Elsevier

Aggression and Violent Behavior

Volume 25, Part A, November–December 2015, Pages 35-42
Aggression and Violent Behavior

Adolescent cyberbullying: A review of characteristics, prevention and intervention strategies

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2015.07.011Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Active users of social networking sites who are not concerned about personal privacy are vulnerable to online harassment.

  • Proactive aggression and normative beliefs of aggression are associated with cyberbullying.

  • A positive parent-adolescent relationship helps protect vulnerable children and adolescents in the online environment.

  • Empathy training, modifying beliefs supportive of aggression, and guidelines for appropriate online norms better protect adolescents online.

  • Effective prevention strategies are multi-pronged and multi-systemic.

Abstract

Adolescence is a transitional period with considerable growth and challenge. With the advent of the Web and other electronic technologies, cyberbullying is a rising universal concern. With limited contextual cues and relative anonymity of the online environment, adolescents tend to be more disinhibited and to engage in more high risk behaviors, resulting in a higher chance of interpersonal conflict. Using the routine activities framework, adolescent variables associated with cyberbullying including Internet usage, psychosocial problems and challenges, proactive aggression characteristics and normative beliefs about the acceptability of aggression were reviewed. Likewise, parent–adolescent relationship variables, such as poor emotional bond, lack of knowledge about the adolescent's online activities, and lack of adequate parental monitoring and parental mediation, were also reviewed to be related to cyberbullying. Strategies targeting both adolescent issues, parent-related, and parent–adolescent relationship variables were highlighted as suitable targets for prevention and intervention work. A multi-pronged and multi-systemic approach would be most effective.

Section snippets

Adolescence

The World Health Organization (WHO) views adolescence as the period of development between approximately 10 and 19 years old, after childhood and before emerging adulthood (World Health Organization, 2014). This is a critical time of growth and transition in the life span. Understandably, biological processes such as puberty are universal and instrumental in driving many aspects of development during this phase. However, contextual, cultural, and socioeconomic factors are just as important as

Cyberbullying

The Internet age has brought with it numerous benefits but it is not without drawbacks. With the advent of the Web and other electronic technologies, bullying has taken on a new face and form. Bullying has extended its reach from the physical to the virtual; the Internet has become a new platform for social interactions, giving adolescents the liberty to interact with some degree of anonymity and limited oversight by adult monitors. Cyberbullying has been defined as the use of electronic

Adolescent and parent variables associated with cyberbullying — proximity to motivated offenders

The first key element in routine activities theory that will be examined centers around proximity to motivated offenders and here various aspects of Internet usage will be reviewed. When adolescents are placed in high risk situations in close proximity to motivated offenders, this could increase the risk for cyberbullying.

Adolescent and parent variables associated with cyberbullying — target suitability

The second key element in routine activities theory that will be examined concerns target suitability. Routine activities theory suggests that some individuals are more vulnerable because of certain personal qualities. Specifically, the review will examine how psychosocial problems, proactive aggression and normative beliefs about aggression are associated with cyberbullying.

Adolescent and parent variables associated with cyberbullying — inadequate guardianship

The third and final key element in routine activities theory that will be examined pertains to inadequate guardianship. As Bossler et al. (2012) suggested, guardianship can take several forms including physical, social and personal facets, and across physical and virtual platforms. Here the focus will be on various aspects of the parent–adolescent bond and relationship that has associations with cyberbullying.

Prevention and intervention strategies to better protect adolescents online

For better protection of vulnerable adolescents online, it is critical to review prevention and intervention strategies with specific reference to cyberbullying and online harassment. These strategies should preferably target and address specific adolescent issues and variables reviewed here, guided by the routine activities framework (Cohen & Felson, 1979). At the same time, parent-related and parent–adolescent relationship variables should also be specifically targeted and addressed because

Conclusion

Adolescence is a critical period of transition. In an increasingly connected world and given that adolescents are active users of social networking sites and the ease with which they use technology, the period of adolescence in this current age is not just a time of growth, but also a time of considerable challenge with emerging risks. Cyberbullying is one such risk; it is a worldwide phenomenon and a rising universal concern. With the anonymity provided by the Internet and the limited social

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