Prevalence and Correlates of Cyberbullying Perpetration. Findings from a German Representative Student Survey

Marie Christine Bergmann and Dirk Baier
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Marie Christine Bergmann: Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony, 30161 Hannover, Germany
Dirk Baier: ZHAW (Zurich University of Applied Sciences) School of Social Work, 8037 Winterthur, Switzerland

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: Based on a survey of 9512 ninth-grade students conducted in Lower Saxony in 2013, this paper examines the prevalence of cyberbullying perpetration and the correlates of this behavior. Binary logistic multilevel regression was used in order to analyze correlates of sexual and psychological cyberbully perpetration. In the preceding semester, 2.4% of the adolescents were perpetrators of psychological cyberbullying and 0.4% bullied someone online sexually. Low levels of empathy, frequent consumption of violent media, and being victims of aggressive online behaviors are correlated with the risk that a child will become a bully. Female adolescents are less likely than boys to engage in sexual cyberbullying perpetration, but they are more likely to engage in psychological cyberbullying perpetration. Only a small share of adolescents engage in sexual and psychological cyberbullying perpetration. Both behaviors differ in their correlates, however being a victim of aggressive online behaviors increase the risk for perpetration of both behaviors, respectively.

Keywords: psychological cyberbullying perpetration; sexual cyberbullying perpetration; bullying perpetration; student survey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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