Cyberbullying: Prevalence,Types, Effects on Targets, & Sources of Preferred Support

1. Cyberbullying: Prevalence,Types, Effects on Targets, & Sources of Preferred Support Christine Suniti Bhat, Ph.D. Assistant Professor (bhatc@ohio.edu) Counselor Education, Ohio University

2. Cyberbullying on YouTube • Film Title: cyber bullying • Created by “jmuise” • URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxKYU3SIDhI Length: 01:35 • Added: October 2006 • Views: 54,067 • Comments: 455 (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

3. Recent Comments in Response to a Film of Cyberbullying on YOUTUBE • MrBlonde132 LOL ur so fucking dumb who gives a shit what anonymous person halfway across the world who never met you thinks? (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

4. Recent Comments in Response to a Film of Cyberbullying on YOU TUBE • haqh0re hahah cyber bullying, you gotta be fucking kidding me. anyone that kills themselves because of what someone says over the internet is seriously laughable. if you care that much at what someone says, you are insecure, weak, pathetic and deranged, someone that needs to get out of the gene pool. (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

5. Recent Comments in Response to a Film of Cyberbullying on YOU TUBE • CubsFan2812 EVERY SINGLE DAY IM CYBER BULLIED (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

6. Recent Comments in Response to a Film on Cyberbullying on YOU TUBE • xLittlexLadyx (1 month ago) i dont understand how somebody could sit at a computer screen straight on and type something like 'your such a slut' or 'no body likes you' because even though it takes a few seconds to type, it takes a lifetime to get over… (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

7. Cyberbullying (CB) is the use of cyber-communication tools to intimidate, harass, victimize, or bully an individual or a group of individuals (Bhat, C. S., 2007) What is Cyberbullying? (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

8. Definition of Cyberbullying • Use of information technology to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group that is intended to harm others (Belsey, n.d.) • Cyberbullying (CB) may include sending or posting harmful material using digital technology to inflict social cruelty on victims. (Willard, 2006) (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

9. Why Cyberbully?Unique CB Factors • The intent of CB actions is to threaten, harm, humiliate, and engender fear and helplessness in the victim. (Strom, 2005) • Cyberbullying is harder to detect than bullying • Cyberbullies may disguise identity • Cyberbullies are often “silent” and thus go undetected • Incorporate many others into harmful activities • Often include various forms of sexual harassment (Shariff, 2005) (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

10. What We Know About Bullying • Bullying takes place on school premises or while traveling to or from school • Victim is harmed by the physical, verbal, or social/emotional tactics employed by the bully • Power imbalance or unfair match between bully and victim • Harmful actions are repeated over time (Hazler, 1996) (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

11. How is Cyberbullying Different from Bullying? • CB usually takes place outside school premises BUT • The effects of CB are experienced in school • CB may lead to bullying or ridicule in school Bhat, C. S. (2007) (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

12. How is Cyberbullying Different from Bullying? • Victim is harmed as a result of CB • Unfair match – cyberbully may • be more technologically skilled than victim • remain anonymous • have power to embarrass or exclude victim • Actions may be repeated over time • BUT CB can spread exponentially from one instance (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti Bhat, C. S. (2007)

13. Key “Players” in Bullying and Cyberbullying • Bullying • Victim/s • Bully/ies • Bystanders • Cyberbullying • Victim/s or Target/s(experience negative effects: harm, hurt, humiliation) • Active CB-Bully/ies (initiate CB actions) • Passive CB-Bully/ies (do not initiate but play along by forwarding, reading, etc) • Bystanders / Friends of Targets (not involved other than as observers) (Bhat, C. S., 2007) (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

14. 42% bullied while online 1 in 4 reported it happened more than once 58% reported “mean & hurtful” things were said to them online More than 4 out of 10 said it happened more than once 53% admitted that they said something “mean & hurtful” online More than 1 in 3 reported doing it more than once i-Safe Survey on CB(1,500 4th – 8th grade students, 2004) (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

15. CB Survey of 384 students (under age 18) • 11% bullied others online • 29% victims of cyberbullying • 47% witnessed cyberbullying • 60% ignored by others online • 30% were called names online • 21.4% threatened online • 19.8% picked on • 19.3% made fun of • 18.8% had rumors spread about them Chat rooms were the most prevalent forum of cyberbullying in this study (Patchin & Hinduja, 2006) (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

16. International Studies on CB • Study in Canada on CB with 264 junior high students Li (2006) • Aware of CB? • 55.6% males and 54.5% females • Been a victim of CB? • 25% of males & 25.6% of females • Study in U.K. on 11-19 year olds NCH, 2006) • One in 5 have been cyberbullied • CB took place via email, chatroom, text • Most prevalent form was text messaging on cell phones (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

17. Current Study: Prevalence, Types, Effects of, Actions Taken, and Attitudes Toward Cyberbullying in High School • Research Questions: • Do undergraduate college students report experiencing CB during their last year of high school? • What forms of CB do participants report? • How did CB affect participants or their friends? • What actions did participants take when they were cyberbullied? • What actions would participants take or recommend if they were cyberbullied? • What are participants’ attitudes toward CB? (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

18. Current Study: Prevalence, Types, Effects of, Actions Taken, and Attitudes Toward Cyberbullying in High School • Project research team • Christine Suniti Bhat, Kelly E. Roberts, Heidi Llewellyn • Survey developed for study • 4 sections • Experiences of CB • Effects of CB • Actions Taken or Actions they would recommend • Attitudes toward CB • Surveys administered in classes which typically have larger numbers of freshmen • English, Communications, Career & Life Planning • Data from 239 participants collected & analyzed (quantitative and qualitative) (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

19. Participant Demographics • Gender • Female 45.2% • Male 54.0% • Age Range • 18 years - 23 years, 10 months • Undergraduate Status • Freshman 55.6% Junior 8.4% • Sophomore 25.9% Senior 10.0% (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

20. Participant Demographics • Race • African American 8.4% • Hispanic 2.9% • White/Caucasian 85.8% • Asian 0.8% • High School Region • Urban 15.1% • Suburban 66.0% • Rural 17.6% (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

21. Participant Demographics • Type of High School Attended • Public 66.5% Private Non-Rel .8% • Private Religious 15.5% Single Sex 5.0% • Co-Ed 10.9% • High School Size • 100–500 students 19.2% • 501-1000 students 28.9% • More than 1001 students 49.4% (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

22. CB Survey: Section 1 • Each sub-section in Section 1 asked if the participant was a(an): • Target of Cyberbullying (T) • Saw a friend/acquaintance being targeted Cyberbullying actions (F) • Active Cyberbully (initiated CB actions) (A-CB) • Passive Cyberbully (did not initiate CB actions but played along) (P-CB) (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

23. CB Survey: Section 1 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = This definitely did not happen to 5 = This definitely did happen Instant Messaging: Rumors (Questions 1 – 4) • Questions 1 – 4 pertain to the use of instant messaging (IM) to spread rumors about others with the intent of hurting, embarrassing or making fun of them. • Someone used IM to start a rumor of this kind about me (T) • Someone used IM to start rumors about a friend/acquaintance of mine (F). • I initiated IM to spread rumors about someone whom I did not like (A-CB). • I did not initiate IM to spread rumors about someone. But I did read them and/or forward them when they were sent to me (P-CB). (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

24. CB Survey: Section 1 myspace.com • 8 Tools of CB included in survey • Instant Messaging (Rumors) - IMR • Instant Messaging (Forwarding without consent) IMF • Cell Phone (Pictures) - CPP • Cell Phone (Messages) - CPM • Email Messages - Email • My Space or other Social Networking Site - MSP • Blogs - Blogs • Voting Booths - VBTH • Exclusion - EXC (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

25. Graph Showing % of Sample Who Reported Being a TARGET of Each Form of CB (definitely happened) (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

26. Graph Showing % of Sample Who Reported Being a FRIEND OF A TARGET of Each Form of CB (definitely happened) (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

27. Graph Showing % of Sample Who Reported Being an ACTIVE CYBERBULLY in each Form of CB (definitely happened) (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

28. Graph Showing % of Sample Who Reported Being a PASSIVE CYBERBULLY in each Form of CB (definitely happened) (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

29. Overall Profile of Types of Electronic Communication Used to Cyberbully • Highest Incidence • Instant Messaging Forwarding without consent with the intent to hurt or embarrass • 2nd Highest Incidence • Instant Messaging Rumors • Lowest Incidence • Voting Booths • 2nd Lowest Incidence • Blogs and Exclusion • In the middle range • Email, Cell phone pictures & messages, My Space (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

30. 74 respondents EMOTIONS EXPRESSED Embarrassed Hurt / Betrayed / Violated Angry / Mad Lonely Sad Normal SOME OTHER WORDS USED: Fun Wrongly accused, sick to my stomach, confused, horrible, Ashamed, Betrayed, Confused Honored, just for fun, curious CB Survey: Section 2 – When I was cyberbullied I felt… (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

31. 123 Respondents EMOTIONS EXPRESSED Embarrassed Sad Hurt Angry/Mad Lonely Betrayed Attacked Fun Normal SOME OTHER WORDS USED Overwhelmed Afraid Uncomfortable Disgusted Degraded Exploited Humiliated Like Shit Revengeful Suicidal Forgiving CB Survey: Section 2 – When my friend was cyberbullied he/she felt… (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

32. 50 respondents EMOTIONS EXPRESSED Sad / bad (for others and self) Ashamed Angry / Spiteful Regretful Funny – it was a joke SOME OTHER WORDS Fine Fantastic Any other day Justified Immature Afraid CB Survey: Section 2 – After I cyberbullied someone I felt… (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

33. Section 3:When I was cyberbullied what actions did I take? ACTION NUMBER WHO CHOSE THIS FORM OF HELP • Kept it to myself 493rd choice • Told a friend 741st choice • Told a school teacher 9 • Told the school counselor 77th choice • Reported to the principal or 6 other school administrator • Reported to the police 4 • Stopped logging on to my computer 9 • Changed my cell phone number 5 • Changed my internet sign-on ID 13 • Told my parent(s) or guardian 30 • Reported it to the website administrator 3 • Ignored it 522nd choice (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

34. Top 3 Choices of Help Sought by Targets & Assessment of Helpfulness • Sought help from a friend (n = 74, 31%) • 13.8% found this was helpful • 14.6% found this was moderately helpful • 2.5% found it was not helpful • Ignore it (n = 52, 21.8%) • 10.5% found this was helpful • 7.9% found this was moderately helpful • 3.3% found it was not helpful • Keep it to Self (n = 49, 20.5%) • 6.7% found this was helpful • 10.5% found this was moderately helpful • 3.3% found it was not helpful (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

35. Least Preferred Sources of Help Sought by Targets • Reported to website administrator • Reported to police • Changed cell phone number (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

36. Section 3:If I were cyberbullied or someone I know was cyberbullied, what actions would I take or advise someone to take? ACTION NUMBER WHO CHOSE THIS FORM OF HELP • Keep it to myself 68 • Tell a friend 175 1st • Tell a school teacher 69 • Tell the school counselor895th • Report to the principal or 64 other school administrator • Report to the police 50 • Stop logging on to computer 62 • Change cell phone number 63 • Change internet sign-on ID 108 3rd • Tell parent(s) or guardian 118 2nd • Report it to the website administrator 69 • Ignore it 94 (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

37. Top 3 Choices of Help Recommended by Participants (if they or a friend were cyberbullied in the future) & Assessment of Helpfulness • Seek help from a friend (n = 175, 73.2%) • 38.9% thought this would be helpful • 31.4% thought this would be moderately helpful • 2.9% thought this would not be helpful • Tell a parent (n = 118, 49.45%) • 27.2% thought this would be helpful • 18.8% thought this would be moderately helpful • 3.3.% thought this was not helpful • Change internet sign-in (n = 108, 45.2%) • 19.2% thought this would be helpful • 20.5% thought this would be moderately helpful • 5.4% thought this would not be helpful (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

38. Least Preferred Sources of Help Recommended by Participants • Report to police • Stop using computer • Change cell phone number (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

39. Section 4: Attitudes Toward CB • Aim is to try and understand how high school students view cyberbullying. • 30 questions with a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree • Examples of questions: • CB is an over-rated problem. • CB is harmless fun. • CB is not really a problem, but parents and other adults think it is one. • People who consider suicide because of CB are taking it way too seriously (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

40. Section 4: Attitudes Toward CB I think people who contemplate suicide because of CB are taking it way too seriously. (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

41. Tragic instances of suicide linked to CB Megan Meier • Age 13, completed suicide in October 2006 • Hurtful messages sent by “Josh Evans” who presented himself as a 16 year-old male who was being home-schooled. • “Megan Meier is a slut.” “Megan Meier is fat.” • Mother of one of Megan’s classmates (who lived in the neighborhood) was “Josh” • City of Dardenne Prairie passed an ordinance prohibiting harassment that utilizes an electronic medium on Nov 22, 2007 http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=3882520 Ryan Patrick Halligan • Junior high student • Completed suicide at age 13 in 2003 • Victim of cyberbullying and bullying • Ryan’s father now gives talks at schools about CB http://www.ryanpatrickhalligan.org/ (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

42. Section 4: Attitudes Toward CB Cyberbullying is not really a problem, but parents and other adults think it is one. (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

43. Section 4: Attitudes Toward CB People who initiate cyberbullying actions do it because they don’t realize how harmful it can be. (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

44. Prevention & Intervention Strategies for School Personnel • Know the forms and capabilities of electronic communication tools used by cyberbullies • Promote self as being knowledgeable about CB • Become familiar with network guides (e.g. MySpace guide) for steps that targets of CB can take • Know about helpful resources • i-SAFE • Center for Safe & Responsible Internet use (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

45. Prevention & Intervention Strategies for School Personnel • Educate and empower – FRIENDS are the number #1 source of help • i-SAFE has an i-MENTOR program • Partner with universities or other organizations to provide training to students AND parents • Continue programs to develop empathy, social skills, kindness, self esteem, decision-making • Encourage targets, friends and bystanders to seek help from adults (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

46. Prevention & Intervention Strategies Focused on Students & Parents • Discourage strategies of keeping CB to oneself, ignoring, and retaliating • Discuss potential problems of sharing confidences over IM or cell phones • Educate parents AND students about CB that can start with “friends” or former friends • Educate parents about not over-reacting with harsh sanctions • e.g., banning use of computer (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

47. Advocacy & Cyberbullying Laws • Lobby for school districts to incorporate CB into their bullying policies • Solicit support from legislators to develop specific policies related to CB • Several states that have passed cyberbullying legislation (e.g., Arkansas, Iowa, Idaho and South Carolina). • Other states currently considering such legislation State Legislatures. (June, 2007). Trends and Transitions. Retrieved October 17,2007, from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Cyberbullying.-a0164423339 (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

48. Ohio Anti-Bullying Law House Bill 276 ACTION DATE • Introduced 05-24-05 • Reported, H. Education 01-11-06 • Passed House (93-4) 01-24-06 • Reported, S. Education 12-13-06 • Passed Senate (27-5) 12-13-06 • House concurred in Senate amendments (90-5) 12-19-06 (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

49. Ohio Anti-bullying Stipulations(HB 276) • Requires each school district board of education and each community school governing authority to adopt a policy prohibiting harassment, intimidation, or bullying of any student on school property or at a school-sponsored activity. • Requires the State Board of Education to develop a model policy prohibiting student harassment, intimidation, or bullying. • Requires the Auditor of State to note in the audit report of each school district and community school whether the district or school has adopted an anti-bullying policy. (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti

50. OHIO ANTI-HARASSMENT, ANTI-INTIMIDATION OR ANTI-BULLYING MODEL POLICYPer House Bill 276 Examples of conduct that could constitute prohibited behaviors: • Repetitive and hostile behavior with the intent to harm others through the use of information and communication technologies and other Web based/online sites (also known as “cyberbullying”), such as the following: (c) Bhat, Christine Suniti