cyberbullying research paper 2020

PERSPECTIVE article

Perception of cyberbullying in adolescence: a brief evaluation among italian students.

• 1 Department of Human Sciences, Society and Health, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio of Cassino, Cassino, Italy
• 2 Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
• 3 Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University “Magna Graecia” of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy
• 4 Faculty of Economics, Mercatorum University, Rome, Italy

Cyberbullying is associated with the expansion of digital devices and the Internet. In Italy and other European and non-European countries, the phenomenon is growing. Young people who suffer from cyberbullying develop psychopathological symptoms of anxiety, depression, and social phobia that can lead to extreme acts, such as suicide. The pressure, the sense of isolation, and helplessness experienced by cyber-victims also affect their family and the school context. Cyberbullying is acted through digital tools, it is often anonymous, and aims to destroy and psychologically humiliate the victim. There are various forms of cyberbullying that involve different reactions and consequences. However, few studies have focused on adolescents’ perception of cyberbullying. Youths often engage in aggressive behaviors, ignoring the feelings and reactions of the victims. Based on these considerations, our article aims to provide a general overview of the spread of the phenomenon and to understand the various types of cyberbullying and its consequences on victims. We will also illustrate a brief evaluation conducted in Italian schools investigating the perception of cyberbullying in a sample of 600 Italian adolescents (11–14 years old). Our work aims to investigate the cognition and the personal perception of youths about cyberbullying and its consequences and to promote educational interventions within and outside the context of school.

Introduction

Recent technological developments have led to the progressive evolution of the human relationship concept. Voluntary access to social networks and online communities implies immediate proximity mediated by the web ( Pratono, 2018 ; Auriemma et al., 2020 ). This evolution in human relations happened very quickly and mainly involved younger generations ( Eleuteri et al., 2017 ). Parents, teachers, and adults are not always aware of the functioning, the rules, or the risks of the web and very often witness acts of violence and abuse among peers, which can end in tragic and extreme consequences.

Cyberbullying or electronic bullying is one of the well-known risks of this technological evolution and consists of voluntary and repeated actions against one or more individuals, through the use of computers and electronic devices ( Aboujaoude et al., 2015 ). Cyberbullying is characterized by the following elements: voluntary act , the behavior is intentional and not accidental; repeated act , the behavior is repeated over time and not reduced to a single event; perception of damage by the victim , the victim suffers the damage inflicted; use of electronic devices , cyberbullying is carried out through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic means ( Ferrara et al., 2018 ). Cyberbullying, like conventional bullying, is based on an asymmetrical power relationship exercised by the cyber-bully toward the victim ( Durak and Saritepeci, 2020 ). The principal characteristic of cyberbullying is the anonymity guaranteed by the web, which provokes a perception of weakness and loneliness in the victims ( Cao et al., 2020 ). Isolation from the peer group, lower self-esteem, and social anxiety are the most common consequences for cyber-victims. A cyber-bully might circulate images or send offensive messages or e-mails against a person or a group of people in order to deconstruct the perception of security of the victims, humiliating and isolating them. The persecutor who engages in online violence has a lower perception of responsibility for the suffering caused by one’s behavior, underestimating the seriousness of the consequences for the victim, who feels not able to defend from virtual harassment.

In Italy, cyberbullying is one of the main discussed topics among middle and high school students. According to the Italian Observatory for Family, Social Policy, and Security , in 2017, 7% of adolescents aged between 11 and 13 years old (specially females) had been the victim of cyberbullying once or more per month ( Intrieri and Corraro, 2019 ). In European and non-European Countries, the rates of cyberbullying vary substantially between studies, with figures ranging from 6.5 to 72% for cyber victimization ( Athanasiou et al., 2018 ; Baldry et al., 2018 ). For instance, a survey conducted in the United States in 2017 indicates that 33.8% of adolescents have reported that they were the victim of cyberbullying in their lifetime. In Brazil, in a 2017 survey on the use of the Internet by youths aged 9–17, 22% reported being offended online, while 39% reported seeing someone being discriminated against. In China, research published between 2013 and 2018 indicates that cybervictimization ranges from between 14 and 57% and cyber aggression ranges from between 3 and 35% ( United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, 2017 ). The Global school-based student health survey (GSHS), which collects data from people aged 11, 13, and 15, suggests that the incidence of different types of violence and school bullying seems to change with age ( Pontifical Scholas Occurrentes Foundation, 2019 ). Data from three national surveys in the United States ( United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, 2017 ) show that the most common forms of bullying, including verbal abuse, theft, threats, defamation, and social exclusion, tend to decrease with age, and bullying is reduced by nearly 50% between ages 14 and 18, while cyberbullying declines at a lower rate, from 17 to 13%. Other research shows that the incidence of bullying in the form of physical aggression is more diffused among primary school students, while cyberbullying occurs more among middle and high school students, increasing in the latter group. In Italy ( ISTAT, 2015 ) data published in 2015 shows that, among mobile and/or Internet users, aged 11–17, 5.9% of them report being bullied via messages email, chat, or social networks. In 2016, police data reported 235 cases of cyberbullying ( Commissariato PS, 2016 ). According to the ISTAT in 2018, 85.8% of children between 11 and 17 years old use mobile phones every day and 72% of children in the same age group use the Internet daily. Mostly girls aged between 14 and 17 years old uses mobile phones (73.2%) and social networks (84.9%). As a consequence, female teenagers are more likely to be the victim of cyberbullying 7.1% of girls suffer from constant harassment online, compared to 4.6% of boys. There is also a greater risk for youths aged between 11 and 13 years old who have been victims of bullying via mobile phones or the Internet once or more times a month (7%) compared to the experiences of youths aged 14–17 (5.2%) ( ISTAT, 2019 ).

Given the serious diffusion of the phenomenon, in Italy cyberbullying is recognized as a crime by law 71/17 ( Senato della Repubblica, 2017 ). The legislation provides a specific legal definition of cyberbullying and requires schools to educate children to use the Internet and to supervise the problem. According to the law cyberbullying is “any form of pressure, aggression, harassment, blackmail, insult, denigration, defamation, identity theft against minors, carried out electronically.” The Ministry of Education has also implemented guidelines for the prevention of cyberbullying ( Sorrentino et al., 2018 ) to counteract this high rate of incidence.

Types of Cyberbullying and Risks for Health in Adolescence

Cyberbullying is a very complex phenomenon, consisting of different types of behavior, which are outlined here.

Flaming: involves sending violent and vulgar messages by an electronic device to provoke verbal conflicts between two or more people within the network. The victim is not always present ( Qodir et al., 2019 ). Flaming occurs during a chat conversation or interactive video games. Mostly flaming is diffused within interactive games since, many times, the victims are beginners targeted by more experienced players ( Sung Je et al., 2019 ).

Harassment : includes sending repeated and offensive messages to a specific person, causing strong psychological and emotional distress. Harassment occurs through email, messages, forums, chats, and discussion groups ( Wells et al., 2019 ). As in traditional bullying, the victim is always in a “one down” position and suffers passively from aggression ( Choi and Kruis, 2020 ; Moneva et al., 2020 ).

Cyberstalking: harassment, violence, threats, and persecutions online, toward a person to isolate and frighten them. The cyberstalker has control of their victims and virtually follows them. The persecutor can systematically try to contact the victim, sending offensive and intrusive messages ( Reyns and Fissel, 2020 ). The cyberstalker is protected by anonymity and often uses fake profiles. This contributes to increasing the level of disinhibition (disinhibition effect) and aggression toward the victim ( Algeri et al., 2019 ; Dhillon and Smith, 2019 ; Saladino et al., 2020 ).

Denigration: involves the distribution of false or derogatory messages toward victims, to damage their reputation or friendships. The persecutor often sends or publishes images, photographs, or videos relating to the victim ( Sangwan and Bhatia, 2020 ). The spectators who receive these types of messages become passive (when they just watch) or active (when they share material with other friends).

Impersonation : occurs when a cyber-bully has access to the personal account information of the victim (name and password) and impersonates the target online, uploading negative information that damages the target’s social relationships. This can take place on the target’s social network account, blog, or other forms of online platforms. In more extreme cases, the cyber-bully changes the victim’s password by preventing access to his/her account. The cyber-bully, using this method of aggression, endangers the victim. Furthermore, adolescents often share their passwords to demonstrate their “true friendship” and this indirectly contributes to impersonation ( Koch, 2017 ).

Tricky or outing: The cyber-bully becomes a friend of the victim, leads him/her to share private and intimate information. After that stage, the cyber-bully spreads or utilizes the information to threaten the victim ( Intrieri and Corraro, 2019 ).

Exclusion: is when the cyber-bully decides to exclude another user from his/her group of friends, or a particular chat or interactive game (password-protected environments). This type of behavior is called “banning.” Exclusion from the group of friends is perceived as a severe type of punishment and can lead to reduced popularity among the peer group and therefore also of the perceived “power” ( Willard, 2007 ; Menesini et al., 2012 ; Ashktorab and Vitak, 2016 ).

Happy slapping: is associated with traditional bullying, and consists of a video recorded during which the victim is filmed undergoing various forms of violence to humiliate them. The recordings can then be published online and viewed by other internet users ( Željka et al., 2019 ).

According to a survey conducted by UNICEF (2020) , victims of cyberbullying are more likely to incur alcohol and drug use and skip school than other students. They are also more likely to receive poor grades and have self-esteem and health issues. Young people who have been victims of cyberbullying are often reluctant to confide in adults. Cyberbullying could present symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, which can lead to suicide ( Liu et al., 2020 ). Experiences of bullying and cyberbullying are often associated with the development of depression, social anxiety ( Chu et al., 2018 ; Wang et al., 2019 ), and mental health problems ( Fahy et al., 2016 ). Furthermore, cyber-victims have a worse quality of life, especially in terms of their psychological well-being and in the school environment ( González-Cabrera et al., 2018 ). In Italy, there have been prominent media cases such as that of Carolina Picchio or Andrea Spezzacatena ( Manes, 2013 ; Intrieri and Corraro, 2019 ). Carolina Picchio committed suicide after that her angry ex-boyfriend hurled insults and broadcasted videos in which the girl appeared in intimate attitudes. After weeks of taunts and verbal harassment, the 14-year-old girl threw herself from the window of her home ( Polidori, 2018 ). Andrea Spezzacatena has a different story, which began with his mother who did not separate her son’s jeans from colored garments, and some were were dyed pink. Andrea, amused by the situation, wore them to school but the classmates perceived Andrea to be strange and started to use homophobic appellatives. They created a profile on a well-known social network entitled: “The boy with the pink pants.” The insults and jokes were repeated and followed, ever heavier, until the day when one of the classmates painted offensive homophobic writing on the wall. As a result of this behavior, Andrea became desperate, grabbed a scarf, tied it around his neck until he suffocated, killing himself ( Guerriero, 2020 ).

These examples suggest the need to recognize symptoms of distress in adolescents who might hide the strong feelings of loneliness and sadness associated with the victimization caused by this cyberbullying.

The Present Study: Adolescents’ Perception of Cyberbullying and Future Directions

Our study explores the personal perception of cyberbullying by youths, taking into account the following types of cyberbullying: Harassment; Tricky or Outing; Denigration; Exclusion; Impersonation, with the aim to: (a) evaluate the general perception of cyberbullying motivation; (b) assess the identification process with the victim and the gender attribution of the cyberbullying acts; (c) evaluate the participants’ tendency to perform cyberbullying, and (d) identify possible gender differences in the personal perception of cyberbullying. The sample examined Italian adolescents.

Methods and Measure

We recruited 600 participants, divided into 300 males (mean age 12.45; SD 0.900; age range: 11–14) and 300 females (mean age 12,43; SD 0.857; age range: 11–14), recruited from five lower secondary schools in the Central South area of Italy.

The researchers explained the aims and scope of the research to children and their parents and obtained the informed consent for children, signed by the parents, and authorization from the School Director. The participants completed a questionnaire on the perception of cyberbullying, structured by the Department of Human, Social and Health Sciences of the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio. The questionnaire lasted 15 min and proposed five cyberbullying scenarios: (a) Harassment; (b) Tricky or Outing; (c) Denigration; (d) Exclusion; and (e) Impersonation. For each scenario, the participant was asked to answer five multiple-choice questions: (1) cyber-bully motivation; (2) the cyber-victim’s reaction; (3) the cyber-victim’s emotions; (4) the gender attribution of the cyberbully; and (5) their personal propensity to perform acts of cyberbullying. The study was approved by the International Review Board of the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (Version 25.0, SPSS Inc., Armonk) ( IBM Corp. Released, 2017 ). Descriptive analysis was used to evaluate the perception of cyberbullying for each scenario proposed. Furthermore, a chi-square test was used to evaluate gender differences in the attribution of cyberbullying acts ( Wright, 1992 ).

All p -values were two-tailed, and the level of statistical significance was set at p < 0.05 for all tests.

We undertook a descriptive analysis of the first question and the motivation to cyber-bully shows a strong tendency in participants who attribute the fault to the victim. Indeed, participants gave the same answer for all scenarios, affirming that the cyber-victim suffers from cyberbullying because “he/she is strange and different from others.”

Regarding the second question about the reaction of the cyber-victim in a scenario where they experience Harassment, 30% of the sample thought that the cyber-victim did not react out of fear in the Tricky or Outing, Denigration, and Impersonation scenarios, with results of 32.8, 36.2, and 45.7%, respectively. The participants thought that the cyber-victim should confide in someone (friends, parents, and/or teachers). Only the Exclusion scenario is connected to a different perception of the cyber-victim’ reaction: indeed, 25.2% of the participants affirm that the cyber-victim tries to contact the cyber-bully to ask for an explanation. This reaction might be associated with a lower fear toward the bully, due to the kind of violence or extremity of their behavior. Indeed, exclusion is a type of indirect violence that isolates the victim from others. Mostly, the exclusion could solicit a need for clarity and understanding among the cyber-victims, which can lead them to ask for an explanation.

In response to the third question, on the cyber-victim’s emotions, the answers of participants are coherent with the contents of each scenario, demonstrating the participant’s high capacity for understanding and perceive the feelings of others in different situations of cyberbullying. For instance, in the Denigration (20.9%) and Impersonation (22.7%) scenarios, participants thought that the cyber-victim felt rage; while in the Tricky or Outing scenario, they attribute the feeling of shame to the cyber-victim (28.2%). In the Harassment scenario, the most frequently reported emotion was fear (44.8%) while in the Exclusion scenario, it was sadness.

An interesting aspect arose concerning question number four, on the gender attribution of the cyberbully. Overall, the participants perceived males as more likely to commit cyberbullying than females. However, the chi-square analysis showed that the percentage of females who engage in acts of cyberbullying to be more than males in the scenarios n. 1 Harassment, 3 Denigration, and 5 Impersonation and was significantly higher than the male group. This perception seems to change in scenario n.2, Tricky or Outing, and in n. 4 on Exclusion, that do not involve aggression or threatening acts. Table 1 reports the percentages of male and female participants in the attribution of cyberbullying, divided for each scenario; the chi-square and the p-value .

Table 1. Percentage of the two groups of participants (male and female), in the attribution of cyberbullying, divided for each scenario.

Finally, concerning the final fifth question on participants’ tendency to perform cyberbullying, the participants affirmed that they do not commit cyberbullying, showing a strong perception about the consequences of cyberbullying.

Data from the descriptive analysis of each scenario are reported below, showing the percentage of the distribution of the answers among the sample recruited ( Table 2 ).

Table 2. Perception of cyberbullying for each scenario in the total sample.

This research represents the scenario of a specific sample; a preliminary investigation that aimed to generate a hypotheses that will be tested in subsequent studies ad hoc designs. The results are not generalizable and could be expanded in the future with a historical or longitudinal investigation. Data suggest that comparative future studies could look at other schools, such as those in the North of Italy, also considering the socio-economic level and the family structure of the participants. In the last few years, there has been a surge of research on cyberbullying, investigating the diffusion and the consequences of the phenomenon. Data found a strong relation between cyber-victimization, anxiety, and depression ( Chu et al., 2018 ; Wang et al., 2019 ). Furthermore, in European and non-European countries, the rate of suicide is growing, especially among adolescents ( Athanasiou et al., 2018 ). The personal perception of cyberbullying is an important and often undervalued element. This aspect can help in understanding the motivation of cyberbullying, the identification with the cyber-victim, and the tendency to become a cyber-bully. We investigated the topic of adolescents’ perception of cyberbullying taking into account the following types: harassment, tricky or outing, denigration, exclusion, impersonation.

Regarding the first objective to evaluate the general perception of cyberbullying motivation, data showed an attribution of fault to the cyber-victim, emphasizing the cognitive mechanism of dissociation between actions and consequences which can lead to a projected displacement of responsibility of the spectator toward the cyber-bully. Participants affirm that the cyber-victim is targeted due to their personal characteristics and attitudes (they are strange and different from others). Concerning the second objective to assess the identification process with the victim and the gender attribution of cyberbullying acts, participants had a coherent identification with the feelings and possible reactions of the cyber-victim, as shown in the results. In the global analysis of the sample, the majority of the participants attributed acts of cyberbullying to males, showing a high tendency to perceive men as more aggressive than women. With regard to the third objective to evaluate the participants’ tendency to perform cyberbullying, adolescents affirmed that they would not commit any acts of cyberbullying. Finally, concerning the last objective to evaluate the gender differences in the attribution of cyberbullying, there was a significant difference between boys and girls in the attribution of cyberbullying to their identified gender for the scenario n. 1, Harassment; n. 3, Denigration; and 5, Impersonation, all scenarios characterized by aggressive and threatening behavior. Indeed, a high percentage of both groups’ participants attributed cyberbullying to males in all scenarios. Therefore, it might be assumed that there was a perception of the male gender as more aggressive and violent than female. According to these results, men perceive themselves to be more likely to commit cyberbullying, especially aggressive, violent and threatening types; while females perceive themselves as less likely to cyberbully, except for in scenarios n. 2 and n. 4. The Tricky or Outing scenario might be interpreted by the participants as joking with other people and the Exclusion scenario as a form of isolating someone; none of them involves the use of aggression, verbal attacks, threats, or explicit humiliation, acts often attributed to male gender. The participants could underestimate the psychological effects that all cyberbullying types have on victims.

The results of this study can be used to make recommendations to institutions, such as schools, to prevent cyberbullying and its consequences for adolescents. In recent years, school operators have re-evaluated educational and training aspects in addition to the traditional, educational, and cultural ones. Episodes of bullying, oppression, and aggression are often confused and labeled as a generic manifestation of “rudeness.” To reduce cyberbullying, it is important to avoid attribution of blame and focus more on prevention. The study and the possibility to understand the phenomenon should guarantee its inclusion in the education of young people. According to these considerations, we suggest the following approaches.

Prevention. Promoting collaboration between family, school, and territory to counter the spread of cyberbullying and to provide socio-educational tools for parents, teachers, and students; implementing communication and confidence among youths and adults and developing new space to train parents and teachers in recognizing cyberbullying.

Intervention. Supporting psychologically the cyber-victims, developing face to face and online spaces to sensitize students with aggressive tendencies to the consequences and responsibility of their actions. Interventions could improve the development of communication, socialization, and interpersonal skills among students. An example of interventions focused on these principles is that of the so-called restorative schools ( Gregory et al., 2016 ). This concept derives from restorative justice, which can be applied to the school system to manage conflicts in adolescence.

Only five different types of cyberbullying have been considered in our research, in particular, those most related to educational institutions, which are widespread among very young populations. However, phenomena such as happy slapping, flaming, and cyberstalking are also spreading, with worrying consequences. One of our future goals will be to promote research that also takes into account these types of cyberbullying, expanding this sample, and producing data to promote the psychological well-being in young adults and to support the families of both cyber-victim and cyber-bully.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics Statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board, University of Cassino. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants’ legal guardian/next of kin.

Author Contributions

VS, SE, and VV conceptualized the contribution. VS wrote the manuscript. SE and FP reviewed the manuscript. VS provided the critical revision processes as PI. All authors approved the submission of the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Keywords : adolescence, cyberbullying, digital devices, intervention, psychological disease, suicide

Citation: Saladino V, Eleuteri S, Verrastro V and Petruccelli F (2020) Perception of Cyberbullying in Adolescence: A Brief Evaluation Among Italian Students. Front. Psychol. 11:607225. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.607225

Received: 16 September 2020; Accepted: 19 October 2020; Published: 25 November 2020.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2020 Saladino, Eleuteri, Verrastro and Petruccelli. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Valeria Saladino, [email protected] ; [email protected]

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A Survey of Cyberbullying Detection and Performance: Its Impact in Social Media Using Artificial Intelligence

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Recently, cyberbullying has become one of the most important topics on social media. Online social media users have recognised this as a severe problem, and in recent years, effective detection models have been developed. This has taken on substantial importance. The numerous forms of cyberbullying on social media are highlighted by this poll. Currently, research is being done to identify cyberbullying using AI approaches. We talk about various machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) methods that are used to identify cyberbullying. Additionally, the difficulties and potential directions for future research in the area of AI detection of cyberbullying have been discussed. Attacks on victims of cyberbullying have surged by 40% in 2020’s pandemic season. 20% of the increase in juvenile suicides is attributable to cyberbullying. Attacks involving cyberbullying are expected to reach an all-time high in 2025, according to 60% of experts. 38% of respondents report daily exposure to cyberbullying on social media platforms. Even though many people are aware of cyberattacks, cyberbullying has begun to rise alarmingly. By keeping track of the signs of cyberbullying before it occurs, internet service providers can develop more precise classifications for the behaviour to prevent it. Large data sets can also be processed using deep learning techniques.

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Ambareen, K., Meenakshi Sundaram, S. A Survey of Cyberbullying Detection and Performance: Its Impact in Social Media Using Artificial Intelligence. SN COMPUT. SCI. 4 , 859 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-023-02301-2

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Teens and cyberbullying 2022, nearly half of u.s. teens have been bullied or harassed online, with physical appearance being seen as a relatively common reason why. older teen girls are especially likely to report being targeted by online abuse overall and because of their appearance.

Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand teens’ experiences with and views on bullying and harassment online. For this analysis, we surveyed 1,316 U.S. teens. The survey was conducted online by Ipsos from April 14 to May 4, 2022.

This research was reviewed and approved by an external institutional review board (IRB), Advarra, which is an independent committee of experts that specializes in helping to protect the rights of research participants.

Ipsos recruited the teens via their parents who were a part of its  KnowledgePanel , a probability-based web panel recruited primarily through national, random sampling of residential addresses. The survey is weighted to be representative of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 who live with parents by age, gender, race, ethnicity, household income and other categories.

Here are the  questions used for this report , along with responses, and  its methodology .

While bullying existed long before the internet, the rise of smartphones and social media has brought a new and more public arena into play for this aggressive behavior.

Nearly half of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 (46%) report ever experiencing at least one of six cyberbullying behaviors asked about in a Pew Research Center survey conducted April 14-May 4, 2022. 1

The most commonly reported behavior in this survey is name-calling, with 32% of teens saying they have been called an offensive name online or on their cellphone. Smaller shares say they have had false rumors spread about them online (22%) or have been sent explicit images they didn’t ask for (17%).

Some 15% of teens say they have experienced someone other than a parent constantly asking them where they are, what they’re doing or who they’re with, while 10% say they have been physically threatened and 7% of teens say they have had explicit images of them shared without their consent.

In total, 28% of teens have experienced multiple types of cyberbullying.

Defining cyberbullying in this report

This report measures cyberbullying of teens using six distinct behaviors:

• Offensive name-calling
• Spreading of false rumors about them
• Receiving explicit images they didn’t ask for
• Physical threats
• Constantly being asked where they are, what they’re doing, or who they’re with by someone other than a parent
• Having explicit images of them shared without their consent

Teens who indicate they have personally experienced any of these behaviors online or while using their cellphone are considered targets of cyberbullying in this report. The terms “cyberbullying” and “online harassment” are used interchangeably throughout this report.

Age and gender are related to teens’ cyberbullying experiences, with older teen girls being especially likely to face this abuse

Teens’ experiences with online harassment vary by age. Some 49% of 15- to 17-year-olds have experienced at least one of the six online behaviors, compared with 42% of those ages 13 to 14. While similar shares of older and younger teens report being the target of name-calling or rumor spreading, older teens are more likely than their younger counterparts (22% vs. 11%) to say someone has sent them explicit images they didn’t ask for, an act sometimes referred to as cyberflashing ; had someone share explicit images of them without their consent, in what is also known as revenge porn (8% vs. 4%); or been the target of persistent questioning about their whereabouts and activities (17% vs. 12%).

While there is no gender difference in having ever experienced online abuse, teen girls are more likely than teen boys to say false rumors have been spread about them. But further differences are seen when looking at age and gender together: 15- to 17-year-old girls stand out for being particularly likely to have faced any cyberbullying, compared with younger teen girls and teen boys of any age. Some 54% of girls ages 15 to 17 have experienced at least one of the six cyberbullying behaviors, while 44% of 15- to 17-year-old boys and 41% of boys and girls ages 13 to 14 say the same. These older teen girls are also more likely than younger teen girls and teen boys of any age to report being the target of false rumors and constant monitoring by someone other than a parent.

White, Black and Hispanic teens do not statistically differ in having ever been harassed online, but specific types of online attacks are more prevalent among certain groups. 2 For example, White teens are more likely to report being targeted by false rumors than Black teens. Hispanic teens are more likely than White or Black teens to say they have been asked constantly where they are, what they’re doing or who they’re with by someone other than a parent.

There are also differences by household income when it comes to physical threats. Teens who are from households making less than $30,000 annually are twice as likely as teens living in households making $75,000 or more a year to say they have been physically threatened online (16% vs. 8%).

Beyond those differences related to specific harassing behaviors, older teen girls are particularly likely to say they experience multiple types of online harassment. Some 32% of teen girls have experienced two or more types of online harassment asked about in this survey, while 24% of teen boys say the same. And 15- to 17-year-olds are more likely than 13- to 14-year-olds to have been the target of multiple types of cyberbullying (32% vs. 22%).

These differences are largely driven by older teen girls: 38% of teen girls ages 15 to 17 have experienced at least two of the harassing behaviors asked about in this survey, while roughly a quarter of younger teen girls and teen boys of any age say the same.

Beyond demographic differences, being the target of these behaviors and facing multiple types of these behaviors also vary by the amount of time youth spend online. Teens who say they are online almost constantly are not only more likely to have ever been harassed online than those who report being online less often (53% vs 40%), but are also more likely to have faced multiple forms of online abuse (37% vs. 21%).

These are some of the findings from a Pew Research Center online survey of 1,316 U.S. teens conducted from April 14 to May 4, 2022.

Black teens are about twice as likely as Hispanic or White teens to say they think their race or ethnicity made them a target of online abuse

There are numerous reasons why a teen may be targeted with online abuse. This survey asked youth if they believed their physical appearance, gender, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation or political views were a factor in them being the target of abusive behavior online.

Teens are most likely to say their physical appearance made them the target of cyberbullying. Some 15% of all teens think they were cyberbullied because of their appearance.

About one-in-ten teens say they were targeted because of their gender (10%) or their race or ethnicity (9%). Teens less commonly report being harassed for their sexual orientation or their political views – just 5% each.

Looking at these numbers in a different way, 31% of teens who have personally experienced online harassment or bullying think they were targeted because of their physical appearance. About one-in-five cyberbullied teens say they were targeted due to their gender (22%) or their racial or ethnic background (20%). And roughly one-in-ten affected teens point to their sexual orientation (12%) or their political views (11%) as a reason why they were targeted with harassment or bullying online.

The reasons teens cite for why they were targeted for cyberbullying are largely similar across major demographic groups, but there are a few key differences. For example, teen girls overall are more likely than teen boys to say they have been cyberbullied because of their physical appearance (17% vs. 11%) or their gender (14% vs. 6%). Older teens are also more likely to say they have been harassed online because of their appearance: 17% of 15- to 17-year-olds have experienced cyberbullying because of their physical appearance, compared with 11% of teens ages 13 to 14.

Older teen girls are particularly likely to think they have been harassed online because of their physical appearance: 21% of all 15- to 17-year-old girls think they have been targeted for this reason. This compares with about one-in-ten younger teen girls or teen boys, regardless of age, who think they have been cyberbullied because of their appearance.

A teen’s racial or ethnic background relates to whether they report having been targeted for cyberbullying because of race or ethnicity. Some 21% of Black teens report being made a target because of their race or ethnicity, compared with 11% of Hispanic teens and an even smaller share of White teens (4%).

There are no partisan differences in teens being targeted for their political views, with 5% of those who identify as either Democratic or Republican – including those who lean toward each party – saying they think their political views contributed to them being cyberbullied.

Black or Hispanic teens are more likely than White teens to say cyberbullying is a major problem for people their age

In addition to measuring teens’ own personal experiences with cyberbullying, the survey also sought to understand young people’s views about online harassment more generally.

The vast majority of teens say online harassment and online bullying are a problem for people their age, with 53% saying they are a major problem. Just 6% of teens think they are not a problem.

Certain demographic groups stand out for how much of a problem they say cyberbullying is. Seven-in-ten Black teens and 62% of Hispanic teens say online harassment and bullying are a major problem for people their age, compared with 46% of White teens. Teens from households making under $75,000 a year are similarly inclined to call this type of harassment a major problem, with 62% making this claim, compared with 47% of teens from more affluent homes. Teen girls are also more likely than boys to view cyberbullying as a major problem.

Views also vary by community type. Some 65% of teens living in urban areas say online harassment and bullying are a major problem for people their age, compared with about half of suburban and rural teens.

Partisan differences appear as well: Six-in-ten Democratic teens say this is a major problem for people their age, compared with 44% of Republican teens saying this.

Roughly three-quarters of teens or more think elected officials and social media sites aren’t adequately addressing online abuse

In recent years, there have been several initiatives and programs aimed at curtailing bad behavior online, but teens by and large view some of those behind these efforts – including social media companies and politicians – in a decidedly negative light.

According to teens, parents are doing the best of the five groups asked about in terms of addressing online harassment and online bullying, with 66% of teens saying parents are doing at least a good job, including one-in-five saying it is an excellent job. Roughly four-in-ten teens report thinking teachers (40%) or law enforcement (37%) are doing a good or excellent job addressing online abuse. A quarter of teens say social media sites are doing at least a good job addressing online harassment and cyberbullying, and just 18% say the same of elected officials. In fact, 44% of teens say elected officials have done a poor job addressing online harassment and online bullying.

Teens who have been cyberbullied are more critical of how various groups have addressed online bullying than those who haven’t

Teens who have experienced harassment or bullying online have a very different perspective on how various groups have been handling cyberbullying compared with those who have not faced this type of abuse. Some 53% of teens who have been cyberbullied say elected officials have done a poor job when it comes to addressing online harassment and online bullying, while 38% who have not undergone these experiences say the same (a 15 percentage point gap). Double-digit differences also appear between teens who have and have not been cyberbullied in their views on how law enforcement, social media sites and teachers have addressed online abuse, with teens who have been harassed or bullied online being more critical of each of these three groups. These harassed teens are also twice as likely as their peers who report no abuse to say parents have done a poor job of combatting online harassment and bullying.

Aside from these differences based on personal experience with cyberbullying, only a few differences are seen across major demographic groups. For example, Black teens express greater cynicism than White teens about how law enforcement has fared in this space: 33% of Black teens say law enforcement is doing a poor job when it comes to addressing online harassment and online bullying; 21% of White teens say the same. Hispanic teens (25%) do not differ from either group on this question.

Large majorities of teens believe permanent bans from social media and criminal charges can help reduce harassment on the platforms

Teens have varying views about possible actions that could help to curb the amount of online harassment youth encounter on social media.

While a majority of teens say each of five possible solutions asked about in the survey would at least help a little, certain measures are viewed as being more effective than others.

Teens see the most benefit in criminal charges for users who bully or harass on social media or permanently locking these users out of their account. Half of teens say each of these options would help a lot in reducing the amount of harassment and bullying teens may face on social media sites.

About four-in-ten teens think that if social media companies looked for and deleted posts they think are bullying or harassing (42%) or if users of these platforms were required to use their real names and pictures (37%) it would help a lot in addressing these issues. The idea of forcing people to use their real name while online has long existed and been heavily debated: Proponents see it as a way to hold bad actors accountable and keep online conversations more civil , while detractors believe it would do little to solve harassment and could even  worsen it .

Three-in-ten teens say school districts monitoring students’ social media activity for bullying or harassment would help a lot. Some school districts already use digital monitoring software to help them identify worrying student behavior on school-owned devices , social media and other online platforms . However, these programs have been met with criticism regarding privacy issues , mixed results and whether they do more harm than good .

Having personally experienced online harassment is unrelated to a teen’s view on whether these potential measures would help a lot in reducing these types of adverse experiences on social media. Views do vary widely by a teen’s racial or ethnic background, however.

Black or Hispanic teens are consistently more optimistic than White teens about the effectiveness of each of these measures.

Majorities of both Black and Hispanic teens say permanently locking users out of their account if they bully or harass others or criminal charges for users who bully or harass on social media would help a lot, while about four-in-ten White teens express each view.

In the case of permanent bans, Black teens further stand out from their Hispanic peers: Seven-in-ten say this would help a lot, followed by 59% of Hispanic teens and 42% of White teens.

• It is important to note that there are various ways researchers measure youths’ experiences with cyberbullying and online harassment. As a result, there may be a range of estimates for how many teens report having these experiences. In addition, since the Center last polled on this topic in 2018, there have been changes in how the surveys were conducted and how the questions were asked. For instance, the 2018 survey asked about bullying by listing a number of possible behaviors and asking respondents to “check all that apply.” This survey asked teens to answer “yes” or “no” to each item individually. Due to these changes, direct comparisons cannot be made across the two surveys. ↩
• There were not enough Asian American teen respondents in the sample to be broken out into a separate analysis. As always, their responses are incorporated into the general population figures throughout the report. ↩

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Empathy, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization among Filipino adolescents

Tadena shannen.

1 Graduate Student, School of Nursing, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea

Shin-Jeong Kim

2 Professor, School of Nursing, Research Institute of Nursing Science, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea

Jungmin Lee

3 Lecturer, School of Nursing, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea

The purpose of this study was to gain insights into empathy, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization among Filipino adolescents.

The participants were 168 junior high school students in the 7th to 10th grades at a public high school in Cavite Province, Philippines. Data were collected on demographic characteristics, the Basic Empathy Scale, and Revised Cyber Bullying Inventory-II scores. The data were analyzed in SPSS using descriptive statistics (frequency and mean), the independent t-test, bivariate correlation, and one-way analysis of variance.

The degree of empathy did not show a statistically significant relationship with cyberbullying (r=−.07, p =.359) but did show a significant relationship with cybervictimization (r=.18, p =.025). Furthermore, cyberbullying had a statistically significant association with cybervictimization (r=.60, p <.001).

Although empathy does not necessarily affect cyberbullying, higher levels of empathy were found among cyberbullying victims. However, an alarming result of this study is the possibility that victims may become cyberbullies. Therefore, we should highlight empathy as part of efforts to prevent cyberbullying and to solve various cyber-related problems. Since cyberbullying and cybervictimization are closely related, it is important to focus on this relationship and to make multilateral efforts to ensure that cyberbullying does not lead to other negative issues.

INTRODUCTION

Cyberbullying is more harmful than other types of violence because a negative post or comment can reach a limit-less number of social media (SM) users, thereby increasing the opportunity of prolonged exposure and permanency [ 1 , 2 ]. Furthermore, younger generations currently tend to embrace the use of SM [ 1 ]. A term related to “cyberbullying” is “cybervictimization’, which refers to the experience of being victimized through the use of electronic information on the internet [ 2 ]. Cyberbullying is considered to be a form of violent behavior; therefore, it is expected that cyberbullying causes detrimental effects for both the victim and the perpetrator.

The use of the internet for SM has steadily grown over time. As of January 2020, the estimated number of active SM users worldwide was 3.8 billion, reflecting an increase from the number of 3.4 billion in January 2019 [ 3 ]. In particular, during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there has been an increase in the number of digital platform users [ 4 ]. Individuals are now actively posting their new achievements during the pandemic lockdown and expressing their opinions more vocally than before, as SM is now the most frequently used communication method for most individuals [ 4 ]. One study showed that as SM use increases, students who are prone to bullying are more likely to face cyberbullying [ 4 ]. There can be a limitless exchange of information among the SM users, and this information can sometimes be used in negative ways that may cause harm or make someone feel harassed. The act of harassing or harming someone via the use of SM is called cyberbullying. Cyberbullying can happen by sending harassing messages, posting derogatory comments on SM sites, posting humiliating pictures, and threatening someone electronically [ 5 ].

Victims of cyberbullying usually report feelings of depression, anger, frustration, and even suicidal thoughts. Cyberbullying has been found to be linked to low self-esteem, family problems, academic problems, violence, and delinquent behaviors [ 1 , 4 ]. In general, the estimated number of adolescents experiencing cyberbullying is around 10%-40%, although the percentage depends on age and the definition of cyberbullying used in the study [ 1 , 2 ]. In the United States, among a sample of 5,700 middle to high school students, 33.8% admitted to being cyberbullied, while 11.5% admitted to being perpetrators of cyberbullying [ 1 ]. In South Korea, 10.8% of 50,000 elementary to high school students experienced cyberbullying [ 6 ]. In a survey conducted in the Philippines, it was found that 80% of 1,143 respondents aged 13-16 years experienced cyberbullying [ 7 ].

A psychological factor related to the development of violent behavior is having a low empathy level. Empathy can be defined using two dimensions: cognitive and affective. Cognitive empathy is the ability to communicate, tolerate, recognize, and perceive emotions, while affective empathy refers to the ability to perceive and share both the positive and negative emotions of other people [ 8 ]. A study showed that lower levels of empathy increased the development of violent or aggressive behaviors, while a higher level of empathy decreased the development of violent or aggressive behaviors [ 9 ]. Since cyberbullying is considered to be a violent behavior, it is possible that empathy influences cyberbullying.

Adolescence is an important developmental stage when adolescents transition from childhood to adulthood. The changes experienced by adolescents also affect their roles in their family, with friends, and in their communities. Thus, it is vital to pay special attention to adolescents [ 10 ]. The parents of Filipino adolescents set the expectation that they are to be aware of their actions and the consequences corresponding to those actions [ 11 ]. Camaraderie is a factor valued by Filipino adolescents, which is why it is natural for them to be friendly, resulting in the expectation that they know how to empathize with someone [ 11 ]. Nonetheless, little research has discussed Filipino adolescents’ characteristics, and although favorable characteristics have been mentioned, there has been an increase in cases of cyberbullying in the Philippines [ 7 ].

It has been reported that inhabitants of the Philippines spend an average of 4 hours a day using SM, exceeding the values reported for other countries [ 3 ]. Since prolonged exposure to SM can increase victimization, Filipinos may be exposed to the harmful effects of SM for a longer time than others [ 1 ]. Although there has been an increase in the number of cases of cyberbullying in the Philippines, little research has tackled this issue. Because of the detrimental effects of cyberbullying, it is important for adolescents to be aware of its seriousness and the importance of putting an end to this violent behavior. Since adolescence is a vital stage of life, it is important to properly guide adolescents throughout this period. To the researchers’ knowledge, no published study has yet investigated empathy among Filipino adolescents and its possible influence on cyberbullying and cybervictimization.

The purpose of this study was to investigate empathy, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization among Filipino adolescents, with the following specific goals:

• To identify the degree of empathy, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization among junior high school students.
• To identify differences in empathy, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization according to participants’ general characteristics.
• To identify the relationships among empathy, cyberbullying, and degree of cybervictimization.

2. Theoretical Framework

Two theoretical frameworks were used to support the study: the social learning theory developed by Albert Bandura [ 12 ] and the general strain theory developed by Robert Agnew [ 13 ] ( Figure 1 ).

Empathy, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization framework.

Social learning theory [ 12 ] reflects the understanding that a person learns and develops attitudes, behaviors, and emotional reactions by observing others’ actions. It combines cognitive and behavioral learning theory. Cyberbullying incidents and SM may influence ones’ empathy due to what a person observes or experiences through SM. Along with other factors that may also affect someone’s empathy, a person might, or might not, engage in cyberbullying.

General strain theory [ 13 ] supports the assumption that negative experiences can lead to strain or stress. Victimization is considered a stressful experience, and according to this theory, experiences of stress or strain may cause a person to perform a positive or negative action to decrease the stress or strain. Within this framework, the study used general strain theory to investigate whether cybervictimization increased victims’ likelihood to engage in cyberbullying as a response to the strain that they experienced.

1. Study Design

This research is a descriptive study using a questionnaire to investigate empathy, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization among Filipino adolescents.

2. Participants

The participants were junior high school students who were currently enrolled in a public secondary school in Cavite Province, Philippines. Junior high school is the term used in the Philippines to describe grade 7 to 10 students, whereas in South Korea, the term middle or high school is used. The participants were students from grades 7 to 10 who were aged 12 to 19 years old and used SM applications. The school was selected using convenience sampling. The sample size for the correlation was calculated using G*Power 3.1.9.2. The results indicated that 164 participants were needed for an effect size of .25, a significance level of .05, and a test power of .95. Anticipating an 80% response rate, 201 participants were recruited. Responses from 168 participants were analyzed after excluding uncompleted questionnaires.

3. Measurements

The Basic Empathy Scale was developed by Jolliffe and Farrington [ 14 ] and validated among 363 adolescents (grade 10) in the United Kingdom. The scale is a 20-item instrument with two subscales (cognitive empathy with 9 items, Cronbach’s α = .79; affective empathy with 11 items, Cronbach’s α = .85). It is a 5-point Likert-type scale (strongly disagree=1, disagree=2, neutral=3, agree=4, and strongly agree=5). Eight items are reverse-scored. A higher score indicates a higher empathy level [ 14 ]. For the current study, four items were omitted to obtain a more acceptable Cronbach’s α. Each of the eight items was used to measure cognitive empathy and affective empathy. Cronbach’s α values of .67 for the complete empathy scale, .51 for cognitive empathy, and .52 for affective empathy were recorded. Cronbach’s α values ranging from .50 to .75 are generally accepted because these values indicate moderate reliability [ 15 ]. The researcher conducted a pilot study without omitting the four questions and recorded a Cronbach’s α of .79 for the complete empathy scale, .67 for cognitive empathy, and .65 for affective empathy. After omitting the four questions, Cronbach’s α values of .81 for the complete empathy scale, .80 for cognitive empathy, and .66 for affective empathy were recorded.

2) Cyberbullying and cybervictimization

The Revised Cyber Bullying (Cyber Victim) Inventory-II is the second revision of the tool developed by Topcu and Erdur-Baker [ 16 ] and validated among 1,803 high school students attending public high school in Ankara, Turkey. The purpose of the revision was to update and eliminate specific technology names. Consisting of 10 items, participants rate each item twice (once for reporting cyberbullying experience and once for reporting cybervictimization) on a 4-point rating scale (1=never, 2=once, 3=twice or three times, 4=more than three times). Scores are added to achieve the total score in each form. A total score of 10 means being not involved in cyberbullying or cybervictimization, respectively, whereas a higher score indicates more frequent engagement in cyberbullying and cybervictimization. The Cronbach’s α coefficients were .80 for the cybervictimization part and .79 for the cyberbullying part [ 17 ]. In this study, Cronbach’s α values of .80 for cyberbullying and .75 for cybervictimization were recorded. A pilot study recorded a Cronbach’s α of .88 for the entire questionnaire, .57 for the cyberbullying subscale, and .92 for the cybervictimization subscale.

3) Content validity index

The modified questionnaire used in this study to measure empathy was reviewed and approved by a group of experts, including two professors from the child and adolescent department and three nurses who had both worked in a pediatric unit at a university hospital for over 5 years and had doctoral degrees in nursing. The content validity index was .91 using the rating of item relevance.

4. Data Collection Method

After receiving approval to conduct the study from the Institutional Review Board of Hallym University, the researcher coordinated with a teacher at a public secondary school in the Philippines. The researcher was endorsed by the school principal, and a letter describing the timetable for gathering data, the research tools, the purpose of the study, and permission to conduct the study was personally given. After receiving permission to conduct the study, endorsement letters, student and parental consent forms were distributed to the students and were signed by both the student and parents as proof that they agreed to participate in the study. After receiving the consent forms, a pilot study was conducted among two students from each grade level to assess the validity of the tool. After validation, the researcher collected data by distributing the questionnaires, giving instructions, and remaining in the classroom for the duration of questionnaire completion be able to respond to any questions or clarification from the participants. It took around 15 minutes for each class to complete the questionnaires. The collected questionnaires were kept and locked in the cabinet of the corresponding author’s research room and were not accessible to any other researchers.

5. Ethical Considerations

The two instruments used in this study were approved for use by the original authors through email. In addition, the study was conducted after receiving approval from the Institutional Review Board of Hallym University (HIRB-2019-092). The study was conducted at a public secondary school. The researcher explained the purpose and procedure of the research to the participants who agreed to participate by completing an informed consent form. Assurance was given that the results of the study would only be used for the current study and that the anonymity of the participants would be maintained. Participants were provided snacks worth about $1 per person as compensation.

6. Statistical Analysis

Data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows version 25 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Participants’ demographic characteristics were analyzed in terms of percentage, frequency, and mean±standard deviation. The Shapiro-Wilk hypothesis test and the Levene test for equality of variance were performed to confirm the normality of the distribution and within-group normality. The t-test and analysis of variance were conducted to identify differences in empathy, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization according to participants’ characteristics. The Duncan multiple range test was used to determine specific differences between pairs of means. Bivariate correlation analysis was conducted to assess the relationships among empathy, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization

1. Descriptive Characteristics of the Participants

The descriptive characteristics of the participants are shown in Table 1 . Of the 168 participants, 44.0%(n=74) were male and 56.0%(n=94) were female, and their ages were 12-19 years old, with a mean of 14.3±1.4 years. Forty-four (26.2%) of the participants were in the 10th grade, followed by 25.6 % (n=43) in eighth grade, 24.4% (n=41) in seventh grade, and 23.8% (n=40) in the ninth grade. The most commonly utilized SM platform by the participants was Facebook (98.8%; n= 166). The average time of SM usage per day was 296.1±266.1 minutes (4.93 hours or almost 5 hours). Among the 168 participants, the majority used SM applications more than seven times per day (n=57, 34.3%), followed by three to four times (n=46, 27.7%), five to six times (n=39, 23.5%), and one to two times (n=24, 14.5%). The cell phone was the primary device used to check SM platforms (n=154, 91.7%). The predominant purpose of using SM was to watch videos (n=121, 72.0%), while the least common purpose was to read articles (n=62, 36.9%).

Demographic Characteristics of Participants ( N =168)

SM, social media; SNS, social networking site.

2. Degree of Empathy, Cyberbullying, and Cybervictimization

The content, mean score, and standard deviation of the Basic Empathy Scale and Revised Cyber Bullying Inventory-II are presented in Table 2 . The total mean score for empathy was 3.4±0.4 out of 5, indicating a high level of empathy among the participants. The item with the highest mean score was “I can understand my friend’s happiness when she/he does well at something” (3.7±1.1). Followed by “When someone is feeling ‘down’ I can usually understand how they feel” (3.6±1.2), “I often become sad when watching sad things on or in films” (3.6±1.3), “I can often understand how people are feeling even before they tell” (3.7±1.1), and “I can usually work out when people are cheerful” (3.6±1.1). The item with the lowest mean score was “I find it hard to know when my friends are frightened” (2.8±1.1). The average score was divided by 10 which is the number of items. Thus, for cyberbullying was 1.6±0.5, and that for cybervictimization was 1.7±0.6 out of 4, which indicated the existence of cyberbullying and cybervictimization, with a slightly higher score for the latter. “Insulting someone [on the internet]” was the item with the highest average score (1.9±1.0 for cyberbullying and 2.1±1.1 for cybervictimization), followed by “taking over the password of someone’s account [on the internet]”(1.8±0.9 for cyberbullying and 1.8±0.9 for cybervictimization). “Creating a humiliating website [on the internet]” showed the lowest mean score (1.1±0.5 for cyberbullying and 1.2±0.6 for cybervictimization).

Empathy, Cyberbullying, and Cybervictimization of the Participants ( N =168)

3. Differences in the Level of Empathy, Cyberbullying, and Cybervictimization According to Participants’ General Characteristics

Patterns in empathy, cyberbullying and cybervictimization according to participants’ general characteristics are shown in Table 3 . Total empathy, cognitive empathy, and affective empathy were significantly higher among female participants than among male participants (t=3.82, p <.001, t=2.19, p =.030, and t=4.05, p =.001, respectively). However, there were no significant differences in cyberbullying and cybervictimization by gender (t=0.20, p =.838, and t=0.35, p =.724, respectively).

Differences in Participants’ Empathy, Cyberbullying, and Cybervictimization According to Their Characteristics ( N =168)

There was a statistically significant difference in total empathy and both cognitive and affective empathy according to grade level (F=3.90, p =.010, F=3.80, p =.012, and F=3.45, p = .010, respectively). Empathy was significantly higher among grade 10 students than among students of the other grade levels, but the Duncan post hoc test showed no significant difference in the mean scores. In addition, participants’ grade showed a statistically significant association with cyberbullying (F=3.03, p =.031). Cyberbullying was significantly more common among students in grade 8 than among students of the other grade levels, but the Duncan post hoc test showed no significance. In addition, cybervictimization showed a statistically significant difference according to grade level (F=7.66, p <.001), and was also higher in grade 8 participants, but the Duncan post hoc test showed no significance.

Statistically significant differences in total empathy and both cognitive and affective empathy were found according to participants’ age (t=2.86, p =.005, t=2.67, p =.008, and t=2.51, p =.013, respectively). There were no significant differences in cyberbullying or cybervictimization by age (t=0.59, p =.558, and t=1.13, p =.262, respectively). Finally, there were no significant differences in any dependent variables according to the daily use of SM.

4. Correlations among Empathy, Cyberbullying, and Cybervictimization

Cybervictimization was significantly correlated with participants’ total empathy (r=.18, p =.025) and cognitive empathy (r=.17, p =.030), but not with affective empathy (r=.12, p =.114). Total empathy was not significantly correlated with cyberbullying (r=−.07, p =.359). Cyberbullying was significantly correlated with cybervictimization (r=.60, p <.001) ( Table 4 ).

Correlations among Empathy, Cyberbullying, and Cybervictimization ( N =168)

The Philippines has a total population of 108 million, of whom 73 million are active SM users [ 3 , 18 ]. In the current study, Facebook was the most used SM application used by adolescents. In 2020, Facebook had approximately of 2.4 billion monthly users worldwide, thus making it the most popular SM application [ 3 ]. In the Philippines, Facebook is currently the most popular SM application, with at least 70 million users, and most SM users use cellphones to access SM; this trend was also found in a study conducted among Filipino adolescents [ 18 ]. The Philippines have had the longest average daily time of SM use for 4 consecutive years, which reached 4 hours in 2020 [ 3 ]. This finding is in line with the current study, which recorded an average of almost 5 hours of SM use. Most respondents used SM to watch videos (n=121) and for communication (n=106). Watching videos and communication were also the top 2 purposes of using SM in an earlier study [ 18 ].

Filipinos have been observed to value camaraderie and find it natural to be friendly to others, for which reason they place considerable importance on interpersonal relationships [ 11 ]. The importance placed on friendship may be interpreted as reflecting a high level of empathy among Filipino adolescents. The existence of cyberbullying and cybervictimization was evident according to the findings of the study. Even with the increase in cyberbullying in the Philippines, some undocumented cases may exist due to victims’ fear of their situation being publicized. Some schools also tend to under-report cyberbullying due to fears of tarnishing the school’s reputation [ 19 ].

Demographic characteristics are believed to possibly influence empathy, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization. A significant relationship was found between empathy and gender in the current study, with female adolescents scoring higher for empathy than male adolescents. This may result from gender expectations in Filipino culture between the two genders. Female adolescents are expected to help their mothers with chores and to take care of their siblings, which fosters nurturing characteristics and helps them to understand different emotions. In contrast, male adolescents are trained to be logical and independent, and to keep their emotions to themselves [ 20 ]. This may explain why the female participants in this study had a higher degree of empathy than the male participants. However, no significant relationship was found between cyberbullying or cybervictimization and gender, similar to another study conducted in the Philippines [ 21 ]. These results show that when considering factors influencing empathy, other demographic characteristics such as age, educational level, and economic level must also be considered, as well as gender. Thus, further research is needed to predict the variables that affect Filipino adolescents’ empathy regarding cyberbullying and cybervictimization.

The current study established a significant relationship between age and empathy. Another study also reported a similar result, and this relationship reflects the development of empathy, which grows with age until it reaches full development in adolescence [ 22 ]. However, some studies have reported a decrease in cognitive empathy and an increase in affective empathy in the elderly. A decrease in cognitive empathy may be related to reduced activity in brain areas associated with cognitive function [ 23 ].

No significant relationship was found between age and cybervictimization or cyberbullying in this study. This finding is similar to a study conducted among Filipino university students, where it was found that cyberbullying and cybervictimization experiences of students were not significantly related to their age [ 24 ].

There is scarce evidence regarding the relationships among grade level, empathy, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization. The current study identified a significant relationship between grade level and empathy, as well as with cyberbullying and cybervictimization. A study among grade 7-12 students found that the cognitive empathy of victims of cyberbullying was high [ 25 ]. However, in a comparison of cognitive empathy in cyberbully-victims (a term for victims who also engaged in cyberbullying) and bystanders, lower grade levels had higher levels of cognitive empathy than other groups, while higher grade levels had higher levels of cognitive empathy only among cyberbully-victims, but not bystanders. Furthermore, it was found that victimization increased after grade 7 and continued through grade 12 [ 25 ].

Empathy has consistently shown a negative relationship with antisocial behavior [ 15 ], implying that empathy may have a possible influence on cyberbullying. A study investigating the relationship between cyberbullying and empathy found out that a low level of both cognitive and affective empathy predicted cyberbullying [ 26 ]. The current study found no significant relationship between empathy and cyberbullying. The same result was found in another study, and a possible explanation for this result is that even though the participants had a high empathy level, which may make them sensitive to others’ emotions, they may have viewed cyberbullying as a normal phenomenon [ 27 ]. As such, it is crucial to provide Filipino adolescents with the necessary information to protect themselves against cyberbullying. In addition, active interest and participation of parents and teachers are needed for the development of programs, practices, and policies to protect and support this population from this problem.

Few studies have reported a relationship between empathy and cybervictimization. It was found that cybervictims scored higher than cyberbullies and uninvolved students or bystanders in both cognitive and affective empathy [ 28 ]. One study reported higher affective empathy among cybervictims [ 29 ]. Another study reported significant relationships of both cognitive and affective empathy with cybervictimization [ 30 ]. In the current study, total empathy and cognitive empathy, but not affective empathy, had significant relationships with cybervictimization. This finding of distinct relationships of cognitive and affective empathy with cybervictimization was not found in previous research. The significant relationship between cybervictimization and cognitive empathy may be explained by cybervictims’ capability to understand the perspective of others, while still having problematic social relationships, as shown by the lack of a significant association between affective empathy and cybervictimization. Furthermore, affective empathy is important in establishing social relationships [ 27 ].

Taking revenge is a possible response of a cybervictim to his or her bullies. The desire to take revenge may lead a cybervictim to engage in cyberbullying [ 30 ]. Another explanation is the application of general strain theory, which was developed by Agnew [ 13 ]. Greater exposure or experiences of cyberbullying may increase the likelihood that cybervictims will engage in cyberbullying to release their stress. This is an example of a negative response to strain. A study conducted in the Philippines and Turkey reported a positive relationship between cyberbullying and cybervictimization [ 21 ]. The current study yielded a significant relationship between cyberbullying and cybervictimization.

Several limitations were found in this study. The first is the length of the duration of data collection, which resulted in a small sample of participants from a single school. The second is that the researcher used convenience sampling to choose where to conduct the study and the participants to be included. Participants were picked by the teachers due to their availability and knowledge regarding SM use. The third is the use of a self-report survey. There is a possibility that students over-reported or misreported some data (e.g., SM time usage per day and the reasons for SM usage). The questionnaires used may have made the students feel discomfort, anxiety, and fear due to the questions. The fourth is the scarcity of articles about empathy, cyberbullying, cybervictimization, and characteristics of Filipino adolescents. The fifth is the reliability of the Basic Empathy Scale. This study recorded Cronbach’s α values of .67 for the total Basic Empathy Scale, .51 for the cognitive empathy subscale, and .52 for the affective empathy subscale. This is considered a low reliability score, but according to a book by Hinton et al. [ 15 ], a Cronbach’s α value ranging from .50 to .75 is accepted because it indicates moderate reliability.

Despite the limitations of this study, it still made a pertinent contribution to the study of empathy, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization.

The findings of this study shed important light on the issues of cyberbullying and cybervictimization, which could become more problematic in the COVID-19 pandemic. Empathy was not found to be negatively associated with cyberbullying. This can be explained by a lack of self-awareness, because some SM users post or send whatever they want without thinking about whether the content can harm others [ 1 ]. It is also possible that cyberbullying was viewed as a normal phenomenon, especially as SM use has increased over time. Cognitive empathy, but not affective empathy, was significantly associated with cybervictimization. It is possible for cybervictims to understand the emotions of others but still have difficulty in establishing social relationships or feeling the emotions of other people. The finding of this study that cyberbullying was significantly associated with cybervictimization is alarming. This relationship may be explained by the stress that cybervictims experience and their desire to take revenge on the perpetrators, especially since SM can be anonymously.

We expect that the findings of this study may contribute to the prevention of cyber-related problems among adolescents as it offers basic guidelines. Since adolescence can be a confusing period due to changes and transitions from childhood to adulthood, adolescents deserve special attention and guidance from people surrounding them. It is vital for parents, teachers, and even guardians to establish open and good communication with adolescents to properly guide them towards betterment. At this time, with one’s capacity to empathize, it is possible to become a bystander or a defender of a victim, for which reason we should highlight empathy in efforts to prevent and solve various types of cyber-related problems. We also suggest that as cyberbullying and cybervictimization are closely related, it is important to focus on this relationship and to make multilateral efforts to ensure that cyberbullying does not lead to other negative problems.

Acknowledgments

Conflict of interest

No existing or potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Data availability

Please contact the corresponding author for data availability.

Cyberbullying Research in Phillipines

Here is the research we’ve found on cyberbullying in Phillipines, with the most recent first. Please email us if you have any articles to add with the details ordered in the same format as the others.

Authors: Costales, J., Asio, J.M., Albino, M., Albino, F. and Dios, E.E.R.

Title: Students’ Profile and Prevalence of Cyberbullying in Higher Education: Implications to the New Normal Learning

Journal: Couldn’t Find

URL: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3545862.3545896

Abstract: Cyberbullying is a social disorder emanating from the development of technology and wider access to the Internet. This study aims to assess the students’ profiles and the prevalence of cyberbullying in the higher education institutions in Central Luzon, Philippines. The study used a descriptive-correlational technique with the help of an online survey to gather data. Using a convenience sampling technique, 319 higher education students participated in the online survey, first semester of the academic year 2021–2022. In order to attain the objective of the study, the investigators used a standardized instrument. Using SPSS 23, we analyzed the gathered data using the following statistical tools: frequency, percentage, weighted mean, and non-parametrical tests like Kruskall-Wallis and Spearman rho. Respondents revealed that they were “never” cyberbullying victims or offenders. Furthermore, statistical inferences showed a variation for cyberbullying offenders as to age and sponsorship/scholarship and a weak indirect relationship between cyberbullying offenders and sponsorship/scholarship characteristics of the students. From the results of the study, the investigators recommended pertinent implications for the new normal of learning among students and the institution.

Authors: Shannen, T., Kim, S., and Lee, J.

Title: Empathy, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization among Filipino adolescents

Journal: National Library of Medicine

URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8650871/

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to gain insights into empathy, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization among Filipino adolescents. The participants were 168 junior high school students in the 7th to 10th grades at a public high school in Cavite Province, Philippines. Data were collected on demographic characteristics, the Basic Empathy Scale, and Revised Cyber Bullying Inventory-II scores. The data were analyzed in SPSS using descriptive statistics (frequency and mean), the independent t-test, bivariate correlation, and one-way analysis of variance. The degree of empathy did not show a statistically significant relationship with cyberbullying (r=−.07, p=.359) but did show a significant relationship with cybervictimization (r=.18, p=.025). Furthermore, cyberbullying had a statistically significant association with cybervictimization (r=.60, p<.001. Although empathy does not necessarily affect cyberbullying, higher levels of empathy were found among cyberbullying victims. However, an alarming result of this study is the possibility that victims may become cyberbullies. Therefore, we should highlight empathy as part of efforts to prevent cyberbullying and to solve various cyber-related problems. Since cyberbullying and cybervictimization are closely related, it is important to focus on this relationship and to make multilateral efforts to ensure that cyberbullying does not lead to other negative issues.

Authors: Patacsil, F. F.

Title: Analysis of Cyberbullying Incidence among Filipina Victims: A Pattern Recognition using Association Rule Extraction

Journal: I.J. Intelligent Systems and Applications

URL: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijisa.2019.11.05

Abstract: Cyberbullying is an intentional action of harassment along the complex domain of social media utilizing information technology online. This research experimented unsupervised associative approach on text mining technique to automatically find cyberbullying words, patterns and extract association rules from a collection of tweets based on the domain / frequent words. Furthermore, this research identifies the relationship between cyberbullying keywords with other cyberbullying words, thus generating knowledge discovery of different cyberbullying word patterns from unstructured tweets. The study revealed that the type of dominant frequent cyberbullying words are intelligence, personality, and insulting words that describe the behavior, appearance of the female victims and sex related words that humiliate female victims. The results of the study suggest that we can utilize unsupervised associative approached in text mining to extract important information from unstructured text. Further, applying association rules can be helpful in recognizing the relationship and meaning between keywords with other words, therefore generating knowledge discovery of different datasets from unstructured text.

Authors: Rajamanickam, R., Ramli, F. S., Na’aim, M. S. M., Hassan, M. S., & Hashim, H.

Title: Defining Bullying among Students from Criminal Law Perspective: Comparison between Malaysia and the Philippines

Journal: Universal Journal of Educational Research

URL: https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2019.070803

Abstract: School bullying is not new, but it has been a long and constant problem. Bullying issues are often reported in the mass media and have garnered attention not only in Malaysia but also abroad. Today, bullying can no longer considered as a trivial social problem that can be taken lightly. Failure to address this issue will have bad consequences for students in particular. Various ways have been introduced to tackle this issue and one of them is through the enforcement of law. This study will focus on the bullying within the legal framework in Malaysia, especially in the context of its definition. Studies showed that while in Malaysia, there are alarming statistics about bullying, but little attention has been paid to the absence of any specific law dealing with bullying in Malaysia. To date, no statutory definition of bullying has been provided. This paper thus provides an overview of Malaysia’s legal framework of bullying compared with the Philippines law on bullying. Despite a number of definitions of bullying provided by the scholars, the paper concludes that to date, there are no specific law on bullying and its statutory definition in Malaysia. Such absence may not fully safeguard the interests of bullying victims comprehensively. The findings would give more clarity to the theoretical framework of bullying in Malaysia thus showing the commitment of the government towards preventing the rampancy of this issue through legal enforcement

Authors: Fabito, B. S., & Yabut, E. R

Title: Prevalence of Cyberbullying and Addiction in Mobile Gaming among Tertiary Students in one University in the Philippines: An Ethical Discussion in the lens of Consequentialism.

Journal: 10th International Conference on Humanoid, Nanotechnology, Information Technology, Communication and Control, Environment and Management

URL: https://doi.org/10.1109/HNICEM.2018.8666295

Abstract: Mobile gamification has been explored to understand the possibility of its application to promote engagement and motivation for learning among students. However, it cannot be disputed that the growing market for mobile games has drawn several ethical setbacks. Two of the setbacks arising from mobile gaming are addiction and cyberbullying. Mobile Game Addiction and Cyberbullying are ethical concerns that should be addressed respectively as it hampers regular individual activities particularly of students in an academic institution. In the Philippines, very few or no studies have been conducted to determine the prevalence of ethical concerns in mobile gaming specifically on Mobile Game Addiction and Cyberbullying. It is the role of the present study to determine the prevalence of Cyberbullying and Addiction in the context of Mobile Gaming among students of one University in the Philippines through the Quantitative Approach. Existing Surveys were used to determine the possible prevalence of Cyberbullying and Addiction. Additionally, a discussion on consequentialism about the ethical dilemma in mobile gaming is addressed through Qualitative approach. From the Game Addiction Test, the over-all mean suggested that thirty-six (36) out of the eighty-eight (88) respondents are at risk for Mobile Game addiction, whereas, six (6) can be classified as mobile game addicts. The test also revealed that the respondents play mobile games for Mood Modification (the need to shift from a bad mood to a good mood). For Cyberbullying, it is not conclusive that majority of the respondents have experience or have initiated cyberbullying in mobile games. Nevertheless, a few of the respondents have become a victim or have initiated cyberbullying. Ethical discussion on Consequentialism and recommendations are discussed in the latter part of the paper.

Authors: Ruiz, R. M. N. M.

Title: Curbing Cyberbullying Among Students: A Comparative Analysis of Existing Laws Among Selected Asian Countries

Journal: PEOPLE: International Journal of Social Sciences

URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.20319/pijss.2019.43.12851305

Abstract: Last 2013, the Philippines approved the Anti-Bullying law, which covered cyberbullying. However, a 2015 study revealed that 80% of Filipino teenagers aged 13 to 16 are still experiencing cyberbullying (Takumi, 2016). This paper attempted to compare existing laws on cyberbullying among selected ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It also aims to identify each country’s anti-cyberbullying measures that might fit other ASEAN countries’ needs. To achieve its purposes, it used a qualitative research with the following primary methods: discourse analysis of cyberbullying laws and alternative strategies addressing said concern; and literature review of online journals, online publications, and online news articles. The study revealed that the Philippines is the only ASEAN country with a cyberbullying law that addresses the students, while other countries have alternative strategies in addressing the issue. Further, it found that cyberbullying is experienced by individuals aged 6 to 30 through Facebook and Twitter. The study suggests that the government should require schools to develop specific and consistent policies that would address this concern; and a curriculum that promotes digital responsibility. Finally, parents are encouraged to educate their children on ethical values, particularly in the digital world.

Authors: Vargas, E., Niguidula, J. D., Hernandez, A. A., Marquez, P. S., & Caballero, J. M.

Title: Senior High School Students Cyberbullying Experience: A Case of University in the Philippines

Journal: N/A

URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324692240_Senior_High_School_Students_Cyberbullying_Experience_A_Case_of_University_in_the_Philippines

Abstract: Twitter is widely used to explore on the opinions of the public in variety of topics. It has constantly gained popularity as good source of information for visualization-centered application. This paper aims to understand the opinions of senior high school students’ on cyberbullying in a university in the Philippines. This study uses a tweet visualization tool to present the opinions of students. The results of the study indicate that most of the students feel pleasant on cyberbullying as the university administration officers continuously drives information awareness campaign that decreases fear and unpleasant emotion among the senior high school students. Therefore, cyberbullying among senior high school students remain an important concern for educators and students. This study suggests practical and research recommendations.

Authors: Baronia-Locson, E. L. C

Title: Impact of Cyberbullying Among Selected High School Students In Philippines, 2011

Journal: AAP National Conference and Exhibition. American Academy of Pediatric

URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267912395_Impact_of_Cyberbullying_Among_Selected_High_School_Students_In_Philippines_2011

Abstract: With the advent of technology, cyberbullying is becoming more prevalent with the use of electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones. This study will assess the impact of cyberbullying and its different subtypes (phone call, text message, social network and e-mail bullying) among different year levels in a selected secondary school in the Philippines. Out of the 395 respondents, 334 experienced cyber bullying alone of which majority are females (64.07%). For all types of cyberbullying, first year level has the most number of victims and fourth year having the least. Overall, social networking has the most number of victims while phone call has the least. Phone calls are considered least harmful by 4th year and is more harmful for 1st year. All year levels consider social networking to be the most harmful for all subtypes of cyberbullying. Text message and email bullying are considered more harmful by 1st year and least harmful by 3rd year. Analyzing the impact of each subtype of cyberbullying per year level, social network and email bullying were statistically significant. Phone call and text message bullying were not statistically significant.

Authors: Goebert, D., Else, I., Matsu, C., Chung-Do, J., & Chang, J

Title: The Impact of Cyberbullying on Substance Use and Mental Health in a Multiethnic Sample

Journal: Maternal & Child Health Journal

URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-010-0672-x

Abstract: The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between cyberbullying and mental health problems among a multiethnic sample of high school students in Hawai`i. A University-Community partnership was established to direct the research. Using a mixed-methods approach, we explored violence among Asian and Pacific Islander youth. In the first phase, focus groups were conducted to identify areas of youth concern and develop survey questions. Responses from 677 high school students on interpersonal youth violence and risk and protective factors were utilized in this study. More than 1 in 2 youth (56.1%) had been victims of cyberbullying in the last year. Filipino and Samoan youth were more likely to report feeling badly about themselves as a result of cyberbullying. While cyberbullying and mental health problems varied by sex and ethnicity, we found that cyberbullying is widespread with serious potential consequences among Asian and Pacific Islander youth. A multifaceted approach is needed to reduce and prevent cyberbullying. School, family and community programs that strengthen positive relationships and promote safe use of technology provide promise for reducing cyberbullying.