Ashkelon Academic College, Israel.
J Interpers Violence. 2021 Aug;36(15-16):NP8498-NP8519. doi: 10.1177/0886260519842860. Epub 2019 Apr 22.
In recent years children and adolescents lead their social lives in the virtual world no less than in the real one. Social networking sites such as WhatsApp play a major role as popular social communication platforms. More than 97% of Israeli youth use WhatsApp and are members of WhatsApp classmate groups. The growing use of WhatsApp is accompanied by increased frequency of cyberbullying, that is, intended and repeated aggressive online behavior aimed to inflict harm. Cyberbullying victimization has received a fair amount of attention due to its association with serious psychosocial, affective, behavioral, and academic problems. Although much has been written about cyberbullying on Facebook, literature about WhatsApp and cyberbullying is scarce. Based on a large-scale survey that examined the prevalence and expressions of cyberbullying the current cross-sectional study provides a detailed description of cyberbullying victimization in WhatsApp classmate groups across grade level and gender among Israeli school-age children and adolescents. The study included 4,477 elementary, middle, and high school students in Israel who completed questionnaires regarding cyberbullying victimization in their WhatsApp classmate groups. According to the study findings, approximately 30% of all survey participants report personal victimization from cyberbullying in their WhatsApp classmate groups, and almost double that report victimized aggression at least once in the recent past. Demographic variables such as school grade level and gender appear to moderate cyberbullying. Increased cyberbullying was found in elementary school compared with middle and high school, and more female compared with male students were victims of cyberbullying in WhatsApp classmate groups. The article outlines several areas of concern in cyberbullying research and discusses issues that future research might address. Education policy guidelines and implications for intervention are also discussed.
近年来，儿童和青少年在虚拟世界中的社交生活不亚于现实生活。WhatsApp 等社交网络平台作为流行的社交通讯平台发挥着重要作用。超过 97%的以色列青少年使用 WhatsApp 并加入了 WhatsApp 同学群。随着 WhatsApp 使用频率的增加，网络欺凌的频率也在增加，即有目的、重复的攻击性网络行为，旨在造成伤害。由于网络欺凌与严重的心理社会、情感、行为和学业问题有关，因此受到了相当多的关注。尽管关于 Facebook 上的网络欺凌有很多文献，但关于 WhatsApp 和网络欺凌的文献却很少。本研究基于一项大规模调查，该调查检查了网络欺凌的普遍性和表现形式，目前的横断面研究详细描述了以色列学龄儿童和青少年在 WhatsApp 同学群中网络欺凌受害的情况，包括年级和性别。该研究包括以色列的 4477 名小学生、初中生和高中生，他们完成了关于在 WhatsApp 同学群中网络欺凌受害的问卷调查。根据研究结果，大约 30%的所有调查参与者报告在他们的 WhatsApp 同学群中遭受过网络欺凌，几乎有两倍的人报告在最近的过去至少遭受过一次欺凌行为。学校年级和性别等人口统计学变量似乎调节了网络欺凌。与初中和高中相比，小学的网络欺凌现象更为严重，与男性相比，更多的女性在 WhatsApp 同学群中成为网络欺凌的受害者。本文概述了网络欺凌研究中的几个关注领域，并讨论了未来研究可能解决的问题。还讨论了教育政策指导方针和干预措施的影响。
