Cyberbullying Jamilia Blake, Ph.D., LSSP Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University
Objectives • Upon the completion of this presentation, the learner will be able to: – Identify the definition and prevalence of cyberbullying – Understand how to identify cyberbullying – Recognizing the types and negative outcomes for cyberbullying involvement – Become familiar with controversies of intervention and current intervention strategies – Identify what school staff, parents, and students can do to prevent or reduce cyberbullying Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Internet Communication used by Teens (Werner, Bumpus, and Rock, 2010) Email Social Texting Networks Chat IM/Chat Rooms Rooms Please do not distribute or publish without permission
How Much Technology Children Use • 2010 (Lenhart, A., et al.) – 75% of 12 ‐ 17 year olds own a cell phone – 88% of youth that use cell phones are text messengers – 54% of teens text daily • 2010 (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts) : Media usage is up for 8 – 18 year olds by 2.25 hours in the past 5 yrs. Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Text Messaging Frequency (54%) is higher than other forms of technological ways to interact : Please do not distribute or publish without permission
What is Cyberbullying • An individual or group repeatedly using electronic forms of communication to send or post information about a person or group that a reasonable person would consider (Snakenborg, VanAcker, and Gable, 2011) – cruel, – vulgar, – threatening, – embarrassing, – harassing, – frightening, or – harmful Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Cyberbullying can also be identified as: • Internet Harassment • Internet Aggression • Digital Abuse Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Cyberbullying cont. • Often occurs outside of school • Preferred by older youth because it is: – Anonymous – Invisible – Invisible – Faceless Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Types of Cyberbullying Flaming Sending angry , rude, or inappropriate messages privately or to an online group Harassment Constantly sending offensive messages Denigration Sending or posting false information about someone Cyberstalking Makes threats of harm Masquerading Pretending to be someone else when sending inappropriate messages Trickery Using tricks to send embarrassing information Exclusion Actions that will intentionally exclude a person (blocking them) Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Prevalence Rates vary by study and those that participate: • Marsh et al., 2010 – 11% of students age 15 reported being text ‐ bullied and 7% reported text bullying others • Macgill, 2007 – More than 90% of youth ages 12 ‐ 18 are internet users Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Prevalence cont. Raskauskas (2010) • • 43% of students (11 ‐ 18) experienced one incident of text ‐ bullying • 23% reported repeated text ‐ bullying • Werner, Bumpus, and Rock (2010) – Of 6 ‐ 8 th graders surveyed on cyberbullying: • 18% perpetrators • 17% victims • 9.5% both Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Where does Cyberbullying Fit? Verbal Physical Relational Bullying Cyber Please do not distribute or publish without permission
High Occurrences of Bullying • According to the 2010 Indicators of Crime and Safety Report – In 2007, 25% percent of public schools reported that bullying happened on a weekly or daily basis – 32% of 12 to 18 year olds reported being bullied – Of these children 79% reported that their bullying experiences occurred at school Please do not distribute or publish without permission
2010 Indicators of Crime and Safety Report (Robers, Zhang, & Truman, 2010) Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Effects of Victims of Cyberbullying • Psychologically – Feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and powerlessness (Raskauskas and Stoltz ,2007) – Emotionally distressed (Ybarra and Mitchell 2004) – Anxious – Low self ‐ esteem – Depression • (Raskauskas 2010) Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Social Effects of Cyberbullying • Victims become more suspicious and untrusting of others – Raskauskas 2010 • Can also promote aggressive retaliation towards perpetrators – Smith & Williams 2004 Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Types of Cyberbullies: What Research Says • Those involved in cyberbullying can be characterized as those involved in offline bullying (Limber, 2002): • Bullies • Bully ‐ victims • Victims Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Bullies • Bully in order to feel powerful and have control • Enjoy hurting others • Need to dominate others • When confronted by adults, state that the victim provoked them • Usually are aggressive and break rules in many contexts (Diamanduros, Downs, & Jenkins, 2008; Limber, 2002) Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Bully ‐ Victims • Students that are bullies because of prior victimization • Usually have poor academic achievement and behavioral problems (Diamanduros, Downs, & Jenkins, 2008; Li, 2006) Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Victims • Passive • Socially isolated • Physically weaker than bully • Unpopular (Diamanduros, Downs, & Jenkins, 2008) Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Sub ‐ types of Cyberbullies • Vengeful Angel – Identify themselves as “protecting” themselves or others from perpetrators online – Fighting bullying with more bullying • From stopcyberbullying.org Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Sub ‐ types of Cyberbullies • Mean Girls – Bored and looking for some fun and entertainment – Usually bullying other girls – Make plans as a group to bully others • From stopcyberbullying.org Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Sub ‐ types of Cyberbullies • “Inadvertent Cyberbully” – Don’t believe that they are cyber ‐ bullies at all • Role play to pretend to be tough – Usually are responding without thinking to provocative messages received – From stopcyberbullying.org Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Sub ‐ types of Cyberbullies • Power – Hungry – Want control over others and an audience – Use knowledge of technology to bully others and then brag about it to others – Usually are victims of offline bullying • Sometimes also called the “Revenge of the Nerds” • From stopcyberbullying.org Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Which comes first... Bully or Cyberbully? • Werner, Bumpus, and Rock, 2010 – Found that teens that are already relationally aggressive offline were about 10 times more likely to be cyberbullies – Many times cyberbullies have similar family, social, and behavioral characteristics of those that aggress in the school contexts – Therefore aggressive youth may use internet as additional outlet Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Recent Changes to Texas Law • Texas Bullying Prevention Act ( 2011 ) House Bill No 1942 – Definition of bullying includes: • Written Expression • Oral Expression • Expression through Electronic Means • That are considered to have the effect of: • physically harming, damaging a student’s property , placing a student in reasonable harm to the student’s person or of damage to the student property; or • Is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive enough the action or threat creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment for students Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Additional Texas Laws (2011) • SB 407 – Texas School Safety Center to must programs that address “sexting”, and better responses to incidents of bullying and “cyberbullying” • SB 471 and HB 1942 – Beginning in 2012 ‐ 2013 –School districts must respond to bullying and harassment by: • Parent Notification • School Intervention Programs • Counseling bullies and victims • Protecting those who report bullying Please do not distribute or publish without permission
Additional Texas Laws (2011) • HB 1386 – Requires the development of intervention and prevention programs to train school staff to recognize potential suicide victims and to include those students targeted by bullies. Please do not distribute or publish without permission
School Administrators can discipline cyberbullies… Even when the cyberbullying occurs off campus, • – If the conduct creates a hostile and disruptive learning environment – Technology used is school owned – Threatens other civil rights Schools have a right to intervene. • (Hinduja & Patchin, 2011 ) … but make sure it is legally defensible • Please do not distribute or publish without permission
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