Lisa Hellström

Does the association with psychosomatic health problems differ between cyberbullying and traditional bullying

The association between mental health problems and traditional bullying is well known, whereas the strength of the association in cyberbullying is less known. This study aimed to compare the association between mutually exclusive groups of bullying involvement and psychosomatic problems as measured by the PsychoSomatic Problems scale. The sample comprised 3820 students (13–16 years old) in Sweden. The results indicate an association between bullying and psychosomatic problems, regardless of type of bullying involvement. No statistically significant differences in psychosomatic problems were found between cyberbullying and traditional bullying, either for victims or for bullies. The results do not confirm the hypothesis that the association between bullying and mental health is stronger for cyberbullying than for traditional bullying. Another important finding is that cyberbullies seem as likely as cybervictims to be at risk for mental health problems.

Discrepant gender patterns for cyberbullying and traditional bullying – An analysis of Swedish adolescent data

In the wake of the rapid development of modern IT technology, cyberspace bullying has emerged among adolescents. The aim of the present study was to examine gender differences among adolescents inv ...

Understanding and defining bullying - adolescents' own views.

BackgroundThe negative consequences of peer-victimization on children and adolescents are major public health concerns which have been subjected to extensive research. Given all efforts made to analyze and estimate the social and health consequences of peer-victimization, the adolescents’ own experiences and understandings have had surprisingly little impact on the definition of bullying. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to explore adolescents’ definitions of bullying.MethodsA questionnaire study (n = 128) and four focus group interviews (n = 21) were conducted among students aged 13 and 15. First, gender and age differences were analyzed with respect to what behaviors are considered bullying (questionnaire data). Second, analysis of what bullying is (focus group interviews) was conducted using qualitative content analysis.ResultsThe adolescents own understanding and definition of bullying didn’t just include the traditional criteria of repetition and power imbalance, but also a criterion based on the health consequences of bullying. The results showed that a single but hurtful or harmful incident also could be considered bullying irrespective of whether the traditional criteria were fulfilled or not. Further, girls and older students had a more inclusive view of bullying and reported more types of behaviors as bullying compared to boys and younger students.ConclusionsThe results of the current study adds to the existing literature by showing that adolescents consider the victim’s experience of hurt and harm as a criterion for defining bullying and not only as consequences of bullying. This may be of special relevance for the identification and classification of bullying incidents on the internet where devastating consequences have been reported from single incidents and the use of the traditional criteria of intent, repetition and power imbalance may not be as relevant as for traditional bullying. It implies that the traditional criteria included in most definitions of bullying may not fully reflect adolescents’ understanding and definition of bullying. Assessments of bullying behaviors that ask adolescents to strictly adhere to the traditional definition of bullying might not identify all adolescents experiencing peer victimization and therefore not provide estimates of prevalence rates reflecting adolescents’ own understanding of bullying.

Self-reported peer victimization: Concordance and discordance between measures of bullying and peer aggression among Swedish adolescents

The current study examined concordance and discordance between a measure of bullying and measures of peer aggression with respect to the number of students identified as victims. Swedish adolescents (N = 1,760) completed a web-based questionnaire. A measure of bullying and measures of peer aggression were compared in order to elucidate the unique contribution of each measure as well as the overlap: 13% of students who experienced peer victimization reported only bullying, 44% reported only repeated peer aggression, and 43% reported both. Concordance was further elucidated by phi-square coefficient tests revealing that 18% of the variance in either measure was accounted for by the other measure. Given recent research showing similar associations with mental health for bullying and peer aggression victimization, it is suggested that questions about peer aggression as well as bullying should be used simultaneously in order to capture the prevalence and full magnitude of peer victimization.

Corrigendum to “Discrepant gender patterns for cyberbullying and traditional bullying – An analysis of Swedish adolescent data” [Comput. Hum. Behav. 29 (2013) 1896–1903]

Discrepant gender patterns for cyberbullying and traditional bullying - An analysis of Swedish adolescent data (vol 29, pg 1896, 2013)