High school students’ suggestions for supporting younger pupils counteract cyberbullying

This study's aim was to explore high school students’ suggestions for supporting younger pupils prevent and deal with cyberbullying. Seventy-eight high school students participated in 11 focus groups, and had many concrete suggestions for ways they could support younger pupils against cyberbullying. The suggestions covered a range of activities, for instance advising younger pupils on how to avoid becoming victims of cyberbullying by teaching them netiquette. Furthermore, the students were positive toward involving adults in counteracting cyberbullying among younger pupils, for example educating younger pupils’ parents about cyberbullying. Moreover, the students suggested that they could show support for victims of cyberbullying by taking on the role of a friend when a younger pupil is cyberbullied and spend time with her/him during breaks. They also had ideas about supporting younger pupils in getting cyberbullies to stop, for instance by teaching the younger pupils technical skills for dealing with the cyberbullying on the Internet. To conclude, the findings in this study indicate that high school students want to be involved in supporting younger pupils against cyberbullying, and have many concrete suggestions for how this can be done. These findings have implications for counteracting cyberbullying in schools.

"Overall, the findings in this study indicate that high school students would like to support younger pupils against cyberbullying. The students suggested several ways to do this: supporting younger pupils avoid becoming victims of cyberbullying, involving adults, offering support to the cybervictim, or supporting younger pupils get those who cyberbully others to stop. Furthermore, the findings indicate that high school students want to support younger pupils against cyberbullying by taking on many different roles, such as that of a friend or a teacher. Also, the students took a learning approach to dealing with students who bully and not a punishment approach. The students also considered both those who bullied as well as those who victimized in a very balanced way." (Authors, 52)