Citation

Fletcher A, Fitzgerald-Yau N, Jones R, Allen E, Viner RM, Bonell C. J. Adolesc. 2014; 37(8): 1393-1398.

Affiliation

Social Science Research Unit, Department of Childhood, Families and Health, Institute of Education, University of London, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.10.005

PMID

25448835

Abstract

Relatively little is known about those who cyberbully others, especially in a UK context. We drew on data from 1144 young people aged 12-13 in eight English secondary schools to examine the prevalence of cyberbullying perpetration and its associations with socio-demographics, other behaviours, and health outcomes. Overall, 14.1% of respondents reported ever cyberbullying others with no significant differences by gender or socio-economic status. Drawing on mixed-effects logistic regression models, first we found a strong, dose-response relationship between aggressive behaviour at school and cyberbullying others, suggesting that cyberbullying may not only be a facet of wider patterns of bullying but also of aggression more broadly. Second, cyberbullying others was associated with poorer quality of life and with psychological difficulties but not with peer/social problems or worse mental wellbeing. Longitudinal studies are needed to assess whether such associations are causal.

Language: en