Cyberbullying in Schools
A Research of Gender Differences
QING LI
Faculty of Education, University of Calgary,
Calgary, AB, Canada
This study investigates the nature and the extent of
adolescences’ experience of cyberbullying. A survey study of 264
students from three junior high schools was conducted. In this article,
‘cyberbullying’ refers to bullying via electronic communication tools.
The results show that close to half of the students were bully victims
and about one in four had been cyber-bullied. Over half of the students
reported that they knew someone being cyberbullied. Almost half of
the cyberbullies used electronic means to harass others more than
three times. The majority of the cyber-bully victims and bystanders
did not report the incidents to adults. When gender was considered,
significant differences were identified in terms of bullying and cyberbullying. Males were more likely to be bullies and cyberbullies than
their female counterparts. In addition, female cyberbully victims were
more likely to inform adults than their male counterparts.
ABSTRACT
KEY WORDS:
adolescents; cyberbullying; victimization
Introduction
School violence is a serious social problem (Charach et al., 1995; Clarke
and Kiselica, 1997; Hoover and Juul, 1993; Hoover and Olsen, 2001)
and is particularly persistent and acute during the junior high/middle
school period (National Center for Educational Statistics, 1995). Much
of school violence involves students bullying their peers (Boulton,
1999). According to Hoover and Olsen, ‘Only a slim majority of 4th
through 12th graders … (55.2 percent) reported neither having been
picked on nor picking on others’ (2001; p. 11). Bullying is related to
Please address correspondence to: Dr Qing Li, Faculty of Education, University
of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. Email:
[email protected]
School Psychology International Copyright © 2006 SAGE Publications (London,
Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi), Vol. 27(2): 157–170.
DOI: 10.1177/0143034306064547
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more serious forms of aggression and it is reported that in many schoolshooting cases, bullying played a major role (Dedman, 2001).
Although many teachers and administrators now recognize the problem of school bullying, few are aware that students are being harassed
through electronic communication (Beran and Li, 2005). Parallel to the
fast development of technology and drastic increasing adoption of such
technology including the Internet and cell phones in society, many
schools are enthusiastically embracing new technology. It has been
found that the increasing access to new technology has the potential to
increase students’ social interaction and enhance collaborative learning experiences (Beran and Li, 2004). Substantial research studies
have shown that computers in classrooms can have positive effects on
learning of all subjects. The introduction of electronic communication
into classrooms, however, also brings problems that deserve our
serious consideration. One such issue of concern is that cyberbullying
has become a growing problem in schools, i.e. the use of electronic communication devices to bully others. The growing number and the level
of severity of cyberbulling call for our educators, researchers, administrators and authorities to take action.
But before we can tackle this problem, a better understanding of the
issue is necessary. Because cyberbullying is a new territory, we know
little about it. This study investigates the nature and the extent of
adolescences’ experience of cyberbullying, focusing on the effect of
gender. A survey study of 264 junior high students in an urban city was
conducted. In this article, ‘bullying’ refers to bullying in the traditional
sense, and ‘cyberbullying’ refers to bullying via electronic communication tools.
Related literature
Cyberbullying is a new phenomenon resulting from the advance of new
communication technologies including the Internet, cell phones and
Personal Digital Assistants. Cyberbullying can be briefly defined as
‘sending or posting harmful or cruel text or images using the Internet
or other digital communication devices’ (Willard, 2004; p. 1). According
to Willard (2004), it can occur in various format including flaming,
harassment, cyberstalking, denigration (put-downs), masquerade, outing and trickery and exclusion. Cyberbullying can involve stalking and
death threats and can be very serious. Unlike face-to-face bullying,
people often feel that cyberspace is impersonal and they can therefore
say whatever they want. Further, it is reported that females prefer this
type of bullying (Nelson, 2003).
Many news stories have reported cyberbullying incidents all over
the world. For example, in Australia, a nine-year-old grade 4 female
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student received very pornographic emails. Her parents assumed the
sender of the emails was an adult. When the source was traced by local
police, it was found that the sender was actually her classmate (Thorp,
2004). A 15-year-old boy in Quebec, Canada became an unwilling
celebrity when a film he made of himself emulating a Star War’s fight scene
was posted on the Internet by some classmates. Millions downloaded the
two-minute clip … He was so humiliated he sought counseling [and dropped
out of school], and his family has launched a lawsuit against his tormentors.
(Snider and Borel, 2004; p. 76)
In Japan, cell phone pictures of an overweight-boy, which were taken
on the sly in the locker room, were distributed to many of his peers
(Paulson, 2003). Another incident happened in Calabasas High School
in California. ‘It was a website – schoolscandals.com – on which vicious
gossip and racist and threatening remarks grew so rampant that most
of the school was affected’ (Paulson, 2003; p. 3).
Combating cyberbullying is more difficult for schools than people
initially expected. Many bullies are anonymous. Further, under the
free-speech rights, it is difficult to take down a website. In the case of
the Calabasas High School, the principal did get involved after comments [on the website] caused many of his students to be depressed,
angry or simply unable to focus on school.
It might have been happening off campus … but the effects carry on into the
school day … [However], the site has more than 30,000 members and any
student can post a message … [further], getting the site stopped wasn’t easy.
Talking to law-enforcement officials led nowhere; there are few rules governing what can get posted on the Internet. (Paulson, 2003, Unflattering Images
section, p. 5)
Cyberbullying also takes various forms and electronic communication tools – from email, listserve, cell phone to websites. In the US, a
boy, using a photo-editing tool to paste a girl’s face onto a pornographic
photo, distributed the photo to his entire email list because he had a
quarrel with the girl.
Some used websites to circulate rumors, ask students to vote on the ugliest
or fattest kid in school … When Will, a middle-schooler in Kansas, broke up
with his girlfriend, she created a website devoted to smearing him. She outlined vivid threats, made up vicious rumors, and described what it would be
like to see him torn apart. (Paulson, 2003; p. 1)
Aside from the many reported news stories, several surveys have
been conducted to explore cyberbullying issues. In a survey conducted
in Britain in 2002, it was found that one in four youngsters aged 11 to
19 had been cyberbullied (National Children’s Home, 2002). An earlier
survey conducted in New Hampshire in 2000 found that about 6 percent of youths had the experience of being harassed online (Thorp,
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2004). A survey conducted in Canada showed that one-quarter of young
Canadian Internet users reported that they had experienced getting
messages saying hateful things about others (Mnet, 2001).
Further, a more severe form of bullying – harassment – has also been
found in cyberspace. In a small sample of developmentally delayed
adolescents, Katz (2002) found that many adolescents experienced
sexual harassment over the Internet. Other researchers (Spitzberg and
Hoobler, 2002) reported that one-third of undergraduate students
reported being stalked over the Internet. Text-based name calling,
use of coarse language, profanity and personal attacks have been discovered in computer-mediated communication environments (Kiesler
and Sproull, 1992; Thompsen, 1994).
In a survey to a females-only listserv, one-fifth of 500 subscribers
reported that they had experienced online sexual harassment (Brail,
1994). This type of harassment or intimidation takes a variety of forms
ranging from ‘“flaming” (overt attacks on a person) to highly sexual
comments and visual pornography that dehumanize women’ (Soukup,
1999; p. 169) and ‘seduction under false pretences, electronic stalking,
and virtual rape’ (Herring, 1995; p. 8). For example, a textually enacted
‘rape’ was conducted on MOO in which a male user controlled two
female players’ characters to force the performance of sexually degrading actions on themselves (Dibbell, 1996). Another incident occurred in
a support MUD for sexual abuse survivors in which a male enacted
graphic sexual abuse to all participants (Reid, 1994). Anonymity
inherited in many electronic communication modes ‘not only fosters
playful disinhibition but reduces social accountability, making it
easier for users to engage in hostile, aggressive acts’ (Herring, 2001,
Synchronous CMC section; p. 7).
Two previous research studies in Canada have examined the extent
and impact of cyberbullying (Beran and Li, 2005; Li, in press). They
found that cyberbullying not only occurs in schools, but increasingly
becomes a significant problem. About one in four adolescents are
cybervictims and they experience various negative consequences,
particularly anger and sadness. Over half of adolescents reported that
they knew someone being cyberbullied. In addition, a close tie was
identified amongst bullies, cyberbullies and their victims. That is,
bullies, compared to non-bullies, tended to be cyberbullies; while bully
victims in the physical world were also likely to be bully victims in
cyberspace. Further, cyberbullies were more likely to be victims in
cyberspace than those who did not cyberbully.
Abundant research studies (Borg, 1999; Boulton and Underwood,
1992; Olweus, 1991; Seals and Young, 2003) found that gender plays an
important role in traditional forms of bullying. For example, males are
more likely to be bullied than females (Eslea and Mukhtar, 2000;
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Kumpulainen et al., 1999). They also self-reported bullying others at
significantly higher rates than their female counterparts (Hoover and
Olsen, 2001; Kumpulainen et al., 1998). Males with atypical genderrelated behaviours were at a much greater risk for peer assault than
other young men. Also, females seen as less or more attractive than
others were at the highest risk for harassment (Shakeshaft et al.,
1995). In the study by Crick et al. (1999) gender differences with
respect to bullying were found in preschoolers as young as 3- to 5years-old. Their research indicates that males are significantly more
physically victimized than females, while females were more relationally victimized. Both types of victims experienced bigger adjustment
problems than did their counterparts. Similarly, Wiseman (2002)
found that males use their fists and physical threats to bully others,
but females’ weapons are words and behind-the-scenes school bully
manipulation. These gendered patterns identified in traditional bullying lead to the question: when moved to cyberspace, does gender also
affect cyberbullying related issues?
As studies and reports reviewed above suggested, cyberbullying
indeed occurs, yet it is unclear whether gender plays a role in cyberbullying. This study, therefore, examines the nature and extent of
students’ experience of cyberbullying focusing on gender effect. Junior
high students were chosen because adolescence is a time when physical
aggression increases in frequency and intensity; for this reason it has
been labelled a ‘brutalizing’ period. Correspondingly, and perhaps as
an antecedent, this period also witnesses a series of abrupt changes in
the social lives of youngsters (Pellegrini and Bartini, 2000; p. 700).
The nature of new technology makes it possible for cyberbullying to
occur more secretly, spread more rapidly and be easily preserved (e.g.
cutting and paste messages). As this behaviour becomes recognized as
a significant problem, researchers must provide information about its
occurrence to inform and support educators and administrators. Considering that many Internet users are socially isolated (Mesch, 2001)
and that some may even look for peer support on the Internet that
incites them to act out in violence against their bullies (Beran and Li,
2005), victims of cyberbullying may be at risk for experiencing poor
psycho-social adjustment. Thus to support the appropriate use of technology in schools, teachers and administrators must be knowledgeable
about cyberbullying, and as a result, develop appropriate preventive
and intervention strategies to ensure the safety of all students.
Research questions
This study was an exploration of the cyberbullying focusing on gender
effects. The primary focus was on the examination of gender differences
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in students’ cyberbullying experiences. A secondary focus was on the
investigation of male and female students’ perception of school climates.
Particularly, the following research questions guide this exploration:
1. Do male and female students have different experiences in relation
to cyberbullying?
2. Are there gender differences in student beliefs about adults’ prevention of cyberbullying?
3. When cyberbullying occurs, do male and female students behave
differently in terms of informing adults?
Methods
Subject and instrument
The subjects for this study were randomly selected from three middle
schools in a large city in Canada. A total of 264 grade 7–9 students (130
males and 134 females) completed the questionnaire. Among them,
only 5.8 percent were ESL students. Further, 75.4 percent of the
students were white, 6.4 percent Asian, and about 18 percent were
Black, Hispanic, Aboriginal or from other ethic groups (see Table 1 for
details). Over half of the students reported above average school
grades, while close to 40 percent of them reported average grades. Only
a couple of the students reported below average grades.
Table 1
Demographics of the students
Ethnicity (%)
Gender (%)
Academic achievement (%)
White
Asia
Other
M
F
Above
average
Average
Below
average
75.4
6.4
18.2
48.5
51.5
57.2
39.4
1.9
*n = 264;
**Total percentages may not add up to 100 due to missing values.
An anonymous survey adapted from previous research (Li, in press)
was used which includes two major areas: students’ demographic data
and their experience related to cyberbullying. A total of 26 questions
including the frequency of using computers were analysed to answer
the research questions of this study (see Appendix 1 for details of the
survey).
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Analysis
Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to examine gender
differences in junior high students’ experience of cyberbullying. The
statistical package SPSS (2004) was used to analyse data. Descriptive
statistics were employed to provide background information such as
the extent and frequencies of cyberbullying. Further, chi-square tests
were used with an alpha level of 0.05 to examine possible gender differences.
Results
We first examined the extent to which students experience cyberbullying in order to gain a basic understanding of the issue. In addition to
cyberbullying, students’ experience of bullying was also investigated
considering that adolescences’ experience of bullying can inform our
understanding of cyberbullying. Overall, close to half of the students
were bully victims and about one in four students had been cyberbullied. Over 34 percent of the students had bullied others in the traditional form, and almost 17 percent had bullied others using electronic
communication tools. In addition, 53.6 percent of the students reported
that they knew someone being cyberbullied.
When male and female students’ experiences were considering separately, it was found that over 22 percent of males and close to 12
percent of females were cyberbullies. However, 25 percent of males and
25.6 percent of females reported that they were cyberbullied. Table 2
provides details of male and female student reported experience.
Table 2 Percentages of student experience of bullying and
cyberbullying
Bully
Bully victim
Cyberbully
Cyberbully victim
Aware of cyberbullying
Male
Female
40.8
53.7
22.3
25.0
55.6
27.8
44.4
11.6
25.6
54.5
*n = 256
Do male and female adolescents have different cyberbullying
experiences?
There was no significant difference between the proportion of male and
female adolescents who reported being bullied (χ2 = (1, n = 256) = 3.50,
p = 0.17) or cyberbullied (χ2 = (1, n = 257) = 0.011, p = 0.91). However,
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males were more likely to bully (χ2 = (1, n = 258) = 4.83, p = 0.028)
and cyberbully (χ2 = (1, n = 233) = 4.82, p = 0.021) others than were
females.
How often did cyberbullying occur?
The answer to this question was grouped into two categories: one to
three times and more than three times. Among the cybervictims, about
62 percent were cyberbullied one to three times and 37.8 percent were
harassed more than three times. No significant gender difference was
found in frequencies of cyberbullying victimization (χ2 = (1, n = 82) =
2.02, p = 0.15). Further, close to 55 percent of cyberbullies harassed
others between one to three times and over 45 percent did it more
than three times using electronic means. No significant gender difference was found in frequencies of cyberbullying (χ2 = (1, n = 53) = 1.37,
p = 0.24).
What were student beliefs about adults’ prevention of cyberbullying in
schools?
Only 64.1 percent of the students believed that adults in schools tried
to stop cyberbullying when informed. No significant gender difference
was found in student beliefs about this adult involvement in stopping
cyberbullying (χ2 = (1, n = 231) = 1.24, p = 0.54).
When cyberbullying occurred, who would tell adults, male or female
students? The analysis showed that for the cybervictims, females were
more likely to inform adults than males (χ2 = (1, n = 81) = 6.15,
p = 0.012). For the students who knew someone being cyberbullied,
only 30.1 percent told adults but no gender difference was found (χ2 =
(1, n = 133) = 0.129, p = 0.72).
Discussion
This study explores a new and important issue related to cyberbullying. The preliminary analysis of a survey data collected from junior
high students in Canada sheds light on this evolving issue.
The first important issue concerns the large extent of young adolescences’ experience of bullying and cyberbullying. In this study, about
half of the students reported that they had been bullied during school.
This supports the view that bullying is a significant problem in schools
(Hoover and Olsen, 2001). The researcher is puzzled by this much
higher percentage of bully victims as compared to previous research
results (Hoover and Olsen, 2001). Initially, the researcher thought that
the students’ social economic background may have been a major
factor. The fact that about half of the students were from the school
where there are mainly middle class residences indicates that merely
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considering SES cannot explain this phenomenon. One possible explanation is the school climate – that is, perhaps no effective official
policy toward bullying or anti-bullying programs are adopted and
followed in the schools (Pellegrini and Bartini, 2000). Another explanation may be that bullying is becoming increasingly severe in terms of
the scope and the extent in large cities. Further research studies are
necessary to examine this issue.
A second issue that deserves our serious consideration is the scope of
cyberbullying in schools. Over half of the students knew someone who
had been cyberbullied. Further, over a quarter of the students in this
study experienced being cyberbullied, and one in six students had
cyberbullied others. This is consistent with previous studies (Beran
and Li, 2005) including a British survey conducted in 2002 which
showed that 25 percent of children age 11–19 had been bullied or
threatened via various electronic communication modes (National
Children’s Home, 2002). An earlier survey conducted in 2000 in New
Hampshire found that only about 6 percent of teenagers had experienced being cyberbullied or threatened (Thorp, 2004). This suggests
that cyberbullying may be on the rise and is becoming an increasingly
critical issue of concern.
Third, when gender is considered, significant differences were identified in terms of bullying and cyberbullying. Although no gender
difference was found in relation to victimization, males were more
likely to be bullies and cyberbullies than their female counterparts.
This is consistent with previous research (Borg, 1999; Boulton and
Underwood, 1992) that females are less likely to bully than are males.
It also suggests that cyberbullying and bullying follow a similar pattern
in terms of male and female involvement. This result, however, contradicts the theory that females prefer to use electronic communication
mediums such as chatrooms and email to bully others (Thorp, 2004).
Fourth, over a third of the cybervictims had been harassed more than
three times and close to half of the cyberbullies had bullied others more
than three times using electronic means. This rate of cyberbullying is
similar to the frequency of experiencing traditional bullying reported
in several studies (Bentley and Li, 1995; Farrington, 1991). One possible explanation is that bullies are also more likely to engage in
cyberbully actions and there is a close relationship amongst bullying,
cyberbullying and victimization (Li, in press), hence similar patterns
are observed between bullying and cyberbullying.
Another issue worth noticing is the bystanders of cyberbullying.
Previous research has demonstrated that up to 80 percent of regular
bullying incidences are not reported to staff (Rigby and Slee, 1999). This
study shows that, just like in the real world, the vast majority of the
students who were cyberbullied or knew someone being cyberbullied
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chose to stay quiet rather than to inform adults. One possible explanation may be that many students, over one-third of the students in this
sample, do not think that adults in schools tried to stop cyberbullying
when informed. Because of this belief that adults in schools would not
help, many students, feeling either scared or powerless, chose not to
report cyberbullying instances. This supports the literature that
adolescents’ perceptions of their school environments relate to their
bullying related behaviours (Pellegrini and Bartini, 2000). It highlights
the importance of building, and further strengthening, a trusty
relationship between students and school staff (including teachers,
administrators and the like). Another explanation may be due to
students’ lack of appropriate strategies to deal with the problems.
As suggested by the data, most victims and bystanders do not report
cyberbullying incidents. Female cybervictims, however, are more
inclined to inform adults about the incidents than are male cybervictims. This is interesting and it may relate to the gender differences
identified in conversational styles (Tannen, 1994). In her work, Tannen
(1994) indicates that ‘men are more likely to be aware that asking … for
any kind of help, puts them in a one-down position’ (p. 24). Therefore,
males tend not to ask for help or inform others about their problems or
troubles.
Conclusion
This study contributes to the extant literature on bullying in several
conceptual areas. First, cyberbullying is a bullying problem occurring
in a new territory. Few research studies have examined bullying issues
in this new context. The astonishing high percent of adolescents who
had experienced cyberbully tactics observed in this study suggests that
cyberbullying is becoming an increasingly critical problem for schools
and the whole society.
Second, in this article, bullying and cyberbullying are examined at ‘a
point where it had seldom been studied. Extant studies, for the most
part, studied primary school children. The early adolescent period
merits attention because it is a period, labelled a ‘brutalizing period’,
where disruptions in social networks afford opportunities for peer
victimization and aggression to establish peer status’ (Pellegrini and
Bartini, 2000; p. 700). Consistent with this, the results of this study
showed that a high percentage of the students were involved in bullying or cyberbullying.
Third, bullying, cyberbullying and victimization are explored in this
study considering the gender factor. This work examined for the first
time the discrepancy between male and female adolescents’ experience
in relation to cyberbullying and victimization. It suggests that gender
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plays a significant role in cyberbullying. The gender difference identified in this study underscores the importance of differentiated
approaches for the research and possible intervention programs
related to cyberbully issues.
Fourth, the vast majority of adolescents choosing to be quiet
bystanders further stresses the importance of systematic education of
safety strategies from an early age. Just like dealing with traditional
bullying issues, educating bystanders may provide some key strategies
in dealing more effectively with cyberbullying. Focusing more attention on bystanders has the potential power to prevent a significant
amount of cyberbullying. The gender difference identified in this study
that male victims are less likely to inform adults underscores the
importance of awareness. If students all understand cyberbullying
related issues, aware of the strategies for combatting cyberbullying
(e.g. informing adults), and know their own styles and limits, it would
be much easier to fight cyberbullying.
The education dealing with cyberbullying related issues should be
a joint endeavour of schools, families, communities and the whole
society. It supports the idea that our concern of the bully and cyberbully
issue ‘must be at many levels, not only for the individuals themselves,
and their families, but also society at large’ (Morrison, 2002).
Like any research study, this study has limitations. For example, the
data were collected from an urban city; we need to be cautious when
generalizing the findings to other regions. In addition, although junior
high is the time when bullying peaks, it is also important to examine
cyberbullying in other age levels including elementary and senior
high schools. The information obtained can be used to provide a fuller
picture of the cyberbullying issue.
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School Psychology International (2006), Vol. 27(2)
Appendix I
Survey
Section one: about you (circle one):
1. Sex:
Male
Female
Grade level ______
2. Year of birth ______________
3. How do you describe yourself:
Asian
Hispanic
Black
White
4. English is my second language
Yes
5. My school grades are usually:
6. I use computers:
rarely
Aboriginal
Other
No
above average
average
1–3 times/month
below average
at least 4 times/month
Part two: cyberbully
1. I have been bullied during school:
2. I have bullied others:
yes
yes
no
no
3. I have been cyberbullied (e.g. via
email, chat room, cell phone):
yes
no
4. If yes, I was cyberbullied via (circle all that apply):
email
chat room
cell phone
other, specify __________
5. If yes, I was cyberbullied by:
school mates
people outside school
I don’t know who
6. If yes, I have been cyberbullied:
less than 4 times
4–10 times
7. I have cyberbullied others:
yes
over 10 times
no
8. If yes, I cyberbullied others via (circle all that apply):
email
chat room
cell phone
other, specify __________
9. If yes, I have cyberbullied others:
less than 4 times
4–10 times
over 10 times
10. I know someone who has been cyberbullied:
yes
no
11. When adults in school know cyberbullying, they try to stop it:
yes
no
12. When I was cyberbullied, I told adults (e.g. parents, teachers):
yes
no
13. When I knew someone being cyberbullied, I told adults:
14. I know safety strategies in cyberspace:
yes
no
15. If yes, I learned safety strategies:
By myself
taught by parents
taught in schools
other, specify: _________
170
yes
no