TheImpactofPhysicalIntimidationinthe WayCyberbullyingHappens LiteratureReview PrevalenceofCyberbullying Theterm ‘cyberbullying’isarelativelynew one,andhasrecentlyturnedintoasocialphenomenoninthemodernsociety.Mostofthetime,itleavesstudentsunabletodealwiththeirbullies,leavingthem feelinghelplessandalone.Fowler,JordanandCamper(2014)conductedastudyon1825studentsinfourUniversitiesinFlorida,anddiscoveredthat24.1percentamongtheparticipantshadbeenvictimsofcyberbullyingduringaperiodof12months.Thesenumbersarenotjustshocking,buttheyalsoshow thatoneinfourpeople have experienced becoming victimsofthisscenario.Thisdata isinteresting becausewhen itiscompared with studiesconducted amongyoungerstudents,thenumbersareunbelievablydifferent.Welner,VanHeigenandEgger(2014)alsofoundthatamong2,45813to14yearoldstudents,lessreported experiencing being cyberbullied.A similardiscovery was alsopresentedbyWalschandGrey(2011)whofoundthatabout105212-18yearoldstudents,11.1percenthadadmittedbecomingvictimsofcyberbullying.Thisstudyconcludesthatthephenomenonofcyberbullyingseemstobemoreprevalentamong students as they getolder.Wesley etal.(2014)alsomentionedthat30.8percenthadfallenvictimsoftheso-calledtraditionalbullying. Thispresentsthequestionastowhythereislessprevalenceamongyoungerstudents.Onepossiblereasonisthattheymaynothaveenoughaccesstothemethodsandtoolsusedincyberbullyingcomparedtowhatstudentsatuniversitylevelhave.Anotherreasonisthattheymaynotbeasexposed to technologicaladvancements yetas the olderones.Thesecontinuestoraisesomequestionsregardingtheproblem ofcyberbullying,andwhatclassifiesthestudentperpetrators,includingtheirreasonsfordoingthistoothers.
Peoplewhobully.Oneimportantfactorthatshouldbegivenattentionwhenanalyzingtheissueofcyberbullyingisunderstandingthedifferenttypesofpeoplewhoareconsideredastheaggressors.Theveryfirstthingthatshouldbediscussedinanalyzingisthematterofgender.StalloneandVanWesten(2010)discoveredthatwhenitcomestotheissueofcyberbullying,malesarelesslikelytobecometheaggressorswithothermaleswhoarereportedasvictimsofcyberbullyingfarmoreoftencomparedtofemales.Theyalsonotedthat36.2percentofthestudentswereactuallyunawareoftheactualgenderofthebullies.Thisisquiteintriguingbecauseitistheverysamepercentageasthenumberofbulliedmales,anditonlygoesontoshow thatabout1in3studentsdonotknowwhotheiraggressorsare,addingtothestigmaandfearthatisoftenassociatewithcyberbullying. Typesofvictims.Variousresearchershaveconductedtheirownstudiesregardingthetypesofpeoplewhobecomevictimstocyberbullying.Thisisoftencalled‘cybervictomology’.AllenandCook(2013)performedastudy,concludingthatthegenderofthevictimsgreatlyvarieddependingonthetypeofcyberbullyingdone.Ithasbeendiscoveredthatmalesareusuallythereceiversofdirectcyberbullying.Ontheotherhand,femalesaremorelikelytobecyberbullied indirectly,such asbeing victimsofonlinegossip.Thesefindingsseem toremaintrueinsocialnormswherethemalesareoftenviewedasconfrontational,whilefemalesarebeingstereotypedforgossiping. Whilethereareafew studieslookingatthegenderofthevictims,severalothersdoresearchoncertainthingslikethecharacteristicsandpersonalitiesofthevictims.Frayetal(2014)discoveredthattherearealotofreasonswhypeople fallvictims ofcyberbullying.Among these reasons include theirpersonalappearance,issueswithinpeers,aswellascontrastingviews.
David,RandolfandOrion(2015)conductedastudyinvolvingvictims,aswellas theirdemographics,looking atthe reasons why people are beingcyberbullied.Someoftheresultsinthestudyaddressedseveralotherreasonsforbeingcyberbullied,discoveringthat14percentofthevictimswerebulliedbecauseoftheirsexualorientation. Allofthese factors are highly importantbecause they fitin to theclassificationoftraditionalbullyingthatalotofpeoplearefamiliarof.Atthesametime,italsoshowsthatitnow transcendstothecyberworldnow.Thisfurtherleadstomorequestionsregardingtherelationshipbetweenthesetwo,and how cyberbullying has furtherinfluenced the way harassmentiscontinuing. Bullyandvictim relationship.Therelationshipthatexistsbetweenthebullyand the victim is anotherthing thatis researched heavily among theprofessionals.BayerandLee(2009)performedastudyinvolving532middleschoolstudents,concludingthatjustbelow halfofthestudentsfellpreytocyberbullyingandtraditionalbullying.Thisalsoprovestrueamongseveralotherstudies.Walteret.al.(2014)alsoconcludedthatthosewhowerebulliedinatraditionalwayhadhigherlikelihoodtofallingvictimstocyberbullying.Aninterestingrelationshipbetweenthebulliesandthevictimsisthatstudiesalsoshow thatthose who become victims have the tendency to becomeaggressorsinthevirtualworldonline. References Allen,G.,&Cook,Y.(2013).Cyberbullyingamongadolescentsthroughmobilephones:Therolethatgenderandstatusplay.Communications:CommunicationResearchJournal,40(2),109-120.Doi:10.1313/common-2013-0007. Bayer,B.,&Lee,K.(2009).BecomingaCybervictim:RoutineActivities,Theory,andAnti-SocialityofCyberbullyinginSocialMedia.JournalofCommunicationinCanada,42(3),373-399. David,Y.,Randolf,U.,&Orion,P.(2015).Storiesofbullyinganddealingwiththeproblem.Communication,InformationandSociety,20(3),234-256.Doi:12.3425/1432sd34.2015.234 Fowler,X.,Jordan,D.,&Camper,E.(2014).Effectsofbullying,cyberbullyingandthestigma.PsychologyToday,29(2),46-71. Fray,J. (2014). Cyberbullying among Universities: Impacts,Experiences and Perspectives. Research in Education Journal,1.Doi:10.35325/3435/254 Stallone,S.,&VanWesten,K.(2010).Therelationshipbetweentraditionalbullyingandcyberbullying.JournalofStudentTechnology,2(1),12-15. Walsch,K.,&Grey,A.(2011).Routineactivitiesofapotentialcyberbully.JournalofCommunication,42(1),345-356. Walter,C.,Jacob,T.,&Farmer,H.(2014).Whybullied?JournalofEffectivePsychology,32(3),134-156. Welner,T.,VanHeigen,A.,&Egger,O.(2014).Therelationshipbetweenstandardbullyingandvirtualbullying.ComputerToday,2(1),12-14. Wesley,H.,Dramm,Q.,Cobb,E.(2014).TheCyberbullyingProtocol.ModernComputerPsychology,5(2),12-14.
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