Original article
Prevalence and Predictors of Internet Bullying

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.08.018Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

With the Internet quickly becoming a new arena for social interaction, it has also become a growing venue for bullying among youth. The purpose of the present study was to contrast the prevalence of Internet bullying with physical and verbal bullying among elementary, middle, and high school boys and girls, and to examine whether key predictors of physical and verbal bullying also predicted Internet bullying.

Methods

As part of an ongoing, statewide bullying prevention initiative in Colorado, 3,339 youth in Grades 5, 8, and 11 completed questionnaires in 78 school sites during the fall of 2005, and another 2,293 youth in that original sample participated in a follow-up survey in 65 school sites in the spring of 2006. Questionnaires included measures of bullying perpetration and victimization, normative beliefs about bullying, perceptions of peer social support, and perceptions of school climate.

Results

The highest prevalence rates were found for verbal, followed by physical, and then by Internet bullying. Physical and Internet bullying peaked in middle school and declined in high school. Verbal bullying peaked in middle school and remained relatively high during high school. Males were more likely to report physical bullying than females, but no gender differences were found for Internet and verbal bullying. All three types of bullying were significantly related to normative beliefs approving of bullying, negative school climate, and negative peer support.

Conclusions

Preventive interventions that target school bullying by changing norms about bullying and school context may also impact Internet bullying, given the shared predictors.

Section snippets

Methods

Data for the present research were collected as part of a larger study evaluating a statewide initiative in Colorado to strengthen the skills and willingness of youth and adults to intervene in bullying situations. The Bullying Prevention Initiative (BPI) is a 3-year, $8.6-million initiative funded by The Colorado Trust, a private grant-making foundation in Denver, Colorado. The grantees funded by this initiative represent school districts, individual schools, or community-based organizations,

Results

The results presented below are arranged according to the two primary research objectives of this analysis: (1) to determine the prevalence of Internet compared with verbal and physical bullying perpetration in this sample of youth, and (2) to determine whether predictors of Internet bullying perpetration are similar to predictors of verbal and physical bullying perpetration. The first objective is addressed simply by tabulating the distributions of the three forms of bullying and examining

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