Does cyberbullying overlap with school bullying when taking modality of involvement into account?

• Published in: Computers in human behavior Vol. 43; pp. 49 - 57
• Main Authors: Kubiszewski, Violaine, Fontaine, Roger, Potard, Catherine, Auzoult, Laurent
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2015; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescents; Aggression; Analogies; Bullying; Climate; Cyberbullying; Education; Externalizing behaviors; Human behavior; Humanities and Social Sciences; Internalizing problems; Media; Psychological Distress; Psychology; Public Health; Public Schools; School bullying; School Environment; Schools; Students; Victims; Media; Internalizing problems; Cyberbullying; Externalizing behaviors; School bullying
• ISSN: 0747-5632; 1873-7692; 0747-5632
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2014.10.049

•Elevated proportions of students are involved in cyber and school-bullying.•Cyber and school bullying overlap very little.•More than half of students engaged in cyberbullying were neutral in school-bullying.•Cyberbullies appear to be less aggressive than school bullies.•Cybervictims exhibit lower levels of internalizing problem than school victims. Education professionals and researchers are concerned by school bullying and cyberbullying because of its repercussions on students’ health and the school climate. However, only a few studies investigating the impact of school versus cyberbullying have systematically explored whether student victims and perpetrators are involved in school bullying only, cyberbullying only, or both. The aim of the present study was thus to examine the possible overlap, as well as the similarities and/or differences, between these two forms of bullying when taking modality of involvement into account. Individual interviews were conducted with 1422 junior high- and high-school students (girls=43%, boys=57%, mean age=14.3±2.7years). Results showed that cyberbullying and school bullying overlapped very little. The majority of students involved in cyberbullying were not simultaneously involved in school bullying. Moreover, results indicated that psychosocial problems (psychological distress, social disintegration, general aggression) varied according to the form of bullying. Victims of school bullying had greater internalizing problems than cybervictims, while school bullies were more aggressive than cyberbullies. Given the sizable proportion of adolescents involved in bullying (school and cyber) and its significant relationship with mental health, the issue warrants serious attention from school and public health authorities.