INVOLVEMENT IN TRADITIONAL AND ELECTRONIC BULLYING AMONG ADOLESCENTS

J. Raskauskas & A. Stoltz Presentation by Mark Valentino

Today’s Adolescents

¨  The first generation that has grown up with Internet as an integral part of daily life.

¨  A survey conducted of youths aged 12-18 found that 97% of those studied used the internet at least once a week.

Bullying and Adolescent Development

¨  Involvement in bullying is related to poor outcomes for those who bully as well as those who are victims of bullying.

¨  Bulling in the United States (15,686 students surveyed): ¤ 29.9% report moderate to frequent involvement in

bullying ¤ 13.0% self-identifying as bullies ¤ 10.6% reported as victims ¤ 6.3% report as both a bully and a victim

A New Type of Bullying

¨  Evidence suggests that electronic bullying can increase students’ level of stress and general anxiety, threaten self-esteem, and contribute to failure and even dropout.

¨  There may indeed be a relationship between traditional and electronic bullying.

Forms of Bullying

¨  Traditional bullying is said to occur when a child is the target of a behavior that is: ¤ Harmful or done with intent to harm. ¤ Repeated or occurs over time. ¤ Characterized by an imbalance of strength of power.

¨  Both physical and verbal bullying. ¨  Can be direct or indirect in nature. ¨  Electronic bullying.

Existing Research on Electronic Bullying

¨  Survey of 1,501 participants (Grades 6 through 10) found that 6% of adolescents reported they had been harassed in the past year.

¨  63% of the bullies attended school with the victims. ¨  Bullying takes the form of instant messages,

chatroom exchanges, and e-mails.

Effects of Electronic Bullying

¨  Children who are bullied are at an increased risk for negative psychosocial outcomes.

¨  A study conducted by Finkelhor et al. (2000) found that of adolescents who had been harassed on the Internet in the previous year, one third of them reported symptoms of stress.

¨  Electronic bullying is linked to suicide.

Present Study Conducted

¨  Study conducted to identify the relationship between electronic bullying and victimization and traditional bullying and victimization.

¨  84 participants in the study (aged between 13 and 18 years)

¨  “Internet Experiences Questionnaire” was used to gather information from participants.

Results of Study

¨  48.8% report to be an electronic victim ¨  71.4% report to be a traditional victim ¨  21.4% report to be an electronic bully ¨  64.3% report to be a traditional bully ¨  Most common form of electronic victimization was

text messaging, followed by Internet or website. ¨  Fewer teens self-identified as perpetrators of

electronic bullying (this may be because electronic bullying is severely underreported).

Conclusions to the Study

¨  The research completed highlights the obvious fact that “the Internet and cyberspace culture of adolescence needs to be examined as an environment in which development is taking place and bullying can negatively impact social and emotional development” (Raskauskas & Stoltz, 2007).

¨  Bullying numbers are likely to rise with increased access to personal electronics and Internet activity among adolescents.

My Response: Implications for the Classroom

¨  Not all traditional bullies are electronic bullies, but this does not mean we should not expect the presence of electronic bullying.

¨  Our students are experiencing bullying both in school and out of school.

¨  The stress our students experience could be a direct result of the victimizations that they are facing.

¨  We must also be cognizant in recognizing and dealing with the bullies in our classrooms.

My Response: Technology on the Rise

¨  Technology is not going away. ¨  Each and every day more and more people are

active on the internet. ¨  New forums and platforms for internet bullying are

created often, and we as teachers must recognize its danger.

Question

¨  Do you as an educator (or potential educator), have any experiences to share of bullying that you have witnessed take place in your school? What did you do to deal with this bullying? Has a student ever come forward to you that they were bullied? Even if you were uninvolved, do you have any stories to share? Lastly, do you have any ideas of how we can try and counter the terrible, but prevalent, issue of bullying in our schools?

References

¨  Raskauskas, J., & Stoltz, A. D. (2007) Involvement in Traditional and Electronic Bullying Among Adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 43(3), 564-575.