DAPHNE project: Cyberbullying - new measurements for new types of bullying

1. DAPHNE project: Cyberbullying - new measurements for new types of bullying An initial analysis of UK data Neil Tippett Peter K. Smith Fran Thompson

2. The DAPHNE project • Collaboration between four European partners: Italy (Bologna University); UK (Goldsmiths, University of London); Spain (Cordoba University) and Finland (Turku University) • Duration: February 2007 – February 2009

3. Aims of the project • investigate new forms of bullying in adolescents • create new questionnaires to evaluate bullying, the group dynamics in bullying and the process of victimisation • investigate bullying in different contexts - although data will only be collected in school, behaviour outside school will also be investigated • explore the relationship between ordinary bullying and cyberbullying • evaluate the results in order to create new guidelines for the EU • create resources for schools (e.g. websites, DVDs, manuals; lesson plans etc)

4. Method • Data discussed in this study investigates the incidence of cyberbullying in UK schools, and the relationship to traditional forms of victimisation • Used a newly devised anonymous self-report questionnaire, adapted from questionnaires already used and validated in cyberbullying research • Questionnaires were carried out in a school setting, during school time and with teacher supervision • Provides information on potential predictors including age, gender, ethnicity, living location, parents socio economic status and computer/mobile phone use • Main section asks participants about their involvement with bullying and cyberbullying, and includes scales to measure self esteem and loneliness

5. The Questionnaire Section 1: About you • Provided data on participants self esteem and loneliness. Questions were adapted from two existing questionnaires, translated from Italian into English. • Self esteem: Revised version of Melotti & Passini, 2002. Included six measures of self esteem: global, sport, school, body, peers and family. • Loneliness: Adapted from Melotti, 2006, included four measures of loneliness related to: • Parents – closeness to family • Peers – closeness to friends, members of their peer group • Aversion – how much participants like/dislike being alone • Affinity – how participants feel about being alone

6. Section 2: About your school • Series of questions relating to school safety and involvement Section 3: About bullying and cyberbullying • Based on existing questionnaire developed by Smith et al (2005), shortened and adapted by Ortega (2006) • Includes questions on involvement in four types of bullying: direct, indirect, through mobiles and through the internet • Provides data on characteristics of mobile and internet bullying, including: relationship between victim and bully, length of bullying and victims response • Includes a section designed to measure attitudes of bystanders, adapted from participant role approach

7. Participants 2227 Participants in total, aged 10 - 18 * 8 participants did not provide data on age or gender • Selected from 11 secondary schools located in 3 English counties • Majority of participants white British or white European (68%), followed by Asian (20%), mixed/other (7%) or black British (5%)

8. Rates of victimisation in the last two months

9. Characteristics of cyberbullying Mobile victims: • Text messages most common (54% of victims) followed by phone calls (44%) and multimedia texts (16%) • 26% of victims did not know who bullied them, 61% of victims attended the same school as the person who bullied them Internet victims: • Most victims reported being bullied through Instant messaging (54%), followed by social networking sites (30%), and email or chat rooms (20%) • 22% of victims did not know who bullied them, 57% attended the same school as the bully

10. Characteristics of cyberbullying II Mobile victims: • Most incidents lasted 1 or 2 weeks (47%), 16% bullied for at least one year • Commonest reaction was telling a friend (28%), followed by telling a parent (22%) or ignoring what had happened (23%) Internet victims • Most internet bullying lasted for 1 or 2 weeks (62%), 7 % of internet victims had been bullied on the internet for a year of longer • Over a third reacted by blocking messages (37%) - remainder were most likely to ignore it or tell a friend (25%)

11. Comparisons by age and gender Mobile Victims • Year group and gender showed no significant main effects regarding the likelihood of being mobile bullied • Interaction was observed - males in year 10 (13-15) were significantly more likely to be victims of mobile bullying (F=3.066, p<0.05) Internet victims • Gender and year group had no significant effects on the likelihood of being bullied on the internet. • No interactions observed

12. Rates of bullying others within the last two months

13. Comparisons by age and gender Mobile Bullies • Gender showed a significant effect regarding involvement in mobile bullying (F=7.784, p<0.05). Males significantly more likely to bully others through mobile phones than females. • No effect according to age, no interaction observed Internet bullies • Males were also significantly more likely to bully other people using the internet than females (F=5.181, p<0.05). • No effects were found regarding age, no interaction observed

14. Self esteem and victim status • Victims of only internet bullying scored significantly lower on all measures of self esteem, compared to those who had not been cyberbullied. • Children who had experienced both mobile and internet bullying also scored significantly lower on global, school, body and peer measures of self esteem

15. Self esteem and bully status • Children who bullied others either using just the internet, or using mobiles and the internet scored significantly lower on school and family measures of self esteem than those who had not taken part in cyberbullying.

16. Loneliness and victim status Mobile, Internet and mobile/internet victims rated as significantly more lonely on parent and peer measures than non bullied children

17. Loneliness and bully status Children who bullied others using both mobiles and the internet were significantly more lonely than non involved children on both parent and peer measures.

18. Summary of findings • Cyberbullying constitutes a quarter to a third of traditional bullying • Text messages, phone calls and instant messaging most commonly reported method • Mobile and internet forms of bullying show similarities but are responded to differently • Gender shows some effect, particularly males as cyberbullies • Self esteem and loneliness reveal significant differences

19. Areas for analysis and discussion • Slightly lower incidence of cyberbullying compared to previous studies: could results from sample, methodology or impact of intervention programmes • Examine differences between traditional and cyber forms of bullying, including effect, response of victim, and behaviour of bystanders • Deeper analysis required using self esteem and loneliness scales: including comparison with traditional victims/bullies • Examination of cyber bully-victims if sample size permits • Analyse the role of bystanders using adaptation of the participant role approach