“Face-to-face” Bullying and Cyberbullying: Changes from 12 to 18 years

Author(s):

Maite Garaigordobil(presenting / submitting)Carmen Maganto Jone Aliri

Conference:

ECER 2013

Network:

05. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education

Format:

Poster

Session Information

05 SES 05.5 PS, General Poster Session

General Poster Session

Time:

2013-09-11

12:30-14:00

Room:

FUAYE

Chair:

Contribution

Current concern about antisocial and violent behavior in childhood, adolescence, and youth, published on the front pages of the mass media, is the target of this study. Since 1973, when Olweus began to study the phenomenon of peer maltreatment at school, almost four decades have elapsed, during which our knowledge of this act of violence has increased. In the studies of school bullying, there have been changes in the reality of maltreatment, and new ways of assaulting peers and new bullying modalities have emerged. One of them is cyberbullying, which consists of using the new information and communication technologies, mainly Internet and cell phones, to harass and bully classmates (Ahlfors, 2010, Garaigordobil, 2011a,b,c; INTECO, 2009; Kowalski et al., 2008). This work presents the characteristics of the "Cyberbullying Test to Assess Peer Violence" (Garaigordobil, in press, 2013), and its goal is to determine whether there are differences as a function of age, both in “face-to-face” bullying and in cyberbullying.

Method

The study used a descriptive, comparative, and cross-sectional design. The sample was made up of 3,026 participants aged 12 to 18 years, and it was a representative sample of the Basque Country (Spain). The Cyberbullying Test was used to measure the target variables. It provides four indicators of presential bullying and cyberbullying, respectively: victimization, perpetration, observation, and aggressive-victimization. The instrument has adequate reliability and validity guarantees.

Expected Outcomes

With regard to bullying, the results of the analyses (frequencies, percentages, Pearson chi square) show that there is a significant decrease in aggressive physical, verbal, and social behaviors as age increases. However, based on the information provided by the aggressors, there is no evidence of changes between 12 and 18 years in any kind of aggressive behavior (physical, verbal, social, or psychological). The univariate analyses of the 4 indicators confirm significant differences only at the victimization level, observing a decrease at 14-15 years, with a slight increase at 16-18 years. These data show that there is not much change in the frequency with which bullying behaviors are carried out between ages 12 to 18 years. With regard to cyberbullying, the results of the analyses of the information provided by the victims reveals that the differences as a function of age are nonsignificant. However, aggressors report significant increases with age in five of the behaviors assessed (publishing compromising photos, blackmailing-threatening, sexual harassment, stealing another's password, death threats). The univariate analyses of the 4 indicators revealed significant differences in the level of perpetration, observing a significant increase between 12-13 years and 14-15 years, with a slight decrease at 16-18 years.

References

Ahlfors, R. (2010). Many Sources, One Theme: Analysis of Cyberbullying Prevention and Intervention Websites. Journal of Social Sciences 6 (4), 515-522. Olweus, D. (1973). Hackkycklingar och oversittare: forskning orn skol-mobbning. Estocolmo: Almqvist & Wiksell. Garaigordobil, M. (2011a). Bullying and cyberbullying: conceptualization, prevalence, and assessment. In FOCAD Formación Continuada a Distancia (Open Continued Training). Twelfth Edition January-April, 2001 (pp. 1-22). Madrid: General Council of the Official Psychologists' Association. Garaigordobil, M. (2011b). Bullying and cyberbullying: Prevention programs and strategies and intervention in the school and family setting. In FOCAD Formación Continuada a Distancia (Open Continued Training). Twelfth Edition January-April, 2001 (pp. 1-29). Madrid: General Council of the Official Psychologists' Association. Garaigordobil, M. (2011c). Prevalence and consequences of cyberbullying: A review. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 11(2), 233-254. Garaigordobil, M. (in press, 2013). Cyberbullying Test to Assess Peer Violence. Madrid. TEA. INTECO. National Institute of Communication Technologies. (2009). Legal guidelines about cyberbullying and grooming. Observatorio de la Seguridad de la Información de INTECO. 2009. Retrieved on September 10, 2010 at http://www.inteco.es/Seguridad/Observatorio/manuales_es/guiaManual_groming_ciberbullying Kowalski, R., Limber, S., & Agatston, P. (2008). Cyber bullying: Bullying in the digital age. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Author Information

Maite Garaigordobil (presenting / submitting)

Faculty of Psychology. University of the Basque Country, Spain

Carmen Maganto

Faculty of Psychology. University of the Basque Country, Spain

Jone Aliri

Faculty of Psychology. University of the Basque Country, Spain

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