Cyberbullying What the research is telling us… Amanda Lenhart Youth Online Safety Working Group May 6, 2010 Washington, DC

Cyberbullying May Sources & Methodology Pew: Interviewed 800 parent-child pairs in Sept 2009, 700 parent-child pairs in November 2007 and 935 parent – child pairs in Oct-Nov 2006 Teens ages Nationally representative sample Journal of Adolescent Health Special Issue (2007) UNH Crimes Against Children Research Center data (YISS-1 & YISS-2) (Wolak, Finkelhor et al) Internet Solutions for Kids (Growing up with Media)(Ybarra et al) Hinduja & Patchin

Cyberbullying May Teen internet use basics 93% of teens go online 63% of online teens go online daily 89% of online teens go online from home, and most of them go online from home most often 77% of teen go online at school 71% go online from friends or relatives house 60% go online from a library 27% go online on their mobile phone 76% of households with teens go online via broadband, 10% via dial up, and 12% do not have access at home.

Cyberbullying May What are teens doing online? 94% go online to do research for school assignments; 48% do so on a typical day. 81% go to websites about movies, TV shows, music groups, or sports stars 64% of online teens have created some kind of content online 62% go online to get news 57% have watched a video on a video-sharing site like YouTube or GoogleVideo 55% go online to get information about a college, university or other school that they are thinking about attending. 48% have bought something online like books, clothes or music 31% have looked online for health, dieting or physical fitness information; 17% have looked online for sensitive health information

Cyberbullying May How else are teens connecting? 75% of teens have a cell phone –No gender or race/ethnic differences in ownership –50% of teens with phones talk to friends daily –54% of teens send text messages daily –27% use their phone to go online 73% of teens use an online social network site –37% of SNS users send messages through social networks daily 80% of teens have a game console 51% of teens have a portable gaming device –Teens connect and interact with others online through games

Cyberbullying May Concerns in Online Safety Sphere Inappropriate contact –Strangers –Bullies Inappropriate content –Accidental Exposure –Deliberate Exposure

Cyberbullying May Bullying Olweus (1993) “ A person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself." This definition includes three important components: 1. Bullying is aggressive behavior that involves unwanted, negative actions. 2. Bullying involves a pattern of behavior repeated over time 3. Bullying involves an imbalance of power or strength.” Bullying –Physical –Relational/Verbal -Internet

Cyberbullying May Online Harassment & Cyberbullying Online harassment: aggressive behavior, “harm doing,” insults, denigration, impersonation, exclusion, outing, activities associated with hacking – stealing information, breaking into accounts, damaging websites, profiles etc. (Willard, 2006) Cyberbullying: online harassment that is –repeated over time –Involves a power imbalance between a perpetrator and a victim. Power imbalance may be differences in online skills. Other complicating factor -- perpetrators are also often victims, sometimes online, sometimes elsewhere. Internet bullying can be particularly hard to disentangle. (Willard, 2006)

Cyberbullying May What makes online harassment & bullying different? Technology is vehicle Persistence of content –Editable, alterable Distributability of content –Speed –Breadth Dis-inhibition over computer-mediated communication Invasive

Cyberbullying May Pew Internet: Online Harassment 32% of online teens have experienced one of the following forms of online harassment: –15% of teens reported having private material (IM, txt, ) forwarded without permission –13% had received threatening messages –13% said someone had spread a rumor about them online –6% had someone post an embarrassing picture of them online without permission (Lenhart, 2007) 26% of teens have been harassed via their cell phones either by voice or text (Lenhart, 2010)

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Cyberbullying May Cyberbullying Other research shows prevalence of cyberbullying or online harassment between 9% and 33% of youth ages (Wolak et al, 2007, Ybarra et al, 2007) Much of the difference is definitional and depends on how the question was asked. Specific activities often yield higher levels of response than blanket definitions. Mid-teens (ages 14-17) is the age of greatest prevalence of online harassment & bullying (Pew, 2007, Hinduja & Patchin, 2008) Perpetrators of online bullying (similar to offline bullying) are generally the same age as their victim. (Wolak, 2007)

Cyberbullying May Frequency of bullying victimization among year olds (n=1,193) (Ybarra, 2009)

Cyberbullying May Online Harassment (2) Girls, particularly older girls, report more online harassment; 38% of all online girls reported experiencing some type of harassment (Pew, 2007) Social network users are also more likely to report online harassment – 39% of SNS users have experience it. (Pew, 2007) But most teens (67%) think bullying & harassment happens more OFFLINE. (Pew, 2007)

Cyberbullying May Frequency of bullying victimization among year olds by environment (n=1,193) (Ybarra, 2009)

Cyberbullying May Online (or not) Harassment School is by far the most common place youth report being bullied (31%) versus elsewhere (e.g., 13% online) The prevalence rate of Internet harassment (both perpetration and victimization) appears to be stable ( ). The majority (59%) of Internet harassment comes from other minors Youth who report being harassed online report a myriad of concurrent psychosocial problems offline, too Source: Michele Ybarra & colleagues work on the 2005 Youth Internet Safety Survey fielded by UNH CCRC & Growing up with Media research funded by the CDC.

Cyberbullying May Why should we worry? Bullying is broadly associated with: –School violence –Delinquency –Suicidal ideation Bullied teens (and often bullies themselves) have higher levels of: –Depression and other psychological problems –Substance abuse –Delinquency / School avoidance –Weapon-carrying –Poor parent/caregiver relationships –Offline victimization/sexual abuse/physical abuse

Cyberbullying May Why should we worry (2)? Some research suggests that significant portions of teens aren’t bothered by online harassment or bullying Research suggests that 1/3 of teens (34%) are distressed by online harassment. (Wolak et al, 2007) –Distressed = “Extremely or very upset or afraid” Teens who are high internet users are more likely to be distressed (Wolak, 2007)

Cyberbullying May Overlap of cyberbullying & internet victimization (Ybarra, 2010)

Cyberbullying May Differences between cyberbullying & internet harassment Cyberbullying is not more common than Internet harassment On average (between ): 37% were harassed, 14% were bullied online in the past year Cyberbullying is not more damaging than Internet harassment Among those cyberbullied, 15% report being very / extremely upset Among those harassed, between 17-34% report being very / extremely upset

Cyberbullying May Cell phone-based harassment 75% of teens have cell phones 54% of all teens text message daily 26% have been harassed through their cell phone by voice calls or text messages 47% have sent a text message they regretted sending And then there’s sexting – which is generally not a form of harassment itself, but when the images are shared, can lead to harassment and bullying.

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Cyberbullying May Sending Sexts No difference by gender Oldest teens most likely to have sent –8% of 17 year olds –4% of 12 year olds 17% who pay for all the costs of the phone send sexts vs. 3% of others

Cyberbullying May Receiving Sexts Again, no gender differences and increases by age –4% of 12 year olds –20% of 16 year olds –30% of 17 year olds Sending texts, having unlimited texting plan increases receipt

Cyberbullying May Sexting Scenarios 1.Between two romantic partners, as a part of, instead of, or as a prelude to sex – never leaves couple 2.Between two romantic partners – but shared with others 3.Between two people where at least one would like to be in a relationship – shows interest

Cyberbullying May Element of coercion for some sexting “When I was about years old, I received/sent these types of pictures. Boys usually ask for them or start that type of conversation. My boyfriend, or someone I really liked asked for them. And I felt like if I didn’t do it, they wouldn’t continue to talk to me. At the time, it was no big deal. But now looking back it was definitely inappropriate and over the line.” - 17 year old girl

Cyberbullying May Summary Somewhere between 1/10 th and 1/3 rd of teens are being bullied online Bullying still happens more offline – at school – than online. For the majority of teens, it isn’t distressing, but for a minority, cyberbullying is extremely serious and paired with major problems that can affect their lives, their schools and their community. Venues for bullying have diversified, and with it comes increased visibility. But impulse behind behaviors hasn’t changed – just the vehicle.

Cyberbullying May Final Thoughts Need more high-quality, national data on this issue. Coordination in the definitions of cyberbullying. When thinking about solutions, important to remember that bullying crosses boundaries – it’s everywhere that children are Stay tuned for more work from Growing up with Media study (Ybarra - CDC) and research on cyberbullying and suicide by Hinduja & Patchin

THANK YOU Amanda Lenhart Pew Internet & American Life Project