Citation

Selkie E, Evans Y, Ton A, Midamba N, Moreno MA. BMC Public Health 2018; 18(1): e973.

Affiliation

University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/s12889-018-5907-6

PMID

30081876

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Electronic harassment affects 20-40% of adolescents and has been associated with significant negative outcomes including physical (ex. headache, abdominal pain), psychological (ex. depression, anxiety), and psychosocial (ex. school avoidance) problems. Evidence-based strategies to address electronic harassment are lacking, and few studies have incorporated adolescent input into intervention design. The purpose of this study was to use a novel data collection approach to determine perspectives on electronic harassment intervention and prevention from a targeted group of highly engaged adolescent technology users.

METHODS: We conducted a qualitative survey of a purposeful sample of adolescents age 14 to 18 who were attending a video blogger convention in Seattle, Washington. Participants were approached by research staff and asked to read a vignette about an adolescent target of electronic harassment, then write down ideas for helping the target and/or preventing the scenario. Written responses were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach with an iterative comparative method to resolve any code discrepancies. We subsequently categorized codes into thematic code families to reach consensus about significant themes.

RESULTS: 67 eligible adolescents completed the survey. 91% of participants were female with a mean age of 15.3 years (SD = 1.3). Code families emerged regarding people who could be involved in responses to electronic harassment: (1) Individuals targeted by electronic harassment, (2) Friends and bystanders, (3) Adults, and (4) Social media websites and policymakers.

CONCLUSIONS: Findings demonstrate adolescent technology users' views on several creative strategies to prevent or intervene with electronic harassment. These strategies can be categorized using a socioecological framework, demonstrating potential to address electronic harassment on multiple levels. Many suggested responses involved the target of electronic harassment, rather than the perpetrator; future education efforts may require additional focus on perpetrators for more upstream prevention.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescents; Cyberbullying; Electronic harassment; Qualitative