Traditional Victims and Cybervictims: Prevalence, Overlap, and Association with Mental Health Among Adolescents in Singapore

Traditional bullying and cyberbullying in the digital age and its associated mental health problems in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis

Bullying is a risk factor for the physical and mental health of adolescents. The advent of new technologies has resulted in a brand-new type of bullying, cyberbullying (CB). The co-occurring effects of cyberbullying and traditional bullying(TB) forms of bullying on adolescent mental health are unclear. We performed a meta-analysis to explore the unique and combined effects of CB and TB on adverse psychological outcomes in victims by conducting a joint study of both types of bullying. By doing so, we provide the basis for a comprehensive community bullying prevention program. The database PubMed, PsyclNFO, and Web of Science were searched for studies from 2010 to 2021. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) reporting guideline was followed for data abstraction, and the NIH tool was used to evaluate study-level risk of bias. 42 studies with 266,888 participants were identified. Random-Effect models were used for our study. The moderator analysis was used to explore the moderator of prevalence. Studies with three groups of victims (TB only, CB only, and Both) and two groups of victims (TB and CB) were compared in subgroup analysis. The mean victimization rate was 24.32% (95% CI 20.32-28.83%) for TB and 11.10% (95% CI 9.12-13.44%) for CB. Roughly one-third of TB victims were also victimized by CB. Conversely, only about one-third of CB victims were free from TB. The estimated ORs for depression, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and self-harm in the three-group (TB only, CB only and Both) analysis were: depression [TB only: 3.33 (2.22-5.00); CB only: 3.38 (2.57-4.46); Both: 5.30 (2.43-11.56)]; suicidal ideations [TB only: 3.08 (2.12-4.46); CB only: 3.52 (2.38-5.20); Both: 6.64 (4.14-10.64)]; self-harm [TB only: 2.70 (1.86-3.91); CB only: 3.57 (3.20-3.98); Both: 5.57 (2.11-16.00)]; and suicide attempts: [TB only: 2.61 (1.50-4.55); CB only: 3.52 (2.50-4.98); Both: 7.82 (3.83-15.93)]. TB and CB victimization among youth are a matter of public health concern. Victimization appears to be a marker of greater psychopathological severity, particularly suicide-related issues.

Homophobic Bullying, Traditional Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in Adolescents According to Their Sexual Orientation

Recent studies suggest that traditional bullying, cyberbullying, and homophobic bullying lead to a low health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adolescents. The present study aims to analyze this, paying particular attention to homophobic bullying, based on the sexual orientation of 815 adolescents who were asked to fill in a self-report questionnaire. In heterosexuals, both homophobic victimization and victimization were inversely related to different dimensions of HRQoL (moods and emotions, and school environment, respectively). In adolescents who were uncertain about their sexual orientation, there were inverse relationships between homophobic victimization and mood and social acceptance, and there was also a positive relationship between homophobic aggression and physical well-being. In homosexuals and bisexuals, homophobic victimization was inversely related to social acceptance, economic resources, and autonomy, while homophobic aggression was not related to HRQoL. The results obtained offer new insights, thanks to the use of a specific and validated instrument to record homophobic bullying that covers both homophobic victimization and homophobic aggression. In addition, the need to intervene in a holistic manner, involving political and social agents, as well as all actors implicated in the school environment, is discussed with a view to protecting adolescent health and promoting inclusive education.

The relationship between school bullying victimization and mental health among high school sexual minority students in China: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

School bullying has become a matter of global concern for the general public. Sexual minority youth (SMY) may experience minority stress and victimization which are known to adversely affect mental health and happiness. However, a few scholars explored and linked sexual orientation with campus bullying, depression, and anxiety symptoms under the specific cultural background of China.

OBJECTIVE

This study was to examine the effect of traditional and cyber bullying victimization on depression and anxiety among Chinese sexual minority adolescents.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional survey with a total of 3841 subjects among senior high school students in Hunan Province, China. Related information was collected through a series of self-reported questionnaires. The association between variables was examined via a set of logistic regressions.

RESULTS

Homosexuality (OR: 6.398; 95 % CI: 3.321 to 12.325), bisexuality (OR: 3.146; 95 % CI: 1.499 to 6.603) and uncertainty of sexual orientation (OR: 2.341; 95 % CI: 1.516 to 3.615) were significantly associated with a combination of traditional and cyber bullying victimization. Compared to the heterosexual group, the sexual minority students, especially the bisexual students has a higher risk of depressive mood (OR: 2.349; 95 % CI: 1.664 to 3.316) and anxiety mood (OR: 3.049; 95 % CI: 2.150 to 4.324). Further multivariate binary hierarchical regression showed that the effects of sexual orientation and mental health were statistically significant only among those who are not involved in bullying victimization, OR values are from 1.929 (95 % CI: 1.061 to 3.507) to 3.209 (95 % CI: 2.090 to 4.927).

CONCLUSIONS

Homosexuals are most likely to be victims of a combination of traditional and cyber bullying victims. Bisexuals are most at risk for emotional problems. Sexual minorities in particular, showed differences in mental health risks between bullied and non-bullied groups. More attention needs to be paid to bullying and mental health among sexual minority students in China.

Onset risk factors for youth involvement in cyberbullying and cybervictimization: A longitudinal study

Introduction

Cyberbullying and cybervictimization are spread worldwide, and due to COVID-19, an increasing number of children and adolescents have been impacted. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, research has investigated and highlighted the key risk factors for cyberbullying and cybervictimization, and numerous anti-cyberbullying prevention and intervention programs have been developed and assessed for their efficacy. Despite this, no studies have specifically focused on the individual, relational, and contextual risk factors associated with the onset of youth involvement in cyberbullying and cybervictimization.

Methods

To address this lacuna, 333 Italian students aged 10-16 years (M = 12.16, SD = 1.35) were involved in a year-long longitudinal study and filled in the anonymous online actuarial Tabby Improved Checklist two times with a 6-month interval. Onset risk factors for cyberbullying and cybervictimization have been separately analyzed by excluding all students involved in cyberbullying from the original sample or in the cybervictimization baseline (T1).

Results

The results showed that being male, being involved in school bullying, having low levels of awareness of online risk, and having high levels of affective empathy were all significant onset risk factors for cyberbullying. Similarly, being male, being involved in school bullying and victimization, having high levels of affective empathy, and moral disengagement were onset risk factors for cybervictimization.

Conclusion

Given the negative psychological and behavioral consequences of cyberbullying and cybervictimization, this article includes discussions on practical and policy implications for future research, stressing the need to develop, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of primary prevention programs addressing and managing onset risk factors for cyberbullying and cybervictimization.

The prevalence of peer bullying and psychiatric symptoms among high school students in southeast Turkey

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence of bullying among high school students, its associated factors, and the effects of engaging in bullying behaviors on mental health.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted between 2021 and 2022 in the province with the highest population of children in the Southeast Anatolia region of Turkey. The data of the study were collected using the Sociodemographic Characteristics Questionnaire prepared by the researchers, Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ), and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 42 (DASS-42).

RESULTS

Of the 880 students who participated in the study, 34.2% reported being a victim of bullying and 13.9% reported bullied someone. Regression analysis revealed that overweight/obesity was a risk factor for both victims and bullies. On the other hand, male gender and alcohol consumption were significantly associated with bullying. Scores for depression, anxiety, and stress were significantly higher in both the victim and the bullying groups compared to students who did not fall into this cycle.

CONCLUSIONS

The present findings suggest that bullying in school creates problems not only for the bullying victims but also for the bullies. Health professionals assessing youth should be aware of the characteristics of young people who may be involved in bullying.

Violence among adolescents: A study of overlapping of bullying, cyberbullying, sexual harassment, dating violence and cyberdating violence

BACKGROUND

Face-to-face and virtual violence among adolescents could lead to polyvictimisation and polyaggression. More studies are needed to simultaneously analyse various types of violence to understand the extent of involvement in violence during adolescence.

OBJECTIVE

This study explores the overlap of bullying, cyberbullying, sexual harassment, dating violence, and cyber dating violence, considering dating experience, gender, and stage of adolescence.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

This study involved 2514 Spanish middle school students (49.8 % girls) aged 11-19 years (M = 13.97, SD = 1.40).

METHODS

The design of this study was cross-sectional. Data were collected through a survey.

RESULTS

Among adolescents with no dating experience, 39.7 % were not victims, and 55.9 % were not aggressors. By contrast, among adolescents with dating experience, 7.1 % were not victims, and 10.5 % were not aggressors. Gender differences in poly-involvement were found between adolescents with and without dating experience. Girls were significantly less involved than boys as polyvictims and polyaggressors when they had no dating experience. They were significantly more involved than boys as polyvictims (9.7 %) and polyaggressors (23.9 %) in dating violence and cyber dating violence when they had dating experience. Age differences in poly-involvement were found only in adolescents with dating experience. Adolescents were more polyinvolved late than early adolescence, especially in dating violence, sexual harassment, and cyber dating violence as polyvictims (22.8 %) and polyaggressors (26.7 %).

CONCLUSIONS

Experiences of poly-involvement are diverse according to dating experience, gender, and stage of adolescence. More comprehensive peer and dating violence prevention strategies need to be designed.

Association of Cyberbullying Experiences and Perpetration With Suicidality in Early Adolescence

IMPORTANCE

Adolescent suicidality (ie, suicidal ideation or attempts) is a major public health concern. Cyberbullying experiences and perpetration have become increasingly prevalent and are associated with mental health burden, but their roles as independent suicidality risk factors remain unclear. Data are needed to clarify their contribution to teen suicidality to inform suicide prevention efforts.

OBJECTIVE

To examine whether cyberbullying experiences and perpetration are distinct stressors divergent from other forms of peer aggression experiences in their association with suicidality in early adolescence.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

This cross-sectional analysis used data collected between July 2018 and January 2021 from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, a large, diverse sample of US children aged 10 to 13 years.

EXPOSURES

Youth reports of cyberbullying experiences or perpetration.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

The main outcome was youth-reported suicidality (past or present, as reported in the ABCD 2-year follow-up assessment). Covariates included demographics, established environmental risk and protective factors for youth suicidality, psychopathology, and experiences or perpetration of offline peer aggression.

RESULTS

A total of 10 414 ABCD participants were included in this study. Participants had a mean (SD) age of 12.0 (0.7) years and 4962 (47.6%) were female; 796 (7.6%) endorsed suicidality. A total of 930 (8.9%) reported experiencing cyberbullying and 96 (0.9%) reported perpetrating cyberbullying. Of the perpetrators, 66 (69.0%) also endorsed experiencing cyberbullying. Controlling for demographics, experiencing cyberbullying was associated with suicidality (odds ratio [OR], 4.2 [95% CI, 3.5-5.1]; P < .001), whereas perpetrating cyberbullying was not (OR, 1.3 [95% CI, 0.8-2.3]; P = .30). Experiencing cyberbullying remained associated with suicidality when accounting for negative life events, family conflict, parental monitoring, school environment, and racial and ethnic discrimination (OR, 2.5 [95% CI, 2.0-3.0]; P < .001) and when further covarying for internalizing and externalizing psychopathology (OR, 1.8 [95% CI, 1.4-2.4]; P < .001). Both being a target and being a perpetrator of offline peer aggression were associated with suicidality (OR, 1.5 [95% CI, 1.1-2.0] for both), controlling for all covariates described earlier. Cyberbullying experiences remained associated with suicidality (OR, 1.7 [95% CI, 1.3-2.2]; P < .001, controlling for all covariates) when included with offline peer aggression experiences and perpetration.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

In this cross-sectional study, experiencing-but not perpetrating-cyberbullying was associated with suicidality in early adolescence. This association was significant over and above other suicidality risk factors, including offline peer aggression experiences or perpetration. These findings can inform adolescent suicide prevention strategies, and they suggest that clinicians and educational staff working with this population should routinely evaluate for adolescents' experience with cyberbullying.

Predictive Model of The Factors Involved in Cyberbullying of Adolescent Victims

The development of Information and Communication Technologies has favored access to technological resources in adolescents. These tools provide access to information that can promote learning. However, they can also have a negative effect against people, as they can be used with other functionality, in which cyberbullying situations are caused during the interactions that arise when using social networks. The objective of this study was to determine the predictive value of the role of cyberbullying victims based on variables related to other roles involved in cyberbullying and bullying (aggressors and witnesses), as well as personal characteristics (sex and age), contextual characteristics (type of educational school in which they are attending) and positive teamwork habits. (cooperation, responsibility, dialogue, listening, respect). Information was collected from 227 students of the educational stages of Primary Education and Secondary Education, aged between 11 and 15 years, in a city with a high index of cultural diversity. The step-by-step technique was used to build the regression model. The results indicate that the model has a good goodness of fit coefficient (adjusted R²: 0.574; p < 0.001). The role of cyberbully is the most important predictive variable of the role of the victim in cyberbullying and, to a lesser extent, the role of the witness in cyberbullying, the role of the witness in bullying, and the role of the victim of bullying. The role of the bullying aggressor and the variables sex, age, type of educational center, and teamwork habits are excluded in the predictive model.

The association between violent video game exposure and sub-types of school bullying in Chinese adolescents

BACKGROUND

School bullying among adolescents has been a worldwide public health issue. It has been observed that adolescents who are exposed to violent video games (VVGs) are often more aggressive. However, research on the association between violent video game exposure (VVGE) and different types of school bullying is limited in the Chinese context.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to explore whether VVGE is linked to school bullying behaviors among Chinese adolescents and to examine the relationship between different levels of violent game exposure and four sub-types (physical, verbal, relational, and cyber) of school bullying involvement.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study of 1,992 Chinese students (55.02% boys and 44.98% girls) with the average age of 15.84 ± 1.62 years. Sub-types of school bullying victimization and perpetration, Internet addiction, and VVGE were measured by using a self-administrated questionnaire. The association was examined by multiple logistic regression analysis, adjusting for covariates.

RESULTS

Physical, verbal, relational, and cyber school bullying victimization were reported by 18.12, 60.34, 11.75, and 12.05% of the adolescents, and physical, verbal, relational, and cyber school bullying perpetration were reported by 16.62, 54.62, 21.49, and 8.23% of them. Of the students, 1,398 (70.18%) were normal Internet users, 514 (25.80%) showed moderate Internet addictive behaviors, and 31 (1.56%) of the students showed severe Internet addictive behaviors. The prevalence of no VVGE, low-level VVGE, medium-level VVGE, and high-level of VVGE were 27.70, 24.10, 24.20, and 24.00%, respectively. The risk of physical victimization and physical perpetration significantly increased with the increasing degree of violent video game exposure (P for trend < 0.001), with the highest adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of 2.251 (95% CI 1.501-3.375) and 2.554 (95% CI 1.685-3.870), when comparing high-level VVGE with no VVGE.

CONCLUSION

These findings highlight the specific association between different sub-types of school bullying involvement and violent video game exposure. Physical school bullying prevention and intervention programs should be conducted after adolescents are exposed to violent video games.

Psychosocial Difficulties and Help-Seeking Behaviors in Singapore Adolescents Involved in Cyberbullying

Bullying through online medium has afflicted many adolescents to cause severe mental health concerns, including self-harm and suicide. The aims of this study are to examine the prevalence of cyberbullying in Singapore adolescents, its associations with psychosocial difficulties, and how do the adolescents seek help after being cybervictimized. A representative sample of 3,319 school students aged between 12 and 17 years responded to a survey with scales measuring cyberbullying, psychosocial difficulties, and help-seeking behaviors. In the present study, 7.3 percent of adolescents reported being cybervictims only, 1.8 percent were cyberbullies only, and 4.8 percent were cyberbully-victims. Compared with the non-involved group, both cybervictim and cyberbully-victim groups were associated with more internalizing problems, but all the three cyberbullying-involved groups were associated with higher externalizing problems. Approximately half of the cybervictimized participants reported that they have sought help, with most of them (81.7 percent) choosing to tell their friends. Our findings are consistent with previous overseas studies showing increased associations of psychosocial difficulties among adolescents who are involved in cyberbullying. Public awareness of the consequences of unhealthy cyber-usage could be raised to aid in the early detection of cyberbullying among school children and adolescents. Moreover, cyberwellness programs should be considered as a component of larger anti-bullying programs in schools and in the community.

Continuity and Overlap of Roles in Victims and Aggressors of Bullying and Cyberbullying in Adolescence: A Systematic Review

The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of research focused on analyzing the overlap and continuity of the roles in victims and aggressors of bullying and cyberbullying, as well as the exchange of roles in both harassment dynamics in adolescents. Searches in the main electronic databases for studies published in the last 20 years identified 19 studies that fulfilled inclusion criteria. The findings of the studies analyzed were not homogeneous, however, the main conclusion of all of them, to a greater or lesser extent, was that there is a component of continuity or superposition in the roles of both forms of bullying. Some studies also found an exchange of roles, especially in the case of victims and cybervictims who decide to reprimand their aggressors in an online context, becoming in cyberaggressors too. It is necessary to continue investigating the coexistence of bullying and cyberbullying and its exchange in certain contexts and people, as well as whether they are part of the same phenomenon with a certain continuity, or if cyberbullying is another expression of traditional bullying. Future intervention programs focusing on traditional school bullying could also evaluate their impact in situations of cyberbullying among peers.