Where is the line between school bullying and cyberbullying? Child and adolescent perspectives

Leduc, K (Karissa)¹, Caivano, O (Oksana)¹, Nagar, PM (Pooja Megha)¹, Talwar, V (Victoria)^1
1McGill University

 

Submission type

Poster only

Scheduled

Hallway, 10-07-2019, 15:30 - 17:00

Keywords

school bullying, cyberbullying, concept, definition

Summary

There is currently a lack of consensus surrounding the definition of cyberbullying. While it was initially considered an extension of school bullying, recent research has shown that there are characteristics that are distinct to cyberbullying such as anonymity and publicity (e.g., Thomas, et al., 2015). In an effort to propose an operationalizable and developmentally appropriate definition of cyberbullying, the current study conceptually reviewed the defining factors of school bullying and compared them to the characteristics of online-aggression. Moreover, the definitions of 143 children and adolescents (Mage=11.89; SD=2.31) were assessed for their use of attributes of cyberbullying (e.g., intentionality, repetition, power imbalance, etc.), medium (i.e., platform in which cyberbullying event occurs), and form (e.g., verbal, visual, etc.). Statistical analyses revealed that adolescents used significantly more attributes than children to define cyberbullying, while children defined cyberbullying through its medium (e.g., social networking sites) significantly more than adolescents. Moreover, contrary to school bullying where repetition is of importance, adolescents believed intention and anonymity to be the most important attributes in cyberbullying. These findings contribute to a developmental picture of children and adolescents’ understanding of cyberbullying that may be useful for both intervention and research purposes. Implications for school professionals will be discussed. 

Auteurs