School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
BMC Public Health. 2012 Nov 23;12:1027. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-1027.
Cyberbullying, threatening or harassing another via the internet or mobile phones, does not cause physically harm and thus the consequences are less visible. Little research has been performed on the occurrence of cyberbullying among adolescents or the perception of its seriousness. Only a few population-based studies have been published, none of which included research on the witnessing of cyberbullying. Here, we examined exposure to cyberbullying during the last year, and its frequency and perceived seriousness among 12 to 18-year-old adolescents in Finland. We studied four dimensions of cyberbullying: being a victim, bully, or both victim and bully of cyberbullying, and witnessing the cyberbullying of friends.
Self-administered questionnaires, including four questions on cyberbullying, were mailed to a representative sample of 12-, 14-, 16-, and 18-year-old Finns in 2009 (the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey). The respondents could answer via the internet or paper questionnaire.
The number of respondents was 5516 and the response rate was 56%. Girls more often than boys reported experiencing at least one dimension of cyberbullying during the last year. The proportion was highest among 14-year-olds and lowest among 18-year-olds of both sexes. Among girls, the most commonly encountered dimension was witnessing the cyberbullying of friends (16%); and being a victim was slightly more common than being a bully (11% vs. 9%). Among boys, an equal proportion, approximately 10%, had been a victim, a bully, or had witnessed cyberbullying. The proportion of bully-victims was 4%. Serious and disruptive cyberbullying was experienced by 2% of respondents and weekly cyberbullying by 1%; only 0.5% of respondents had been bullied weekly and considered bullying serious and disruptive.
Adolescents are commonly exposed to cyberbullying, but it is rarely frequent or considered serious or disruptive. Cyberbullying exposure differed between sexes, such that girls more often than boys witness cyberbullying of friends and boys more often act as the bully than girls. In future studies, the witnessing of cyberbullying and its consequences should be taken into account.
网络欺凌是指通过互联网或手机对他人进行威胁或骚扰，这种行为不会造成身体伤害，因此后果不太明显。目前针对青少年网络欺凌的发生情况及其严重程度的研究较少。仅有少数基于人群的研究已经公布，但都没有包括对网络欺凌目击情况的研究。在这里，我们研究了芬兰 12 至 18 岁青少年在过去一年中接触网络欺凌的情况，以及其频率和感知的严重程度。我们研究了网络欺凌的四个维度：作为受害者、欺凌者、既是受害者又是欺凌者，以及目睹朋友遭受网络欺凌。
我们于 2009 年向芬兰的 12 岁、14 岁、16 岁和 18 岁青少年进行了一项代表性抽样的自我管理问卷调查，其中包括四个关于网络欺凌的问题。调查对象可以通过互联网或纸质问卷回答问题。
共收到 5516 名调查对象的回复，回复率为 56%。与男孩相比，女孩在过去一年中报告至少经历过一个维度的网络欺凌的比例更高。这一比例在 14 岁青少年中最高，在男女青少年中在 18 岁青少年中最低。在女孩中，最常见的遭遇是目睹朋友遭受网络欺凌（16%），而作为受害者的比例略高于欺凌者（11%比 9%）。在男孩中，作为受害者、欺凌者或目睹网络欺凌的比例相等，约为 10%。欺凌-受害者的比例为 4%。有 2%的受访者经历过严重和破坏性的网络欺凌，1%的受访者每周都遭受网络欺凌，只有 0.5%的受访者每周都遭受欺凌，并认为欺凌是严重和破坏性的。
青少年经常接触网络欺凌，但很少是频繁的，也很少被认为是严重或具有破坏性的。网络欺凌的暴露情况在性别之间存在差异，女孩比男孩更经常目睹朋友遭受网络欺凌，而男孩比女孩更经常扮演欺凌者的角色。在未来的研究中，应该考虑到网络欺凌的目击情况及其后果。
