Consequences of Cyberbullying
This fairly young phenomenon called cyberbullying has affected all age groups but most importantly has caused problems for school aged kids. Internet harassment comes in many forms and with the ever growing connection of technology (smart phones, internet, social networks) to a person's everyday life there is more access for these negative comments, posts, pictures etc. to be distributed to a wider range of people in a shorter amount of time in hopes of harassing or embarrassing a particular person.
The problem with cyberbullying is unlike normal bullying which is often viewed by others in a public setting, this type is behind closed doors often times a 1 vs 1 person or in some instances a group of people causing problems for an individual. This kind of bullying isn't physically seen and therefore often times gets overlooked by authority, parents, friends etc... According to Ybarra et al. (2007) research states that when looking at stress amongst both youth bullied online and at school you find that half of the youth who receive rude or nasty comments/rumors online by the same people or group that harass the individual at school they report distress (anxiety or pain) in the Internet experience as shown in Table 1. One possible explanation of this finding is that youth in certain age groups spend the majority of their time in two areas, one is school and the second is online. Because both of these areas in the individuals life are being affected they are reporting a higher distress from the bullying.
The problem with cyberbullying is unlike normal bullying which is often viewed by others in a public setting, this type is behind closed doors often times a 1 vs 1 person or in some instances a group of people causing problems for an individual. This kind of bullying isn't physically seen and therefore often times gets overlooked by authority, parents, friends etc... According to Ybarra et al. (2007) research states that when looking at stress amongst both youth bullied online and at school you find that half of the youth who receive rude or nasty comments/rumors online by the same people or group that harass the individual at school they report distress (anxiety or pain) in the Internet experience as shown in Table 1. One possible explanation of this finding is that youth in certain age groups spend the majority of their time in two areas, one is school and the second is online. Because both of these areas in the individuals life are being affected they are reporting a higher distress from the bullying.
Effects
Research by Gianluca Gini and Tiziana Pozzoli in 2009 used a meta analysis to look at reports from kids focusing on cyberbullying. Using eleven different research studies focusing on both observational cohort studies and cross-sectional school surveys with kids ages ranging from 7-16 years of age. When looking across the eleven samples for an association between being bullied and physical problems they found that victimized children reported having a higher risk for psychosomatic problems than their peers who were uninvolved. Psychosomatic meaning it is caused or aggravated by a mental factor such as internal conflict or stress in the individual. These victims are not just being abused verbally but it is also physcially and emotionally draining. Sometimes this psychosomatic disorder unfortunately ends in the worst way which is the loss of a life.
Gini and Pozzoli also looked at both the victims of bullying and the bullies themselves and found that while both groups of children are shown to have academic problems, victims and bullies had different physical and mental problems as shown below.
Gini and Pozzoli also looked at both the victims of bullying and the bullies themselves and found that while both groups of children are shown to have academic problems, victims and bullies had different physical and mental problems as shown below.
Victims1. Low Self-Esteem 2. Loneliness 3. Depression 4. Anxiety 5. Poorly Socially Adjusted 6. Hyperactive |
Bullies1. Poor School Adjustment 2. Frequent Alcohol and Drug Use 3. Disturbed Personalities |
Psychosocial Characteristics
Ybarra et al. continued research focusing on the psychosocial (interrelation of social factors and individual thought and behavior) aspect of bullying victims. The study wanted to look at whether Internet harassment brought about depressive symptoms, life challenges, interpersonal victimization, social skill deficits and harassing of others in the victims. As shown in Table
2 we see that these measurements are shown based on three levels: No harassment (n=1,026), Infrequent Harassment (n=374) and Frequent Harassment (n=115). Some of the important findings from the research are:
-Summation of three items on emotional connectedness between Cargiver and Child (5 point likert scale)
-Substance use
-Harrassing others online
-Being attacked by another person or group
2 we see that these measurements are shown based on three levels: No harassment (n=1,026), Infrequent Harassment (n=374) and Frequent Harassment (n=115). Some of the important findings from the research are:
-Summation of three items on emotional connectedness between Cargiver and Child (5 point likert scale)
-Substance use
-Harrassing others online
-Being attacked by another person or group
Caregiver-Child RelationshipNo H.- 5.3
Infrequent H.- 5.7 Frequent H.- 6.4 |
Substance Use- AlcoholNo H.- 5.7% (n=61)
Infrequent H.- 21.3% (n=75) Frequent H.- 39.5% (n=39) |
Harassing Others OnlineNo H.- 1.3% (n=8)
Infrequent H.- 2.7% (n=8) Frequent H.- 26.1% (n=32) |
Being attacked by MultipleNo H.- 10.3% (n=105)
Infrequent H.- 15.8% (n=63) Frequent H.- 49.5% (n=51) |