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tokunaga,_r_cyberbullying
tokunaga,_r_cyberbullying

Review

Following you home from school:A critical review and synthesis of research on cyberbullying victimization

Robert S.Tokunaga *

University of Arizona,Communication Building #25Room 211,PO Box 210025,Tucson,AZ 85721-0025,United States

a r t i c l e i n f o Article history:

Available online 6February 2010Keywords:Cyberbullying

Online harassment Social implications Demography Disturbances

Coping strategies

a b s t r a c t

More than 97%of youths in the United States are connected to the Internet in some way.An unintended outcome of the Internet’s pervasive reach is the growing rate of harmful offenses against children and teens.Cyberbullying victimization is one such offense that has recently received a fair amount of atten-tion.The present report synthesizes ?ndings from quantitative research on cyberbullying victimization.An integrative de?nition for the term cyberbullying is provided,differences between traditional bullying and cyberbullying are explained,areas of convergence and divergence are offered,and sampling and/or methodological explanations for the inconsistencies in the literature are considered.About 20–40%of all youths have experienced cyberbullying at least once in their lives.Demographic variables such as age and gender do not appear to predict cyberbullying victimization.Evidence suggests that victimization is asso-ciated with serious psychosocial,affective,and academic problems.The report concludes by outlining several areas of concern in cyberbullying research and discusses ways that future research can remedy them.

ó2009Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved.

1.Introduction

The number of children and teens who use the Internet at home is rapidly growing,with now over 66%of fourth to ninth graders able to go online from the comfort of their bedrooms (ChildrenOn-line,2008).Children can engage in numerous Internet-based activ-ities such as game playing,seeking information,and talking with friends.The constellation of bene?ts,however,has been recently eclipsed by numerous accounts of the Internet’s undesirable social implications,which appear in both scholarly literature and popular media.A fair amount of attention has been given to Internet of-fenses,including cyberstalking (Seto,2002),sexual predation (Dombrowski,Lemasney,Ahia,&Dickson,2004),and cyberbully-ing (Bhat,2008;David-Ferdon &Hertz,2007),which collectively place the safety of children and teens who use the Internet into question.

Cyberbullying victimization has ascended to the forefront of the public agenda after a number of anecdotal cases unfolded in the media (Benfer,2001;Doneman,2008;Tomazin &Smith,2007).Concerns were raised after several children and teens reported experiencing health and psychological harms after being bullied through electronic devices (e.g.,cellular phone,e-mail,etc.).In par-ticular,the story of 13-year-old Megan Meier brought notoriety to the subject of cyberbullying when she committed suicide after

being harassed through a popular social networking site (ABC News,2007).The cyberbully,a mother of Megan’s former friend,created a false identity to correspond with and gain information about Megan,which she would later use to humiliate Megan for spreading rumors about her daughter.

Cyberbullying victimization is associated with a host of nega-tive problems similar to those of traditional bullying.Victims of cyberbullying have lower self-esteem,higher levels of depression,and experience signi?cant life challenges (Ybarra,Mitchell,Wolak,&Finkelhor,2006).Children and teens also have greater internal-ized negative affect toward the cyberbully (Patchin &Hinduja,2006;Topcu,Erdur-Baker,&Capa-Aydin,2008).The psychosocial and physical problems that emerge with cyberbullying underscore the serious nature of the phenomenon.

There is a noticeable paucity of research on cyberbullying and victimization,despite the high level of concern associated with its occurrence (Patchin &Hinduja,2006).The available research on cyberbullying to date relates to its prevalence,frequency among speci?c groups,and negative outcomes;information that would be expected in the early formative stage of research.The way research on cyberbullying can advance beyond this stage is by surveying what is already known and establishing a roadmap of where future research should be directed.The end goal of the present review is to direct research toward exploring those areas that still remain uncharted.

The broad aim of this report is to examine ?ndings in quantitative research on cyberbullying victimization through meta-synthesis.

0747-5632/$-see front matter ó2009Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.chb.2009.11.014

*Tel.:+15206263602;fax:+15206215504.E-mail address:tokunaga@https://www.docsj.com/doc/0914955425.html,

Computers in Human Behavior 26(2010)

277–287

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Computers in Human Behavior

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e :w w w.e l s e v i https://www.docsj.com/doc/0914955425.html,/locate/c

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Meta-synthesis is a process of summarizing an entire body of literature by providing a comprehensive overview on a speci?c subject(Zimmer,2006).Meta-synthesis can be used to amass the body of cyberbullying literature,which aids in ascertaining consis-tencies among the?ndings.Additionally,areas of agreement and discrepancy may be isolated and evaluated against studies’re-search designs.Although the methodological technique is conven-tionally used to interpret?ndings in qualitative research,meta-synthesis has been recently applied to quantitative research as well(see Byun et al.,2009).Cyberbullying victimization is an ideal topic for review and synthesis for two reasons.First,there is an inherent need to located trends and methodological inconsisten-cies in cyberbullying research,considering the wide areas of dis-agreement in its study.Second,there is enough research to make the synthesis meaningful,but not enough data to conduct a tradi-tional meta-analysis.In the following sections,a composite de?ni-tion of cyberbullying is offered,the differences between traditional bullying and cyberbullying are explained,areas of convergence and divergence in the literature are considered,and critical concerns and subsequent directions for future research are discussed.

2.Toward an integrative de?nition of cyberbullying

Research on traditional bullying is commonplace in the educa-tion literature.Olweus(2003)suggests that bullying occurs when a person or group of people engage in any‘‘negative action”in-tended to in?ict injury or discomfort on others.In a similar vein, Stephenson and Smith(1989)suggest that a prerequisite for an event to be considered bullying is the inclusion of an aggressive behavior,which causes marked distress in the person bullied.In many ways,traditional bullying and cyberbullying share consider-able overlap in their core motivations.Individuals who cyberbully others wish to in?ict harm on their targets and execute a series of calculated behaviors to cause them distress.

Cyberbullying mainly differs from traditional bullying in the reach of the offenders.Cyberbullies are able to extend the bullying beyond the school grounds and follow targets into their homes (Patchin&Hinduja,2006).Cyberbullying is an umbrella term re-lated to similar constructs such as online bullying,electronic bully-ing,and Internet harassment.Several cyberbullying de?nitions have been offered in the literature,many of which are derived from de?nitions of traditional bullying.Each de?nition of cyberbullying contains some aggressive,hostile,or harmful act that is perpe-trated by a bully through an unspeci?ed type of electronic device. The distinctions between the de?nitions include details of those in-volved in the event(e.g.,groups or individuals;Besley,2009;Smith et al.,2008),and requirements for the act to be deliberate and will-ful,and repeated over time(e.g.,Besley,2008;Patchin&Hinduja, 2006;Smith et al.,2008).Dehue,Bolman,and Vollink(2008)sug-gest that three necessary conditions must be met for a situation to be considered cyberbullying:the behaviors must be repeated,in-volve psychological torment,and be carried out with intent.A list of de?nitions of cyberbullying and Internet harassmement offered in the literature is provided in Table1.

The differences among the de?nitions are necessarily problem-atic for a number of reasons.First,conceptual and operational def-initions affect,to a large extent,how participants respond to measurement items.Inconsistencies among de?nitions lead schol-ars to study vastly different phenomena under the same title.The absence of the word‘‘repeatedly”in some cyberbullying de?ni-tions,for instance,limits the conclusions that are able to be drawn from those studies and restricts the ability to make cross-study comparisons with other research that only considers repeat of-fenses.Second,reliable and valid measures of cyberbullying are unable to be developed without conceptualizations that share some level of agreement among scholars.The lack of valid mea-sures has plagued much of the research on cyberbullying con-ducted to date.In addition,given that proposed measurement tools are infrequently used by more than one researcher,threats to the validity of the?ndings are apparent.Indeed,the need for an integrative de?nition of cyberbullying is crucial for both con-ceptual and operational clarity.The following de?nition of cyber-bullying is provided with the aim of uniting the inconsistent de?nitions that appear in the literature:

Cyberbullying is any behavior performed through electronic or dig-ital media by individuals or groups that repeatedly communicates hostile or aggressive messages intended to in?ict harm or discom-fort on others.

Additionally,the following addendum may be included with the de?nition when presented to research participants to clarify what is meant by cyberbullying.

In cyberbullying experiences,the identity of the bully may or may not be known.Cyberbullying can occur through electronically-mediated communication at school;however,cyberbullying behav-iors commonly occur outside of school as well1.

Table1

Conceptual de?nitions of cyberbullying used in research.

Study Conceptual de?nition of cyberbullying

Besley(2009)The use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate,repeated,and hostile behavior by an individual or group,that is intended to harm others

Finkelhor et al.(2000)Online harassment:Threats or other offensive behavior(not sexual solicitation)sent online to the youth or posted online about the youth for others to see(p.x)

Juvoven and Gross

(2008)

The use of the Internet or other digital communication devices to insult or threaten someone(p.497)

Li(2008)Bullying via electronic communication tools such as e-mail,cell phone,personal digital assistant(PDA),instant messaging,or the World Wide Web(p.224)

Patchin and Hinduja

(2006)

Willful and repeated harm in?icted through the medium of electronic text(p.152)

Slonje and Smith

(2007)

Aggression that occurs through modern technological devices and speci?cally mobile phones or the Internet(p.147) Smith et al.(2008)An aggressive,intentional act carried out by a group or individual,using electronic forms of contact,repeatedly or over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself(p.376)

Willard(2007)Sending or posting harmful or cruel texts or images using the Internet or other digital communication devices(p.1)

Ybarra and Mitchell

(2004)

Internet harassment:An overt,intentional act of aggression towards another person online

1Although cyberbullying can take place outside of the school setting,a vast

majority of cyberbullying research is conducted on school students.This addendum

to the cyberbullying de?nition re?ects the trends in current research;yet,it can be

amended or excluded based on investigations using non-student participants.

278R.S.Tokunaga/Computers in Human Behavior26(2010)277–287

3.Traditional bullying and cyberbullying

Traditional bullying differs from cyberbullying in many ways, despite the fact that cyberbullying research and theorizing is lar-gely guided by?ndings in the traditional bullying literature.A study of college freshmen conducted by the Massachusetts Aggres-sion Reduction Center(MARC;Englander,2006)demonstrates how the primary differences between traditional bullying and cyberbul-lying are attributable to the qualities of the electronic device through which the bullying occurs.Students who would not other-wise engage in traditional bullying behaviors do so online in re-sponse to the anonymity offered through electronic media. Englander and Muldowney(2007)describe cyberbullying as an opportunistic offense,since it results in harm without physical interaction,requires little planning,and reduces the threat of being caught.In general,however,at least40–50%of those who are vic-timized by cyberbullies know the identity of the perpetrator (Kowalski&Limber,2007;Wolak,Mitchell,&Finkelhor,2007). The?nding suggests that although anonymity may compel certain individuals to use electronic devices to bully,the opportunity for anonymous communication is not seized by all cyberbullies.

Apart from anonymity,other issues that make cyberbullying conceptually distinct from traditional bullying relate to the lack of supervision in electronic media(Patchin&Hinduja,2006). Enforcement or regulation of potentially harmful exchanges has been discussed in relation to cyberstalking(Basu&Jones,2007) and sexual offenses against children(Akdeniz,2000);yet,the lack of a policing agent is also a signi?cant problem in cyberbullying. Instructors or school administrators are seen as agents of enforce-ment in traditional bullying(Holt&Keyes,2004).In cyberbullying, however,there is no clear individual or groups who serve to regu-late deviant behaviors on the Internet.

The?nal noteworthy distinction between traditional bullying and cyberbullying is the accessibility of the target(Patchin& Hinduja,2006;Slonje&Smith,2007).In traditional accounts of bullying,the aggressive behaviors generally occur during school hours and cease once victims return home.Cyberbullying,in con-trast,is far more pervasive in the lives of those who are victimized. Victims can be reached through their cellular phones,e-mail,and instant messengers at any given time of the day.The persistence of the bullying behaviors may result in even stronger negative out-comes than traditional bullying.

Research reveals that individuals who are victims of cyberbully-ing are targets of traditional bullying as well.Descriptions of cyber-bullies‘‘moving beyond the schoolyard”(Patchin&Hinduja,2006) underscore the link between traditional bullying and cyberbully-ing.Ybarra,Diener-West,and Leaf(2007)report that36%of chil-dren in their nationally-representative sample concurrently experience traditional bullying and cyberbullying.A second study ?nds that as many as85%of children and teens who are victimized electronically are also victims at school(Juvoven&Gross,2008). Moreover,the aggressive behaviors can be enacted by the same person or different people(Ybarra et al.,2007).Thus,for some bul-lies,traditional bullying is used in conjunction with cyberbullying to maximize the effect of the harmful behaviors.The statistical relationship between the frequency of traditional bullying and cyberbullying events is consistently documented in the literature (Didden et al.,2009;Juvoven&Gross,2008;Katzer,Fetchenhauer, &Belschak,2009;Slonje&Smith,2007;Smith et al.,2008).

4.Method

4.1.Data source

A search for peer-reviewed research reports on cyberbullying victimization published prior to June,2009,was conducted.Four electronic databases—EbscoHost,Lexis Nexis,JSTOR,and World-Cat—were searched.In EbscoHost,Academic Search Premier,Busi-ness Source Premier,Computer Source,Communication and Mass Media Premier,ERIC,Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and PsychInfo were identi?ed as relevant databases for the search. The search terms included‘‘cyberbully,”‘‘Internet harassment,”‘‘online bully,”‘‘electronic bully,”and‘‘online harassment.”A wild-card character(i.e.,an asterisk)was used after the word bully, which allows the search to automatically include terms such as ‘‘cyberbullying.”Reference sections of reports were also searched for relevant research articles.The literature search collected more than75unique citations.

4.2.Selection criteria

Three criteria were used in selecting reports for the meta-syn-thesis.First,the report had to address the topic of cyberbullying victimization or some derivative of cyberbullying.Second,the rela-tionship between cyberbullying victimization and age,gender, negative outcomes,or coping strategies,and/or incidence rates, must have been quantitatively evaluated.Third,the research re-port must have been published in a peer-reviewed academic jour-nal.A total of25articles,which met the selection criteria,were included in this study.Some studies,which use secondary data re-ported on multiple occasions,were excluded from the synthesis

(e.g.,Mitchell,Wolak,&Finkelhor,2007).

5.Meta-synthesis of cyberbullying and demographic factors

In and beyond the social sciences,the survey method is regu-larly employed in exploratory stages of research after the discovery of a new social phenomenon.Evaluating the prevalence of a given phenomenon and its association with demographic factors such as age and gender are common designs used to survey multifaceted constructs.Meta-synthesis can accumulate what is known about these?rst-order factors and bring clarity to future directions of re-search.The following section evaluates the prevalence of cyberbul-lying victimization and examines the associations between demographic variables and victimization.

5.1.Prevalence

The preponderance of evidence suggests that cyberbullying vic-timization is not limited to an insigni?cant proportion of children and teens.On average,approximately20–40%of youths report being victimized by a cyberbully(Aricak et al.,2008;Dehue et al.,2008;Hinduja&Patchin,2008;Li,2006,2007a,2007b, 2008;Patchin&Hinduja,2006;Smith et al.,2008;Topcu et al., 2008;Ybarra&Mitchell,2008).Some studies restricted the time frame(e.g.,incident took place within the last year)in which the cyberbullying could have occurred(Dehue et al.,2008;Williams &Guerra,2007;Wolak et al.,2007;Ybarra,2004;Ybarra&Mitch-ell,2004,2008),naturally attenuating the prevalence rates of victimization.

Juvoven and Gross(2008)?nd that as much as72%of the12–17year olds in their sample encountered cyberbullying at least once in their life.In their study,however,the term bullying was re-placed with the phrase‘‘mean things,”which was de?ned as‘‘any-thing that someone does that upsets or offends someone else”(p. 499).The broader connotation of the de?nition best explains the in?ated percentage in comparison to other studies.Moreover,since the bullying behaviors in some instances were not repeated,many of the cases do not represent genuine episodes of cyberbullying.In contrast,data from the Youth Internet Safety Survey(YISS),a na-tional telephone survey,suggest that the incidence rate of cyber-

R.S.Tokunaga/Computers in Human Behavior26(2010)277–287279

bullying victimization may be as low as6.5%(Ybarra,2004;Ybarra &Mitchell,2004).The YISS evaluates only one dimension of cyber-bullying—Internet harassment—with a two-item dichotomous-choice measure(see Finkelhor,Mitchell,&Wolak,2000),which clari?es the relatively de?ated percentage.

Basic information about cyberbullying accounts,beyond pro-portions of incidence,is infrequently obtained.The duration of the victimization,for example,is one quality of cyberbullying experiences that should in?uence negative outcomes.Yet,this information is rarely collected from respondents(Aricak et al., 2008).Additionally,obtaining information about the average length of time between each encounter would supply a better understanding of cyberbullying and its effects.

5.2.The role of age in cyberbullying victimization

Cyberbullying is not restricted by age and may emerge from ele-mentary school to college.Flaming,conceptually related to cyber-bullying,is abusive or abrasive language used against children and adults on the Internet(Lea,O’Shea,Fung,&Spears,1992;Wit-mer,1997).Although cyberbullying arises among all age groups in varying degrees,a large majority of the research is targeted at chil-dren and teens.In fact,it is worth noting that all but one article (i.e.,Slonje&Smith,2007)in the meta-synthesis exclusively inves-tigate cyberbullying victimization among minors under the age of 18.

Exploring whether age is a signi?cant predictor in cyberbullying victimization is common in the literature.The study of the rela-tionship between age and victimization lends important insights into the grade level in which cyberbullying most frequently sur-faces.Bringing clarity to the relationship can provide suggestions of where resources aimed at cyberbullying prevention in schools can be targeted to achieve the most effectual responses.Mixed re-sults in the literature,however,muddle the relationship.The majority of studies demonstrate the lack of association between age and cyberbullying victimization(Beran&Li,2007;Didden et al.,2009;Juvoven&Gross,2008;Katzer et al.,2009;Patchin& Hinduja,2006;Smith et al.,2008;Varjas,Henrich,&Meyers, 2009;Wolak et al.,2007;Ybarra,2004).Other studies,however, have substantiated the relationship(Dehue et al.,2008;Hinduja &Patchin,2008;Kowalski&Limber,2007;Slonje&Smith,2007; Ybarra&Mitchell,2008;Ybarra et al.,2007).

The incoherent?ndings result from the diverse range of age groups included within samples.Noteworthy trends are discern-able when the?ndings of studies that use smaller ranges of grade levels are considered.For instance,Kowalski and Limber(2007) and Ybarra et al.(2006)demonstrate positive associations between age and frequency of victimization in their studies examining11–14year olds and10–15year olds,respectively.Slonje and Smith (2007),in contrast,uncovered an inverse relationship between age and victimization in their sample of12–20year olds.Similar negative trends are reported in other studies as well(e.g.,Dehue et al.,2008).Williams and Guerra(2007)offer the most compelling data on the relationship in their study of?fth,eighth,and eleventh graders.They?nd?fth graders experience the least victimization, with a prevalence rate of4.5%.The proportion of students who have been cyberbullied reaches the highest point in eighth graders (12.9%)and drops among high school students(9.9%).

Collectively,the data suggest that the mixed?ndings may be attributed to a curvilinear relationship between age and frequency of victimization.Mapping the trends of the signi?cant associations in the literature and taking into consideration nonsigni?cant?nd-ings provide a possible anchor in which prevalence is highest among the age groups.It appears that the greatest frequency of victimization occurs in seventh and eighth grades.If the curvilin-earity argument is accurate,then studies in which no age associa-tions are found should have samples with larger ranges of age (around seventh and eighth grades)than studies that demonstrate age effects.Indeed,most of the studies that had nonsigni?cant re-sults use samples with diverse age groups(e.g.,Didden et al.,2009; Juvoven&Gross,2008;Katzer et al.,2009;Patchin&Hinduja, 2006;Smith et al.,2008;Wolak et al.,2007;Ybarra,2004).

The null results on age and cyberbullying located in previous re-search are troubling for both scholars and practitioners.The results promote the belief that victimization occurs uniformly across age groups,which in reality may not necessarily be the case.The belief leads to uncertainty with regard to where resources used in cyber-bullying prevention would be best implemented.The curvilinearity hypothesis is consonant with trends from traditional bullying liter-ature;however,the peak of traditional bullying generally occurs at

a younger age(see Slee,1995).

5.3.The role of gender in cyberbullying victimization

As with age group differences in cyberbullying victimization,the study of gender discrepancies can also serve to identify vulnerable populations.Research on gender differences in cyberbullying vic-timization is fraught with inconsistent?ndings.The majority of studies reveal that no particular gender is targeted in victimization more than the other(Beran&Li,2007;Didden et al.,2009;Hinduja &Patchin,2008;Juvoven&Gross,2008;Katzer et al.,2009; Li,2006,2007a;Patchin&Hinduja,2006;Topcu et al.,2008;Varjas et al.,2009;Williams&Guerra,2007;Wolak et al.,2007;Ybarra, 2004;Ybarra et al.,2007).A minority of studies provide support for viewing gender as a signi?cant predictor of victimization(Dehue et al.,2008;Kowalski&Limber,2007;Ybarra&Mitchell,2008; Ybarra et al.,2007).These latter studies?nd that females are dispro-portionately represented among victims.

The fact that females are cyberbullied more often than males is at odds with much of what is known about gender differences in traditional bullying literature.When gender differences are uncov-ered in traditional bullying,boys are more involved as both bullies and victims than girls(Boulton&Underwood,1992;Lagerspetz, Bjorkqvist,Berts,&King,1982;O’Moore&Hillery,1989).Females may be at greater risks of being cyberbullied by virtue of the inac-cessibility to physical bullying in electronic contexts.In traditional contexts,males tend to bully others and be bullied through phys-ical threats and aggression(Bosworth,Espelage,&Simon,1999). Females,in contrast,are more likely to be implicated in bullying experiences involving psychological torment(Stephenson&Smith, 1989).It still remains,however,that no predominate gender differ-ences in the research on victimization could be uncovered.

No de?nitive conclusions are able to be drawn from the meta-synthesis of research related to the relationship between demographic variables and cyberbullying victimization.The data indicate that males and females are equally represented among victims;neither subgroup is more vulnerable to cyberbullying than the other.The?ndings also appear to demonstrate that age is cur-vilinearly related to the frequency of victimization,with its peak at around seventh and eighth grade.Taken together,the accumulated ?ndings suggest the largest frequency of cyberbullying occurs in junior high school(i.e.,according to the US education system) among both males and females.In response,training should be provided to junior high school teachers,counselors,and school administrators for the detection and remediation of this social problem.Parents of seventh or eighth graders should be made aware of their child’s potential victimization and ways they can open and maintain communication to prevent or remedy such inci-dences.Prevention programs intended to dissuade would-be cyberbullies from engaging in the harmful behaviors is best imple-mented prior to seventh grade,long before the frequency of cyber-bullying cases reaches its peak.

280R.S.Tokunaga/Computers in Human Behavior26(2010)277–287

Although an investigation of factors that promote cyberbullying victimization is important to the identi?cation of vulnerable popu-lations,it provides limited information on the episodic process of victimization taken as a whole.A complete understanding of cyberbullying victimization must include a discussion about its potential deleterious effects on victims.The following section considers problems that are associated with experiences of cyberbullying.

5.4.Disturbances associated with cyberbullying victimization

The disturbances in one’s life with which cyberbullying victim-ization is associated can range from trivial levels of distress and frustration to serious psychosocial and life problems.Several neg-ative conditions proposed as outcomes of cyberbullying depend on the frequency,length,and severity of the malicious acts.2Cyberbul-lying that occurs infrequently has much less potential to cause long-term problems than ongoing harassment.In addition,severe forms of cyberbullying are related to higher likelihoods of mental health and social problems than less threatening behaviors.The negative conditions that covary with victimization have been operationalized in two ways.Some studies examine the link between victimization and a noticeable drop in academic performance and the quality of family relationships(e.g.,Beran&Li,2007),while other studies investigate the development of psychosocial problems and affective disorders(e.g.,Didden et al.,2009;Juvoven&Gross,2008).

Victims of cyberbullying consistently report academic problems in relation to the preoccupation with the cyberbullying experience. Students report a sudden drop in their grades(Beran&Li,2007), increased absences and truancy(Katzer et al.,2009),and emergent perceptions that school is no longer safe(Varjas et al.,2009).Other serious academic problems such as cutting class,accumulating detentions and suspensions,and carrying weapons onto campus are also reported(Ybarra et al.,2007).Decrements in academic performance can be credited to victims’poorer concentration and higher levels of frustration with the bully and situation(Beran& Li,2007;Patchin&Hinduja,2006).In addition,one-fourth of vic-tims feel their home life has noticeably suffered from being cyber-bullied(Patchin&Hinduja,2006).

One study that found no support for the relationship between academic performance and victimization deserves mention.Li’s (2007b)data reveal that encounters with cyberbullying are not re-lated to the grades victims receive in schools.The discrepant?nd-ing to other studies may be due,in part,to the methodology Li employs.Students in the study were asked to rate what their ‘‘school grades are usually”(p.1789)on a three-point scale with the choices‘‘above average,”‘‘average,”and‘‘below average.”First, the term‘‘usually”used in Li’s study obfuscates much of the?nd-ings.There is no indication of whether usually refers to recently, over the course of one’s entire academic career,or within the last school year.Clearly,the interpretation of the word has implica-tions on how victims answer the question.Second,the absence of an objective measure for academic performance(e.g.,grade point average)invalidates the conclusions that are able to be made. For instance,a grade of‘‘B”may be considered below average to an overachiever,but above average for those who regularly receive grades of‘‘C”and below,which draws attention to the subjectivity of the multiple choices.Finally,the de?nition of cyberbullying used in the study is operationalized as‘‘hurtful events”and includes the possibility of single episodes(i.e.,not repeated).Indeed,an event can be considered hurtful and not intentionally harmful,a requisite for cyberbullying acts.The de?nitions and methodology used in this study complicate the interpretability of the results and cross-study comparisons.

Psychosocial problems and negative moods are also demon-strated in those who are cyberbullied.Depression,for instance,is associated with the degree to which individuals experience cyber-bullying victimization(Didden et al.,2009;Ybarra,2004).Addi-tionally,psychosocial problems such as social anxiety(Juvoven& Gross,2008)and depreciated levels of self-esteem(Didden et al., 2009;Katzer et al.,2009)have been documented in victims of cyberbullying.The victimization may be related to affective disor-ders as well.Emotional distress,anger,and sadness toward the cyberbully and the offense(Patchin&Hinduja,2006;Topcu et al.,2008;Ybarra,2004)are correlates of victimization.Victims also develop a host of social problems including detachment, externalized hostility,and delinquency.

The negative outcomes of cyberbullying share many similarities with traditional bullying that occurs in schools.Lower achieve-ment scores,for instance,are more frequently reported in children who are bullied than those who are not(Glew,Fan,Katon,Rivara,& Kernic,2005;Holt,Finkelhor,&Kantor,2007).Moreover,adjust-ment problems emerge from encounters with traditional bullying among younger children(Arseneault et al.,2006).Victims are com-pelled to internalize problems,display their unhappiness,and less likely to participate in pro-social activities and behaviors.

5.5.Strategies for dealing with cyberbullying

Several methods for coping with cyberbullying experiences are identi?ed in the literature.The results indicate that technological coping strategies are commonly used by those who are cyberbullied to circumvent future victimization.Examples of technological cop-ing strategies include instituting strict privacy settings on Inter-net-based technologies such as instant messengers and e-mails (Aricak et al.,2008;Juvoven&Gross,2008;Smith et al.,2008),and changing usernames and or e-mail addresses(Juvoven&Gross, 2008;Smith et al.,2008).Indeed,employing stricter privacy settings or changing online identities is appealing to those who are cyberbul-lied,but the overall effectiveness of these strategies in thwarting fu-ture harmful behaviors remains unknown.Technological coping strategies,however,have been used with considerable ef?cacy against other Internet offenses such as online obsessive relational intrusions(i.e.,a mild form of cyberstalking)(Tokunaga,2007).

Passive strategies are infrequently employed in handling expe-riences with cyberbullying.Only about25%of victims surveyed said they did nothing in response to being victimized(Patchin& Hinduja,2006).The percentage Patchin and Hinduja report may be in?ated,since it includes single episode cases,even though such inclusions contradict the conceptual de?nition they offer(i.e.,‘‘re-peated harm,”p.152).Ignoring encounters of cyberbullying can be a viable option if the events are limited to solitary instances.As the frequency and threat of harm increase,noticeable differences in the use of coping strategies are likely to emerge.Other studies indi-cate that victims seek active strategies to thwart future cyberbul-lying encounters.Roughly15–35%of youths confront cyberbullies by telling them to stop(Aricak et al.,2008;Juvoven &Gross,2008;Patchin&Hinduja,2006).Informing cyberbullies to end the aggressive and harmful behaviors is often communi-cated in collaboration with threats of telling an adult if the behav-iors continue.

2It should be noted that the associations described in this section do not re?ect

true causal relationships.All of the?ndings in this section come from cross-sectional

data,which do not provide necessary evidence for causality.Although it is speculated

that such academic and psychosocial problems are negative outcomes of cyberbul-

lying victimization,it is arguable that the inverse claim might also be true:

psychosocial problems could be an antecedent of cyberbullying.Although some

researchers make the correlation-causality distinction clear,most describe the

academic and psychosocial problems along the lines of negative effects.To be

consistent with the literature,the term‘‘negative outcomes”is used in this report,

albeit with caution.Further studies that test the relationships over time(i.e.,

longitudinally)are necessary to infer causality with greater con?dence.

R.S.Tokunaga/Computers in Human Behavior26(2010)277–287281

Although threats of telling an adult are communicated to the perpetrator,in actuality,children only occasionally inform their parents or other adults about the victimization.Most studies re-port that victims of cyberbullying told their parents1–9%of the time(Aricak et al.,2008;Dehue et al.,2008;Slonje&Smith, 2007).Victims rarely report instances of cyberbullying to adults for several reasons.Many youths believe that learning how to effectively manage problems emerging from the use of communi-cation technologies is a necessary skill to possess(Juvoven&Gross, 2008).Reaching out for parental help is perceived as a behavior used only by kids.Moreover,victims believe their own freedoms may be limited by alerting parents to the victimization.Children and teens are reluctant to tell their parents for fears that their own Internet privileges would be lost.Personal management of the victimization is seen as a small cost in exchange for the bene-?ts of going online(Agatston,Kowalski,&Limber,2007).In place of informing parents,cyberbullying victims consult friends for sup-port and advice(Aricak et al.,2008;Dehue et al.,2008;Slonje& Smith,2007;Topcu et al.,2008).The social support offered by friends may help to relieve some of the stress(Cohen&Wills,1985;Segrin,2003)that develops as a byproduct of cyberbullying. Table2offers a summary of all cases included in the meta-synthesis.

6.General discussion

Cyberbullying and victimization is a phenomenon that has only recently gained attention.As evidence,the literature search of cyberbullying reports,conducted for the present meta-synthesis, yielded no articles published before2004.The notoriety cyberbul-lying has received is due,in part,to media’s coverage of teen suicides,which were ostensibly precipitated by experiences with cyberbullying.The ill effects and frequency of cyberbullying have led to its characterization as a serious societal-level health concern.

Much of the research on cyberbullying victimization is replete with mixed?ndings,which not only impedes the progression of re-search for scholars but also provides little clarity to practitioners whose principal aim is to prevent cyberbullying.The objectives of the current report were to provide a conceptual de?nition for

Table2

Annotated?ndings from literature on cyberbully victimization.

Study N Sample type%Male%Victim Age Gender Negative outcomes Coping strategies

Aricak et al.(2008)269Sixth to tenth graders(school sample)49.836.1–––Blocked messages(30.6%)

Tell bully to stop(16.4%) Beran and Li(2007)432Seventh to ninth graders(school sample)44.757.4ns ns Missed school*–

Marks dropped*

Poor concentration* Dehue et al.(2008)1211Primary and secondary school(school sample)50.522.0c sig sig––

Didden et al.(2009)11412–19year olds(school sample)72.05–12ns ns Lower self-esteem*–

Depression* Hinduja and Patchin(2008)1378Under18years(online sample)49.3 35.0sig ns––

Juvoven and Gross(2008)144412–17year olds(online sample)–72.0ns ns Social anxiety*Restricted messages/SNs(33%)

Switched names(26%)

Tell bully to stop(25%) Katzer et al.(2009)1700Fifth to eleventh graders(school sample)44.7–ns ns Lower self-concept*

School truancy* Kowalski and Limber(2007)3767Sixth to eighth graders(school sample)49.211.0sig sig––

Li(2006)264Seventh-ninth graders(school sample)48.5 25.0–ns––

Li(2007a)461Seventh graders and HS students(school sample)51.428.9–ns––

Li(2007b)177Seventh graders(school sample)49.224.9––Academic grades,ns Told an adult(34.1%) Li(2008)359Seventh graders(school sample)49.625.0a––––

33.0b

Patchin and Hinduja(2006)5779–17year olds(online sample)19.929.4ns ns Frustration(42.5%)Tell bully to stop(36.3%)

Anger(39.8%)Get away(31.9%)

Sadness(27.4%)Did nothing(26%) Sharples,Graber,Harrison,

and Logan(2009)

2611Eighth to tenth graders(school sample)NA15.5––––Slonje and Smith(2007)36012–20year olds(school sample)56.417.6a sig ns–Told a friend(35.7%)

3.3b

Smith et al.(2008)92a11–16year olds(school sample)46.7a22.2a ns a sig a–Restricted messages/SNs

(75%)

528b49.4b58.1b ns b ns b Told someone(63.3%)

Changed address/phone(56.7) Topcu et al.(2008)18314–15year olds(school sample)55.720.9–ns Anger(50.7%)Told a friend(46.4%)

Sadness(27.5%)

Ignore(24.6%) Varjas et al.(2009)437Sixth to eighth graders(school sample)50.1–ns ns Less perceived

school safety*

–Williams and Guerra(2007)3339Fifth to eleventh graders(school sample)–9.4c sig ns––

Wolak et al.(2007)150010–17year olds(online sample)–9.0c ns ns––

Ybarra(2004)d150110–17year olds(telephone)– 6.5c ns ns Depression*–

Emotional distress* Ybarra and Mitchell(2004)d150110–17year olds(telephone)55.0 6.5c––––

Ybarra and Mitchell(2008)158810–15year olds(online sample)52.234.0c sig sig––

Ybarra et al.(2006)d150010–17year olds(telephone)49.311.1sig ns––

Ybarra et al.(2007)151510–15year olds(online sample)––sig sig––

*Reported association in study is signi?cant.

a From sample1.

b From sample2.

c Time frame provided(e.g.,within the last year,through speci?c media,etc.).

d Sam

e sample used in studies.

282R.S.Tokunaga/Computers in Human Behavior26(2010)277–287

cyberbullying,consider the prevalence rates of cyberbullying vic-timization across multiple studies,discuss and attempt to recon-cile mixed?ndings,and provide clarity to the directions for future research.

Cyberbullying is a widespread problem that can be experienced at any age.Children and teens are especially vulnerable to these of-fenses,given that approximately20–40%of them will encounter or have encountered some form of cyberbullying during their youth. The age at which teens are the most susceptible to victimization is12–14(i.e.,when they are in junior high school).Gender does not play a predominate role in cyberbullying victimization;both males and females appear to report similar frequencies of being cyberbullied.Despite cyberbullying precluding physical harm, males are not underrepresented as victims.Victimization is related to a number of personal dif?culties including psychosocial prob-lems,declining academic performance,and troubles at home.In re-sponse to the cyberbullying,children and teens often consult friends or unilaterally confront cyberbullies.In rare instances,vic-tims tell their parents or simply try to ignore the problem.The comparison between traditional bullying and cyberbullying yield more similarities than differences.In fact,the most discernable dif-ference in the meta-synthesis relates to gender differences:males are overrepresented as bullies and victims in traditional bullying, but there appear to be no differences between gender representa-tions in cyberbullying.

7.Critical concerns and directions for the future research

Several critical concerns are offered in response to the inconsis-tent?ndings in cyberbullying research.Bringing attention to these conceptual and methodological shortcomings at this juncture may provide much needed clarity to the?eld.Four concerns are leveled, which serve not as critiques of previous research but areas that re-quire more attention from scholars in order to produce a cohesive body of research and bring meaningful progress to the?eld.The de?ning concerns of cyberbullying literature relate to de?nitional inconsistencies,atheoretical inquiry,an over reliance on cross-sectional data,and the simplistic relationships investigated.In the following sections,each of these concerns is expanded,and ways of moderating them in future research are considered.

7.1.Conceptual and operational de?nition issues

The most pervasive methodological drawback in cyberbullying research relates to the conceptualization of cyberbullying.Cyber-bullying has been de?ned in several ways,with a fair amount of overlap across the de?nitions.The nuances among the de?nitions, however,have led to research that uses the same term but refers to different meanings based on implicit biases.The fundamental characteristics of cyberbullying and how it differs from traditional bullying still remain unclear even after?ve years of steadfast in-quiry.A prerequisite of repetition and intentionality,for instance, are not trivial characteristics that,if excluded,have modest impact on how the concept is interpreted.Instead,these traits are crucial elements in the categorization and labeling of an event.An over-view of the multiple ways cyberbullying is de?ned and operation-alized across studies is provided in Table3for comparison.

Despite perceptible differences among the conceptual de?ni-tions of cyberbullying,discussions related to their bene?ts or shortcomings rarely transpire.Instead,scholars appear to rely on intuition and biases to guide the selection of de?nitions,based on what appears most reasonable to them.The selection of incon-sistent or even poor de?nitions seldom results in dire conse-quences,since the way in which the study is framed in response to the poor selection can be amended at a later time.In cyberbul-lying research,however,methodological strength hinges on the de?nition of cyberbullying used.This is due,in part,to the novelty of cyberbullying behaviors and the equivocality of the term among lay people.The absence of a de?nition would invariably lead respondents astray and invalidate subsequent?ndings,since most people lack an even rudimentary understanding of cyberbullying. Some individuals,for example,may think that only the most men-acing behaviors resulting in suicide are considered genuine cyber-bullying cases,and fail to answer the question accurately.Others may believe arguments that take place over telephones represent cyberbullying incidences,and again inaccurately respond.As a re-sult,researchers have realized the necessity for including cyberbul-lying de?nitions in their surveys.The de?nitions provided to respondents,in turn,profoundly in?uence the way in which they answer.Inadequate de?nitions used in studies have the potential to limit conclusions and eliminate the possibility of drawing mean-ingful cross-study comparisons.

The inconsistent use of operational measures between studies is equally as troubling as the absence of a universal cyberbullying de?nition.Again,researchers tend to develop their own instru-ment without providing a rationale for its necessity or superiority over others already proposed.There are occasions in which the same measure is used multiple times,but only in circumstances where the same researcher publishes more than one study. Cyberbullying occurrence is most frequently operationalized in the form of one-or two-item measures based on dichotomous choice,yes/no responses,following a supplied de?nition of tradi-tional bullying,cyberbullying,or both.

A number of concerns emerge from the conventional and ever-present methodology employed in cyberbullying research.First, the multidimensionality of the cyberbullying construct renders a simple yes/no response almost impossible to accomplish,much less interpret.The reliance placed on a child’s ability to breakdown a multipart de?nition and respond accurately to whether they have experienced such behaviors in the past is concerning.Given such multifaceted de?nitions,it seems unreasonable to request respon-dents to sum the individual characteristics of cyberbullying and re-spond to questions such as‘‘have you been bullied online.”Additionally,there is confusion regarding when individuals should respond af?rmatively to these questions:when they meet at least one of the criteria,all of the criteria,or more than half of the crite-ria.Second,the one-or two-item measures utilized make issues of reliability pronounced.In the context of operationalization,the aim of future research on cyberbullying should focus on the devel-opment of a reliable and valid measure of the cyberbullying con-struct based on summated scales.Valid and reliable measures improve the overall quality of research by allowing scholars from divergent perspectives the opportunity to measure constructs equitably.

The quality of an operational measure rests heavily on the clar-ity and richness of the conceptual de?nition from which it derives. In the case of cyberbullying research,measures are unable to?our-ish in the absence of a universally-accepted de?nition.Thus,the pivotal initial step for scholars is committing to a single de?nition that is amenable to them.Whether it is the de?nition offered with-in this review or developed elsewhere,this?rst step should no longer be ignored.Without greater attention to the core de?nition of cyberbullying,literature cannot progress,make signi?cant con-tributions,or effect change.Ultimately,a?eld of research is only as valid as the conceptual and operational de?nitions on which it is built.

7.2.Theoretical issues

Research on cyberbullying has been conducted largely in the absence of theory.Theory neither guides the hypotheses that are derived nor are there faithful attempts made at theory building

R.S.Tokunaga/Computers in Human Behavior26(2010)277–287283

in the cyberbullying literature.Theory building can cultivate cohe-siveness to a body of research by establishing an order to the vari-ables already tested(Dublin,1978).Moreover,the use of established theories in predicting behaviors has utility when broader processes are unclear.In cyberbullying research,there is an inherent need for both types of theoretical inquiry.

On a conceptual level,it is clear that cyberbullying is an epi-sodic process,which has the potential to be modeled as such.For example,borrowing a conventional antecedent-outcome frame-work of model building,some set of theoretically-derived anteced-ents(e.g.,poor social skills,social isolation,etc.)make an individual susceptible to cyberbullying encounters,which in turn, lead to negative outcomes(e.g.,depression,academic problems). The interrelationships between the constructs may be recursively or non-recursively modeled.In recursive models,cyberbullying is viewed as a one-way process.The more feasible way to model cyberbullying experiences,however,is through non-recursive models,which incorporate feedback loops to denote a cyclical pro-cess.Non-recursive models identify the ongoing nature of cyber-bullying by re?ecting the in?uence negative outcomes exert on constructs that make people more vulnerable to cyberbullying victimization.

Table3

Operational de?nitions of cyberbullying used in research.

Study De?nition of cyberbullying provided to participants Operationalization

Aricak et al.(2008)NR SDFS Beran and Li(2007)Harassment occurs when a student,or several students,says mean and hurtful things or makes fun of another student or

calls him or her mean and hurtful names,completely ignores or excludes him or her from their group of friends or leaves

him or her out of things on purpose,tells lies or spreads false rumors about him or her,sends mean notes and tries to make

other students dislike him or her,and other hurtful things like that.When we talk about harassment,these things happen

repeatedly,and it is dif?cult for the student being harassed to defend himself or herself.We also call it harassment,when a

student is teased repeatedly in a mean and hurtful way.But we do not call it harassment when the teasing is done in a

friendly and playful way.Also,it is not harassment when two students of about equal strength or power argue or?ght

(Olweus,1996)

SDFS

Dehue et al.(2008)NR Adapted BPS Didden et al.(2009)NR SDFS Hinduja and Patchin

(2008)

Willful and repeated harm in?icted through the medium of electronic text SDFS Juvoven and Gross

(2008)

Anything that someone does that upsets or offends someone else SDFS

Li(2005)See Li(2007b)Li(2007b) Li(2007a)See Li(2007b)Li(2007b) Li(2007b)Harassing using technology such as e-mail,computer,cell phone,video cameras,etc.Bullying occurs when people say

mean and hurtful things or make fun of another person or calls him/her mean and hurtful names,completely ignore or

exclude him/her from their group of friends or leaves him/her out of things on purpose,tells lies or spreads false rumors

about him/her,sends mean notes and tries to make other students dislike him/her,and other hurtful things like that

SDFS

Li(2008)See Li(2007b)Li(2007b) Katzer et al.(2009)NR Adapted OBVQ

Kowalski and

Limber(2007)Bullying:We say that a student is being bullied when another student,or several other students do any of the following:say

mean and hurtful things or make fun of him or her or call him or her mean and hurtful names;completely ignore or exclude

him or her from their group of friends or leave him or her out of things on purpose;hit,kick,push,shove around,or lock

him or her inside a room;tell lies or spread false rumors about him or her or send mean notes and try to make other

students dislike him or her;and other hurtful things like that

Adapted OBVQ

Patchin and Hinduja

(2006)

NR SDFS Sharples et al.

(2009)

NR SDFS

Slonje and Smith (2007)Used Olweus’s(1996)of bullying(see Beran&Li,2007).Cyberbullying is bullying through text message,e-mail,mobile phone calls,or picture/video clip

CQ

Smith et al.(2008)Bullying:A student is being bullied when another student,or several other students:(a)say mean and hurtful things or

make fun of him or her and call him or her mean and hurtful names,(b)completely ignore or exclude him/her from their

group of friends or leave him/her out of things on purpose,(c)hit,kick,push,shove around,or lock him or her inside a

room,(d)tell lies or spread false rumors about him/her or send mean notes and try to make other students dislike him/her,

and(e)other hurtful things like that.These things happen repeatedly,and it is dif?cult for the student being bullied to

defend himself/herself.We also call it bullying,when a student is teased repeatedly in a mean and hurtful way

CQ

Cyberbullying:Includes bullying:(a)through text messaging,(b)through pictures/photos or video clips,(c)through phone

calls,(d)through e-mail,(e)in chat rooms,(f)through instant messaging,and(g)through websites.Bullying can happen

through text messages/pictures/clips/e-mail/messages/etc.sent to you,but also when text messages/pictures/clips/e-mail/

messages/etc.are sent to others about you

Topcu et al.(2008)NR CBI

Varjas et al.(2009)NR SSBB-R2 Williams and

Guerra(2007)

NR Adapted BPS Wolak et al.(2007)NR SDFS

Ybarra(2004)NR YISS

Ybarra and Mitchell

(2004)

NR YISS Ybarra et al.(2006)NR GWMS

Ybarra et al.(2006)NR YISS-2

Ybarra et al.(2007)Harassment victimization is feeling worried or threatened because someone was bothering or harassing the youth online,

or someone used the Internet to threaten or embarrass the youth by posting or sending messages about the youth for other

people to see

YISS-2

Note:NR=not reported;SDFS=scale developed for study;BPS=bullying perpetration scale(Espelage,Holt,&Henkel,2003);CQ=cyberbullying questionnaire(Smith, Mahdavi,Carvalho,&Tippett,2006);CBI=cyberbullying inventory(Erdur-Baker&Kavsut,2007);OBVQ=olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire(Olweus,1989); GWMS=growing up with media survey(Harris Interactive,2006);SSBB-R2=Survey of Bullying Behavior—Revised2(Varjas,Meyers,&Hunt,2006);YISS=Youth Internet Safety Survey(Finkelhor et al.,2000);YISS-2=Second Youth Internet Safety Survey(Ybarra et al.,2006).

284R.S.Tokunaga/Computers in Human Behavior26(2010)277–287

There are several ways to model cyberbullying and cyberbully-ing victimization.Researchers may choose to stratify cyberbullies from cyberbullying victims and model each respective of the other or include them in a larger integrative model to investigate the in?uence of interdependence on their personal behaviors.The lat-ter model,consistent with actor-partner interdependence model-ing,requires that victims know and have access to their perpetrators.Although dyadic data collection in cyberbullying re-search is an arduous,and sometimes impossible,task,the analysis would be particularly insightful in this domain.

The indifference of cyberbullying researchers to already estab-lished theories in new technology,mass media,and traditional bul-lying research is perplexing.These theories not only help to predict behaviors of bullies and victims but may be able to explain why the effects of cyberbullying would be ampli?ed in comparison to those of traditional bullying.There are,however,some notable attempts to apply established theoretical frameworks to cyberbullying.Li (2005)alludes to the possible application of theory of planned behavior(TPB;Ajzen,1985,1991)to cyberbullying.Yet,no further explanation is provided for the theory or the corresponding con-structs of cyberbullying related to the theory by Li.One remarkable omission to the discussion of TPB’s appropriateness in cyberbully-ing research is the question of volitional control.An argument must initially be made that cyberbullying is beyond one’s volition for a person to judge the self-and response-ef?cacy of bullying behaviors.

A socio-cultural discourse approach,used by Mayer(2008),may lend valuable insight into the learning processes that underlie cyberbullying.This approach views learning as a social process that is communicated through mediated interactions(Vygotsky,1978). The socio-cultural discourse framework explains cyberbullying behaviors as a product of the minimal social cues,or anonymity, available on the online media through which the bullying occurs. Internet-supported technologies such as chat rooms,e-mails,and instant messengers offer fewer social cues than traditional inter-personal interactions,which renders divergent learning practices and behaviors(Culnan&Markus,1987).

A few theories are proposed as possible areas from which theo-retically-derived predictions can be made.Social cognitive theory (Bandura,1986,1989)may hold utility in explaining the phenom-enon of victims or observers of cyberbullying who eventually be-come cyberbullies themselves,through the process of social learning from direct experiences or vicarious observations.Loosely de?ned tenets from uses and grati?cations theory(Blumler&Katz, 1974)may provide insight into why certain individuals choose the Internet and other electronic devices to bully others,and why they return to the same media(i.e.,to receive similar or higher levels of needs ful?llment).The buffering hypothesis(Cohen&Wills,1985) offers a basic understanding for the choices victims make to con-sult friends after their encounters with cyberbullying.Aside from the fear induced by the possible Internet-related restrictions par-ents may enforce in response to notice of the encounters,friends may provide valuable social support to marshal the stress cyber-bullying can have on victims.Finally,dual-perspective theory of bullying(Veenstra et al.,2007)can be adapted to include the role of technology in the dyadic nature of the cyberbully–victim rela-tionship.Indeed,all of the theoretical perspectives offer some level of promise in explaining or predicting cyberbullying experiences.

The rationales underlying each proffered theoretical application are far less important than the main point of this entire section. Some application of theory and theory building must be employed in cyberbullying research for there to be any chance of scholarly advances.Theories may provide valuable information not only to scholars but practitioners as well.In the case of cyberbullying, information from models can identify individuals who are particu-larly vulnerable to cyberbullying victimization.The identi?cation and protection of susceptible others may serve to thwart possible cyberbullying encounters or assuage ongoing bullying.If the nega-tive outcomes of victimization are clearly explicated,then it is pos-sible to predict and treat the ensuing conditions.The collective bene?ts that theories and models offer to both scholarship and practice stress their importance to the?eld of cyberbullying.

7.3.Cross-sectional data

A generally expected reliance on self-report,cross-sectional data is observable in cyberbullying research,with the exception of the YISS.However,even data from the two-waves of the YISS have yet to be interpreted in statistically meaningful ways to broaden the?eld’s understanding of temporal causality in cyber-bullying experiences.Causal relationships in cyberbullying re-search are unable to be substantiated through experimental designs.Instead,longitudinal panel data may be the only hope for making tenuous claims of causality over time.

There are clear bene?ts for obtaining longitudinal data.For example,there is a distinct possibility that psychosocial problems may serve as both an antecedent condition,making individuals more exposed to cyberbullies,and negative outcome,identifying its reciprocal role in the https://www.docsj.com/doc/0914955425.html,ing longitudinal data,research-ers are able to test whether depressive symptoms or other psycho-social disorders related to cyberbullying are causes and/or effects of such encounters.Longitudinal analyses make it possible to use phrases such as‘‘consequences of victimization”with stronger con?dence than inference.Several scholars have speculated about possible long-term effects of cyberbullying and its potential to ex-ceed the powerful effects of traditional bullying(Kowalski,Limber, &Agatston,2008;Willard,2007;Ybarra&Mitchell,2004).There are,without doubt,several fronts from which the necessity for lon-gitudinal data exists.

7.4.Simplistic relationships

Scholarship on cyberbullying is still in the early stages of re-search,so it is not dif?cult to understand why more complex rela-tionships have not yet been studied.Clearly,there is enough information about the basic demography of the actors involved in cyberbullying to move beyond simple descriptive research.Even if there is an insuf?cient amount of demographic information, there is enough reason to test complex relationships in concert with the collection of basic demographic information.The problem of frequency or simple correlation studies is that they view cyber-bullying experiences in a vacuum.In place of considering speci?c relationships between cyberbullying and other variables as moder-ated by third and fourth variables,research has viewed the effects across members of subgroups(e.g.,victims vs.non-victims,bullies vs.non-bullies)statically.

Future research on in cyberbullying should pay greater atten-tion to the qualities of the technology through which the cyberbul-lying takes place,as potential moderators of cyberbullying relationships.For instance,the potential for anonymity is a key component in cyberbullying not readily available in traditional bullying.Yet,not all victims are cyberbullied by anonymous others. This affordance of technology can be used to examine whether the relationship between the frequency of cyberbullying and anteced-ents,negative outcomes,and coping strategies are moderated by anonymity.Other technological factors that may moderate such relationships are the perceived geographical distance between cyberbully and victim(i.e.,cyberbullying does not require individ-uals to be in the same proximity unlike traditional bullying),the type of technology used to cyberbully,familiarity with the technol-ogy,and perceptions of help available through electronic devices.

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This,again,is not intended to be an exhaustive list of moderators; instead,it offers a way in which the primary differences between cyberbullying and traditional bullying can be explored and empha-sized.Without a more comprehensive empirical foundation on how traditional bullying and cyberbullying differ,a rationale for the need of cyberbullying research is not made apparent.

8.Conclusion

The opportunity to conduct research on cyberbullying is timely due to its wide prevalence and the social concern that surrounds it. Further research on cyberbullying victimization is warranted con-sidering the potential risk to the over97%of youth in the United States connected to the Internet in some way(UCLA Center for Com-munication Policy,2003).The production of a cohesive body of re-search,in which con?dent conclusions are able to be drawn, begins with consistent conceptualization and operationalization. Without this convergence,researchers will be blind to the advances made by others within the?eld,and only tenuous comparisons be-tween ostensibly similar areas of research will continue to be made. At the current moment in cyberbullying research,meta-syntheses are dif?cult to conduct and read more as a series of extended ab-stracts than a cohesive review of literature.This is due,in large part, to the disparate conceptual and operational de?nitions that are used.

The link between conceptualization and theory is the second step with which researchers should concern themselves.Attempts to provide a theoretical framework or tradition for explaining, understanding,and predicting cyberbullying behaviors and victim-ization are pivotal.These two main points alone have the ability to effectually unite the disparities in the literature on cyberbullying and provide necessary awareness to and comprehension of the Internet phenomenon.

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