Cyberbullying has become an issue of concern during the past decade for schools, parents, students, and communities. Media attention to extreme instances of cyberbullying has resulted in misinformation. Myths abound about cyberbullying and accurate information can be hard to find. This study attempts to shed light on this controversial issue. Using the National Crime Victimization Survey: Student Crime Supplement, 2009, this research focuses on the cyberbullying victimization of Black students and White students in specific conditions. These include racial and gender differences, grades, attendance, school environment, and student perception of teacher attitudes towards them.

The arrival of Smartphones has changed the way young people communicate with one another. These devices allow youngsters to have continuous access to their social world away from the prying eyes of adults. Unfortunately, increased access to online networking provides new means through which they can be bullied. Case study methodology employing mixed methods was adopted. The study consisted of two distinct phases and had two separate aims. During phase 1 of the study, a total of 352, Year 7 and Year 10 students were asked to complete a questionnaire, the aim of which was to investigate the prevalence and extent of cyberbullying amongst students. Quantitative analysis of the data revealed that students were reluctant to report their experiences of unpleasant cyber incidents to school staff. Phase 2 of this study investigated this finding further. A total of 18, Year 7 and Year 10 students participated in three separate focus group discussions, the purpose of which was to explore students' views on what actions need to be taken in schools to support the reporting of incidents of cyberbullying to staff. The results from the questionnaire data revealed that Smartphones are deeply embedded in young people's lives even among those from the most socially deprived areas of England. Over a quarter of the students indicated that they had experienced any one of ten different unpleasant cyber incidents. The findings also suggested that much of the cyberbullying occurred within the context of students' social relationships in real life. Data from the focus group discussions highlighted that students wanted access to a diverse range of reporting routes. Notably, students stressed the importance of raising the profile of anti-bullying initiatives within school. Once this was embedded, students perhaps would be more willing to assert their rights and report incidents of bullying. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to extending the focus of e-safety education beyond both technological solutions and stranger danger. Highlighting the differences between relationships in the real and virtual worlds to students is discussed. There is also a focus on engaging students in debate around ethical questions such as, identifying their rights in relation to bullying and learning to manage their own interpersonal conflicts.

Study One: Study One aims to better understand the roles that adolescents take during cyberbullying situations exploring the influence of attitudes towards cyberbullying, social grouping (being alone or with others), age and gender. Methods: Focus groups were used to adapt the Participant Role Scales (Salmivalli, 1998) and the Pro Victim Scale (Rigby & Slee, 1991) to explore cyberbullying. These adapted measures were completed by 261 participants across four year groups (year 7 to 10) via self report questionnaires. Results: Across social groupings an average of 73% of adolescents took participant roles in cyberbullying situations. There were significant differences between assistant, defender, outsider and victim behaviour when alone or when physically with others. In addition attitude towards cyberbullying significantly influenced the role taken and females were more likely to be defenders than males. Age significantly influenced outsider behaviour when participants were alone and defender behaviour when participants were physically with others. Study Two: Study Two aims to better understand what promotes or inhibits bystander involvement in cyberbullying situations. Methods: The study adopted an explorative approach to understand the experiences of 28 adolescents in a South West Local Authority in England. Data was collected via a semi-structured interview schedule administered in focus groups. Findings were analysed using latent thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Results: The decision for adolescent bystanders to actively join a cyberbullying situation was found to be complex. CMC, social influence (prior relationship, being alone or with others) and popularity and status of those participating in cyberbullying contribute to bystanders’ assessment of the risk and reward of participation. If reward outweighs risk an active role is taken (assistant, reinforcer, defender). However if risks are perceived to be higher than rewards then an outsider role is adopted.

Internetmobbing är idag ett stort socialt problem då det bidrar till att mångaungdomar lider av psykisk ohälsa. Samtidigt är det svårt att helt undvika att blidrabbad då den nya teknologin ofta är en nödvändighet i en ungdoms vardag.Internetmobbing är ett beteende, att genom olika teknologiska metoder sommail, mobil och sociala forum, försöka att skada någon. Studien baseras påenkätundersökningar i tre gymnasieklasser, där jag försökt ta reda pårespondenternas erfarenheter kring internetmobbing. Resultat påvisar blandannat att det finns fler pojkar än flickor som har en positiv inställning tillinternetmobbing. En stor del av respondenterna har någon gång själva bidragitmed nedsättande kommentarer till andra på Internet, men det var färre somsjälva blivit utsatta.

Cyberbullying is a problem that has emerged as a byproduct of modern day technologies. This novel form of peer aggression occurs when one or more individuals use a technological medium for the purposes of threatening or harming others. Given that cyberbullying is a relatively new problem in Canada, research remains in its preliminary stages. Previous studies conducted in large urban centers in Alberta and Quebec have suggested that cyberbullying frequently occurs among middle years students. However, the characteristics of cyberbullying among rural students and students from other Canadian provinces are yet to be determined. For these reasons, the purpose of this study was to explore cyberbullying amongst students from rural and urban schools in Saskatchewan. More specifically, this study investigated the following questions:<p>1.To what extent did youth experience cyberbullying? <p>2.What were the characteristics of cyberbullying?<p>3.How did students respond to cyberbullying? <p>4.To what extent did parents and teachers become involved with cyberbullying incidents? <p>Furthermore, how did students think these adults should have responded?<p>To answer these questions, 396 students from a large public school division in central Saskatchewan completed an anonymous paper pencil questionnaire. Among the grades 7 to 9 students sampled, 34.6% admitted they cyber-bullied others and 49.5% said they were victims of cyberbullying. Further, the majority (69.4%) of the students reported that they knew someone who had been cyber-bullied. No significant differences were found between urban and rural students experiences with cyberbullying. However, significant gender differences were found as well as significant correlations between cyberbullying involvement and student grade level, frequency of computer use, school size, and school type. <p>Unfortunately, the majority of cyber-bully victims and bystanders chose not to report the incident to adults. Victims of cyberbullying reported a variety of negative outcomes, especially anger and sadness. Students offered many suggestions for the prevention and intervention of cyberbullying. In particular, students thought teachers should educate their class about cyberbullying and parents should talk to their children about the issue.

In a society where adolescent technology use is a dominant presence, the potential for adolescent cyberbullying has increased. It has become a phenomenon that warrants research attention. In North America, adolescent cyberbullying research is still in the exploratory stages. Current North American research has focused on younger populations (Beran & Li, 2005; Cochrane, 2008; Li, 2005; 2006; 2007; Patchin & Hinduja, 2006). However, adolescence is a period of dramatic change that encompasses all areas of development (Arnett, 2004; Berk, 2004; Hinduja & Patchin, 2008). These factors form the basis and motivations for this research. This study explored adolescent cyberbullying in Canada with the hope of providing preliminary research attention on a serious issue. Specifically, this study explored the following questions:<p> 1. What was the extent of cyberbullying among grade ten, eleven and twelve students in urban Saskatchewan?<p> 2. What was the relationship between traditional bullying and cyberbullying?<p> 3. What did the experiences of cyberbullying look like (both as a perpetrator and as a victim)? How were the victims impacted?<p> 4. How did individuals respond to cyberbullying (as a bystander)?<p> 5. What were the students opinions on adult responses to cyberbullying?<p> Answering these questions were 476 students from one large Catholic and two large public high schools in urban Saskatchewan. Students from grade 10 and, primarily, grades 11 and 12 anonymously completed a paper-pencil questionnaire. Of these students, 44.0% disclosed they had been a victim of cyberbullying and 31.3% reported they had been a cyberbully. Two-thirds (64.5%) also admitted knowing at least one individual who had been a victim of cyberbullying. Students shared a range of negative emotions and effects that they experienced as a result of being a victim of cyberbullying. The most commonly reported were anger and sadness or hurt. Overall, significant differences in students experiences with cyberbullying were found between gender, grade levels, and among levels of achievement.<p> Two-thirds (66.2%) of students also admitted telling at least one person that they had been a victim of cyberbullying. Students most often told a friend (53.8%) over telling anyone else. This was reflected in students overwhelming perception that adults (e.g., parents or teachers) could not prevent cyberbullying or successfully intervene when it was occurring. Students did offer ideas on possible ways of intervening or preventing cyberbullying that ranged from increased education to effective consequences.

Cyberbullying is a problem that has emerged as a byproduct of modern day technologies. This novel form of peer aggression occurs when one or more individuals use a technological medium for the purposes of threatening or harming others. Given that cyberbullying is a relatively new problem in Canada, research remains in its preliminary stages. Previous studies conducted in large urban centers in Alberta and Quebec have suggested that cyberbullying frequently occurs among middle years students. However, the characteristics of cyberbullying among rural students and students from other Canadian provinces are yet to be determined. For these reasons, the purpose of this study was to explore cyberbullying amongst students from rural and urban schools in Saskatchewan. More specifically, this study investigated the following questions:<p>1.To what extent did youth experience cyberbullying? <p>2.What were the characteristics of cyberbullying?<p>3.How did students respond to cyberbullying? <p>4.To what extent did parents and teachers become involved with cyberbullying incidents? <p>Furthermore, how did students think these adults should have responded?<p>To answer these questions, 396 students from a large public school division in central Saskatchewan completed an anonymous paper pencil questionnaire. Among the grades 7 to 9 students sampled, 34.6% admitted they cyber-bullied others and 49.5% said they were victims of cyberbullying. Further, the majority (69.4%) of the students reported that they knew someone who had been cyber-bullied. No significant differences were found between urban and rural students experiences with cyberbullying. However, significant gender differences were found as well as significant correlations between cyberbullying involvement and student grade level, frequency of computer use, school size, and school type. <p>Unfortunately, the majority of cyber-bully victims and bystanders chose not to report the incident to adults. Victims of cyberbullying reported a variety of negative outcomes, especially anger and sadness. Students offered many suggestions for the prevention and intervention of cyberbullying. In particular, students thought teachers should educate their class about cyberbullying and parents should talk to their children about the issue.

In a society where adolescent technology use is a dominant presence, the potential for adolescent cyberbullying has increased. It has become a phenomenon that warrants research attention. In North America, adolescent cyberbullying research is still in the exploratory stages. Current North American research has focused on younger populations (Beran & Li, 2005; Cochrane, 2008; Li, 2005; 2006; 2007; Patchin & Hinduja, 2006). However, adolescence is a period of dramatic change that encompasses all areas of development (Arnett, 2004; Berk, 2004; Hinduja & Patchin, 2008). These factors form the basis and motivations for this research. This study explored adolescent cyberbullying in Canada with the hope of providing preliminary research attention on a serious issue. Specifically, this study explored the following questions:<p> 1. What was the extent of cyberbullying among grade ten, eleven and twelve students in urban Saskatchewan?<p> 2. What was the relationship between traditional bullying and cyberbullying?<p> 3. What did the experiences of cyberbullying look like (both as a perpetrator and as a victim)? How were the victims impacted?<p> 4. How did individuals respond to cyberbullying (as a bystander)?<p> 5. What were the students opinions on adult responses to cyberbullying?<p> Answering these questions were 476 students from one large Catholic and two large public high schools in urban Saskatchewan. Students from grade 10 and, primarily, grades 11 and 12 anonymously completed a paper-pencil questionnaire. Of these students, 44.0% disclosed they had been a victim of cyberbullying and 31.3% reported they had been a cyberbully. Two-thirds (64.5%) also admitted knowing at least one individual who had been a victim of cyberbullying. Students shared a range of negative emotions and effects that they experienced as a result of being a victim of cyberbullying. The most commonly reported were anger and sadness or hurt. Overall, significant differences in students experiences with cyberbullying were found between gender, grade levels, and among levels of achievement.<p> Two-thirds (66.2%) of students also admitted telling at least one person that they had been a victim of cyberbullying. Students most often told a friend (53.8%) over telling anyone else. This was reflected in students overwhelming perception that adults (e.g., parents or teachers) could not prevent cyberbullying or successfully intervene when it was occurring. Students did offer ideas on possible ways of intervening or preventing cyberbullying that ranged from increased education to effective consequences.

Cyberfeminist scholars have identified the Internet as a site where feminist issues are substantiated. This exploratory study investigates young women’s lived experiences of agency within online social networking, also looking at the ways in which their assertion of agency is constrained. Analysis identified four biographically consistent identity narratives within which participants experienced online agency, each with a unique operationalization of agency, constraints upon agency, and role of a heteronormative boyfriend. Identity narratives tended to invoke socially- and media-entrenched representations of how to ‘properly’ perform ‘girl’ online, including stereotypes of girls vigilantly managing online risk or portraying themselves as professional, ethically sensible, family-oriented, or popular and celebrity-oriented. However, these representations were also inherently conflictual, presenting incompatible expectations that were difficult to simultaneously negotiate. In conclusion, this study recommends that future research and policy abandon patriarchal, neoliberal underpinnings in favour of deconstructing problematic stereotyped representations of femininity within online spaces.

This paper examines the current body of literature on the topic of bullying and cyberbullying in schools around the world. Bullying and cyberbullying represent two of the most common forms of physical and psychological harm to children today, and the negative effects caused by bullying can be incredibly severe. Various aspects of these phenomena are examined to contextualize the current problem of cyberbullying. Due to the serious implications presented by bullying for the psychological wellbeing of modern youth, understanding this phenomenon is essential in order for school authorities to have effective means of preventing bullying and cyberbullying. The paper will conclude with an examination of some current intervention efforts and considerations for the development of improved intervention efforts for the future.