Behavioural and psychosocial factors associated with cyberbullying

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Date
2012
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Zululand
Abstract
Cyberbullying is a new form of bullying and harassment that is also referred to as electronic or online bullying. It may involve the following: sending mean, vulgar or threatening messages or images, posting sensitive or private information online, pretending to be someone else online in order to make a person look bad or intentionally exclude a person from an online group. Viewed as covert psychological bullying conveyed through electronic means it has been identified as the most problematic form of emerging cruelty among adolescents in schools. Existing research studies on cyberbullying suggests that it is increasing at a phenomenal rate and it is not clear whether online perpetrators and victims possess the same characteristic behaviours and psychosocial profiles as their traditional bullying counterparts. However in South Africa there is a paucity of research. The present study seeks to examine the behavioural and psychosocial factors associated with cyberbullying among Grade 8 to 10 learners, in a cross-section of schools, in KwaZulu-Natal. The purpose of the research was to determine: the prevalence of cyberbullying; the relationship between age, gender, rural and urban dichotomy and socioeconomic status of victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying; school personnel’s management of cyberbullying; and the relationship between psychosocial factors and behavioural characteristics and cyberbullying. Two questionnaires were used. The first was a 3-part psychosocial questionnaire and the other a cyberbullying questionnaire (Riebel, Jager, & Fischer, 2008). The data from this study confirms that cyberbullying is prevalent in various forms, in secondary schools, in KwaZulu-Natal. The total sample was N=450. Of which 199 (44.22%) reported that they were victims or perpetrators of cyberbullying. There were 127 (28.22%) who identified themselves as victims and 72 (16.0 %) admitted to be perpetrators. The most frequent form of cyberbullying experienced was rumours and slander using the internet or cellular phone. The electronic communication preferences of participants were: instant messaging (50%); 47% used social networking; about 44% used chatrooms and 32% used email. Females spent more time in chatrooms and sent more instant messages than the males. The results show that friends and fellow learners were responsible for the cyberbullying most frequently. The victims rarely choose to reveal that they were cyberbullied to their teachers. Participants chose their friends as the primary person to talk to about their victimisation while the secondary person was their parents. Teachers were the last person of choice to seek help. Comparison of victims, non-victims, perpetrators and non-perpetrators of cyberbullying on the Life Satisfaction Scale (LSS), indicated that victims of cyberbullying were the most dissatisfied group (9.83%) while perpetrators reported high satisfaction. There was a significant difference between victims and non-victims on their performance on the psychological well-being scale and this was also the case for perpetrators and nonperpetrators of cyberbullying. Victims did not like themselves; expressed a poor sense of self, low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence and had more negative self-perceptions which affected their psychological well-being. They expressed feeling of helplessness, loneliness, sadness, despair, anger, and self loathing. Perpetrators also had strong feelings of worthlessness, guilt, sadness and hopelessness. They were tearful and expressed a loss of interest in daily activities, experienced difficulty cThe behavioural characteristics described by the groups showed considerable variations. Victims of cyberbullying rated themselves highest on being serious and they rated themselves lower on being friendly, emotional, stubborn and happy. Perpetrators of cyberbullying rated themselves highest on being aggressive, nervous, stubborn, happy, awkward and sad. Victims and perpetrators had experienced more difficulty learning to read and were in trouble more often in school than the non-victims and non-perpetrators. Cyberbullying is prevalent in South African secondary schools, among Grade 8, Grade 9 and Grade 10 learners and occurs among males and females, from rich and poor backgrounds, rural and urban areas irrespective of racial and ethnic backgrounds. Implications of these results are discussed with special focus on intervention and management of cyberbullying concentrating on school work and expressed a lack of enthusiasm and motivation.
Description
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Education (Educational Psychology) in the Department of Educational Psychology & Special Education Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2012.
Keywords
Cyberbullying, Bullying, Harassment, Online bullying
Citation