Cyberbullying: a storm in a teacup?
Open accessAbstract
Cyberbullying has been portrayed as a rising 'epidemic' amongst children and adolescents. But does it create many new victims beyond those already bullied with traditional means (physical, relational)? Our aim was to determine whether cyberbullying creates uniquely new victims, and whether it has similar impact upon psychological and behavioral outcomes for adolescents, beyond those experienced by traditional victims. This study assessed 2745 pupils, aged 11-16, from UK secondary schools. Pupils completed an electronic survey that measured bullying involvement, self-esteem and behavioral problems. Twenty-nine percent reported being bullied but only 1% of adolescents were pure cyber-victims (i.e., not also bullied traditionally). Compared to direct or relational victims, cyber-victimization had similar negative effects on behavior (z = -0.41) and self-esteem (z = -0.22) compared to those not involved in bullying. However, those bullied by multiple means (poly-victims) had the most difficulties with behavior (z = -0.94) and lowest self-esteem (z = -0.78). Cyberbullying creates few new victims, but is mainly a new tool to harm victims already bullied by traditional means. Cyberbullying extends the reach of bullying beyond the school gate. Intervention strategies against cyberbullying may need to include approaches against traditional bullying and its root causes to be successful.
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Very few young people experience bullying exclusively via social media platforms.
“Whilst this is an important area of research linking users' experiences of social media to mental health outcomes, it should be noted that very few young people experience bullying exclusively via social media platforms”
From Understanding Links Between Social Media Use, Sleep and Mental Health: Recent Progress and Current Challenges (2019) · cites this paper as [53]
Effect sizes for poor mental health associations are similar for cyberbullying and offline physical and relational bullying.
“and effect sizes for poor mental health associations are similar for cyberbullying and offline physical and relational bullying [53,55].”
From Understanding Links Between Social Media Use, Sleep and Mental Health: Recent Progress and Current Challenges (2019) · cites this paper as [53]
Cyberbullying, interactions with known peers, can have a negative impact on a wide range of adolescent wellbeing outcomes: from lower self-esteem and mood to increased behavioural and emotional problems.
“For example, cyberbullying represents an obvious case whereby interactions with known peers can have a negative impact on a wide range of adolescent wellbeing outcomes: from lower self-esteem and mood to increased behavioural and emotional problems [53,54].”
From Understanding Links Between Social Media Use, Sleep and Mental Health: Recent Progress and Current Challenges (2019) · cites this paper as [53]
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References 42 · Cited by 145
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- [2]McGraw P (2015) It’s time to stop the cyberbullying epidemic http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-phil/stop-cyberbullying_b_6647990.html.: Huffington post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-phil/stop-cyberbullying_b_6647990.html
- [36]Wolke D Lereya T Tippett N Vollink T Dhue F McGuckin C Inidividual and social determinants of bullying and cyberbullying Cyberbullying-From theory to intervention 2016 London Routledge 26 53
- Authors
- Wolke, D., Lee, K., & Guy, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Warwick (GB)
- Venue
- European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
- Published
- 2017-02-10
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 899-908
- ISSN
- 1018-8827 (ISSN-L)
- 1435-165X
- PMC
- PMC5532410
- OpenAlex
- W2586555756
- Cited by
- 145
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 5
- FWCI
- 20.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Staffordshire Online Repository (Staffordshire University) (acceptedVersion)
- Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick) (acceptedVersion)
- Wolverhampton Intellectual Repository and E-Theses (University of Wolverhampton) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Workplace Violence and Bullying
- Keywords
- cyberbullying, traditional bullying, self-esteem, behavioral problems, adolescents, school bullying, bullying intervention
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Self Concept, Crime Victims, Bullying
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