Students' Involvement in Cyberbullying

The New Educational Review

Cyberbullying is a behaviour of ever increasing occurrence. Methods of cyberbullying vary, from less serious to very serious forms. The aim of the research was to find out what forms pupils in the Slovak Republic use to perpetrate cyberaggression and through what forms they are victimized. The research was conducted on a sample of 696 pupils of elementary and secondary schools, using the research tool Cyberbullying and Online Aggression Survey Instrument (2010). It was proved that the simplest form of cyberbullying is gross insults posted on the Internet and the most difficult form is creation of websites and videos to cause emotional injury.

Cyberbullying is often defi ned as aggression conducted through mobile phones and the Internet. This phenomenon is predominantly understood as a kind of peer aggression, when both the perpetrator(s) and the victim belong to the same group (class or online community). However, the Internet extends and facilitates harassment not only of peers. The paper focuses on different kinds of electronic aggression identifi ed through qualitative research (interview, e-mail interviews and focus groups with students and teachers). The results have shown that except cyberbullying one can indicate fi ve further types of electronic aggression. They are: aggression against celebrities (e.g. actors, singers, etc.), aggression against the vulnerable (e.g. alcoholics, etc.), aggression against school staff, aggression against groups/ideas (when the victim is not a particular, identifi able person) and free-fl oating (random) aggression (often when the victim is totally anonymous to the perpetrator). This typology has been positively verifi ed in a survey on a representative sample of Polish adolescents (N = 2143). The paper presents the typology with the examples from the qualitative stage of research, also discussing potential socialization risks for each kind of electronic aggression. It shows also (on the basis of quantitative research) the prevalence of perpetration and victimization of different kinds of electronic aggression as well as their co-occurrence. It demonstrates the factors that infl uence such involvement. It must be stated that although peer aggression cyberbullying seems to be predominant, other kinds of electronic aggression have also been frequently conducted by the respondents. For example,a significant percentage of perpetrators attacked through new media the following groups of victims: random Internet users (30.3%), groups of people (19.7%), celebrities (13.9%), and vulnerable victims (13.3%). The conclusions underline the need to extend prevention educational tools to different kinds of electronic aggression, not restricting them to cyberbullying understood as an extension of traditionalbullying.

This study provides an overview of the extent, scope and forms of cyberbullying in the EU taking into account the age and gender of victims and perpetrators as well as the medium used. Commissioned by the Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee, the study illustrates the legal and policy measures on cyberbullying adopted at EU and international levels and delineates the EU role in this area. An analysis of legislation and policies aimed at preventing and fighting this phenomenon across the 28 EU Member States is also presented. The study outlines the variety of definitions of cyberbullying across EU Member States and the similarities and differences between cyberbullying, traditional bullying and cyber aggression. Moreover, it presents successful practices on how to prevent and combat cyberbullying in nine selected EU Member States and puts forward recommendations for improving the response at EU and Member State levels.

Journal of Language and Cultural Education, 2016

Cyber-culture points out the life in cyberspace and goes beyond national cultures. It is particularly attractive for the young people who use Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to express their attitudes, values, beliefs and thinking. Those do not need to be necessarily in accordance with the standards of an individual society. Cyberculture becomes dangerous. Great risk lies in cyberbullying that represents negative impact of cyber-culture on human behavior. The aim of the study is to detect cyberbullying as a negative impact of cyber-culture among of Slovak children and adolescents. The research was carried out on a sample of 1619 11-18-year old respondents (average age was 14.51). Results of cyberbullying research carried out using Latent Class Analysis (LCA) have proved the appropriateness of 3-latent-class module. Relative entropy of the module reached 0.915. It was demonstrated that 52.9% of respondents belonged to the group of uninvolved, 42.7% were victims and ...

European Journal of Psychology and Educational Research, 2019

The issue of cybercrime and other anti-social activities is increasingly discussed today. The cause is an increasing number of individuals, companies or states exposed to these threats. This article deals with the issue of cyber aggression as one of the kinds of other anti-social activities. The article presents the results of researches in the Slovak Republic, but also the results of a survey at selected schools conducted by the Faculty of Safety Engineering of the University of Zilina. The main aim of the article is to point out the issue of cybercrime and other antisocial activities among adolescents and to point out the relationship between their education and vulnerability.

Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2015

Educational partners, more important are teachers and parents are considered as one of the main elements in the management of Cyberbullying in the school environment and not only for their child's safety. The aim of the study is to evidence the cooperative elements among parents, teachers and students during misuse of the Internet and its functions and violence caused by the technology. The sample of the study includes 200 pupils aged 15-19, 55 Male and 145 Female from High School's Elbasan. Instrument used was "Student Needs Assessment Survey" APPENDIX E by N. E. Willard (2007). The questionnaire was modified and adapted by the authors and contains 20 items. The statistical data processing was performed by SPPS statistical program, version 20. Cronbach's Alpha 0.751 were used to assess the reliability of the instrument. Relying situated in the role of one who puts pressure on the Internet to others, and the role of the person on whom are pressured by the results obtained we note that students are not included in any of above mentioned role. For the psycho-pedagogical point of view we can say that viewed a positive relationship and not only communication between adolescents and their parents, but also among school staff. Students claim that their peers do not feel pressured by others and also students affirm that they are not aware of any material posted on the Internet that denigrates the image of a school staff member.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2023

Cyberbullying has recently attracted attention due to its increasing prevalence and serious consequences for both victims and perpetrators. The objective of this population-based study was to examine the determinants of a person becoming a perpetrator of cyberbullying, including personal resources (emotional self-regulation, self-esteem, internal locus of control, optimism), social skills (prosocial behavior, assertiveness, cognitive empathy, cooperation), peer relationships (peer support, threats from peers, peer rejection, dislike of peers), and problematic Internet use (excessive Internet use, impulsive reactions to Internet deprivation). Participants (N = 541) were students at elementary schools (age 14-15) in Ostroleka, a city in central-eastern Poland. Two-part regression was used to explore protective/risk factors of the likelihood of an individual using cyberviolence (dichotomous part: involvement in violence) and how often it is used (continuous part: frequency of cyberbullying). The results showed that the emotional component is crucial to cyberbullying, as indicated by the importance of emotional self-control, which reduces the frequency of cyberbullying. Other important factors are assertiveness, impulsive response to limited Internet access (which increases the likelihood of engaging in cyberbullying) and fear of peers (which reduces its frequency). In turn, the importance of pro-sociality (which inhibits engagement) and peer support (which promotes engagement) points to the second important component of cyberbullying-that is, group mechanisms. At the same time, the results indicate that while the importance of Internet addiction as a risk factor for cyberbullying should not be underestimated, the amount of time spent online cannot be seen as the source of the problem. The study leads to the conclusion that effective interventions targeting cyberbullying should focus on the development of more adaptive styles of coping with emotions.

European Journal of Mental Health, 2019

This study focuses on the risks of online activity within the social network sites used by primary and secondary school pupils, with regard to bullying in cyberspace. Questionnaires were used to collect the empirical data. In the first scale, an exploratory factor analysis related to the online activity of pupils was used. It indicated four factors, namely: passive use of social networking sites, active communication on social networking sites, access to high-risk media content, and searching for self-development media content. In the second scale that focused on the forms of cyberbullying, two factors were indicated, namely: bullying through online communication and bullying through visual aggression. The study identified 189 respondents out of 931 pupils from the research sample who had been repeatedly cyberbullied. The research was conducted with pupils of secondary schools and high schools in the Slovak Republic. A relationship between the frequency types of social networking sites' usage and the extent of bullying in cyberspace was observed. The research confirmed the existence of a direct dependence between the frequency of active communication on social networking sites and the extent of bullying through online communication. No statistically significant connection was confirmed between the other factors .

European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 2016

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Pyżalski J. (2012) From cyberbullying to electronic aggression: typology of the phenomenon. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties 2012 Vol. 17 nr 3-4 s. 305-317 , 2012

Cyberbullying is usually operationalised as a kind of bullying understood as peer aggression that is intentional and continuous, and involves an aspect of imbalance of power between a victim and a perpetrator or perpetrators. Despite the tool used (new media), cyberbullying often takes place within a traditional group (e.g. school class). However, cyberspace gives Internet users the opportunity to attack other individuals: people known only from the Internet, celebrities, teachers, totally unknown individuals or whole groups of people. Involvement in such actions brings suffering to those victimised as well as potential negative consequences for the perpetrators. This article presents a typology of electronic aggression based on qualitative research data (interviews with teachers and students). The typology was validated in a large quantitative survey on a representative sample of Polish 15-year-olds. The survey gives the prevalence of perpetration of different kinds of electronic aggression, as well as some influencing factors (e.g. gender) and risk and protective factors (attitudes towards school, peer norms, negative relations in the family, norms concerning online behaviour at school/home, pro-aggressive beliefs, level of self-esteem). The need to broaden prevention and intervention measures, and not restrict them to the issue of electronic peer aggression, is discussed.