Adults’ participant roles in cyberbullying remain unclear. Two hundred and sixty-four (163 female and 87 male) 18- to 74-year-olds from 31 countries completed measures to assess their experiences of, and engagement in, 5 cyberbullying types for up to 9 media. Cluster analysis identified two distinct groups: rarely victim and bully (85%) and frequently victim and occasional bully. Sex and age predicted group membership: Females and older participants were more likely to belong to the rarely victim and bully group, whereas males and younger participants were more likely to belong to the frequently victim and occasional bully group. The findings have implications for anti-cyberbullying interventions and how behaviors are interpreted online.
ArcherJ. (2004). Sex differences in aggression in real-world settings: A meta-analytic review. Review of General Psychology, 8, 291–322. doi:10.1037/1089-2680.8.4.291
2.
BalakrishnanV. (2015). Cyberbullying among young adults in Malaysia: The role of gender, age and internet frequency. Computers in Human Behavior, 46, 149–157. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.01.021
3.
BettsL. R.GkimitzoudisA.SpenserK. A.BaguleyT. (2017). Examining the roles young people fulfill in five types of cyber bullying. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 34, 1089–1098. doi:10.1177/0265407516668585
4.
BlakeneyK. (2012). An instrument to measure traditional and cyberbullying in overseas schools. International Schools Journal, 32, 45–54.
5.
BrodyN.VangelistiA. L. (2016). Bystander intervention in cyberbullying. Communication Monographs, 83, 94–119. doi:10.1080/03637751.2015.1044256
6.
BussD. M.ShackelfordT. K. (1997). Human aggression in evolutionary psychological perspective. Clinical Psychology Review, 17, 605–619.
7.
ButlerD.KiftS.CampbellM. (2009). Cyberbullying in schools and the law: Is there an effective means of addressing the power imbalance?eLaw Journal: Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law, 16, 84–114.
8.
CalveteE.OrueI.EstévezA.VillardónL.PadillaP. (2010). Cyberbullying in adolescents: Modalities and aggressors’ profile. Computers in Human Behavior, 26, 1128–1135. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.017
9.
DillonK. P.BushmanB. J. (2015). Unresponsive or un-noticed?: Cyberbystander intervention in an experimental cyberbullying context. Computers in Human Behavior, 45, 144–150. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2014.12.009
10.
FelmleeD.FarisR. (2016). Toxic ties: Networks of friendship, dating and cyber victimization. Social Psychology Quarterly, 79, 243–262. doi:10.1177/0190272516656585
11.
GiniG.CardN. A.PozzoliT. (2018). A meta-analysis of the differential relations of traditional and cyber-victimization with internalizing problems. Aggressive Behavior, 44, 185–198. doi:10.1002/ab.21742
12.
GörzigA. (2016). Adolescents’ viewing of suicide-related web content and psychological problems: Differentiating the roles of cyberbullying involvement. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 19, 502–509. doi:10.1089/cyber.2015.0419
13.
JacobsN. C.VöllinkT.DehueF.LechnerL. (2014). Online Pestkoppenstoppen: Systematic and theory-based development of a web-based tailored intervention for adolescent cyberbullying victims to combat and prevent cyberbullying. BMC Public Health, 14, 396. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-396
14.
KowalskiR. M.GiumettiG. W.SchroederA. N.LattannerM. R. (2014). Bulling in the digital age: A critical review and meta-analysis of cyberbullying research among youth. Psychological Bulletin, 140, 1073–1137. doi:10.1037/a0035618
15.
MarkL.RatcliffeK. T. (2011). Cyber worlds: New playgrounds for bullying. Computers in the Schools, 28, 92–116. doi:10.1080/07380569.2011.575753
16.
MenesiniE.NocentiniA.CalussiP. (2011). The measurement of cyberbullying: Dimensional structure and relative item severity and discrimination. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14, 267–274. doi:10.1089/cyber.2010.0002
17.
MeschG. S. (2009). Parental mediation, online activities, and cyberbullying. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12, 387–393.
18.
MyersS. A.JohnsonA. D. (2003). Verbal aggression and liking in interpersonal relationships. Communication Research Reports, 20, 90–96. doi:10.1080/08824090309388803
19.
ObermaierM.FawziN.KochT. (2016). Bystanding or standing by? How the number of bystanders affects the intention to intervene in cyberbullying. New Media & Society, 18, 1491–1507. doi:10.1177/1461444814563519
20.
OrtegaR.ElipeP.Mora-MerchánJ. A.CalmaestraJ.VegaE. (2009). The emotional impact on victims of traditional bullying and cyberbullying: A study of Spanish adolescents. Zeitschrift für Psychologie / Journal of Psychology, 217, 197–204. doi:10.1027/0044-3409.217.4.197
21.
PaganJ. L.EatonN. R.TurkheimerE.OltmannsT. F. (2006). Peer-reported personality problems of research nonparticipants: Are our samples biased?Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 1131–1142. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2006.04.017
22.
PaulletK.PinchotJ. (2014). Behind the screen where today’s bully plays: Perceptions of college students on cyberbullying. Journal of Information Systems Education, 25, 63–69.
23.
PieschlS.KuhlmannC.ProschT. (2015). Beware of publicity! Perceived distress of negative cyber incidents and implications for defining cyberbullying. Journal of School Violence, 14, 111–132.
24.
SalmivalliC.LagerspetzK.BjörkqvistK.ÖstermanK.KaukiainenA. (1996). Bullying as a group process: Participant roles and their relations to social status within the group. Aggressive Behavior, 22, 1–15. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1098-2337(1996)22:1<1:: AID-AB1>3.0.CO;2-T.
25.
ŠevčíkováA.ŠmahelD. (2009). Online harassment and cyberbullying in the Czech Republic: Comparison across age groups. Zeitschrift für Psychologie / Journal of Psychology, 217, 227–229. doi:10.1027/0044-3409.217.4.227
26.
WalkerC. M. (2014). Cyberbullying redefined: An analysis of intent and repetition. International Journal of Education and Social Science, 1, 59e69.
27.
WalkerC. M.SockmanB. R.KoehnS. (2011). An exploratory study of cyberbullying with undergraduate university students. TechTrends, 55, 31–38.
28.
YoungmanM. B. (1979). Analysing social and educational research data. London, England: McGraw-Hill.
