Perceived reasons for the negative impact of cyberbullying and traditional bullying

We investigated what perceived reasons may be involved in the negative feelings that a victim of bullying may have, and how these relate to four forms of bullying (direct traditional bullying, indirect traditional bullying, cyberbullying public forms, and cyberbullying private forms). In Study 1, nineteen Swedish pupils participated in focus groups to elicit a range of perceived reasons for negative emotional experiences when bullied, yielding reasons of Publicity, Threat, Lack of effective coping strategies, Lack of social support, Persistence, No escape and Anonymity. In Study 2 we investigated how relevant these seven reasons were for the four types of bullying, with 499 Swedish pupils aged 12–16 years. Reasons differed by age, gender, and type of bullying. Findings are discussed in relation to coping and support strategies for different types of bullying.

"We found that some reasons are perceived as explaining the negative impact of bullying more for certain types of bullying compared to others; thus, there may be some advantage for tailoring different coping and support strategies to the specific type of bullying that victims have been exposed to.... Direct forms of traditional bullying scored higher than any other form of bullying on the majority of the reasons.... The public form of cyberbullying also scored high on a number of reasons, including anonymity and no escape.... The perception that there is no escape in this form of bullying is also important in order to understand better how victims might experience public cyberbullying." (Authors, in Implications)