Cyberbullying experiences in classmates‘ WhatsApp discourse, across public and private contexts
Keywords
Cyberbullying Private context Public context Classmates WhatsApp Social networks
Publication details
| Year: | 2020 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104814 |
| Issued: | 2020 |
| Language: | English |
| Volume: | 110 |
| Start Page: | 1 |
| End Page: | 9 |
| Editors: | |
| Authors: | Aizenkot D. |
| Type: | Journal article |
| Journal: | Children and Youth Services Review |
| Publisher: | Elsevier BV |
| Sample: | Data were collected from a total of 5,225 students (52% females) from 191 classes in 25 public schools - elementary schools 4th to 6th grades (n = 3899, 75%) and middle schools, 7th to 9th grades (n = 1326, 25%). |
| Implications For Policy Makers About: | Creating a safe environment for children online |
Abstract
The question of what context -private or public - is more vulnerable to cyberbullying is the issue of this study. Research into cyberbullying has recently begun to address the characteristics of cyberbullying in public versus private media contexts, but has yet to determine which is more vulnerable to the phenomenon.
The current study included 5,225 elementary and middle school students who completed a questionnaire
regarding cyberbullying victimization in their WhatsApp classmates‘ group and private discourse. Cyberbullying victimization in WhatsApp classmates’ discourse was assessed through four types of cyberbullying, i.e., verbal bullying, exclusion, visual bullying, and participation avoidance due to fear of offensive responses. Grade level and gender differences were also examined. Results indicated that for all grade levels, private context is more vulnerable to WhatsApp cyberbullying compared to public, across three cyberbullying types, i.e., verbal bullying, exclusion, and visual bullying,
Outcome
Research Findings (Aizenkot, 2020) indicated that for all grade levels, private context was more vulnerable to WhatsApp cyberbullying compared to public context, across three cyberbullying types, i.e., verbal bullying, exclusion, and visual bullying, while avoidance was more prevalent in public context. Additionally, all younger graders experienced less cyberbullying in both group and private discourse compared to the higher grades. one of the cyberbullying types, namely participation avoidance due to fear of offensive responses, was higher in public compared to private contexts in 4th and 7th grades.