As co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Centeropens in new window, psychologist Justin Patchin, PhD, has heard thousands of heartbreaking stories, from teens whose photos have been doctored and distributed in messages with lies, to children told by chatroom participants that no one liked them and that they should die.
Patchin's research has also quantified the problem. According to a survey he conducted of more than 5,000 middle and high school students in 2016, about 33 percent said they'd been cyberbullied at some point, and nearly 17 percent had experienced cyberbullying within the last 30 days.
Cyberbullying is willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cellphones, and other electronic devices. The most common forms of cyberbullying are mean or hurtful comments posted online or circulating rumors online, says Patchin, who is also a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire.
The center's website provides research data and information for educators, parents and teens about how to prevent and respond to cyberbullying. Patchin's survey found that incidents like these are taking a toll: More than 10 percent of students said they skipped school because of bullying online, and 60 percent of those who experienced cyberbullying said it affected their ability to learn and feel safe.
"Our data suggest that millions of students are skipping school because of cyberbullying," Patchin says. "Cyberbullying is particularly destructive because it's potentially anonymous, can go viral and leaves victims no safe place to escape because we are connected online 24/7."
Data also show that minority adolescents may experience higher rates of online bullying related to their race than their nonminority peers, according to Brendesha Tynes, PhD, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Southern California ( Journal of Adolescent Health opens in new window, 2008). In a survey of African-American, Latino, Asian and biracial sixth- to 12th-grade students, she found that 42 percent of minority youth had experienced at least one direct discriminatory incident online in the first year of the study, and the rates increased when she surveyed the same students the following two years ( Psychological Science Agenda opens in new window, 2015). This increase was due to a number of factors, including more modeling and acceptance of these behaviors in American media and culture, Tynes says.
Similar to face-to-face bullying, cyberbullying involves an imbalance of power, but the power can be garnered in a different way. In traditional bullying, power usually comes from physical stature, social wit or popularity, while those who cyberbully can gain control from knowledge or possession of information, pictures or a video that could harm someone, according to the Cyberbullying Research Center.
While these two types of bullying are unique, they are also related to one another, says Robin Kowalski, PhD, a psychology professor at Clemson University in South Carolina who studies cyberbullying. "Our research shows that perpetrators don't often limit themselves to one type of medium (face-to-face versus virtual) when bullying a victim," she says. "In addition, victims of traditional bullying who might not feel comfortable retaliating face-to-face may resort to cyberbullying if they feel more technologically savvy than their perpetrators."
Strategies for prevention
Psychologists are also identifying ways to prevent and intervene against cyberbullying. Among them is Dorothy Espelage, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of Florida, who has found evidence that schools can play a critical role in teaching children to adopt healthy online behaviors. Her research shows that children who are cyberbullies typically struggle with emotion regulation and hostile attribution bias—the tendency to attribute others' behavior as having hostile intent, even when the behavior is ambiguous or benign.
She recently conducted a three-year study in 36 middle schools in Illinois and Kansas to evaluate whether a social-emotional learning intervention called the Second Step Program decreased bullying. The researchers trained teachers to deliver 50-minute lessons once a week, for 41 weeks over three years. The children learned problem- solving skills, such as how to identify the perspectives of those involved and how to generate multiple options for solving a problem. They also discovered what happens in the brain when they become upset, and strategies for calming down, such as belly breathing and positive self-talk. Finally, the students learned about the risk of substance abuse for kids who are victimized. Although the program focused on bullying in general, Espelage's data showed that the intervention decreased both face-to-face and cyberbullying, as reported by the students, from 20 to 40 percent ( School Psychology Review opens in new window, 2015).
"We can reduce multiple forms of aggression if we implement social-emotional learning programs to equip kids with skills to problem solve, cope with the stressors of life and have empathy," she says.
Technology as part of the solution
Espelage and her colleagues have also developed a bullying-prevention app that can reinforce what youth are learning in the classroom. BullyDown sends true-false questions via text message, such as: "Young people who act ‘differently' are asking to be bullied." After a user answers, the messages states, "We're all different. Kids who look and act differently are just trying to be themselves. They want to have friends just like everyone else." The students who use the app are also paired with a text buddy to share what they are learning on the app (JMIR mHealth uHealthopens in new window, 2016).
Emotion regulation was a key component of the intervention, and the participants shared that they used coping strategies like reading/writing, listening to music, counting, belly breathing and talking to siblings and parents when they were upset or stressed. A small study showed that 86 percent of the participants, who were ages 13 to 14, liked the BullyDown program.
University of Nebraska–Lincoln bullying researcher Susan Swearer, PhD, is a consultant for another tech-based solution: the Ad Council's "I Am a Witness" campaign, which encourages bystanders to take action by posting an eye emoji when they see cyberbullying. If someone posts a rude comment on another person's page, for example, individuals can show support for the victim by posting the emoji. The "I Am a Witness" app also gives users access to stylized text messages of phrases like "Don't Listen," with large letters on a colored background.
Tech companies including Apple supported the campaign by promoting the emoji. The Ad Council's advisory board includes academics and psychologists, so research is informing their programming, Swearer says. "These are great examples of the tech industry partnering with academics to help solve the problem," she says.
A word to parents
Parents also play an important role in preventing cyberbullying—and research suggests children welcome their interventions. In a study involving focus groups, Kowalski found that youth want a certain degree of parent involvement ( Journal of Adolescent Health opens in new window, 2007). "Kids want supervision, but not ‘snoopervision,'" she says. "In other words, they are fine with parents searching their local history occasionally, but they don't want keystroke software installed that monitors everything."
Based on discussion groups with teens, Swearer has found that it's critical for parents to have open and honest conversations with their children about where they are hanging out online. She also underscores that parents should avoid the temptation to take away their children's phones if they see something they don't like since then the kids may be less likely to be honest. Instead, parents should express their desire to protect their children and that, as a result, they want to be included in a child's social networks. (Swearer herself follows her teenage daughters on Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram, but only comments or likes a post if her daughters ask her to do so.)
Meanwhile, University of Arizona psychologist Mike Sulkowski, PhD, is working on a project that could empower adolescents to protect themselves. He has partnered with a computer engineer to create an app that would allow youth—rather than parents—to block certain types of messages or prompt them to reconsider sending a negative message. The app will be sensitive to inappropriate or hurtful words, images and media. "It can be used to filter their social media the same way we filter out annoying ads," he says.
Based on information gathered from programmers and security analysts, Sulkowski recommends that kids not accept a friend or network request from an unfamiliar person and that they should avoid posting photos or movies that they would not be willing to share with their parents.
"Essentially, the average Internet user needs to know that everything he or she does in cyberspace or through using cyber-technology is traceable and can be accessed by others."
