]. Similarly, Güçlü-Aydogan et al. investigated the role of psychological resilience in mitigating the impact of cyberbullying and found adolescents who exhibit higher levels of psychological resilience are capable of surviving adversity and uncertainty through the use of healthy, effective, and adaptable coping mechanisms, which may result in reduced cyber victimization [ 20 ]. Zhang et al. have demonstrated that students who experienced more childhood psychological abuse have lower psychological resilience, which plays a crucial role in bullying victimization [ 50 ]. Therefore, this study speculates that there is a positive relationship between adolescents’ psychological resilience and their cyberbullying, and psychological resilience may play an intermediary role between childhood psychological abuse and cyberbullying.

Psychological resilience is believed to be influenced by self-efficacy [ 51 ]. Bandura proposed a comprehensive framework for understanding the role of self-efficacy in promoting psychological resilience [ 21 ]. Individuals with higher levels of self-efficacy are better equipped to navigate and overcome challenges, leading to greater psychological resilience [ 52 ]. Sabouripour et al. [ 28 ] revealed that individuals with higher levels of self-efficacy demonstrated greater psychological resilience when facing health challenges. Therefore, it is believed that childhood psychological abuse may influence cyberbullying via the serial variables of self-efficacy and psychological resilience. Given this, the following hypotheses are proposed:

• H3: Psychological resilience plays a mediating role in the association between childhood psychological abuse and adolescents’ cyberbullying.
• H4: Self-efficacy and psychological resilience play a chain mediating role in the association between childhood psychological abuse and adolescent cyberbullying.

Based on Social Cognitive Theory and the above hypotheses, this study aims to apply SCT to explore the relationship between childhood psychological abuse and adolescents’ cyberbullying. Specifically, we will examine the mediating roles of self-efficacy and psychological resilience. A theoretical model ( Fig 1 ) will be constructed to investigate these relationships.

3. Materials and methods

3.1 participants.

This study utilized G*power 3.1 software [ 53 ] to calculate the required sample size, with an effect size set at 0.3 and α set at 0.05. The results indicated that in order to achieve a statistical power of 0.95, a total of 145 participants were needed. Furthermore, based on the requirement of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) [ 54 ] that the appropriate sample size should be at least ten times the total observed variables, it was determined that a minimum of 800 participants would be necessary. The survey initially identified schools for sample collection based on convenience sampling principles. However, to ensure representativeness, cluster sampling was subsequently employed at the class level to select the 1,000 samples from 4 secondary schools (2 public junior high schools and 2 public senior high schools) in Jiangsu province, China. The selected public schools for this study exhibit diversity in terms of student backgrounds, academic achievements, and socio-economic statuses, thereby approximating the overall student population in the region. A total of the 1000 questionnaires were distributed, and after excluding the invalid questionnaires with missing answers or consistent responses, 891 valid questionnaires were collected, resulting in an effective response rate of 89.1%. Participants were aged 13 to 18 years old (M = 15.40, SD = 1.698), with 408 (45.8%) being boys, and 483 (54.2%) being girls. In terms of grade, the participants included 152 (17.1%) in the 7th grade, 167 (18.7%) in the 8th grade, 148 (16.6%) in the 9th grade, and 164 (18.4%) in the 10th grade, 113 (12.7%) in the 11th grade, 147 (16.5%) in the 12th grade.

3.2 Procedure

The study was conducted in accordance with the approved guidelines from the Ethical Review Committee of Hohai University (Protocol Number: Hhu10294-240125). Additionally, consent was obtained from the principals, students, and their parents in the participating schools. Before the survey, students were informed about the confidentiality of the survey results and their intended use solely for research purposes in class. They were also assured that measures had been implemented to safeguard their privacy. The questionnaires were then distributed and thoroughly explained to the participants. After 15 minutes, the trained research assistants collected the questionnaires on the spot, and subsequently, the data from the questionnaires were meticulously sorted and analyzed to derive meaningful conclusions.

3.3 Research instrument

3.3.1 childhood psychological abuse scale..

The measurement of childhood psychological abuse was conducted using Pan et al.’s scale [ 16 ], which comprises 23 items capturing five dimensions: intimidation, neglect, disparagement, interference, and indulgence. For example, one item on the scale is “My parents interrogate me about the details of my interactions with friends.” A 5-point Likert scale was employed, with scores ranging from 0 to 4, indicating “none” to “always”, and higher scores reflecting higher childhood psychological abuse. The scale has been demonstrated to possess good reliability and validity [ 55 ].

3.3.2 Self-efficacy scale.

Self-efficacy was measured using the scale developed by Wang et al. [ 56 ], which is based on Schwarzer and Jerusalem’s General Self-Efficacy Scale [ 57 ]. This scale consists of 10 items, presented in a single structure, with statements such as “I can calmly face challenges because I trust my ability to handle problems.” A 4-point Likert scale was utilized, with scores ranging from 1–4, representing “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” respectively. Higher scores indicate higher levels of self-efficacy. The scale has good reliability and validity in previous study [ 58 ].

3.3.3 Psychological resilience scale.

The psychological resilience scale, developed by Hu and Gan [ 59 ], was utilized to evaluate the psychological resilience levels of adolescents. This scale comprises 27 items, encompassing five dimensions: goal focus, emotional control, positive cognition, interpersonal assistance, and family support. For example, one item states, “I believe that everything has its positive aspects”. The scale is rated on a 5-point Likert scale, with scores ranging from 1(strongly disagree) to 5(strongly agree), and higher scores indicating a stronger sense of psychological resilience. The scale demonstrates good reliability and validity, which has been validated by Xiao et al. [ 60 ].

3.3.4 Cyberbullying scale.

The measurement of adolescents’ cyberbullying was carried out using the revised Chinese version of the Cyberbullying Scale by You [ 7 ]. This scale comprises two subscales: the cyberbullying victimization scale (12 items, such as “Someone has shared or used my photos or videos online without my consent”) and the cyberbullying perpetration scale (8 items, such as “When conversing with someone online and things don’t go my way, I may resort to using offensive language to insult them”). The scale utilizes a 4-point rating, ranging from 1 (Never happened) to 4 (Frequently happened), with higher scores indicating a higher frequency of cyberbullying. Studies have demonstrated good reliability and validity among Chinese adolescents [ 61 , 62 ].

3.4 Statistical analysis

The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 24.0. Initially, the Harman single-factor test was conducted in SPSS 24.0 to assess common method variance. Subsequently, correlation analysis was performed on the variables of childhood psychological abuse, self-efficacy, psychological resilience, and cyberbullying in SPSS 24.0. Then, the measurement model and structural model were assessed using factor loadings, Cronbach’s α, CR, AVE, and goodness-of-fit. Finally, the mediation test was conducted utilizing AMOS 24.0. To ascertain the statistical significance of the mediating effects posited by the hypotheses, a bootstrapping method was employed, with the generation of 95% confidence intervals to provide a robust evaluation of these effects.

4.1 Common method bias analysis

To mitigate the influence of common method bias, in addition to ensuring anonymous responses during the survey, Harman’s single-factor test was conducted [ 63 ]. Exploratory factor analysis was performed on the 80 items of the questionnaire, and an unrotated principal component analysis revealed the presence of 11 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1. However, the first factor accounted for only 32.534% of the variance, which is below the critical threshold of 40% [ 64 ], indicating that there is no significant evidence of common method bias.

4.2 Correlation analyses

Table 1 shows the results of the correlation analysis. Specifically, there is a significant positive correlation between childhood psychological abuse and cyberbullying (r = 0.398, p < 0.01); There is a significant negative correlation between childhood psychological abuse and both self-efficacy (r = -0.162, p < 0.01); Childhood psychological abuse and psychological resilience established a significant negative relationship (r = -0.445, p < 0.01); Self-efficacy was significantly and negatively related to adolescent psychological resilience (r = 0.459, p < 0.01); Self-efficacy was significantly and negatively related to adolescent cyberbullying(r = -0.309, p < 0.01); Psychological resilience was significantly and negatively related to adolescent cyberbullying(r = -0.490, p < 0.01). Among these correlations, the highest correlation is observed between psychological resilience and cyberbullying, while the lowest correlation is observed between childhood psychological abuse and self-efficacy.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309959.t001

4.3 Measurement model

The fit indices for the measurement model were assessed to examine how well the model fits the data. Jackson et al. have suggested that a model fits the data when the goodness-of-fit index is between 1 and 3 for x 2 / df, greater than 0.9 for GFI, AGFI, NFI, TLI, and CFI, less than 0.08 for SMSEA [ 54 ]. Childhood psychological abuse showed a good model fit: χ2/df = 2.939 (X 2 = 567.167 df = 193), RMSEA = 0.047, TLI = 0.970, NFI = 0.966, CFI = 0.977, GFI = 0.946, AGFI = 0.923. Self-efficacy showed a good model fit: χ2/df = 2.847 (X 2 = 54.093, df = 19), RMSEA = 0.046, TLI = 0.986, NFI = 0.991, CFI = 0.994, GFI = 0.988, AGFI = 0.964). Psychological resilience also meets the requirement with χ2/df = 3.097 (X 2 = 607.072, df = 196), RMSEA = 0.049, TLI = 0.962, NFI = 0.969, CFI = 0.979, GFI = 0.951, AGFI = 0.905, together with cyberbullying (χ2/df = 2.996, X2 = 245.708, df = 82, RMSEA = 0.047, TLI = 0.983, NFI = 0.989, CFI = 0.993, GFI = 0.974, AGFI = 0.933). All the data support the robustness of the measurement model.

Additionally, in the measurement model, the standardized factor loadings are significant and ideally above 0.50, indicating that the items are good indicators of their respective constructs [ 65 ]. The values of Cronbach’s α and CR are over 0.7, indicating the acceptable reliability [ 66 ]. The AVE values surpassed the recommended threshold of 0.5, signifying satisfactory convergent validity, and the AVE value reaching 0.36 shows acceptable convergent validity [ 67 ]. The square root of the AVE should be greater than the correlations with other constructs, indicating that the constructs have discriminant validity [ 68 ].

As presented in Table 2 , the value of Cronbach’s α ranged from 0.931 to 0.974, indicating high reliability. The standardized factor loadings covered a range between 0.528 and 0.890 ( p < .001), while the values of CR and AVE ranged from 0.932 to 0.975 and from 0.482 to 0.660 respectively, indicating acceptable convergent validity. In Table 3 , the square root of AVE for each construct was greater than the correlation with other constructs, indicating acceptable levels of discriminant validity.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309959.t002

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309959.t003

4.4 Structural model

The structural model was evaluated using the goodness-of-fit indices and path coefficients. The fit indices for the structural model are as follows: X 2 / df = 1.403 (X 2 = 1135.419, df = 809), GFI = 0.913, AGFI = 0.901, CFI = 0.973, TII = 0.971, NFI = 0.913, RMSEA = 0.033. All the values met the recommended thresholds [ 54 ], indicating a good fit for the structural model. Additionally, as shown in Fig 2 , all the path coefficients were statistically significant (P < 0.01) by performing a bootstrap procedure with 5000 resamplings. Therefore, the structural model was supported by these empirical data.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309959.g002

4.5 Testing for mediation effect

The study employed structural equation modeling to examine the mediating effects among the four variables. The bootstrap proposed by MacKinnon [ 69 ] was used for significance testing, with a sample size of 5000 and a confidence level of 95%. A mediating effect is considered statistically significant when the bootstrap 95% confidence interval of the indirect effects estimated by the bias-corrected percentile method does not include zero [ 69 ]. Data analysis was performed using Amos 24.0 software. The results of the mediation analysis for the mediating effect of self-efficacy and psychological resilience on the relationship between childhood psychological abuse and cyberbullying are presented in Table 4 . The direct effect of childhood psychological abuse on adolescent cyberbullying is significant ( β = 0.296, P < 0.001), supporting the acceptance of H1. Self-efficacy and psychological resilience mediate the relationship between childhood psychological abuse and cyberbullying, with a total indirect effect of 0.214 ( P < 0.001). Specifically, the indirect effect is composed of three pathways: The pathway of childhood psychological abuse → self-efficacy→ cyberbullying had an indirect effect of 0.025 with a 95% confidence interval of [0.007, 0.053]; The pathway of childhood psychological abuse → self-efficacy→ psychological resilience → cyberbullying had an indirect effect of 0.028 with a 95% confidence interval of [0.013, 0.049]; The pathway of childhood psychological abuse → psychological resilience → cyberbullying had an indirect effect of 0.162 with a 95% confidence interval of [0.112, 0.227]. The Bootstrap 95% confidence intervals for all three indirect effects do not include zero, indicating that all three indirect effects are statistically significant. These results provide support for H 2, H3, and H4.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309959.t004

In addition, the indirect effect percentage of self-efficacy and psychological resilience as partial mediators were examined. As indicated in Table 4 , among the three significant indirect mediators, the indirect effect of self-efficacy accounts for 11.5% of the total indirect effect, while the indirect effect of psychological resilience accounts for 75.7% of the total indirect effect. Besides, the indirect effect of self-efficacy and psychological resilience accounts for 12.8% of the total indirect effect. This indicates that the indirect effect of psychological resilience is the greatest. The specific pathways of childhood psychological abuse acting on cyberbullying through self-efficacy and psychological resilience are detailed in Fig 2 .

5. Discussion

Empirical evidence suggests that childhood psychological abuse, self-efficacy, and psychological resilience have an impact on cyberbullying. However, there is still a gap in understanding the specific mechanisms through which childhood psychological abuse impacts cyberbullying via self-efficacy and psychological resilience. This research aimed to construct a mediation model to investigate whether childhood psychological abuse would be indirectly correlated with adolescents’ cyberbullying through self-efficacy and psychological resilience. The findings, limitations and implications are presented as follows.

5.1 Findings

The results of the study revealed a direct and positive link between childhood psychological abuse and adolescents’ cyberbullying. This not only corroborates Kircaburun et al.’s research [ 70 ], which identified a positive correlation between childhood psychological abuse and adolescents’ cyberbullying but also aligns with the notion proposed by Zhang et al. [ 30 ] that psychological abuse contributes to the occurrence of cyberbullying. One potential explanation is that individuals who have experienced abuse may struggle to regulate their emotions, increasing the likelihood of displaying aggressive behavior in online settings. Adolescents who experienced greater psychological abuse during childhood are more inclined to exhibit negative online behaviors [ 19 ]. This study further underscores the significance of childhood psychological abuse as a predictive factor for cyberbullying.

The results of the study identified self- efficacy as one significant partial mediating role between childhood psychological abuse and adolescents’ cyberbullying. This finding is consistent with previous research suggesting a negative association between childhood psychological abuse and self-efficacy [ 35 , 38 ], as well as a negative association between self-efficacy and cyberbullying [ 23 , 24 ]. These findings provide support for the idea that childhood psychological abuse plays a crucial role in shaping the perception of self-efficacy, which subsequently influences adolescents’ engagement in cyberbullying behaviors. This finding adds further evidence to the understanding of the role of self-efficacy in the link between childhood psychological abuse and cyberbullying.

The results of the study demonstrated that psychological resilience plays a significant partial mediating role between childhood psychological abuse and adolescents’ cyberbullying. This finding is consistent with previous research suggesting a negative association between childhood psychological abuse and psychological resilience [ 44 , 45 ], as well as a negative association between psychological resilience and cyberbullying [ 20 , 48 ]. One potential reason is that childhood psychological abuse can lead to a sense of helplessness, frustration, and negative emotions in children, hindering the development of psychological resilience. Individuals with lower psychological resilience may have difficulty seeking help when facing adversity and may resort to negative behaviors to avoid problems, leading to an increase in cyberbullying. These findings provide support for the idea that childhood psychological abuse plays a crucial role in shaping the perception of psychological resilience, which subsequently influence adolescents’ engagement in cyberbullying behaviors.

The results of the study further showed that both self-efficacy and psychological resilience functioned as a chain mediating role between childhood psychological abuse and adolescents’ cyberbullying. In other words, adolescents with high childhood psychological abuse scores tend to perceive lower self-efficacy, leading to an overall lower belief in their ability to effectively cope with and overcome challenges. This, in turn, is associated with lower levels of psychological resilience, resulting in increased engagement in cyberbullying behaviors. This finding further elucidates the mechanisms by which environmental systems and individual factors influence adolescents’ cyberbullying and advances the previous research by shedding light on how childhood psychological abuse can increase adolescents’ cyberbullying. It is worth noting that although both serial mediation and self-efficacy as mediators were established, their percentages were only 12.8% and 11.5%, respectively, which were lower than the mediating effect of psychological resilience. This indicates that psychological resilience has a more significant impact on cyberbullying behaviors. This suggests that when intervening in adolescent cyberbullying behaviors at the family level, cultivating their perception of psychological resilience should be given greater priority compared to enhancing their self-efficacy.

5.2 Implications

The findings of this study have significant implications for both theory and practice in understanding and addressing adolescents’ cyberbullying.

From a theoretical perspective, this study contributes to the existing literature by unravelling the intricate relationship between childhood psychological abuse and adolescent cyberbullying with the application of the Social Cognitive Theory. By identifying self-efficacy and psychological resilience as pivotal mediators, the study provides a conceptual framework that enhances our comprehension of the psychological processes underpinning cyberbullying behaviors. This understanding is crucial for developing psychological interventions and educational programs aimed at bolstering self-efficacy and fostering resilience among adolescents. Moreover, the findings of the study offer insights into the buffering effects of positive psychological attributes against the adverse outcomes of childhood maltreatment, enriching the existing literature on the subject and guiding future research endeavors in the field of developmental psychology and educational studies.

On a practical level, these findings offer valuable insights for designing effective interventions to prevent and address cyberbullying among adolescents. Specifically, by addressing childhood psychological abuse, enhancing self-efficacy, and fostering psychological resilience, we can reduce the likelihood of adolescents engaging in or being affected by cyberbullying. To address childhood psychological abuse, parents need to increase self-awareness and understand the impact of their emotions and behaviors on their children. They can learn positive parenting techniques such as active listening, respect, and expressing love. Additionally, establishing a positive parent-child relationship, including positive communication and emotional support, as well as clear rules and boundaries, can help reduce the occurrence of psychological abuse [ 71 ]. In enhancing self-efficacy, both schools and parents play crucial roles. Schools can design tasks that are challenging yet fair, enabling adolescents to experience success and bolster their sense of self-efficacy. Teachers should complement this by offering timely recognition and encouragement, nurturing greater confidence in their abilities. Meanwhile, parents should lead by example, exhibiting positive and proactive attitudes and behaviors. By doing so, they create an environment that allows adolescents to observe and imitate these behaviors, providing them with opportunities to practice and excel in various tasks, thereby, contributing to the development of their self-efficacy. To foster psychological resilience, parents should assist children in cultivating positive values and building self-confidence. Schools should prioritize student growth and development by establishing appropriate evaluation systems and avoiding excessive competition. Students themselves should strive to establish positive interpersonal relationships with their peers, fostering mutual support and respect.

5.3 Limitations

It is important to recognize several limitations inherent in this study. Firstly, the use of a cross-sectional design precludes the establishment of causal relationships between variables. It is recommended that future research employ longitudinal or experimental designs to validate the causal hypotheses. Secondly, the reliance on self-reported data from middle school students introduces the possibility of biases, such as social desirability. Future studies should consider gathering data from multiple sources, such as parents or peers, to enhance the robustness of findings. Lastly, there are other unexplored factors in this study, such as self-control and self-esteem, which could potentially mediate the relationship. Future studies should focus on investigating the role of these factors in developing targeted interventions to reduce the occurrence of cyberbullying among adolescents.

6. Conclusion

The findings of this study can be summarized as follows: (1) Childhood psychological abuse, self-efficacy, psychological resilience, and cyberbullying are significantly correlated with each other. Specifically, childhood psychological abuse is significantly positively correlated with cyberbullying, while self-efficacy and psychological resilience are significantly negatively correlated with cyberbullying; (2) Childhood psychological abuse influences cyberbullying indirectly through self-efficacy and psychological resilience respectively; (3) Childhood psychological abuse can affect cyberbullying through the mediating chain role of self-efficacy and psychological resilience.

Supporting information

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309959.s001

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Jingtao Wu for providing technical support in data analysis for this research.

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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Cyberbullying among adolescents and children: a comprehensive review of the global situation, risk factors, and preventive measures.

• 1 School of Political Science and Public Administration, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
• 2 School of Medicine and Health Management, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
• 3 College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, United Kingdom

Background: Cyberbullying is well-recognized as a severe public health issue which affects both adolescents and children. Most extant studies have focused on national and regional effects of cyberbullying, with few examining the global perspective of cyberbullying. This systematic review comprehensively examines the global situation, risk factors, and preventive measures taken worldwide to fight cyberbullying among adolescents and children.

Methods: A systematic review of available literature was completed following PRISMA guidelines using the search themes “cyberbullying” and “adolescent or children”; the time frame was from January 1st, 2015 to December 31st, 2019. Eight academic databases pertaining to public health, and communication and psychology were consulted, namely: Web of Science, Science Direct, PubMed, Google Scholar, ProQuest, Communication & Mass Media Complete, CINAHL, and PsycArticles. Additional records identified through other sources included the references of reviews and two websites, Cyberbullying Research Center and United Nations Children's Fund. A total of 63 studies out of 2070 were included in our final review focusing on cyberbullying prevalence and risk factors.

Results: The prevalence rates of cyberbullying preparation ranged from 6.0 to 46.3%, while the rates of cyberbullying victimization ranged from 13.99 to 57.5%, based on 63 references. Verbal violence was the most common type of cyberbullying. Fourteen risk factors and three protective factors were revealed in this study. At the personal level, variables associated with cyberbullying including age, gender, online behavior, race, health condition, past experience of victimization, and impulsiveness were reviewed as risk factors. Likewise, at the situational level, parent-child relationship, interpersonal relationships, and geographical location were also reviewed in relation to cyberbullying. As for protective factors, empathy and emotional intelligence, parent-child relationship, and school climate were frequently mentioned.

Conclusion: The prevalence rate of cyberbullying has increased significantly in the observed 5-year period, and it is imperative that researchers from low and middle income countries focus sufficient attention on cyberbullying of children and adolescents. Despite a lack of scientific intervention research on cyberbullying, the review also identified several promising strategies for its prevention from the perspectives of youths, parents and schools. More research on cyberbullying is needed, especially on the issue of cross-national cyberbullying. International cooperation, multi-pronged and systematic approaches are highly encouraged to deal with cyberbullying.

Introduction

Childhood and adolescence are not only periods of growth, but also of emerging risk taking. Young people during these periods are particularly vulnerable and cannot fully understand the connection between behaviors and consequences ( 1 ). With peer pressures, the heat of passion, children and adolescents usually perform worse than adults when people are required to maintain self-discipline to achieve good results in unfamiliar situations. Impulsiveness, sensation seeking, thrill seeking, and other individual differences cause adolescents to risk rejecting standardized risk interventions ( 2 ).

About one-third of Internet users in the world are children and adolescents under the age of 18 ( 3 ). Digital technology provide a new form of interpersonal communication ( 4 ). However, surveys and news reports also show another picture in the Internet Age. The dark side of young people's internet usage is that they may bully or suffer from others' bullying in cyberspace. This behavior is also acknowledged as cyberbullying ( 5 ). Based on Olweus's definition, cyberbullying is usually regarded as bullying implemented through electronic media ( 6 , 7 ). Specifically, cyberbullying among children and adolescents can be summarized as the intentional and repeated harm from one or more peers that occurs in cyberspace caused by the use of computers, smartphones and other devices ( 4 , 8 – 12 ). In recent years, new forms of cyberbullying behaviors have emerged, such as cyberstalking and online dating abuse ( 13 – 15 ).

Although cyberbullying is still a relatively new field of research, cyberbullying among adolescents is considered to be a serious public health issue that is closely related to adolescents' behavior, mental health and development ( 16 , 17 ). The increasing rate of Internet adoption worldwide and the popularity of social media platforms among the young people have worsened this situation with most children and adolescents experiencing cyberbullying or online victimization during their lives. The confines of space and time are alleviated for bullies in virtual environments, creating new venues for cyberbullying with no geographical boundaries ( 6 ). Cyberbullying exerts negative effects on many aspects of young people's lives, including personal privacy invasion and psychological disorders. The influence of cyberbullying may be worse than traditional bullying as perpetrators can act anonymously and connect easily with children and adolescents at any time ( 18 ). In comparison with traditional victims, those bullied online show greater levels of depression, anxiety and loneliness ( 19 ). Self-esteem problems and school absenteeism have also proven to be related to cyberbullying ( 20 ).

Due to changes in use and behavioral patterns among the youth on social media, the manifestations and risk factors of cyberbullying have faced significant transformation. Further, as the boundaries of cyberbullying are not limited by geography, cyberbullying may not be a problem contained within a single country. In this sense, cyberbullying is a global problem and tackling it requires greater international collaboration. The adverse effects caused by cyberbullying, including reduced safety, lower educational attainment, poorer mental health and greater unhappiness, led UNICEF to state that “no child is absolutely safe in the digital world” ( 3 ).

Extant research has examined the prevalence and risk factors of cyberbullying to unravel the complexity of cyberbullying across different countries and their corresponding causes. However, due to variations in cyberbullying measurement and methodologies, no consistent conclusions have been drawn ( 21 ). Studies into inconsistencies in prevalence rates of cyberbullying, measured in the same country during the same time period, occur frequently. Selkie et al. systematically reviewed cyberbullying among American middle and high school students aged 10–19 years old in 2015, and revealed that the prevalence of cyberbullying victimization ranged from 3 to 72%, while perpetration ranged from 1 to 41% ( 22 ). Risk and protective factors have also been broadly studied, but confirmation is still needed of those factors which have more significant effects on cyberbullying among young people. Clarification of these issues would be useful to allow further research to recognize cyberbullying more accurately.

This review aims to extend prior contributions and provide a comprehensive review of cyberbullying of children and adolescents from a global perspective, with the focus being on prevalence, associated risk factors and protective factors across countries. It is necessary to provide a global panorama based on research syntheses to fill the gaps in knowledge on this topic.

Search Strategies

This study strictly employed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We consulted eight academic databases pertaining to public health, and communication and psychology, namely: Web of Science, Science Direct, PubMed, Google Scholar, ProQuest, Communication & Mass Media Complete, CINAHL, and PsycArticles. Additional records identified through other sources included the references of reviews and two websites, Cyberbullying Research Center and United Nations Children's Fund. With regard to the duration of our review, since most studies on cyberbullying arose around 2015 ( 9 , 21 ), this study highlights the complementary aspects of the available information about cyberbullying during the recent 5 year period from January 1st, 2015 to December 31st, 2019.

One researcher extracted keywords and two researchers proposed modifications. We used two sets of subject terms to review articles, “cyberbullying” and “child OR adolescent.” Some keywords that refer to cyberbullying behaviors and young people are also included, such as threat, harass, intimidate, abuse, insult, humiliate, condemn, isolate, embarrass, forgery, slander, flame, stalk, manhunt, as well as teen, youth, young people and student. The search formula is (cyberbullying OR cyber-bullying OR cyber-aggression OR ((cyber OR online OR electronic OR Internet) AND (bully * OR aggres * OR violence OR perpetrat * OR victim * OR threat * OR harass * OR intimidat * OR * OR insult * OR humiliate * OR condemn * OR isolate * OR embarrass * OR forgery OR slander * OR flame OR stalk * OR manhunt))) AND (adolescen * OR child OR children OR teen? OR teenager? OR youth? OR “young people” OR “elementary school student * ” OR “middle school student * ” OR “high school student * ”). The main search approach is title search. Search strategies varied according to the database consulted, and we did not limit the type of literature for inclusion. Journals, conference papers and dissertations are all available.

Specifically, the inclusion criteria for our study were as follows: (a). reported or evaluated the prevalence and possible risk factors associated with cyberbullying, (b). respondents were students under the age of 18 or in primary, junior or senior high schools, and (c). studies were written in English. Exclusion criteria were: (a). respondents came from specific groups, such as clinical samples, children with disabilities, sexual minorities, specific ethnic groups, specific faith groups or samples with cross-national background, (b). review studies, qualitative studies, conceptual studies, book reviews, news reports or abstracts of meetings, and (c). studies focused solely on preventive measures that were usually meta-analytic and qualitative in nature. Figure 1 presents the details of the employed screening process, showing that a total of 63 studies out of 2070 were included in our final review.

Figure 1 . PRISMA flow chart diagram showing the process of study selection for inclusion in the systematic review on children and adolescents cyberbullying.

Meta-analysis was not conducted as the limited research published within the 5 years revealed little research which reported odds ratio. On the other hand, due to the inconsistency of concepts, measuring instruments and recall periods, considerable variation could be found in research quality ( 23 ). Meta-analysis is not a preferred method.

Coding Scheme

For coding, we created a comprehensive code scheme to include the characteristics. For cyberbullying, we coded five types proposed by Willard ( 24 – 26 ), which included verbal violence, group violence, visual violence, impersonating and account forgery, and other behaviors. Among them, verbal violence is considered one of the most common types of cyberbullying and refers to the behavior of offensive responses, insults, mocking, threats, slander, and harassment. Group violence is associated with preventing others from joining certain groups or isolating others, forcing others to leave the group. Visual violence relates to the release and sharing of embarrassing photos and information without the owners' consent. Impersonating and account forgery refers to identity theft, stealing passwords, violating accounts and the creation of fake accounts to fraudulently present the behavior of others. Other behaviors include disclosure of privacy, sexual harassment, and cyberstalking. To comprehensively examine cyberbullying, we coded cyberbullying behaviors from both the perspectives of cyberbullying perpetrators and victims, if mentioned in the studies.

In relation to risk factors, we drew insights from the general aggression model, which contributes to the understanding of personal and situational factors in the cyberbullying of children and adolescents. We chose the general aggression model because (a) it contains more situational factors than other models (e.g., social ecological models) - such as school climate ( 9 ), and (b) we believe that the general aggression model is more suitable for helping researchers conduct a systematic review of cyberbullying risk and protective factors. This model provides a comprehensive framework that integrates domain specific theories of aggression, and has been widely applied in cyberbullying research ( 27 ). For instance, Kowalski and colleagues proposed a cyberbullying encounter through the general aggression model to understand the formation and development process of youth cyberbullying related to both victimization and perpetration ( 9 ). Victims and perpetrators enter the cyberbullying encounter with various individual characteristics, experiences, attitudes, desires, personalities, and motives that intersect to determine the course of the interaction. Correspondingly, the antecedents pertaining to cyberbullying are divided into two broad categories, personal factors and situational factors. Personal factors refer to individual characteristics, such as gender, age, motivation, personality, psychological states, socioeconomic status and technology use, values and perceptions, and other maladaptive behaviors. Situational factors focus on the provocation/support, parental involvement, school climate, and perceived anonymity. Consequently, our coders related to risk factors consisting of personal factors and situational factors from the perspectives of both cyberbullying perpetrators and victims.

We extracted information relating to individual papers and sample characteristics, including authors, year of publication, country, article type, sampling procedures, sample characteristics, measures of cyberbullying, and prevalence and risk factors from both cyberbullying perpetration and victimization perspectives. The key words extraction and coding work were performed twice by two trained research assistants in health informatics. The consistency test results are as follows: the Kappa value with “personal factors” was 0.932, and the Kappa value with “situational factors” was 0.807. The result shows that the coding consistency was high enough and acceptable. Disagreements were resolved through discussion with other authors.

Quality Assessment of Studies

The quality assessment of the studies is based on the recommended tool for assessing risk of bias, Cochrane Collaboration. This quality assessment tool focused on seven items: random sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding of participants and personnel, blinding of outcome assessment, incomplete outcome data, selective reporting, and other sources of bias ( 28 ). We assessed each item as “low risk,” “high risk,” and “unclear” for included studies. A study is considered of “high quality” when it meets three or more “low risk” requirements. When one or more main flaw of a study may affect the research results, the study is considered as “low quality.” When a lack of information leads to a difficult judgement, the quality is considered to be “unclear.” Please refer to Appendix 1 for more details.

This comprehensive systematic review comprised a total of 63 studies. Appendices 2 , 3 show the descriptive information of the studies included. Among them, 58 (92%) studies measured two or more cyberbullying behavior types. The sample sizes of the youths range from several hundred to tens of thousands, with one thousand to five thousand being the most common. As for study distribution, the United States of America, Spain and China were most frequently mentioned. Table 1 presents the detail.

Table 1 . Descriptive information of studies included (2015–2019).

Prevalence of Global Cyberbullying

Prevalence across countries.

Among the 63 studies included, 22 studies reported on cyberbullying prevalence and 20 studies reported on prevalence from victimization and perpetration perspectives, respectively. Among the 20 studies, 11 national studies indicated that the prevalence of cyberbullying victimization and cyberbullying perpetration ranged from 14.6 to 52.2% and 6.3 to 32%, respectively. These studies were conducted in the United States of America ( N = 4) ( 29 – 32 ), South Korea ( N = 3) ( 33 – 35 ), Singapore ( N = 1) ( 36 ), Malaysia ( N = 1) ( 37 ), Israel ( N = 1) ( 38 ), and Canada ( N = 1) ( 39 ). Only one of these 11 national studies is from an upper middle income country, and the rest are from highincome countries identified by the World Bank ( 40 ). By combining regional and community-level studies, the prevalence of cyberbullying victimization and cyberbullying perpetration ranged from 13.99 to 57.5% and 6.0 to 46.3%, respectively. Spain reported the highest prevalence of cyberbullying victimization (57.5%) ( 41 ), followed by Malaysia (52.2%) ( 37 ), Israel (45%) ( 42 ), and China (44.5%) ( 43 ). The lowest reported victim rates were observed in Canada (13.99%) and South Korea (14.6%) ( 34 , 39 ). The reported prevalence of cyberbullying victimization in the United States of America ranged from 15.5 to 31.4% ( 29 , 44 ), while in Israel, rates ranged from 30 to 45% ( 26 , 42 ). In China, rates ranged from 6 to 46.3% with the country showing the highest prevalence of cyberbullying perpetration (46.30%) ( 15 , 43 , 45 , 46 ). Canadian and South Korean studies reported the lowest prevalence of cyberbullying perpetration at 7.99 and 6.3%, respectively ( 34 , 39 ).

A total of 10 studies were assessed as high quality studies. Among them, six studies came from high income countries, including Canada, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and South Korea ( 13 , 34 , 39 , 46 – 48 ). Three studies were from upper middle income countries, including Malaysia and China ( 37 , 43 ) and one from a lower middle income country, Nigeria ( 49 ). Figures 2 , 3 describe the prevalence of cyberbullying victimization and perpetration respectively among high quality studies.

Figure 2 . The prevalence of cyberbullying victimization of high quality studies.

Figure 3 . The prevalence of cyberbullying perpetration of high quality studies.

Prevalence of Various Cyberbullying Behaviors

For the prevalence of cyberbullying victimization and perpetration, the data were reported in 18 and 14 studies, respectively. Figure 4 shows the distribution characteristics of the estimated value of prevalence of different cyberbullying behaviors with box plots. The longer the box, the greater the degree of variation of the numerical data and vice versa. The rate of victimization and crime of verbal violence, as well as the rate of victimization of other behaviors, such as cyberstalking and digital dating abuse, has a large degree of variation. Among the four specified types of cyberbullying behaviors, verbal violence was regarded as the most commonly reported behaviors in both perpetration and victimization rates, with a wide range of prevalence, ranging from 5 to 18%. Fewer studies reported the prevalence data for visual violence and group violence. Studies also showed that the prevalence of impersonation and account forgery were within a comparatively small scale. Specific results were as follows.

Figure 4 . Cyberbullying prevalence across types (2015–2019).

Verbal Violence

A total of 13 studies reported verbal violence prevalence data ( 15 , 26 , 34 , 37 – 39 , 42 , 43 , 47 , 48 , 50 , 51 ). Ten studies reported the prevalence of verbal violence victimization ranging from 2.8 to 47.5%, while seven studies claimed perpetration prevalence ranging from 1.5 to 31.8%. Malaysia reported the highest prevalence of verbal violence victimization (47.5%) ( 37 ), followed by China (32%) ( 43 ). China reported that the prevalence of verbal violence victimization ranged from 5.1 to 32% ( 15 , 43 ). Israel reported that the prevalence of verbal violence victimization ranged from 3.4 to 18% ( 26 , 38 , 42 ). For perpetration rate, Malaysia reported the highest level at 31.8% ( 37 ), while a study for Spain reported the lowest, ranging from 3.2 to 6.4% ( 51 ).

Group Violence

The prevalence of group violence victimization was explored within 4 studies and ranged from 5 to 17.8% ( 26 , 34 , 42 , 43 ), while perpetration prevalence was reported in three studies, ranging from 10.1 to 19.07% ( 34 , 43 , 47 ). An Israeli study suggested that 9.8% of respondents had been excluded from the Internet, while 8.9% had been refused entry to a group or team ( 26 ). A study in South Korea argued that the perpetration prevalence of group violence was 10.1% ( 34 ), while a study in Italy reported that the rate of online group violence against others was 19.07% ( 47 ).

Visual Violence

The prevalence of visual violence victimization was explored within three studies and ranged from 2.6 to 12.1% ( 26 , 34 , 43 ), while the perpetration prevalence reported in four studies ranged from 1.7 to 6% ( 34 , 43 , 47 , 48 ). For victimization prevalence, a South Korean study found that 12.1% of respondents reported that their personal information was leaked online ( 34 ). An Israel study reported that the prevalence of outing the picture was 2.6% ( 26 ). For perpetration prevalence, a South Korean study found that 1.7% of respondents had reported that they had disclosed someone's personal information online ( 34 ). A German study reported that 6% of respondents had written a message (e.g., an email) to somebody using a fake identity ( 48 ).

Impersonating and Account Forgery

Four studies reported on the victimization prevalence of impersonating and account forgery, ranging from 1.1 to 10% ( 15 , 42 , 43 ), while five studies reported on perpetration prevalence, with the range being from 1.3 to 9.31% ( 15 , 43 , 47 , 48 , 51 ). In a Spanish study, 10% of respondents reported that their accounts had been infringed by others or that they could not access their account due to stolen passwords. In contrast, 4.5% of respondents reported that they had infringed other people's accounts or stolen passwords, with 2.5% stating that they had forged other people's accounts ( 51 ). An Israeli study reported that the prevalence of being impersonated was 7% ( 42 ), while in China, a study reported this to be 8.6% ( 43 ). Another study from China found that 1.1% of respondents had been impersonated to send dating-for-money messages ( 15 ).

Other Behaviors

The prevalence of disclosure of privacy, sexual harassment, and cyberstalking were also explored by scholars. Six studies reported the victimization prevalence of other cyberbullying behaviors ( 13 , 15 , 34 , 37 , 42 , 43 ), and four studies reported on perpetration prevalence ( 34 , 37 , 43 , 48 ). A study in China found that 1.2% of respondents reported that their privacy had been compromised without permission due to disputes ( 15 ). A study from China reported the prevalence of cyberstalking victimization was 11.9% ( 43 ), while a Portuguese study reported that this was 62% ( 13 ). In terms of perpetration prevalence, a Malaysian study reported 2.7% for sexual harassment ( 37 ).

Risk and Protective Factors of Cyberbullying

In terms of the risk factors associated with cyberbullying among children and adolescents, this comprehensive review highlighted both personal and situational factors. Personal factors referred to age, gender, online behavior, race, health conditions, past experiences of victimization, and impulsiveness, while situational factors consisted of parent-child relationship, interpersonal relationships, and geographical location. In addition, protective factors against cyberbullying included: empathy and emotional intelligence, parent-child relationship, and school climate. Table 2 shows the risk and protective factors for child and adolescent cyberbullying.

Table 2 . Risk and protective factors of cyberbullying among children and adolescents.

In terms of the risk factors associated with cyberbullying victimization at the personal level, many studies evidenced that females were more likely to be cyberbullied than males ( 13 , 26 , 29 , 38 , 43 , 52 , 54 , 55 , 58 ). Meanwhile, adolescents with mental health problems ( 61 ), such as depression ( 33 , 62 ), borderline personality disorder ( 63 ), eating disorders ( 41 ), sleep deprivation ( 56 ), and suicidal thoughts and suicide plans ( 64 ), were more likely to be associated with cyberbullying victimization. As for Internet usage, researchers agreed that youth victims were probably those that spent more time online than their counterparts ( 32 , 36 , 43 , 45 , 48 , 49 , 60 ). For situational risk factors, some studies have proven the relationship between cyberbullying victims and parental abuse, parental neglect, family dysfunction, inadequate monitoring, and parents' inconsistency in mediation, as well as communication issues ( 33 , 64 , 68 , 73 ). In terms of geographical location, some studies have reported that youths residing in city locations are more likely to be victims of cyberbullying than their peers from suburban areas ( 61 ).

Regarding the risk factors of cyberbullying perpetration at the personal level, it is generally believed that older teenagers, especially those aged over 15 years, are at greater risk of becoming cyberbullying perpetrators ( 55 , 67 ). When considering prior cyberbullying experiences, evidence showed that individuals who had experienced cyberbullying or face-to-face bullying tended to be aggressors in cyberbullying ( 35 , 42 , 49 , 51 , 55 ); in addition, the relationship between impulsiveness and cyberbullying perpetration was also explored by several pioneering scholars ( 55 , 72 , 80 ). The situational factors highlight the role of parents and teachers in cyberbullying experiences. For example, over-control and authoritarian parenting styles, as well as inharmonious teacher-student relationships ( 61 ) are perceived to lead to cyberbullying behaviors ( 74 , 75 ). In terms of differences in geographical locations, students residing in cities have a higher rate of online harassment than students living in more rural locations ( 49 ).

In terms of the protective factors in child and adolescent cyberbullying, scholars have focused on youths who have limited experiences of cyberbullying. At the personal level, high emotional intelligence, an ability for emotional self-control and empathy, such as cognitive empathy ability ( 44 , 55 ), were associated with lower rates of cyberbullying ( 57 ). At the situational level, a parent's role is seen as critical. For example, intimate parent-child relationships ( 46 ) and open active communication ( 19 ) were demonstrated to be related to lower experiences of cyberbullying and perpetration. Some scholars argued that parental supervision and monitoring of children's online activities can reduce their tendency to participate in some negative activities associated with cyberbullying ( 31 , 46 , 73 ). They further claimed that an authoritative parental style protects youths against cyberbullying ( 43 ). Conversely, another string of studies evidenced that parents' supervision of Internet usage was meaningless ( 45 ). In addition to conflicting roles of parental supervision, researchers have also looked into the role of schools, and posited that positive school climates contribute to less cyberbullying experiences ( 61 , 79 ).

Some risk factors may be protective factors under another condition. Some studies suggest that parental aggressive communication is related to severe cyberbullying victims, while open communication is a potential protective factor ( 19 ). Parental neglect, parental abuse, parental inconsistency in supervision of adolescents' online behavior, and family dysfunction are related to the direct or indirect harm of cyberbullying ( 33 , 68 ). Parental participation, a good parental-children relationship, communication and dialogue can enhance children's school adaptability and prevent cyberbullying behaviors ( 31 , 74 ). When parental monitoring reaches a balance between control and openness, it could become a protective factor against cyberbullying, and it could be a risk factor, if parental monitoring is too low or over-controlled ( 47 ).

Despite frequent discussion about the risk factors associated with cyberbullying among children and adolescents, some are still deemed controversial factors, such as age, race, gender, and the frequency of suffering on the internet. For cyberbullying victims, some studies claim that older teenagers are more vulnerable to cyberbullying ( 15 , 38 , 52 , 53 ), while other studies found conflicting results ( 26 , 33 ). As for student race, Alhajji et al. argued that non-white students were less likely to report cyberbullying ( 29 ), while Morin et al. observed no significant correlation between race and cyberbullying ( 52 ). For cyberbullying perpetration, Alvarez-Garcia found that gender differences may have indirect effects on cyberbullying perpetration ( 55 ), while others disagreed ( 42 , 61 , 68 – 70 ). Specifically, some studies revealed that males were more likely to become cyberbullying perpetrators ( 34 , 39 , 56 ), while Khurana et al. presented an opposite point of view, proposing that females were more likely to attack others ( 71 ). In terms of time spent on the Internet, some claimed that students who frequently surf the Internet had a higher chance of becoming perpetrators ( 49 ), while others stated that there was no clear and direct association between Internet usage and cyberbullying perpetration ( 55 ).

In addition to personal and situational factors, scholars have also explored other specific factors pertaining to cyberbullying risk and protection. For instance, mindfulness and depression were found to be significantly related to cyber perpetration ( 76 ), while eating disorder psychopathology in adolescents was associated with cyber victimization ( 41 ). For males who were familiar with their victims, such as family members, friends and acquaintances, they were more likely to be cyberstalking perpetrators than females or strangers, while pursuing desired closer relationships ( 13 ). In the school context, a lower social likability in class was identified as an indirect factor for cyberbullying ( 48 ).

This comprehensive review has established that the prevalence of global childhood and adolescent victimization from cyberbullying ranges from 13.99 to 57.5%, and that the perpetration prevalence ranges from 6.0 to 46.3%. Across the studies included in our research, verbal violence is observed as one of the most common acts of cyberbullying, including verbal offensive responses, insults, mocking, threats, slander, and harassment. The victimization prevalence of verbal violence is reported to be between 5 and 47.5%, and the perpetration prevalence is between 3.2 and 26.1%. Personal factors, such as gender, frequent use of social media platforms, depression, borderline personality disorder, eating disorders, sleep deprivation, and suicidal tendencies, were generally considered to be related to becoming a cyberbullying victim. Personal factors, such as high school students, past experiences, impulse, improperly controlled family education, poor teacher-student relationships, and the urban environment, were considered risk factors for cyberbullying perpetration. Situational factors, including parental abuse and neglect, improper monitoring, communication barriers between parents and children, as well as the urban environment, were also seen to potentially contribute to higher risks of both cyberbullying victimization and perpetration.

Increasing Prevalence of Global Cyberbullying With Changing Social Media Landscape and Measurement Alterations

This comprehensive review suggests that global cyberbullying rates, in terms of victimization and perpetration, were on the rise during the 5 year period, from 2015 to 2019. For example, in an earlier study conducted by Modecki et al. the average cyberbullying involvement rate was 15% ( 81 ). Similar observations were made by Hamm et al. who found that the median rates of youth having experienced bullying or who had bullied others online, was 23 and 15.2%, respectively ( 82 ). However, our systematic review summarized global children and adolescents cyberbullying in the last 5 years and revealed an average cyberbullying perpetration rate of 25.03%, ranging from 6.0 to 46.3%, while the average victimization was 33.08%, ranging from 13.99 to 57.5%. The underlying reason for increases may be attributed to the rapid changing landscape of social media and, in recent years, the drastic increase in Internet penetration rates. With the rise in Internet access, youths have greater opportunities to participate in online activities, provided by emerging social media platforms.

Although our review aims to provide a broader picture of cyberbullying, it is well-noted in extant research that difficulties exist in accurately estimating variations in prevalence in different countries ( 23 , 83 ). Many reasons exist to explain this. The first largely relates poor or unclear definition of the term cyberbullying; this hinders the determination of cyberbullying victimization and perpetration ( 84 ). Although traditional bullying behavior is well-defined, the definition cannot directly be applied to the virtual environment due to the complexity in changing online interactions. Without consensus on definitions, measurement and cyberbullying types may vary noticeably ( 83 , 85 ). Secondly, the estimation of prevalence of cyberbullying is heavily affected by research methods, such as recall period (lifetime, last year, last 6 months, last month, or last week etc.), demographic characteristics of the survey sample (age, gender, race, etc.), perspectives of cyberbullying experiences (victims, perpetrators, or both victim and perpetrator), and instruments (scales, study-specific questions) ( 23 , 84 , 86 ). The variety in research tools and instruments used to assess the prevalence of cyberbullying can cause confusion on this issue ( 84 ). Thirdly, variations in economic development, cultural backgrounds, human values, internet penetration rates, and frequency of using social media may lead to different conclusions across countries ( 87 ).

Acknowledging the Conflicting Role of the Identified Risk Factors With More Research Needed to Establish the Causality

Although this review has identified many personal and situational factors associated with cyberbullying, the majority of studies adopted a cross-sectional design and failed to reveal the causality ( 21 ). Nevertheless, knowledge on these correlational relationships provide valuable insights for understanding and preventing cyberbullying incidents. In terms of gender differences, females are believed to be at a higher risk of cyberbullying victimization compared to males. Two reasons may help to explain this. First, the preferred violence behaviors between two genders. females prefer indirect harassment, such as the spreading of rumors, while males tend toward direct bullying (e.g., assault) ( 29 ) and second, the cultural factors. From the traditional gender perspective, females tended to perceive a greater risk of communicating with others on the Internet, while males were more reluctant to express fear, vulnerability and insecurity when asked about their cyberbullying experiences ( 46 ). Females were more intolerant when experiencing cyberstalking and were more likely to report victimization experiences than males ( 13 ). Meanwhile, many researchers suggested that females are frequent users of emerging digital communication platforms, which increases their risk of unpleasant interpersonal contact and violence. From the perspective of cultural norms and masculinity, the reporting of cyberbullying is also widely acknowledged ( 37 ). For example, in addition, engaging in online activities is also regarded as a critical predictor for cyberbullying victimization. Enabled by the Internet, youths can easily find potential victims and start harassment at any time ( 49 ). Participating in online activities directly increases the chance of experiencing cyberbullying victimization and the possibility of becoming a victim ( 36 , 45 ). As for age, earlier involvement on social media and instant messaging tools may increase the chances of experiencing cyberbullying. For example, in Spain, these tools cannot be used without parental permission before the age of 14 ( 55 ). Besides, senior students were more likely to be more impulsive and less sympathetic. They may portray more aggressive and anti-social behaviors ( 55 , 72 ); hence senior students and students with higher impulsivity were usually more likely to become cyberbullying perpetrators.

Past experiences of victimization and family-related factors are another risk for cyberbullying crime. As for past experiences, one possible explanation is that young people who had experienced online or traditional school bullying may commit cyberbullying using e-mails, instant messages, and text messages for revenge, self-protection, or improving their social status ( 35 , 42 , 49 , 55 ). In becoming a cyberbullying perpetrator, the student may feel more powerful and superior, externalizing angry feelings and relieving the feelings of helplessness and sadness produced by past victimization experiences ( 51 ). As for family related factors, parenting styles are proven to be highly correlated to cyberbullying. In authoritative families, parents focus on rational behavioral control with clear rules and a high component of supervision and parental warmth, which have beneficial effects on children's lifestyles ( 43 ). Conversely, in indulgent families, children's behaviors are not heavily restricted and parents guide and encourage their children to adapt to society. The characteristics of this indulgent style, including parental support, positive communication, low imposition, and emotional expressiveness, possibly contribute to more parent-child trust and less misunderstanding ( 75 ). The protective role of warmth/affection and appropriate supervision, which are common features of authoritative or indulgent parenting styles, mitigate youth engagement in cyberbullying. On the contrary, authoritarian and neglectful styles, whether with excessive or insufficient control, are both proven to be risk factors for being a target of cyberbullying ( 33 , 76 ). In terms of geographical location, although several studies found that children residing in urban areas were more likely to be cyberbullying victims than those living in rural or suburban areas, we cannot draw a quick conclusion here, since whether this difference attributes to macro-level differences, such as community safety or socioeconomic status, or micro-level differences, such as teacher intervention in the classroom, courses provided, teacher-student ratio, is unclear across studies ( 61 ). An alternative explanation for this is the higher internet usage rate in urban areas ( 49 ).

Regarding health conditions, especially mental health, some scholars believe that young people with health problems are more likely to be identified as victims than people without health problems. They perceive health condition as a risk factor for cyberbullying ( 61 , 63 ). On the other hand, another group of scholars believe that cyberbullying has an important impact on the mental health of adolescents which can cause psychological distress consequences, such as post-traumatic stress mental disorder, depression, suicidal ideation, and drug abuse ( 70 , 87 ). It is highly possible that mental health could be risk factors, consequences of cyberbullying or both. Mental health cannot be used as standards, requirements, or decisive responses in cyberbullying research ( 13 ).

The Joint Effort Between Youth, Parents, Schools, and Communities to Form a Cyberbullying-Free Environment

This comprehensive review suggests that protecting children and adolescents from cyberbullying requires joint efforts between individuals, parents, schools, and communities, to form a cyberbullying-free environment. For individuals, young people are expected to improve their digital technology capabilities, especially in the use of social media platforms and instant messaging tools ( 55 ). To reduce the number of cyberbullying perpetrators, it is necessary to cultivate emotional self-regulation ability through appropriate emotional management training. Moreover, teachers, counselors, and parents are required to be armed with sufficient knowledge of emotional management and to develop emotional management capabilities and skills. In this way, they can be alert to the aggressive or angry emotions expressed by young people, and help them mediate any negative emotions ( 45 ), and avoid further anti-social behaviors ( 57 ).

For parents, styles of parenting involving a high level of parental involvement, care and support, are desirable in reducing the possibility of children's engagement in cyberbullying ( 74 , 75 ). If difficulties are encountered, open communication can contribute to enhancing the sense of security ( 73 ). In this vein, parents should be aware of the importance of caring, communicating and supervising their children, and participate actively in their children's lives ( 71 ). In order to keep a balance between control and openness ( 47 ), parents can engage in unbiased open communication with their children, and reach an agreement on the usage of computers and smart phones ( 34 , 35 , 55 ). Similarly, it is of vital importance to establish a positive communication channel with children ( 19 ).

For schools, a higher priority is needed to create a safe and positive campus environment, providing students with learning opportunities and ensuring that every student is treated equally. With a youth-friendly environment, students are able to focus more on their academic performance and develop a strong sense of belonging to the school ( 79 ). For countries recognizing collectivist cultural values, such as China and India, emphasizing peer attachment and a sense of collectivism can reduce the risk of cyberbullying perpetration and victimization ( 78 ). Besides, schools can cooperate with mental health agencies and neighboring communities to develop preventive programs, such as extracurricular activities and training ( 44 , 53 , 62 ). Specifically, school-based preventive measures against cyberbullying are expected to be sensitive to the characteristics of young people at different ages, and the intersection of race and school diversity ( 29 , 76 ). It is recommended that school policies that aim to embrace diversity and embody mutual respect among students are created ( 26 ). Considering the high prevalence of cyberbullying and a series of serious consequences, it is suggested that intervention against cyberbullying starts from an early stage, at about 10 years old ( 54 ). Schools can organize seminars to strengthen communication between teachers and students so that they can better understand the needs of students ( 61 ). In addition, schools should encourage cyberbullying victims to seek help and provide students with opportunities to report cyberbullying behaviors, such as creating online anonymous calls.

Conclusions and Limitations

The comprehensive study has reviewed related research on children and adolescents cyberbullying across different countries and regions, providing a positive understanding of the current situation of cyberbullying. The number of studies on cyberbullying has surged in the last 5 years, especially those related to risk factors and protective factors of cyberbullying. However, research on effective prevention is insufficient and evaluation of policy tools for cyberbullying intervention is a nascent research field. Our comprehensive review concludes with possible strategies for cyberbullying prevention, including personal emotion management, digital ability training, policy applicability, and interpersonal skills. We highlight the important role of parental control in cyberbullying prevention. As for the role of parental control, it depends on whether children believe their parents are capable of adequately supporting them, rather than simply interfering in their lives, restricting their online behavior, and controlling or removing their devices ( 50 ). In general, cyberbullying is on the rise, with the effectiveness of interventions to meet this problem still requiring further development and exploration ( 83 ).

Considering the overlaps between cyberbullying and traditional offline bullying, future research can explore the unique risk and protective factors that are distinguishable from traditional bullying ( 86 ). To further reveal the variations, researchers can compare the outcomes of interventions conducted in cyberbullying and traditional bullying preventions simultaneously, and the same interventions only targeting cyberbullying ( 88 ). In addition, cyberbullying also reflects a series of other social issues, such as personal privacy and security, public opinion monitoring, multinational perpetration and group crimes. To address this problem, efforts from multiple disciplines and novel analytical methods in the digital era are required. As the Internet provides enormous opportunities to connect young people from all over the world, cyberbullying perpetrators may come from transnational networks. Hence, cyberbullying of children and adolescents, involving multiple countries, is worth further attention.

Our study has several limitations. First, national representative studies are scarce, while few studies from middle and low income countries were included in our research due to language restrictions. Many of the studies included were conducted in schools, communities, provinces, and cities in high income countries. Meanwhile, our review only focused on victimization and perpetration. Future studies should consider more perspectives, such as bystanders and those with the dual identity of victim/perpetrator, to comprehensively analyze the risk and protective factors of cyberbullying.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/ Supplementary Material , further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author/s.

Author Contributions

SH, CZ, RE, and WZ conceived the study and developed the design. WZ analyzed the result and supervised the study. CZ and SH wrote the first draft. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.634909/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords: cyberbullying, children, adolescents, globalization, risk factors, preventive measures

Citation: Zhu C, Huang S, Evans R and Zhang W (2021) Cyberbullying Among Adolescents and Children: A Comprehensive Review of the Global Situation, Risk Factors, and Preventive Measures. Front. Public Health 9:634909. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.634909

Received: 29 November 2020; Accepted: 10 February 2021; Published: 11 March 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Zhu, Huang, Evans and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Wei Zhang, weizhanghust@hust.edu.cn

† These authors have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments

The analysis in this report is based on a self-administered web survey conducted from April 14 to May 4, 2022, among a sample of 1,316 dyads, with each dyad (or pair) comprised of one U.S. teen ages 13 to 17 and one parent per teen. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 1,316 teens is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points. The survey was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs in English and Spanish using KnowledgePanel, its nationally representative online research panel.

The research plan for this project was submitted to an external institutional review board (IRB), Advarra, which is an independent committee of experts that specializes in helping to protect the rights of research participants. The IRB thoroughly vetted this research before data collection began. Due the risks associated with surveying minors, this research underwent a full board review and received approval (Pro00060166).

KnowledgePanel members are recruited through probability sampling methods and include both those with internet access and those who did not have internet access at the time of their recruitment. KnowledgePanel provides internet access for those who do not have it and, if needed, a device to access the internet when they join the panel. KnowledgePanel’s recruitment process was originally based exclusively on a national random-digit-dialing (RDD) sampling methodology. In 2009, Ipsos migrated to an address-based sampling (ABS) recruitment methodology via the U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File (DSF). The Delivery Sequence File has been estimated to cover as much as 98% of the population, although some studies suggest that the coverage could be in the low 90% range. 3

Panelists were eligible for participation in this survey if they indicated on an earlier profile survey that they were the parent of a teen ages 13 to 17. A random sample of 5,580 eligible panel members were invited to participate in the study. Responding parents were screened and considered qualified for the study if they reconfirmed that they were the parent of at least one child ages 13 to 17 and granted permission for their teen who was chosen to participate in the study. In households with more than one eligible teen, parents were asked to think about one randomly selected teen and that teen was instructed to complete the teen portion of the survey. A survey was considered complete if both the parent and selected teen completed their portions of the questionnaire, or if the parent did not qualify during the initial screening.

Of the sampled panelists, 1,607 (excluding break-offs) responded to the invitation and 1,316 qualified, completed the parent portion of the survey, and had their selected teen complete the teen portion of the survey yielding a final stage completion rate of 29% and a qualification rate of 82%. 4 The cumulative response rate accounting for nonresponse to the recruitment surveys and attrition is 1%. The break-off rate among those who logged on to the survey (regardless of whether they completed any items or qualified for the study) is 37%.

Upon completion, qualified respondents received a cash-equivalent incentive worth $10 for completing the survey.

Panelists were assigned to take the survey in batches. Email invitations and reminders were sent to panelists according to a schedule based on when they were assigned this survey in their personalized member portal, shown in the table below. The field period was closed on May 4, 2022, and thus no further email contacts past the invitation were sent for the final set of panelists.

The analysis in this report was performed using a teen weight. A weight for parents was also constructed, forming the basis of the teen weight. The parent weight was created in a multistep process that begins with a base design weight for the parent, which is computed to reflect their probability of selection for recruitment into the KnowledgePanel. These selection probabilities were then adjusted to account for the probability of selection for this survey, which included oversamples of Black and Hispanic parents. Next, an iterative technique was used to align the parent design weights to population benchmarks for parents of teens ages 13 to 17 on the dimensions identified in the accompanying table to account for any differential nonresponse that may have occurred.

To create the teen weight, an adjustment factor was applied to the final parent weight to reflect the selection of one teen per household. Finally, the teen weights were further raked to match the demographic distribution for teens ages 13 to 17 who live with parents. The teen weights were adjusted on the same teen dimensions as parent dimensions with the exception of teen education, which was not used in the teen weighting.

Sampling errors and tests of statistical significance take into account the effect of weighting. Interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish.

In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

The following tables show the unweighted sample sizes and the error attributable to sampling that would be expected at the 95% level of confidence for different groups in the survey:

Sample sizes and sampling errors for other subgroups are available upon request.

Dispositions and response rates

The tables below display dispositions used in the calculation of completion, qualification and cumulative response rates. 5

• AAPOR Task force on Address-based Sampling. 2016. “AAPOR Report: Address-based Sampling.” ↩
• The 1,316 qualified and completed interviews exclude seven cases that were dropped because respondents did not answer one-third or more of the survey questions. ↩
• For more information on this method of calculating response rates, see Callegaro, Mario & DiSogra, Charles. 2008. “Computing response metrics for online panels.” Public Opinion Quarterly 72(5). pp. 1008-1032. ↩

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Current perspectives: the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent health

Charisse l nixon.

Pennsylvania State University, the Behrend College, Erie, PA, USA

Cyberbullying has become an international public health concern among adolescents, and as such, it deserves further study. This paper reviews the current literature related to the effects of cyberbullying on adolescent health across multiple studies worldwide and provides directions for future research. A review of the evidence suggests that cyberbullying poses a threat to adolescents’ health and well-being. A plethora of correlational studies have demonstrated a cogent relationship between adolescents’ involvement in cyberbullying and negative health indices. Adolescents who are targeted via cyberbullying report increased depressive affect, anxiety, loneliness, suicidal behavior, and somatic symptoms. Perpetrators of cyberbullying are more likely to report increased substance use, aggression, and delinquent behaviors. Mediating/moderating processes have been found to influence the relationship between cyberbullying and adolescent health. More longitudinal work is needed to increase our understanding of the effects of cyberbullying on adolescent health over time. Prevention and intervention efforts related to reducing cyberbullying and its associated harms are discussed.

Adolescents in the United States culture are moving from using the Internet as an “extra” in everyday communication (cyber utilization) to using it as a “primary and necessary” mode of communication (cyber immersion). 1 In fact, 95% of adolescents are connected to the Internet. 2 This shift from face-to-face communication to online communication has created a unique and potentially harmful dynamic for social relationships – a dynamic that has recently been explored in the literature as cyberbullying and Internet harassment.

In general, cyberbullying involves hurting someone else using information and communication technologies. This may include sending harassing messages (via text or Internet), posting disparaging comments on a social networking site, posting humiliating pictures, or threatening/intimidating someone electronically. 3 – 7 Unfortunately, cyberbullying behavior has come to be accepted and expected among adolescents. 8 Compared to traditional bullying, cyberbullying is unique in that it reaches an unlimited audience with increased exposure across time and space, 6 , 9 preserves words and images in a more permanent state, 10 and lacks supervision. 6 Further, perpetrators of cyberbullying do not see the faces of their targets, 11 and subsequently may not understand the full consequences of their actions, thereby decreasing important feelings of personal accountability. 9 This has often been referred to in the literature as the “disinhibition effect”. 12

Cyberbullying has emerged as a relatively new form of bullying within the last decade. 13 , 14 This new focus on cyberbullying has, in part, been driven by recent news media highlighting the connection between cyberbullying and adolescent suicides (US News, 2013 15 ), with one of the most recent cases involving Rebecca Sedwick, a 12-year-old girl from Polk County, FL, USA who jumped to her death after experiencing relentless acts of cyberbullying. Initial work on cyberbullying has focused on documenting prevalence rates, sex-related effects, and identifying similarities/differences to traditional forms of bullying. More recently, work has been conducted on establishing the psychosocial (for example, depression, anxiety) and psychosomatic correlates (for example, headaches, stomachaches) of cyberbullying.

Given that cyberbullying is a relatively new construct, it is important to note that there are still definitional and methodological inconsistencies throughout the literature. For example, some scholars have chosen to adopt a more conservative criterion to define cyberbullying (for example, “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices” 3 , 6 ), while other scholars have used a more broad definition (for example, “using electronic means to intentionally harm someone else” 16 ). The term cyberbullying in this review will represent an umbrella term that includes related constructs such as Internet bullying, online bullying, and information communication technologies and Internet harassment. Another inconsistency in the literature includes the use of different reference points when assessing adolescents’ involvement with cyberbullying. For example, some researchers have asked adolescents to think about their experiences with cyberbullying within the last year, 17 – 19 while others have inquired about adolescents’ experiences within the past 9 months, 20 or the past couple of months. 21 , 22 Given these methodological inconsistencies, it is not surprising that the prevalence rates of cyberbullying victimization and perpetration vary widely. For example, prevalence rates for cyberbullying victimization range from 4%–72%, 23 , 24 with an average of 20%–40% of adolescents reporting victimization via cyberbullying. 25 Prevalence rates for cyberbullying perpetration also vary, ranging from 3%–36% 26 , 27 (Also unpublished data, Kowalski and Witte 2006). Although the variability is significant, the research is clear that cyberbullying is prevalent during adolescence and as such, merits further study.

The purpose of the current review is to explore the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent health across multiple studies worldwide. It is anticipated that this information can be used to increase the knowledge of practitioners, health care providers, educators, and scholars, and subsequently better inform prevention and intervention efforts related to reducing cyberbullying and its associated harm. The first section of this paper reviews the effects of cyberbullying victimization and perpetration on adolescent health. The next section includes a brief discussion of individual risk factors related to participation in cyberbullying. The third section highlights mediating and moderating processes related to the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent health. The final section addresses prevention and intervention efforts related to minimizing cyberbullying and its subsequent effect on adolescent health.

Effects of cyberbullying

The effects of cyberbullying have been predominantly explored in the area of adolescents’ mental health concerns. In general, researchers have examined the relationship between involvement with cyberbullying and adolescents’ tendency to internalize issues (for example, the development of negative affective disorders, loneliness, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and somatic symptoms). This relationship has been explored among Finnish youth, 28 Turkish youth, 26 German youth, 29 Asian and Pacific Islander youth, 17 American youth, 20 youth living in Northern Ireland, 30 Swedish youth, 31 Australian youth, 32 Israeli youth, 33 Canadian youth, 34 Czech youth, 35 Chinese youth, 36 and Taiwanese youth. 37 Although not as prolific, past work has also examined the impact of cyberbullying on adolescents’ tendency to externalize issues (for example, through substance use, delinquency).

Cyberbullying victimization and internalizing issues

Past work has revealed a significant relationship between one’s involvement in cyberbullying and affective disorders. For example, results indicate that there is a significant relationship between cybervictimization and depression among adolescents, 20 , 38 – 43 and among college students. 44 Specifically, results showed that higher levels of cyberbullying victimization were related to higher levels of depressive affect. Raskauskas and Stoltz 45 asked adolescents open-ended questions about the negative effects of cyberbullying. Notably, 93% of cybervictims reported negative effects, with the majority of victims reporting feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and powerlessness. Perren et al 39 further investigated the relationship between depression and cybervictimization among Swiss and Australian adolescents by controlling for traditional forms of victimization. Their results demonstrated that cybervictimization explained a significant amount of the variance in adolescent’s depressive symptomology, even when controlling for traditional forms of victimization.

Cyberbullying has been conceptualized as a stressor. For example, Finkelhor et al 46 found that 32% of targets of cyberbullying experienced at least one symptom of stress. Similarly, targets of online harassment reported increased rates of trauma symptomology. 47 Relatedly, findings from the Second Youth Internet Safety Survey 48 indicated that 38% of adolescent victims reported that they were emotionally distressed (ie, extremely upset) as a result of being harassed on the Internet. Not surprisingly, Sourander et al 28 found that cybervictims feared for their safety. It is posited that cyberbullying is more stressful than traditional bullying, perhaps in part related to the anonymity of cyberbullying. Compared to traditional bullying, targets of cyberbullying are less likely to know their perpetrators. 4 In fact, in a recent American study, half of the targets who were cyberbullied reported that they did not know their perpetrators, 49 thereby contributing to increased fears related to the identities of their perpetrators. Literally, the perpetrators could be anyone; even the victims’ closest friends. 45 Consistent with these findings, a recent study conducted in the US found that cyberbullying victimization was related to adolescents’ increased fear of victimization, even when controlling for their past victimization experiences and disordered school environments. 50 Moreover, youth who were targets of cyberbullying reported increased feelings of embarrassment, hurt, self-blame, and fear. 41 , 51 In telephone interviews with adolescents about their experiences with online harassment, Finkelhor et al 46 reported that adolescents felt angry, embarrassed, and upset. Consistent with a myriad of other studies, the most common response to cyberbullying was anger, 6 , 18 , 51 , 52 followed by upset and worry. 52

However, reactions to being cyberbullied may depend on the form of cyberbullying. For example, Ortega et al 53 found that different forms of cyberbullying may elicit different emotional reactions – for instance, being bullied online may evoke a different emotional reaction than being bullied via a cell phone. In terms of predicting the most deleterious outcomes, past studies have shown that pictures/video images were the most harmful to adolescents. 9 In support of the need to examine unique contexts of victimization, results from a more recent study conducted in the US revealed that different forms of electronic victimization (ie, cell phones, computers) were related to different psychological outcomes, with victimization via the computer (for example, online posts, pictures, email) being more harmful to adolescents than victimization via the phone (for example, text messaging and phone calls). 42

Cybervictimization is related to disruptions in adolescents’ relationships. Specifically, targets of cyberbullying reported more loneliness from their parents and peers, 54 along with increased feelings of isolation and helplessness. 40 Not surprisingly, targets of cyberbullying reported fewer friendships, 41 more emotional and peer relationship problems, 28 lower school attachment, 35 , 54 and more empathy. 35 Past work has shown that adolescents who were victimized via cyberbullying were more likely to lose trust in others, 11 experience increased social anxiety, 20 , 42 , 56 and decreased levels of self-esteem. 20 , 24 , 29 , 41 – 44 , 57 , 58 Importantly, the relationship between cybervictimization and adolescents’ psychosocial problems remain even after controlling for relational and physical forms of victimization, 20 as well as school-based victimization. 42

Cyberbullying and suicidal behavior

Several researchers have examined the association between involvement with cyberbullying and adolescent suicidal behavior. 34 , 38 , 44 , 55 , 59 This relationship has been explored among middle school, high school, and college students. For example, Hinduja and Patchin 59 surveyed American middle school students and examined the relationship between involvement in cyberbullying (either as a victim or perpetrator) and suicidality. The results revealed that both targets and perpetrators of cyberbullying were more likely to think about suicide, as well as attempt suicide, when compared to their peers who were not involved with cyberbullying. This relationship between cyberbullying and suicidality was stronger for targets, as compared to perpetrators of cyberbullying. Specifically, targets of cyberbullying were almost twice as likely to have attempted suicide (1.9 times), whereas perpetrators were 1.5 times more likely compared to their uninvolved peers. 59 Klomek et al 38 looked at the relationship between cybervictimization, depression, suicidal ideation, and suicidal attempts among American high school students. Their study results showed that cyberbullying victimization was related to increased depressive affect and suicidal behavior. Similarly, using an even larger high school sample, Schneider et al 55 also found a positive relationship between cybervictimization and suicidal behavior. This relationship has recently been documented among college students as well. 44

In an effort to control for possible confounding variables, researchers have examined the unique contribution of cyberbullying in predicting suicidal behavior and depressive symptomology above and beyond adolescents’ sex, and their involvement in relational, verbal, and physical bullying. Bonanno and Hymel 34 surveyed Canadian adolescents and found that cybervictimization and cyberbullying contributed to adolescents’ depressive symptomology and suicidal ideation over and above their sex and involvement in traditional forms of bullying (ie, face-to-face bullying). Moreover, adolescents’ involvement in cyberbullying was a stronger predictor of suicidal ideation than it was for depressive symptomology. These researchers posited that perhaps, given the public and permanent nature of the computer, along with the perceived lack of control and anonymity involved, targets of cyberbullying might experience a loss of hope, thereby magnifying the relationship between cyberbullying and suicidal ideation. Those adolescents who were both victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying experienced the greatest risk for suicidal ideation. 34

In sum, past work has documented the positive relationship between adolescents’ involvement in cyberbullying and suicidal behavior. That is, the more adolescents are involved in cyberbullying, the more likely they are to engage in suicidal behavior; this relationship was stronger for targets than for perpetrators of cyberbullying. Recent research has expanded upon these findings and examined the potential experience(s) that might mediate the relationship between cyberbullying and suicidal behavior. 60 In a recent study of American high school students, Litwiller and Brausch 60 found that adolescents’ substance use and violent behavior partially mediated the relationship between cyberbullying and suicidal behavior, such that increased substance use and involvement in physical violence predicted increased adolescent suicidal behavior related to cyberbullying. Further, Litwiller and Brausch 60 conceptualized substance use and violent behavior as coping processes that adolescents might use to address the physical and psychological pain associated with their experiences related to cyberbullying. This study underscores the need for not only educators and health care professionals, but also parents, guardians and mentors - all caring adults to play a role in addressing adolescents’ substance use and violent behavior. Results from this study suggest the need for health care providers, educators, and caring adults to equip adolescents with constructive coping strategies to effectively address cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying (both victims and perpetrators) and somatic concerns

There have been relatively few studies examining the effect of cyberbullying on adolescents’ physical health. Of those studies that have been conducted, a significant relationship between cyberbullying and psychosomatic difficulties has been established. For example, Kowalski and Limber 21 surveyed American adolescents and found that those youth who were both victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying experienced more severe forms of psychological (for example, anxiety, depression, and suicidal behavior) and physical health concerns (for example, problems sleeping, headache, poor appetite, and skin problems). Additionally, adolescents’ grade level moderated these negative effects, with high school students who were both perpetrators and victims of cyberbullying reporting the highest levels of anxiety, depression, and the most physical health problems. Similarly, Beckman et al 22 surveyed Swedish adolescents and found a positive relationship between involvement with cyberbullying and psychosomatic difficulties, including increased difficulty sleeping, stomachaches, headaches, and a lack of appetite, with adolescents who were both victims and perpetrators experiencing the most severe psychosomatic symptoms. Finally, Sourander et al 28 investigated the relationship between cyberbullying and psychiatric and psychosomatic problems among Finnish adolescents. Their study results showed that cybervictims and cyberbully/victims were more likely to experience somatic problems, including difficulty sleeping, headaches, and stomachaches, as compared to their unaffected peers. Notably, in a recent large-scale study of adolescents in Stockholm, Sweden, Låftman et al 61 found that being a target of cyberbullying was associated with poorer physical health (for example, headaches, stomachaches, poor appetite, sleep disturbances, and so on), even when controlling for traditional bullying. Given that health care providers are often on the front lines responding to adolescents’ somatic concerns, it is imperative that these professionals are adequately trained in the area of cyberbullying. For example, health care providers can be trained to effectively screen adolescents’ for psychological and physical health issues related to cyberbulling experiences. Subsequently, it seems logical for medical schools and residency programs to consider coursework in digital networking or online social networking to increase the medical community’s knowledge regarding the health correlates related to cyberbullying. 62

Cyberbullying victimization and externalizing issues

Although not as well documented, the effects of cyberbullying victimization are also related to adolescents’ externalizing problems. For example, among a sample of youth living in the US, Ybarra et al 63 found that those adolescents who were harassed online were more likely to use alcohol, drugs, and carry a weapon at school. In fact, victimized youth were eight times more likely than their peers to carry a weapon to school in the past 30 days. In a study of Asian and Pacific Islander youth, Goebert et al 17 found that cyberbullying victimization was associated with adolescents’ increased substance abuse. For example, targets of cyberbullying were 2.5 times more likely to use marijuana and participate in binge drinking compared to their peers. Similarly, other studies have documented a significant relationship between increased cyberbullying victimization and increased substance use. 13 , 43 Finally, cyberbullying victimization was also related to increased levels of traditional bullying (for example, physical aggression, stealing) among a sample of adolescents living in Hong Kong. 36 (See Table 1 for a summary of cross-sectional studies examining the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and negative health correlates.)

Findings from literature on cyberbullying victimization and adolescent health using cross sectional design

Does sex matter with respect to cyberbullying victimization?

The answer to this question is not clear. Thus far, the literature is inconsistent with respect to sex-related effects and the prevalence rates for cybervictimization. Some studies have found no sex differences, 5 , 6 , 13 , 24 , 26 , 29 , 31 , 57 , 64 – 66 while other studies have found sex effects documenting higher prevalence rates for females. 9 , 11 , 40 , 61 This sex effect indicating increased prevalence rates of cyberbullying among females has been documented among both younger and older adolescents. For example, among 10- and 11-year-olds, Devine and Lloyd 30 found that girls were more likely to be victims of cyberbullying compared to boys. Kowalski and Limber 4 found similar sex-based effects, documenting increased prevalence rates among adolescent females in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. The same pattern has also been found among high school students. 17 This sex-based effect documenting increased prevalence rates for cybervictimization among females compared to males is consistent with research showing that females are more likely to be online for social networking, while males are more likely to be online for gaming. 68 Subsequently, the sheer frequency of females’ online social networking behavior may provide them with more opportunities than males to become involved with cyberbullying. 69

Only a few studies have documented higher prevalence rates for cyberbullying among males. For example, among German adolescents, Katzer et al 29 found that males reported more victimization online than females. Among a sample of adolescents living in Cyprus, males were also at a higher risk for cybervictimization. 70 Finally findings from a recent study conducted in Hong Kong indicated that males were more likely to be victimized via cyberbullying than females. 36 In sum, with the exception of a handful of studies, the majority of research conducted to date has demonstrated no sex effects related to cyberbullying victimization.

Cyberbullying perpetration and problem behaviors

Generally speaking, studies that have examined the impact of cyberbullying perpetration on adolescent health have shown that those adolescent perpetrators of cyberbullying were more likely to engage in problem behaviors including higher levels of proactive and reactive aggression, property damage, 23 illegal acts, 71 substance use, delinquency, 72 , 74 and suicidal behavior. 34 , 59 , 71 Cyberbullying perpetration has been positively associated with hyperactivity, relational aggression, 74 conduct problems, 19 , 28 , 71 smoking, and drunkenness. 22 , 28 Results from a recent study surveying Australian adolescents found that those youth who cyberbullied others reported more social difficulties, as well as more stress, depression, and anxiety compared to their peers who were not involved in any type of bullying. 75 On the other hand, cyberbullying perpetration has been related to adolescents’ decreased levels of self-esteem, 76 self-efficacy, 36 prosocial behavior, perceived sense of belonging, 36 and safety at school. 28 Cyberbullying perpetration has also been associated with adolescents’ negative emotions such as anger, sadness, frustration, fear, and embarrassment. 19 , 72 , 77 Disruptions in relationships have also been associated with cyberbullying perpetration among youth, including lower levels of empathy, 36 , 74 increased levels of depression, 34 weaker emotional bonds with caregivers, lower parental monitoring, and increased use of punitive discipline. 73 Finally, perpetrators of cyberbullying were more likely to rationalize their destructive behaviors by minimizing the impact they had on others. For example, they were more likely to believe that their bullying behavior was not that harsh and that it did not bother their victims that much. 75 (See Table 2 for a summary of cross-sectional studies examining the relationship between cyberbullying perpetration and negative health correlates.)

Findings from literature on cyberbullying perpetration and adolescent health using cross sectional design

Similar to cyberbullying victimization, sex-related effects for cyberbullying perpetration have also been inconsistent. For example, some studies have found an increase in female perpetration, 78 while other studies have indicated an increase in male cyberbullying perpetration. 11 , 36 , 61 Still yet, some researchers have found no sex differences in the prevalence of cyberbullying perpetration. 9 , 13 , 19 , 23 More research is needed before we are able to draw firm conclusions regarding the role of sex in cyberbullying perpetration.

What about those adolescents who are both victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying?

Notably, of researchers who have compared all three roles in cyberbullying, those adolescents who were both perpetrators and targets (ie, bully/victims) experienced the most adverse health outcomes, including decreased psychological and physical health. 21 , 22 , 28 , 34 , 40 Specifically, these adolescents reported increased levels of depression, substance use, and conduct problems compared to their peers who were either only targets or perpetrators. 23 , 21 Adolescents who were both targets and perpetrators of cyberbullying also reported poorer relationships with their caregivers, and higher levels of victimization and perpetration offline, compared to their peers. These results suggest that this group of adolescents (ie, bullies/victims) may experience increased risk for associated negative health outcomes, and as such, may require extra support from health care professionals, educators, and caring adults. However, we currently know relatively very little about this group of adolescents. 79 More work is needed to increase our understanding of this potentially vulnerable group of adolescents.

Taken together, results from a myriad of studies worldwide suggest that involvement in cyberbullying puts adolescents at risk for increased internalizing problems including depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and psychosomatic concerns (for example, difficulties sleeping, headaches, and stomachaches), as well as a loss of connection from parents and peers, thereby threatening adolescents’ basic fundamental need for meaningful connections. 80 In addition, participation in cyberbullying also places adolescents at risk for increased externalizing issues, such as substance use and delinquent behavior.

How do the developmental changes in risk factors affect subsequent cyberbullying?

Recently, researchers have begun to examine how developmental changes in adolescent risk factors affect subsequent involvement in cyberbullying behavior. For example, Modecki et al 81 recently investigated the role of increasing developmental problems (ie, problem behavior and poor emotional well-being) among adolescents (number [N] =1,364) in predicting subsequent involvement in cyberbullying over a 3-year period, while controlling for sex and pubertal timing. The study findings demonstrated that adolescents’ developmental increases in problem behavior across grades 8 through 10 predicted their involvement with cyberbullying in grade 11. Specifically, developmental decreases in self-esteem and increases in problem behavior (ie, substance use, aggressive behavior, and delinquency) predicted adolescents’ cybervictimization and perpetration in grade 11. Interestingly, self-esteem was measured with items assessing identity and efficacy (for example, “How often do you feel satisfied with who are?” “How often do you feel sure about yourself?”). Results from this study suggest that heath care professionals and educators should carefully examine the trajectory of students’ sense of self, as well as problem behaviors (for example, physical aggression and substance use) during adolescence in an effort to reduce subsequent involvement with cyberbullying. Further, these results showed that adolescents who experienced increased depression in grade 8 were at higher risk for both cybervictimization and cyberperpetration in grade 11.

Researchers have also begun to examine the risk factors that may be related to involvement with cyberbullying behavior. For example, Sticca et al 67 examined longitudinal risk factors related to cyberbullying among 7th grade students. Their results showed that traditional bullying and rule-breaking behavior (for example, damaging property, cigarette/alcohol use) were the strongest predictors of cyberbullying perpetration, followed by the frequency of online communication (these researchers did not look at cyberbullying victimization). In sum, these study results showed that those adolescents who bullied others in the “real world” were more than four times likely to bully someone online several months later. These results suggest that effective prevention and intervention efforts designed to reduce cyberbullying may include early detection of delinquent behaviors offline, including substance use and aggressive behavior. Moreover, results from another recent longitudinal study demonstrated that adolescents’ loneliness and social anxiety predicted increases in subsequent cyberbullying victimization. 82 These results suggest that adolescents who are socially vulnerable may be at increased risk for experiencing online victimization.

Potential mediating and moderating processes that may influence the effect of cyberbullying on adolescent health

The message of past studies is clear: there is a cogent relationship between cyberbullying and negative adolescent health outcomes. In light of the negative impact of cyberbullying on adolescent health, it is imperative that future research examines potential mediating and moderating processes that might influence the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent health. We know that not all adolescents who experience cyberbullying report negative outcomes. 6 , 72 Subsequently, individual differences among adolescents need to be considered when examining the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent health. For example, according to the transactional theory of stress and coping, 83 the impact of cyberbullying does not solely depend on the event alone, but also on how the adolescent responds to the situation. We know that how adolescents respond to stressors (for example, cyberbullying) is influenced by a myriad of factors related to the individual adolescent, the context, and the stressor itself. 83 – 86 Moreover, the language we choose also affects how adolescents respond to stressors – language can either undermine or optimize adolescents’ responses. For example, the word “victim” tends to conjure up a sense of helplessness and a loss of control. 87 The word “target”, on the other hand, communicates deflection; that the individual has the power to deflect the aggressive behavior, thereby empowering the adolescent. 87 Subsequently, it follows that an adolescent who is identified as a “victim” may be more reluctant to seek help compared to an adolescent who is identified as a “target”. Clearly, the choice of language affects individuals’ ensuing responses. More work is needed to increase our understanding of these and others factors that may help to protect adolescents from adverse health outcomes. Adopting a contextual framework allows researchers to identify potential protective and at-risk variables that may mediate or moderate the effects of cyberbullying on adolescents’ health outcomes. Researchers and practitioners could then use this garnered knowledge to develop and sustain effective prevention and intervention programs to reduce cyberbullying behaviors and their associated harm. With that said, there is currently little known about how experiences with cyberbullying may interact with adolescents’ coping strategies, sex, and social support.

Coping strategies

Schenk and Fremouw 44 examined the coping strategies used by targets of cyberbullying. Their results revealed that targets of cyberbullying generally cope with cybervictimization by telling someone, avoiding friends or peers, getting revenge, and withdrawing from events, thus potentially undermining important social connections. However, Slonje and Smith 9 found that 50% of targets did not tell anyone, 35.7% told a friend, 8.9% told a parent or guardian, and 5.4% told someone else. Notably, the majority of targets do not tell adults, 10 , 88 – 91 with one study reporting up to 90% of adolescents not telling an adult about their experiences related to cyberbullying. 24 Although these studies have begun to identify the coping strategies used by targets of cyberbullying, the majority of these studies have not examined the effectiveness of these strategies in terms of reducing or promoting subsequent at-risk behavior. Strategy effectiveness is an important construct to study, as we begin to identify those strategies that help to reduce the negative effects of cyberbullying. For example, results from a recent longitudinal study conducted in the Netherlands by Völlink et al 93 demonstrated that adolescents’ use of emotion-focused coping strategies negatively affected their subsequent psychological (for example, depression) and physical health (for example, chest tightness, headaches). Past work has shown that adolescents’ coping strategies can mitigate or reduce the negative impact of cyberbullying, 87 and as such, they should be examined further.

Future work should also continue to examine the role of sex in moderating the relationship between cyberbullying and adolescents’ health. Although, as discussed earlier several studies have examined the sex effects related to the prevalence rates of cyberbullying, we know relatively very little about how sex may moderate the relationship between cyberbullying and adolescent health. In other words, is it possible that females may be more adversely affected by cyberbullying than males? This is an important question to consider when examining adolescent health outcomes. Of the few studies that have been conducted, inconsistent findings have been reported. For example, some studies have found that females are more likely to be distressed by cyberbullying than males, 18 , 93 , 94 while others have reported no sex differences. 20 Still yet, recent work conducted by Kowalski and Limber 21 revealed that among adolescents who were both perpetrators and targets of cyberbullying, males experienced more negative psychological (for example, depression and anxiety) and physical health concerns (for example, headache, problems sleeping, and skin problems) than females. In sum, future studies are needed to elucidate the potential role of sex in moderating the relationship between involvement with cyberbullying and adolescent health outcomes.

Social support

Research suggests that different forms of support may mitigate the effects of traditional forms of victimization on psychological well-being. 95 – 97 There are, however, very few studies that have examined how different forms of social support might mitigate the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent health. An exception to this is a recent study conducted by Machmutow et al, 93 who examined the moderating effects of different coping strategies on the relationship between cybervictimization and depressive symptoms using a longitudinal design. Results from their study showed that adolescents’ social support and feelings of helplessness predicted their depressive symptomology over time. Specifically, close feelings of social support mitigated the negative impact of cyberbullying on depressive symptomology, whereas feelings of helplessness increased depressive symptomology. Similarly, Fanti et al 70 examined how different forms of social support (ie, peer, family, and school) influenced the prevalence of cyberbullying. Using a longitudinal design, Fanti et al 70 found that adolescents’ family social support (for example, “I get the emotional support I need from my family”) was a protective factor for both cyberbullying victimization and cyberbullying perpetration, such that family social support was related to decreases in cyberbullying behaviors one year later, even after accounting for other risk factors. These results suggest that family social support may be an important protective factor in guarding against the negative health correlates of cyberbullying, and thus merits further scrutiny.

Prevention and intervention

Given the deleterious effects of cyberbullying, effective prevention and intervention efforts must be a priority. However, studies that investigate effective prevention and intervention efforts to address cyberbullying are currently lacking. 98 The few studies that have addressed prevention efforts related to cyberbullying suggest that attention be directed towards enhancing adolescents’ empathy and self-esteem, decreasing adolescents’ problem behaviors, promoting warm, nurturing relationships with their parents, and reducing their time spent online. For example, researchers who conducted a recent study with Turkish adolescents found that those adolescents who were less empathic were more at risk for engaging in cyberbullying. Their study results demonstrated that the combined effect of affective (ie, experiencing someone else’s feelings) and cognitive (ie, taking another’s perspective) empathy played a vital role in influencing adolescents’ participation in cyberbullying. Specifically, activating adolescents’ empathy was related to less negative bystander behavior. Results from this study suggest that future prevention and intervention efforts be targeted towards increasing adolescents’ affective (for example, “My friends’ feelings don’t affect me”) and cognitive empathy (for example, “I can understand why my friend might be upset when that happens”) in an effort to reduce participation in cyberbullying. 99 Empathy training seems particularly important given the nature of cyberspace and the lack of nonverbal cues available. For example, adolescents may be less inclined to experience empathy for targets online in part because they are not privy to the targets’ facial expressions. Subsequently, prevention efforts may need to explicitly demonstrate the hurt targets’ experience in order to activate adolescents’ empathic responses. 94

Recent findings also suggest that prevention efforts directed towards reducing cyberbullying should address adolescents’ self-esteem, as well as specific problem behaviors. Findings from a recent study revealed that developmental decreases in adolescents’ self-esteem predicted their subsequent involvement in cyberbullying both as a perpetrator and as a target. 81 Additionally, developmental increases in adolescents’ problem behaviors (for example, substance use, delinquency, and aggressive behaviors) also predicted their involvement in cyberbullying in subsequent grades. Building on the work of Patchin and Hinduja, 76 these results direct educators and health care professionals to focus on adolescents’ emotional well-being during the early high school years, paying particular attention to those adolescents who experience steep declines in their self-esteem, as well as adolescents who experience steep inclines in problem behaviors including substance use and delinquency.

In terms of parental relationships, study findings suggest that health care professionals and educators should work toward helping adolescents and their parents establish warm, nurturing relationships that include close adult monitoring. This is consistent with recent suggestions by the American Academy of Pediatrics that encourage parents to participate in open discussions with children and adolescents about their online behavior, as well as to implement the necessary safeguards to protect youth from engaging in cyberbullying behaviors. 100 Clearly, meaningful social connection is key to effective prevention and intervention efforts. 101 Finally, results from a recent study conducted by Hinduja and Patchin 102 suggest that adolescents’ socializing agents (ie, friends, family, and adults at school) play an important role in whether or not adolescents choose to cyberbully others. Surveying a random sample of 4,441 adolescents, the study results showed that adolescents who believed that several of their friends were involved with cyberbullying were more likely to cyberbully others themselves. These results suggest the need for prevention efforts designed around correcting the “misperceived” norm of cyberbullying. Additionally, the results also indicated that adolescents who believed that the adults in their lives would hold them accountable for their involvement with cyberbullying were less likely to participate in cyberbullying, thus suggesting the important role that adults play in the lives of adolescents in terms of reducing cyberbullying behaviors.

Beliefs about cyberbullying

Adolescents’ beliefs are important motivators of their behaviors. 103 Past work has shown that youths’ normative beliefs and attitudes about aggression are related to subsequent physical aggression, 104 , 105 as well as relational aggression. 106 More recently, research has been conducted to investigate how adolescents’ beliefs about aggression influence their involvement in cyberbullying behaviors. 107 , 108 Study results have indicated that youth who endorse attitudes supporting aggressive behaviors (for example, that it is okay to call some kids nasty names) are significantly more likely to report higher rates of cyberbullying compared to their peers. 107 , 108 A recent study conducted among American middle school students found that students who engaged in cyberbullying were more likely to endorse supportive attitudes related to aggressive behavior. 108 In addition to individual attitudes, classroom-level attitudes (although with somewhat weaker effects) were also predictive of cyberbullying behavior. 107 These results at the classroom level suggest the importance of establishing and maintaining positive classroom climates, reflecting respectful treatment of all individuals. Overall, these results suggest that prevention work in the school setting is important in order to reduce cyberbullying behavior.

Finally, past studies have shown that the frequency of online communication increases the risk of cyberbullying victimization and perpetration. 6 , 13 , 23 , 24 , 26 , 48 , 63 , 67 , 109 Subsequently, helping adolescents to self-regulate their time spent online may decrease their involvement with cyberbullying behaviors. This is particularly important given adolescents’ struggles to manage their impulses. 110

Past research has suggested that social support may be a powerful protective factor in mitigating the negative effects associated with cyberbullying. 70 , 93 In order for adolescents to receive the necessary support they need to reduce the associated harmful effects of cyberbullying, they must be willing to seek help. However, several studies suggest that targets of cyberbullying rarely seek help from adults at school (for example, from teachers). 19 , 26 , 111 Instead, the majority of adolescents are silent 111 and are not likely to tell adults when they are victimized via cyberbullying. 6 , 9 There are at least four possible reasons why adolescents are not likely to tell adults about their cyberbullying experiences. First, it could be that adolescents do not feel connected to adults, and subsequently do not seek their help when in distress. If this is true, then it is imperative that adults at school intentionally reach out to adolescents in an effort to establish trusting, caring relationships. This can be done through a variety of strategies including the development of engaging classroom activities, as well as activities designed around special adolescent interests. Prevention efforts could include helping adolescents establish and maintain meaningful social relationships with their peers. Adults at school can be trained to connect older peers with adolescents who are at risk for having fewer peer connections. A recent study conducted by Burton et al 108 found that adolescents who were more attached to their peers were less likely to be involved in cyberbullying. Effective mentoring programs could be another strategy used to increase positive peer attachments among adolescents. School mentoring programs can be developed to connect adolescents to caring mentors and/or adults. Health care providers and educators can routinely screen adolescents to identify those who do not have at least one meaningful relationship with a peer and/or an adult.

Another reason that adolescents may be reluctant to tell adults about their experiences related to cyberbullying may be that youth tend to tend to think that cyberbullying is not a serious issue, and thus, they do not need help. Research has found some support for this claim. For example, Agatston et al 112 found that adolescent males living in the US were less likely to view cyberbullying as a serious problem. A third reason why adolescents may not tell adults about cyberbullying may be that they do not consider the adults in their school to be helpful resources in addressing cyberbullying. 112 These results suggest that additional training may be needed for school personnel to identify effective ways to address cyberbullying in the school setting. Several good resources have been provided online for educators. 113 A fourth reason why adolescent targets may not be willing to seek help could be related to their increased feelings of shame and helplessness. 40 Letting targeted youth know it is not their fault may be one promising cognitive strategy that may increase adolescents’ likelihood to seek help. Recent findings from the Youth Voice Project 114 suggest that adolescents’ use of cognitive reframing strategies are effective tools that are likely to lead to positive outcomes for targeted youth.

Individual treatment is needed for all involved to effectively address cyberbullying. For example, adolescents can be trained to develop effective strategies to increase their self-control 115 and empathy towards others. 99 Recent research has also demonstrated the need for targets of cyberbullying to be trained in effective coping strategies. 116 Importantly, Bauman 117 suggests that counseling for the perpetrator needs to be restorative in nature and not punitive. Too often, schools tend to punish and isolate the perpetrator without any consideration for restoration with the target – a needed ingredient for optimizing adolescents’ subsequent outcomes. Given the associated feelings of isolation, it is important for counselors to help targets of cyberbullying establish and maintain meaningful connections with others.

Bystanders are an important part of intervention efforts. Similar to face-to-face bullying, there are often many peers who witness or are exposed to cyberbullying. Recent findings from the Youth Voice Project compared strategy effectiveness among adolescents’ self-strategies, peer strategies, and adult strategies in response to various forms of peer mistreatment. 114 Results from this large-scale study showed that peer strategies (or bystander actions) were much more effective in terms of leading to positive outcomes for targeted youth than were self- or adult strategies. 114 This was true for both traditional bullying and cyberbullying. Interestingly, the bystander actions that were most likely to lead to positive outcomes for targeted youth were not confrontational, but instead were quiet acts of support (ie, spent time with the targeted student, talked to them, encouraged them, listened to them, and called or messaged them at home). However, the Youth Voice Project data also revealed that over half (51%) of the mistreated youth reported that their peers “did nothing” about the situation and “ignored what was going on”. 114 Clearly, more research is needed to better understand the processes underlying positive bystander behavior.

What predicts positive bystander behavior?

A recent study conducted with Czech adolescents examined whether adolescents’ age, sex, self-esteem, tendency toward prosocial behavior, and problematic peer relationships influenced their support of cyberbullied peers. 35 The results showed that only adolescents’ tendency towards prosocial behavior positively predicted supportive bystander behavior. 35 This study also examined how contextual variables might influence adolescents’ bystander support of cyberbullied peers. Study findings showed that existing relationships with the target, distress experienced by witnessing the victimization, and direct appeal for help predicted positive, supportive bystander behavior. On the other hand, having a strong relationship with the perpetrator repressed supportive bystander behavior. These results are consistent with past work documenting the importance of empathy, as well as the importance of training adolescents to ask for help from their peers. Importantly, these results also underscore the significance of developing and maintaining prosocial relationships among adolescents. Recent researchers in Belgium used an experimental paradigm to investigate the effect of contextual variables on bystander actions in response to a hypothetical cyberbullying incident. 118 Their study results showed that among Flemish adolescents, bystanders were more likely to help the target when they perceived the cyberbullying to be more severe, which suggests that we need to help adolescents understand the seriousness of cyberbullying.

What predicts negative bystander behavior?

In a recent study conducted in Poland, researchers used an experimental paradigm to examine the individual factors that might influence adolescents’ negative bystander behavior in response to cyberbullying. 119 The results indicated that negative bystander behavior (as measured by the decision to forward a negative message about someone) was more likely to occur in private contexts, as compared to public contexts. For example, adolescents were likely to behave in more antisocial ways when they thought only one or a few observers would see their behavior (ie, private conditions). These findings suggest that it is important for adolescents to understand that in reality, their online behavior is seen by a wide audience and is, in fact, “public”. The results also showed that negative bystander behavior was more likely among adolescents who had previous experiences with cyberbullying perpetration. Finally, consistent with past work, study findings demonstrated that both affective and cognitive empathy reduces negative bystander behavior. Overall, the results suggest that educators, health care professionals, and caring adults should continue to promote adolescents’ prosocial relationships, affective and cognitive empathy, as well as help adolescents to seek out positive forms of social support. Although initial research has begun to examine the effect of bystanders in the context of cyberbullying, more work is needed to understand how bystander actions may influence the relationship between cyberbullying and associated health outcomes. Another recent study using an experimental paradigm to examine individual factors related to negative bystander behavior was conducted in Belguim. 118 Results from this study indicated that bystanders were more likely to “join in” on the bullying when the other bystanders were good friends as opposed to acquaintances. Consistent with past work, 114 sex-related effects were found, such that females were more likely to comfort and defend the target, give advice to the target, and report the incident. On the other hand, males were more likely to reinforce the cyberbullying by telling the perpetrator that they thought it was funny. 118 These sex-related effects indicate that adolescent males may require extra training related to providing positive support to peers who have been victimized via cyberbullying.

In sum, raising awareness among educators, health care professionals, parents, and adolescents regarding the serious nature of cyberbullying may be a first step in addressing the harmful effects of cyberbullying. Moreover, it is important for caring adults and mentors to proactively reach out to adolescents and establish meaningful relationships with them that persist over time. Additionally, training adults and adolescents in effective strategies to address cyberbullying is needed to mitigate the associated negative effects of cyberbullying. Finally, addressing adolescents’ beliefs around cyberbullying both at the individual and classroom level should be at the core of prevention and intervention efforts. 108 School counselors and health care providers may be in a prime position to initiate training for school personnel, parents, and adolescents alike. 120

When should prevention and intervention efforts begin?

It is important for researchers to begin looking at how younger children interface with technology. Cyberbullying prevention and intervention programs should target all grade levels. 121 The research is clear that cyberbullying begins before adolescence. 122 To date, however, the majority of studies investigating cyberbullying have primarily included teenagers ( Table 1 and Table 2 ). Although teenagers are an important population to study given their salient developmental concerns, 110 more work is needed to examine how younger adolescents (for example, 9–11-year-olds) are affected by cyberbullying experiences. Englander, from the MA Aggression Reduction Center (MARC; http://marccenter.webs.com/ ), has begun to study the prevalence of technology among younger children. Her work has shown that over 90% of children are already immersed online by the time they are 8 years old. This has implications for involvement in subsequent cyberbullying. For example, research has demonstrated that owning a “Smartphone” in elementary school increases a child’s risk for being involved with cyberbullying both as the target, as well as the perpetrator. 122 Devine and Lloyd 30 examined Internet use and psychological well-being among 10- and 11-year-old children living in Northern Ireland. Their results showed a moderate, significant relationship between cybervictimization and psychological well-being. Specifically, children who experienced more victimization online were likely to experience more negative affect, more loneliness, and poorer relationships with their parents and peers. Similarly, Jackson and Cohen 122 found a positive relationship between loneliness and cyberbullying victimization among 3rd through 6th graders. Further, cyberbullying victimization was related to fewer friendships, lower rates of optimism in describing peer relationships, and lower peer acceptance. Additional work is needed with this younger age group to help increase our understanding of the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent health.

In sum, research has demonstrated that cyberbullying victimization and perpetration have a significant detrimental impact on adolescents’ health ( Table 1 and Table 2 ). In fact, the studies reviewed herein suggest that cyberbullying is an emerging international public health concern, related to serious mental health concerns, with significant impact on adolescents’ depression, anxiety, self-esteem, emotional distress, substance use, and suicidal behavior. Moreover, cyberbullying is also related to adolescents’ physical health concerns.

It is important to note that the majority of studies investigating the relationship between cyberbullying behaviors and adolescent health have been correlational in nature. While correlational studies are an important first step to understanding the impact of cyberbullying, longitudinal studies are now needed to increase our understanding of how cyberbullying experiences affect adolescents’ health over time. By using longitudinal designs, we are able to test whether adolescents’ depressive symptoms, social anxiety, or suicidal tendencies related to cyberbullying are antecedents or consequences. For example, it is possible that depressive symptomology could either be an antecedent or an effect of cyberbullying victimization. Longitudinal study designs permit us to examine both of these possibilities with more clarity. As discussed in the section titled, “How do the developmental changes in risk factors affect subsequent cyberbullying?”, an emerging body of work has begun to use longitudinal designs to examine the risk factors related to increased involvement with cyberbullying perpetration and victimization over time. However, more longitudinal work is needed to increase our understanding of the temporal nature of variables related to cyberbullying experiences.

Findings from the current literature have significant implications for health care professionals, educators, and caring adults. First and foremost, the studies described throughout urge educators, counselors, and health care professionals to address cyberbullying when assessing adolescents’ physical and psychological health concerns. It is clear that adolescents who are involved in cyberbullying experiences require support. However, evidence suggests that the majority of adolescents do not seek help from adults when involved in cyberbullying. Therefore, it is important to take a proactive approach. Support could come from multiple professional communities that serve youth: educational (for example, professionals working in the schools); behavioral health (for example, clinicians treating adolescents with mental health concerns); and medical (for example, pediatricians asking about cyberbullying experiences during sick and well visits). Sensitive probing about cyberbullying experiences is warranted when addressing adolescent health issues such as depression, substance use, suicidal ideation, as well as somatic concerns. Routine screening techniques can be developed to assist in uncovering the harm endured through cyberbullying to help support adolescents recovering from associated trauma. Finally, the study findings described above also suggest a strong need for comprehensive, school-based programs directed at cyberbullying prevention and intervention. Education about cyberbullying could be integrated into school curriculums and the community at large, for example, by engaging adolescents in scholarly debates and community discussions related to cyberbullying legislation, accountability, and character.

The author reports no conflicts of interest in this work.

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Cyberbully Detection by Using Machine Learning

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• Norazlinda Tamring 40 &
• Lai Po Hung 40 , 40  

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering ((LNEE,volume 1199))

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• International Conference on Advances in Computational Science and Engineering

Cyberbullying is a growing problem that affects mental health and academic achievement, especially among teenagers and young people. Detecting cyberbullying is challenging due to its complex and subjective nature, as well as the rapidly evolving technology and language. Victims have difficulty avoiding attacks, which can be as simple as malicious comments online. Effective models for detecting cyberbullying are needed to prevent such cases, but data extraction from social media is difficult due to privacy concerns and limited user information. The objective of this project is to enhance manual monitoring for cyberbullying on social networks and online platforms by researching and testing the most effective feature extraction method to be implemented. The project aims to achieve the following goals: preprocess the public dataset, design machine learning algorithm models with different feature extraction methods, evaluate the accuracy and performance of each algorithm, and create a simple interface to test sentences with the designed model. The classifiers used in the research are Support Vector Machine (SVM), Naive Bayes (NB) and Decision Tree (DT) that are optimized with two different feature extraction (TFIDF and Count Vectoriser). The classifier's evaluation is determined by accuracy, precision, recall, and f1-score. The classifier that obtained the highest performance is Linear SVM by using TFIDF.

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Tamring, N., Hung, L.P. (2024). Cyberbully Detection by Using Machine Learning. In: Thiruchelvam, V., Alfred, R., Ismail, Z.I.B.A., Haviluddin, H., Baharum, A. (eds) Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Advances in Computational Science and Engineering. ICACSE 2023. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 1199. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-2977-7_45

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