research objectives of cyberbullying

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[A cyberbullying study: Analysis of cyberbullying, comorbidities and coping mechanisms]

Affiliations.

1 EA Clipsy 44 30, laboratoire Evaclipsy, université Paris Ouest, Nanterre-La-Défense, 92, 200, avenue de la République, 92001 Nanterre, France. Electronic address: [email protected].
2 CeRSM (EA 2931 CERSM), centre de recherche sur le sport et le mouvement, université Paris Ouest, Nanterre-La-Défense, 92, 200, avenue de la République, 92001 Nanterre, France.
3 EA Clipsy 44 30, laboratoire Evaclipsy, université Paris Ouest, Nanterre-La-Défense, 92, 200, avenue de la République, 92001 Nanterre, France.
PMID: 25240939
DOI: 10.1016/j.encep.2014.08.003

Introduction: Cyberbullying is a relatively new form of bullying. This bullying is committed by means of an electronic act, the transmission of a communication by message, text, sound, or image by means of an electronic device, including but limited to, a computer phone, wireless telephone, or other wireless communication device, computer, games console or pager. Cyberbullying is characterized by deliberately threatening, harassing, intimidating, or ridiculing an individual or group of individuals; placing an individual in reasonable fear of harm; posting sensitive, private information about another person without his/her permission; breaking into another person's account and/or assuming another individual's identity in order to damage that person's reputation or friendships.

Literature finding: A review of the literature shows that between 6 and 40% of all youths have experienced cyberbullying at least once in their lives. Several cyberbullying definitions have been offered in the literature, many of which are derived from definitions of traditional bullying. In our study we asked clear definition of cyberbullying. Few studies explicate the psychosocial determinants of cyberbullying, and coping mechanisms. The authors of the literature recommend developing resiliency, but without analyzing the resilience factor.

Objectives: The first aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of adolescents and adults engaged in cyberbullying. The second aim was to examine the coping mechanisms and comorbidity factors associated with the cyberbullied people.

Methodology: The sample was composed of 272 adolescents (from a high school) and adults (mean age=16.44 ± 1). The Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire was used to identify profiles of cyberbullying. Coping mechanisms were investigated using the Hurt Disposition Scale (HDS) and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS). Comorbidities were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD), Liebowitz's Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), and the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ).

Results: Almost one student in three was involved in cyberbullying (34.9% as cyber-victim, 16.9 as cyberbully); 4.8% of our sample was concerned by bullying as a victim. The victims of bullying were also victims of cyberbullying. The mean age of victims of cyberbullying was 17.84 ± 5.9 years, and the mean age of victims of bullying was 16.3 ± 4.5 years. Correlation coefficient was significant for HAD, LSAS, BVAQ scales with CQ. The retaliatory variable of HDS scale was not significant. Finally, the coping strategies of students who reported victimization were explored. These strategies include coping, telling someone, figuring out the situation, and avoidant coping. The results showed for the victims of cyberbullying, that they take longer to recover from a stressful event, compared to victims of bullying.

Conclusion: Results have indicated the importance of further study of cyberbullying because its association with comorbidities was distinct from traditional forms of bullying. The biggest risk factor for the adolescents is the severity of the consequences. These are: the adoption of the avoidance coping strategy, the occurrence of offline bullying during the situation, the adoption of the self-control coping strategy, the variety of cyberbullying acts, the victim's level of self-blame, the victim's perception of the duration of the situation, and the frequency of cyberbullying victimization.

Keywords: Adolescents; Anxiety; Cyberbullying; Depression; Harcèlement; Internet; Mécanismes d’adaptations; Resilience; Youth.

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> Journals
> BJPsych Bulletin
> The Psychiatrist
> Volume 37 Issue 5
> Cyberbullying and its impact on young people's emotional...

Article contents

The nature of cyberbullying, the impact of cyberbullying on emotional health and well-being, technological solutions, asking adults for help, cyberbullying and its impact on young people's emotional health and well-being.

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018

The upsurge of cyberbullying is a frequent cause of emotional disturbance in children and young people. The situation is complicated by the fact that these interpersonal safety issues are actually generated by the peer group and in contexts that are difficult for adults to control. This article examines the effectiveness of common responses to cyberbullying.

Whatever the value of technological tools for tackling cyberbullying, we cannot avoid the fact that this is an interpersonal problem grounded in a social context.

Practitioners should build on existing knowledge about preventing and reducing face-to-face bullying while taking account of the distinctive nature of cyberbullying. Furthermore, it is essential to take account of the values that young people are learning in society and at school.

Traditional face-to-face bullying has long been identified as a risk factor for the social and emotional adjustment of perpetrators, targets and bully victims during childhood and adolescence; Reference Almeida, Caurcel and Machado 1 - Reference Sourander, Brunstein, Ikomen, Lindroos, Luntamo and Koskelainen 6 bystanders are also known to be negatively affected. Reference Ahmed, Österman and Björkqvist 7 - Reference Salmivalli 9 The emergence of cyberbullying indicates that perpetrators have turned their attention to technology (including mobile telephones and the internet) as a powerful means of exerting their power and control over others. Reference Smith, Mahdavi, Carvalho, Fisher, Russell and Tippett 10 Cyberbullies have the power to reach their targets at any time of the day or night.

Cyberbullying takes a number of forms, to include:

• flaming: electronic transmission of angry or rude messages;

• harassment: repeatedly sending insulting or threatening messages;

• cyberstalking: threats of harm or intimidation;

• denigration: put-downs, spreading cruel rumours;

• masquerading: pretending to be someone else and sharing information to damage a person’s reputation;

• outing: revealing personal information about a person which was shared in confidence;

• exclusion: maliciously leaving a person out of a group online, such as a chat line or a game, ganging up on one individual. Reference Schenk and Fremouw 11

Cyberbullying often occurs in the context of relationship difficulties, such as the break-up of a friendship or romance, envy of a peer’s success, or in the context of prejudiced intolerance of particular groups on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability. Reference Hoff and Mitchell 12

A survey of 23 420 children and young people across Europe found that, although the vast majority were never cyberbullied, 5% were being cyberbullied more than once a week, 4% once or twice a month and 10% less often. Reference Livingstone, Haddon, Anke Görzig and Ólafsson 13 Many studies indicate a significant overlap between traditional bullying and cyberbullying. Reference Perren, Dooley, Shaw and Cross 5 , Reference Sourander, Brunstein, Ikomen, Lindroos, Luntamo and Koskelainen 6 , Reference Kowalski and Limber 14 , Reference Ybarra and Mitchell 15 However, a note of caution is needed when interpreting the frequency and prevalence of cyberbullying. As yet, there is no uniform agreement on its definition and researchers differ in the ways they gather their data, with some, for example, asking participants whether they have ‘ever’ been cyberbullied and others being more specific, for example, ‘in the past 30 days’.

Research consistently identifies the consequences of bullying for the emotional health of children and young people. Victims experience lack of acceptance in their peer groups, which results in loneliness and social isolation. The young person’s consequent social withdrawal is likely to lead to low self-esteem and depression. Bullies too are at risk. They are more likely than non-bullies to engage in a range of maladaptive and antisocial behaviours, and they are at risk of alcohol and drugs dependency; like victims, they have an increased risk of depression and suicidal ideation. Studies among children Reference Escobar, Fernandez-Baen, Miranda, Trianes and Cowie 2 - Reference Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpalä, Rantanen and Rimpalä 4 , Reference Kumpulainen, Rasanen and Henttonen 16 and adolescents Reference Salmivalli, Lappalainen and Lagerspetz 17 , Reference Sourander, Helstela, Helenius and Piha 18 indicate moderate to strong relationships between being nominated by peers as a bully or a victim at different time points, suggesting a process of continuity. The effects of being bullied at school can persist into young adulthood. Reference Isaacs, Hodges and Salmivalli 19 , Reference Lappalainen, Meriläinen, Puhakka and Sinkkonen 20

Studies demonstrate that most young people who are cyberbullied are already being bullied by traditional, face-to-face methods. Reference Sourander, Brunstein, Ikomen, Lindroos, Luntamo and Koskelainen 6 , Reference Dooley, Pyzalski and Cross 21 - Reference Riebel, Jaeger and Fischer 23 Cyberbullying can extend into the target’s life at all times of the day and night and there is evidence for additional risks to the targets of cyberbullying, including damage to self-esteem, academic achievement and emotional well-being. For example, Schenk & Fremouw Reference Schenk and Fremouw 11 found that college student victims of cyberbullying scored higher than matched controls on measures of depression, anxiety, phobic anxiety and paranoia. Studies of school-age cyber victims indicate heightened risk of depression, Reference Perren, Dooley, Shaw and Cross 5 , Reference Gradinger, Strohmeier and Spiel 22 , Reference Juvonen and Gross 24 of psychosomatic symptoms such as headaches, abdominal pain and sleeplessness Reference Sourander, Brunstein, Ikomen, Lindroos, Luntamo and Koskelainen 6 and of behavioural difficulties including alcohol consumption. Reference Mitchell, Ybarra and Finkelhor 25 As found in studies of face-to-face bullying, cyber victims report feeling unsafe and isolated, both at school and at home. Similarly, cyberbullies report a range of social and emotional difficulties, including feeling unsafe at school, perceptions of being unsupported by school staff and a high incidence of headaches. Like traditional bullies, they too are engaged in a range of other antisocial behaviours, conduct disorders, and alcohol and drug misuse. Reference Sourander, Brunstein, Ikomen, Lindroos, Luntamo and Koskelainen 6 , Reference Hinduja and Patchin 26

The most fundamental way of dealing with cyberbullying is to attempt to prevent it in the first place, through whole-school e-safety policies Reference Campbell 27 - Reference Stacey 29 and through exposure to the wide range of informative websites that abound (e.g. UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS; www.education.gov.uk/ukccis ), ChildLine ( www.childline.org.uk )). Many schools now train pupils in e-safety and ‘netiquette’ to equip them with the critical tools that they will need to understand the complexity of the digital world and become aware of its risks as well as its benefits. Techniques include blocking bullying behaviour online or creating panic buttons for cyber victims to use when under threat. Price & Dalgleish Reference Price and Dalgleish 30 found that blocking was considered as a most helpful online action by cyber victims and a number of other studies have additionally found that deleting nasty messages and stopping use of the internet were effective strategies. Reference Livingstone, Haddon, Anke Görzig and Ólafsson 13 , Reference Kowalski and Limber 14 , Reference Juvonen and Gross 24 However, recent research by Kumazaki et al Reference Kumazaki, Kanae, Katsura, Akira and Megumi 31 found that training young people in netiquette did not significantly reduce or prevent cyberbullying. Clearly there is a need for further research to evaluate the effectiveness of different types of technological intervention.

Parents play an important role in prevention by banning websites and setting age-appropriate limits of using the computer and internet. Reference Kowalski and Limber 14 Poor parental monitoring is consistently associated with a higher risk for young people to be involved in both traditional and cyberbullying, whether as perpetrator or target. Reference Ybarra and Mitchell 15 However, adults may be less effective in dealing with cyberbullying once it has occurred. Most studies confirm that it is essential to tell someone about the cyberbullying rather than suffer in silence and many students report that they would ask their parents for help in dealing with a cyberbullying incident. Reference Smith, Mahdavi, Carvalho, Fisher, Russell and Tippett 10 , Reference Stacey 29 , Reference Aricak, Siyahhan, Uzunhasanoglu, Saribeyoglu, Ciplak and Yilmaz 32 On the other hand, some adolescents recommend not consulting adults because they fear loss of privileges (e.g. having and using mobile telephones and their own internet access), and because they fear that their parents would simply advise them to ignore the situation or that they would not be able to help them as they are not accustomed to cyberspace. Reference Smith, Mahdavi, Carvalho, Fisher, Russell and Tippett 10 , Reference Hoff and Mitchell 12 , Reference Kowalski and Limber 14 , Reference Stacey 29 In a web-based survey of 12- to 17-year-olds, of whom most had experienced at least one cyberbullying incident in the past year, Juvonen & Gross Reference Juvonen and Gross 24 found that 90% of the victims did not tell their parents about their experiences and 50% of them justified it with ‘I need to learn to deal with it myself’.

Students also have a rather negative and critical attitude to teachers’ support and a large percentage consider telling a teacher or the school principal as rather ineffective. Reference Aricak, Siyahhan, Uzunhasanoglu, Saribeyoglu, Ciplak and Yilmaz 32 , Reference DiBasilio 33 Although 17% of students reported to a teacher after a cyberbullying incident, in 70% of the cases the school did not react to it. Reference Hoff and Mitchell 12

Involving peers

Young people are more likely to find it helpful to confide in peers. Reference Livingstone, Haddon, Anke Görzig and Ólafsson 13 , Reference Price and Dalgleish 30 , Reference DiBasilio 33 Additionally, it is essential to take account of the bystanders who usually play a critical role as audience to the cyberbullying in a range of participant roles, and who have the potential to be mobilised to take action against cyberbullying. Reference Salmivalli 9 , Reference Cowie 34 For example, a system of young cyber mentors, trained to monitor websites and offer emotional support to cyber victims, was positively evaluated by adolescents. Reference Banerjee, Robinson and Smalley 35 Similarly, DiBasilio Reference DiBasilio 33 showed that peer leaders in school played a part in prevention of cyberbullying by creating bullying awareness in the school, developing leadership skills among students, establishing bullying intervention practices and team-building initiatives in the student community, and encouraging students to behave proactively as bystanders. This intervention successfully led to a decline in cyberbullying, in that the number of students who participated in electronic bullying decreased, while students’ understanding of bullying widened.

Although recommended strategies for coping with cyberbullying abound, there remains a lack of evidence about what works best and in what circumstances in counteracting its negative effects. However, it would appear that if we are to solve the problem of cyberbullying, we must also understand the networks and social groups where this type of abuse occurs, including the importance that digital worlds play in the emotional lives of young people today, and the disturbing fact that cyber victims can be targeted at any time and wherever they are, so increasing their vulnerability.

There are some implications for professionals working with children and young people. Punitive methods tend on the whole not to be effective in reducing cyberbullying. In fact, as Shariff & Strong-Wilson Reference Shariff, Strong-Wilson and Kincheloe 36 found, zero-tolerance approaches are more likely to criminalise young people and add a burden to the criminal justice system. Interventions that work with peer-group relationships and with young people’s value systems have a greater likelihood of success. Professionals also need to focus on the values that are held within their organisations, in particular with regard to tolerance, acceptance and compassion for those in distress. The ethos of the schools where children and young people spend so much of their time is critical. Engagement with school is strongly linked to the development of positive relationships with adults and peers in an environment where care, respect and support are valued and where there is an emphasis on community. As Batson et al Reference Batson, Ahmad, Lishner, Tsang, Snyder and Lopez 37 argue, empathy-based socialisation practices encourage perspective-taking and enhance prosocial behaviour, leading to more satisfying relationships and greater tolerance of stigmatised outsider groups. This is particularly relevant to the discussion since researchers have consistently found that high-quality friendship is a protective factor against mental health difficulties among bullied children. Reference Skrzypiec, Slee, Askell-Williams and Lawson 38

Finally, research indicates the importance of tackling bullying early before it escalates into something much more serious. This affirms the need for schools to establish a whole-school approach with a range of systems and interventions in place for dealing with all forms of bullying and social exclusion. External controls have their place, but we also need to remember the interpersonal nature of cyberbullying. This suggests that action against cyberbullying should be part of a much wider concern within schools about the creation of an environment where relationships are valued and where conflicts are seen to be resolved in the spirit of justice and fairness.

Acknowledgement

I am grateful to the COST ACTION IS0801 for its support in preparing this article ( https://sites.google.com/site/costis0801 ).

Declaration of interest

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Volume 37, Issue 5
Helen Cowie (a1)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1192/pb.bp.112.040840

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Cyberbullying and mental health: past, present and future.

$\r\nSuhans Bansal$

1 University School of Management and Entrepreneurship (USME), Delhi Technological University, New Delhi, India
2 Department of Operational Research, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India
3 Faculty of Management Sciences, Department of Business Management, Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein, South Africa

Purpose: Cyberbullying has attracted the world's attention, and therefore researchers across the world have contributed to the literature on cyberbullying and mental health. Amongst others, they have conducted bibliometric analyses and associated cyberbullying with various factors but have not determined the impact of cyberbullying on people's mental health. Hence, the aim of this study was to conduct bibliometric analyses of cyberbullying and mental health to analyze the academic performance of the literature on impact of cyberbullying on people's mental health; and to propose future research avenues to make further contributions to this field of study.

Methodology: Spreadsheets and VOSviewer were used to conduct the bibliometric analysis. The data were extracted from the SCOPUS database which provided an extensive collection of data and journals.

Findings: Having explored the top active countries publishing on the impact of cyberbullying on people's mental health and the academic performance of such research articles by means of a qualitative bibliometric analysis, the results revealed that this research topic is still to be researched extensively. The study also suggests countries/regions where this research topic can be explored further, as well as possible journals for publication of research results, and further studies to be conducted.

Discussion: The literature presents a fragmented view on the impact of cyberbullying on people's mental health. Studies on cyberbullying are limited for the reasons as discussed in this article. Hence, bibliometric analysis was conducted to analyze the performance of academic literature on the impact of cyberbullying on people's mental health; the academic performance of research articles on cyberbullying and mental health; and to make proposals toward a future research agenda.

Introduction

Mental health has garnered significant attention from the research community, academics, and policymakers across the globe ( Somé et al., 2022 ), and has emerged as a major contributor to the global health crisis ( Wang et al., 2021 ). The World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as “a state of wellbeing in which the individual realizes his or her abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community” ( World Health Organization, 2004 ). According to the definition, a mentally healthy person effectively manages stress, work to his/her optimal output levels, and positively contribute to his/her community. The definition also suggests that the absence of, or an impaired state of mental wellbeing may hinder individuals from realizing their full potential, hamper their productivity, and diminish their ability to contribute positively to their communities ( Somé et al., 2022 ). The WHO report on mental health reveals that nearly one in every eight individuals globally experience mental health issues ( World Health Organization, 2019 ). The report further indicates that depression is one of the major factors contributing to impaired mental health, affecting almost 3.8% of the world's population ( World Health Organization, 2022 ), including 5% of adults, with the rest being children and adolescents ( World Health Organization, 2022 ). Several factors such as genetics ( Shabani et al., 2019 ), environment ( Usher et al., 2019 ), unhealthy lifestyle choices ( Lim et al., 2016 ), extreme conditions such as COVID-19 ( Greenberg, 2020 ; Moreno et al., 2020 ), broken relationships and lack of social support ( Mehtaa et al., 2023 ), excessive usage of social media ( Karim et al., 2020 ), and bullying experiences ( Giumetti and Kowalski, 2022 ) contribute to the rising mental health issues across the globe. People of all ages, professions, genders, geographic regions, colors, castes, and creeds suffer from mental health issues ( Oksanen et al., 2020 ; Achuthan et al., 2023 ; Bansal et al., 2023a , b ). Furthermore, there has been a significant rise in mental health issues since late 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant exponential increase in internet usage. Although COVID-19 is on the decline, the negative repercussions of high internet use are still visible. One of its most annoying and unfortunate consequences is cyberbullying ( Xie et al., 2020 ).

Cyberbullying is defined “as an aggressive, intentional act carried out by a group or individual, using electronic forms of contact, repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself” ( Smith et al., 2008 , p. 376). In other words, cyberbullying refers to an intentional and repetitive act carried out using electronic media or information communication technology (ICT) to bully an individual or group who is defenseless against these attacks. This type of bullying differs from traditional bullying in various ways. ICT allows bullies to hide their identities and bully others as often as they want to ( Bashir Shaikh et al., 2020 ). Hashemi (2021) also differentiate cyberbullying from traditional bullying, suggesting that cyberbullies can bully a large number of victims at any given point in time. They further suggest that cyberbullying may leave long-lasting memories in its victims' minds, also known as a digital footprint ( Hashemi, 2021 ). It takes diverse forms in different situations. For instance, flaming occurs when a perpetrator uses foul and violent language during online communication ( Maichum et al., 2016 ), and trolling involves taunting a person or a group in a humorous but undignified manner ( Zsa Tajol Asanan, 2017 ). Denigration involves spreading malicious information to damage a victim's reputation ( Zainudin et al., 2016 ). Masquerading is pretending to be someone else, usually the victim ( Peled, 2019 ). Some other modern forms of cyberbullying include outing and cyberstalking ( Wright, 2018 ; Peled, 2019 ).

Although cyberbullying is a dreadful act, its adverse impact on an individual's physical and mental health necessitates an in-depth understanding of this phenomenon. Rao and Rao (2021) are of the view that cyberbullying may result in the development of mental health issues, depression ( Englander, 2021 ), anxiety, psychological distress, and post-traumatic stress symptoms ( Nochaiwong et al., 2021 ). The events of cyberbullying are traumatizing and psychologically wounding ( Paat and Markham, 2020 ). Victims of cyberbullying may develop depressive symptoms and insomnia ( Kim et al., 2020 ), and counterproductive work behavior, along with experiencing lower job satisfaction levels ( Kowalski et al., 2017 ). Victims may also show lower engagement ( Muhonen et al., 2017 ) and higher attrition intentions ( Li et al., 2018 ). Students are among the worst affected victims ( Kowalski and Limber, 2013 ). They suffer from negative consequences such as higher absenteeism, lack of concentration ( Kowalski et al., 2018 ), feelings of shame and guilt ( Ciucci and Baroncelli, 2014 ), and engaging in anti-social behavior ( Cavalcanti et al., 2019 ). Maurya et al.'s (2022) 3 year longitudinal study reported that the rates of cyberbullying had increased from 3.8% to 6.4% in female and from 1.9% to 5.6% in male respondents over study's period. Also, their study suggested that female respondents have developed a high rate of suicidal ideation compared to male participants due to experiencing cyberbullying. Furthermore, Xia et al. (2023) report that cyberbullying was one of the major reasons for the development of appearance anxiety in the college students, which has further exaggerated the social anxiety in them. The authors further reported that the combined effect of cyberbullying and appearance anxiety has caused higher social anxiety levels in the college students. Additionally, a study from Bangladesh revealed that university students who experienced cyberbullying during their tenure at the university had developed anger issues, self-guilt, and fear of attending college ( Sheikh et al., 2023 ). Likewise, a study on Malaysian youth revealed that victims of cyberbullying had developed anxiety, stress, and exhaustion, which have resulted in an increase in suicidal ideations among them. Therefore, the rising literature on cyberbullying and mental health has necessitated to analyze its academic performance. Also, acknowledging the importance of review and bibliometric studies, several contemporary researchers have suggested that bibliometric studies on cyberbullying and mental health issues should be conducted.

A bibliometric analysis is a research method involving the analysis of published literature to identify patterns and trends in a particular field ( Donthu et al., 2021 ). Its applicability is multidisciplinary ( Andersen, 2019 ), with various researchers having conducted bibliometric analyses in fields such as human resources ( Andersen, 2019 ), journalism ( Bansal et al., 2023a ), corporate governance ( Singhania et al., 2022a , b ) and ecopreneurship ( Guleria and Kaur, 2021 ). This study used bibliometric analysis to analyze the research documents on cyberbullying and mental health. Further, Donthu et al. (2021) have suggested using bibliometric analysis over meta-analysis and structured literature review based on the following differences. Firstly, the scope of the study is broader, and the goal is to summarize vast amounts of bibliometric data for presenting the performance and state of the academic intellect. Secondly, the aim is to analyze the emerging trends of the field. Thirdly, the amount of literature is too large for manual reviewing and the analysis requires a mix of qualitative and quantitative analyses [for detailed comparison, please refer to the Table 1 of Donthu et al. (2021) ]. Therefore, bibliometric analysis could provide insight into the extent and scope of research on cyberbullying and its impact on mental health by identifying top influential articles, journals, and authors, as well as identifying gaps in the literature and potential areas for future research through topical analysis and analyzing new emerging keywords and topics. Consequently, bibliometric analysis was considered the best choice for analyzing the past, present and future of cyberbullying and its impact on the mental health.

Moreover, bibliometric analysis on cyberbullying and mental health have not been conducted extensively. Saif and Purbasha (2023) performed a qualitative systematic literature review on young females in developing countries who have experienced cyberbullying. They differentiated and categorized the instances of cyberbullying those young females faced. Additionally, the bibliometric analysis of Achuthan et al. (2023) focused on studies on cyberbullying and sustainable development and the impact of COVID-19 on this relationship. Shao and Cao (2021) analyzed the existing literature on adolescent cyberbullying retrieved from the Web of Science. Furthermore, Barragán Martín et al. (2021) focused on analyzing literature on cyberbullying from adolescents' perspective published in the Web of Science database, without specifically focusing on mental health. Moreover, the bibliometric analysis conducted by Cretu and Morandau (2022) focused on education setups and cyberbullying in relation to adolescents. Peker and Yalcin (2022) focused on studying cyberbullying literature published in the Web of Science database only. However, their study is limited to studies published up until 24 July 2021, and only addresses topics such as cooperation between countries, institutions, and authors. They did not analyze keywords or identify emerging trends in cyberbullying literature. Their study also did not study the relation between cyberbullying and mental health. Other studies have focused on victims of cyberbullying (e.g., Mäntylä et al., 2018 ; López-Meneses et al., 2020 ; Gómez Tabares and Correa Duque, 2022 ), educational setting ( Moreno and Piqueras, 2020 ), or have been location-specific, such as those conducted in Turkey ( Manap, 2022 ), Spain ( Andrés et al., 2016 ) and Latin America ( Herrera-López et al., 2018 ; Villanueva et al., 2020 ). Finally, Kim et al. (2021) studied literature focusing on workplace cyberbullying in medical and hospital setups. Therefore, our study will cover the highlighted gap and present a fresh perspective on the impact of cyberbullying on the mental health.

Motivation of the present study

This study differs from previous studies on two broad bases. Firstly, the preceding section presented fragmented studies found in the literature. Although previous studies have explored various aspects of cyberbullying, they have their own limitations, such as being limited to location, age group, or even sustainable development topics. Some studies fail to address the relationship between cyberbullying and mental health, or only focus on a particular age or a specific group involved in cyberbullying. Secondly, previous studies have primarily utilized systematic literature reviews to explore the nexus of cyberbullying and mental health. This study aims to address these limitations by conducting a comprehensive analysis of the global literature on cyberbullying and mental health. The study was not confined to a specific geographic location, age group, or work setting. Instead, the aim was to explore the past, present, and future of the knowledge that pertains to the impact of cyberbullying on people's mental health. Thirdly, mental health is a serious concern which has attracted global attention. According to various researchers many factors can be associated with degradation of mental health, including cyberbullying ( Schodt et al., 2021 ). Also, as discussed in the preceding section, cyberbullying can negatively affect mental health like developing depressive symptoms in the victims ( Kowalski et al., 2022 ), suicidal ideation ( Kowalski and Limber, 2013 ), stress and anxiety ( Nochaiwong et al., 2021 ; Rao and Rao, 2021 ). Hence, it has become imperative to study effects on cyberbullying on the mental health. Also, with the help of present study we can analyze the academic performance of the literature on the topic under consideration and discuss certain future trends. Additionally, the SCOPUS database was utilized, which has not been extensively used in previous bibliometric studies on this topic. This database was chosen due to its various merits, as will be discussed in the forthcoming sections. Furthermore, a bibliometric approach was adopted, which helps mitigate the risk of bias that can be generated during a systematic literature review. Unlike a systematic literature review, a bibliometric analysis includes all the identified studies on the topic that fall within its scope. Lastly, the current study seeks to address the following:

(a) What are present trends in research publications, citations, and research areas?

(b) What is countries' performance and authors' performance on the topic?

(d) How are articles performing? and

(e) What are widely used keywords and emerging topics?

Apart from a general study of these topics, this study explored (a) emerging countries and countries where research on the topic has not been done yet, (b) emerging journals, and (c) top publications on the impact of cyberbullying on people's mental health published during the past 5 years. Consequently, the authors systematically extracted and explored literary data (research publications) from the SCOPUS database. This study finds its design on the basis of suggestions and guidelines provided by Donthu et al. (2021) . Lastly, software such as spreadsheets and VOSviewer were used to analyze the final dataset.

Methodology

Database selection.

The SCOPUS database was used to extract data for bibliometric analysis. SCOPUS is the largest database of peer-reviewed scientific literature including journals, books, and conference proceedings. Other databases such as Google Scholar, Pubmed, PsycInfo, and Web of Science (WoS) are also available, but the SCOPUS database was used as it rendered results more relevant to the context of this study. Google Scholar does not provide a dataset in a format suitable for bibliometric analysis. The PubMed dataset predominantly comprises research in life sciences and biomedical topics, whilst the PsycInfo database consists of works in the field of psychology. However, cyberbullying studies are covered under several themes such as psychology, human resources, economics, medical, education, sociology, etc. Also, SCOPUS is the largest database and it provides information regarding the most prominent authors, countries, affiliations, journals, and publication years both in tabular and graphic form. Therefore, the SCOPUS database is preferred over all other available databases.

Data extraction

Previous researchers used terms such a “cyberbullying,” “cyber bullying,” “mental health,” “bully,” “victimization,” “perpetration,” and “bystander” in their studies. In the present study, terminology such as perpetrators or victims were not used, as it would have restricted the study to exploring mental health issues experienced either by victims or perpetrators, only. Moreover, based on our previous bibliometric study on cyberbullying, it was found that (a) no bibliometric study had analyzed the literature on the nexus of cyberbullying and mental health and (b) mental health is one of the major fields of study in collaboration with cyberbullying ( Bansal et al., 2023a ). Although various authors have used a vast list of keywords while retrieving a dataset on mental health ( Guo et al., 2023 ), they have skipped many terms; for instance, “suicidal,” “suicidal tendency,” “suicide,” “suicidal ideation,” and “deviant behavior.” Also, it was observed during our extensive literature review, apart from specifying mental disorder, the term “mental health” was also used as one of the keywords or extended keywords. Therefore, we have used “mental health” as an umbrella term to not to skip any study that might have explored any one mental health problem arising out of cyberbullying. Since the objective of the study was to analyze academic knowledge on cyberbullying and mental health from both the victims' and perpetrators' perspectives, “cyberbullying” OR “cyber bullying” AND “mental health” were used in the search string. Consequently, 628 documents were retrieved.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Results that contained 'cyberbullying,' 'cyber bullying' and 'mental health' in the title, abstract and keywords were deemed fit for the study. Documents published only in English until 31 December 2022 were considered as publications for year 2023 were over during the data exploration time frame and time frame limiting is based on the recommendations of various researchers including Singh et al. (2021) and Donthu et al. (2021) . Boolean 'OR' was used to maximize the results, whereas 'AND' was used to limit the research results to mental health issues. Based on this inclusion and exclusion criteria, 576 articles met the requirements. Documents such as book titles and conference papers were excluded, as they are not always subjected to a rigorous peer-review process ( Singh et al., 2021 ). This resulted in the exclusion of 108 documents. Finally, 468 documents were considered for the data screening process.

Data screening

The authors studied the abstracts of 468 documents and found that they all met the criteria. Figure 1 presents the search model.

Figure 1 . Search model. Source: SCOPUS, Authors' creation.

Data analysis

Spreadsheets and VOSviewer were used to analyze the data obtained from the SCOPUS database. Specifically, descriptive statistics were applied to generate various tables and charts to explore patterns in the data. These charts and tables aided in the analysis of publications and citation trends. VOSviewer was employed to analyze the most influential articles, journals, and authors, rank nations based on their publications and citation activity, and to perform keyword analysis and evolution. The study also examined the evolution of academic knowledge on the subject across different countries, authors, and journals. Citation and co-citation analyses in VOSviewer were utilized to conduct the aforementioned analyses, as suggested by previous researchers such as Singh et al. (2021) and Donthu et al. (2021) .

Results and discussion

Publication and citation trends.

For purposes of this study, 406 articles and 62 reviewed articles were studied. Annual publications on the impact of cyberbullying on people's mental health remained under 10 until 2013, reaching 30 by 2017. In 2018, the annual publications surpassed 50, and in 2022, they exceeded 100. In the last 5 years (2018–2022), there were 370 publications on this topic, accounting for 79.05% of total publications during the thirteen-year period. Over a period of time, the number of articles and review articles increased from 113 to 324, and from 23 to 46, respectively. Furthermore, there were 12,322 citations from 2010 to 2022, with an average of 26.33 citations per publication. Citations from the last 5 years constituted 37.62% of the total citations. Figure 2 illustrates the publication and citation trends in the field of cyberbullying and mental health research, depicting a steady rise in both publications and citations. The earliest document, Wang et al.'s (2010) “Co-occurrence of Victimization from Five Subtypes of Bullying: Physical, Verbal, Social Exclusion, Spreading Rumors, and Cyber,” examined the co-occurrence of subtypes of peer victimization. It assessed victimization related to verbal, spreading rumors, social exclusion, and physical and cyberbullying. The study also found that male participants were more likely to become victims of all the subtypes of bullying.

Figure 2 . Publication and citation trend. Source: SCOPUS database.

Journal analysis

Table 1 presents the top 10 journals based on the number of documents published. Out of 187 journals that have published at least one article on cyberbullying and mental health, only four journals had 10 or more publications on these topics. The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health had the highest number of publications (67) and citations (703). It is a multidisciplinary journal covering public health, occupational health, and psychology, and is published by MDPI. It is followed by the Journal of Adolescents Health with 12 publications and 2,016 citations. This journal is published by Elsevier and focuses on domains such as medicine, pediatrics, and public health. The third-ranked journal is the Children and Youth Services Review , with 535 citations. It is also published by Elsevier and has a multidisciplinary approach, primarily focusing on sociology, political sciences, and education. The majority of the top 10 journals publish multidisciplinary works, with an emphasis on behavioral sciences, social sciences, and adolescents, indicating the significance of cyberbullying and mental health in these fields. The only journal with more than 1 000 citations is the Journal of Adolescents Health (2 016 citations). It also has the highest citations per document score of 168. The journal with the second-highest citations per document score is the Children and Youth Services Review (89.17 citations per document). Lastly, it is worth noting that only a few studies on cyberbullying and mental health have been published in journals from renowned publishers such as the American Psychological Association (two publications), Taylor and Francis Ltd. (two publications), and Oxford University Press (one publication).

Table 1 . Top 10 most active journals.

A journal overlay visualization ( Figure 3 ) was conducted to explore the emerging journals and the earliest journals published in the field. Another aim of journal overlay analysis was to determine the shift in research areas that journals publish on. The journals marked in yellow color is emerging journals in this field, whereas those marked in bluish-purple are the earliest journals published in the field. Journals such as the American Journal of Health Promotion, Australian Psychiatry, BMC Psychology , and Frontiers in Digital Health are emerging journals in the field, to name a few.

Figure 3 . Journal overlay map. Source: SCOPUS, VOSviewer.

Top cited publications

The top 10 highly cited research articles in the SCOPUS database are presented in Table 2 . One of these articles, “Psychological, physical, and academic correlates of cyberbullying and traditional bullying,” authored by Kowalski and Limber (2013) , aimed to analyze the relationship between experiences of cyberbullying and traditional bullying in children and adolescents, and their psychological and physical health as well as academic performance. They conducted a survey comprising of variables such as experiences with traditional bullying and cyberbullying, depression, anxiety, physical wellbeing, and academic performance ( Kowalski and Limber, 2013 ). Participants were divided into four cohorts: cyber victims, bullies, victims/bullies, and not involved in cyberbullying. A similar division was also made for traditional bullying. It was found that students in the victims/bullies' group had the worst scores for their psychological and physical health and academic performance, especially among male participants. In comparison, female participants were more likely to develop both traditional and cyberbullying-related anxiety. The results further highlighted that although cyber victimization and perpetration and traditional bullying victimization and perpetration positively correlated with anxiety, depression, lower self-esteem, suicidal ideation, absenteeism and leaving school early, victimization in both types of bullying was more significantly associated with these outcomes than perpetration. In other words, the study emphasized that victims of traditional and cyberbullying are more likely to develop anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation than perpetrators, especially in school learners.

Table 2 . Top 10 most influential publications.

The second most influential study is “Cyberbullying, School Bullying, and Psychological Distress: A Regional Census of High School Students,” authored by Schneider et al. (2012) . The authors aimed to analyze the relationship between cyberbullying and school bullying victimization and psychological distress ( Schneider et al., 2012 ). Results revealed that 59.7% of students who experienced cyberbullying were also the prey of school bullying, while 36.3% of students who experienced more school bullying were also victims of cyberbullying. Furthermore, results indicated that victims of both school and cyberbullying had significant associations with psychological distress. The tenth most influential publication, titled “Cyber bullying and physical bullying in adolescent suicide: the role of violent behavior and substance use” is authored by Litwiller and Brausch (2013) . The authors analyzed the relationship between physical and cyberbullying victimization and suicidal tendencies in adolescents, considering mediating variables such as violent and sexual behavior. The study's findings suggested that both types of bullying are highly associated with suicidal tendencies and unsafe sexual and violent behaviors. Additionally, the study highlighted an association between both types of bullying and substance abuse. Substance abuse and violent behavior acted as partial mediating variables. They explained “how risk behaviors can increase an adolescent's likelihood of suicidal behavior through habituation to physical pain and psychological anxiety” ( Litwiller and Brausch, 2013 , p. 675).

Table 3 illustrates the top five publications in the last 5 years, i.e., 2018 to 2022. At the top of the list is Arseneault's (2018) article titled “Annual Research Review: The persistent and pervasive impact of being bullied in childhood and adolescence: implications for policy and practice”. The article was published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and was cited 192 times. The study highlighted the impact of childhood bullying on mental and physical health as well as socio-economic outcomes. It demonstrated that childhood bullying, including traditional and cyberbullying, contributes to childhood and adolescent adjustment problems and may lead to poor mental and physical health, and the development of socio-economic difficulties. The study emphasized the importance of interventions against childhood bullying that focus on reducing symptoms-based problems in young victims. Furthermore, the study highlighted a need for developing individual level-based interventions to promote resilience against bullying behavior and reduce the risk of being vulnerable to bullying.

Table 3 . Top five publications in the last 5 years.

Country/region analysis

Table 4 and Figures 4 , 5 reports the top 20 countries/regions actively publishing in the cyberbullying and mental health domain. The SCOPUS database revealed that 75 countries have published 468 documents on this topic. The large number of countries involved suggests that cyberbullying and mental health have received global coverage and attention. It is interesting to note that 13 out of the top 20 countries are developed nations ( Figure 4 ). The United States of America (USA) tops the list with 162 publications and 5 259 citations. It is followed by the United Kingdom (UK) with 55 publications and 2,045 citations. These two countries are developed economies that have been utilizing advanced technologies, especially ICT. Moreover, cyberbullying was recognized and addressed in developed countries earlier to any other country ( Bansal et al., 2023a ). Also, the most influential authors on cyberbullying are from developed nations. P. K. Smith tops the list of most influential authors with 454 citations, followed by S. Hinduja (346) and J. W. Patchin (320). China leads the list of most active developing nations with 25 publications and 380 citations. Indonesia follows China with eight publications and 60 citations, followed by Ireland (eight publications and 127 citations), Vietnam (eight publications and 91 citations), India (seven publications and 22 citations) and South Africa (seven publications and 31 citations). While the difference in the number of publications and citations between developing and developed economies is justified by the level of ICT technology used, it does not present a clear picture of the situation. Moreover, it is not justified to conclude that developing countries like India and China are laggers in research on the topic. Therefore, VOSviewer was used for purposes of this research to conduct a country overlay mapping to explore which are the emerging countries based on their paper publication year.

Table 4 . Top 20 countries publishing on cyberbullying and mental health.

Figure 4 . Country map. Source: SCOPUS database, VOSviewer.

Figure 5 . Country overlay map. Source: SCOPUS, VOSviewer.

The results of the country overlay mapping process categorize countries in five different colors. Dark bluish-purple presents the countries that have been active in this field for a very long time, whereas countries in yellow are the emerging countries. As expected, India and China are marked in yellow, suggesting a rise in research on cyberbullying and mental health in emerging countries. Interestingly, it also provides further insights, for example countries marked in dark bluish-purple color are countries with developed economies and with substantial literature based on the subject, as they have been publishing works for several years. On the other hand, countries marked in yellow represent developing economies that are emerging in this field. The ICT advances and the creation of early awareness regarding the impact of cyberbullying on mental health are a few differentiating factors between developing and developed economies. Figure 5 presents a country overlay analysis.

Research area analysis

Table 5 presents the research areas in which studies on cyberbullying and its impact on mental health are being conducted. Medicine has the primary coverage with 36.9% of studies, followed by psychology with 19.1%, and social sciences (14.9%). Other major research areas include environmental science (9.0%), computer science (4.9%), arts and humanities (3.2%) and neuroscience (2.5%), to name a few. The results suggest that although most of the studies were conducted in the medical domain, there are cyberbullying and mental health researchers in other areas such as psychology, social sciences, environmental science, and computer science. Table 5 also reports a comparison between documents published in different research field in two-time frames, i.e. 2010–2018 and 2019–2022. It reports a percentage increase in the publication from 2010–2018 to 2019–2022 in research areas such as medicine, psychology, social sciences, environmental science, computer science, neuroscience, nursing, and engineering. It also reports a percentage decline in arts and humanities research areas during the same period. The table further illustrates the emergence of new research areas, namely business, management and accounting, energy, pharmacology, toxicology and pharmaceutics, and mathematics during 2019–2022. The results suggest that contemporary researchers appear more interested in analyzing medicinal and psychological aspects of cyberbullying and mental health along with developing interests in organizational aspects.

Table 5 . Research areas.

Topical analysis

Figure 6 illustrate the topical analysis based on keywords co-occurrence analysis, which suggest that 98 out of 2 420 keyword topics met the threshold criteria of 15 co-occurrences per keyword. The prominent keywords were cyberbullying (353 occurrences) followed by human (324 occurrences), mental health (228 occurrences), adolescent (268 occurrences), and humans (265 occurrences), male (254 occurrences), and female (254 occurrences). The keyword visualization map highlighted five major clusters based on their link to strength co-occurrence.

Figure 6 . Keyword network visualization. Source: SCOPUS, VOSviewer.

Cluster 1: early studies on cyberbullying and mental health

This cluster (in green color) includes keywords such as cyberbullying, human, mental health, adolescent, internet, prevention and control, adolescent health, etcetera. It appears to comprise early studies that theorized cyberbullying and mental health. For example, Wang et al. (2010) analyzed and recognized cyberbullying as a subtype of bullying. Williams and Godfrey (2011) conceptualized how psychiatric-mental health nurses can recognize cyberbullying. Keung (2011) assessed the relationship between internet addiction and antisocial internet behavior like cyberbullying in adolescents. Goebert et al. (2011) explored the relationship between cyberbullying, substance abuse, and mental health. Additionally, this cluster includes publications studying coping behaviors and the need to develop preventive measures against degraded mental health due to cyberbullying. For instance, school students try to cope with cyberbullying in three ways: reactive, preventive, and in no way to prevent cyberbullying ( Parris et al., 2012 ). Reactive coping strategy may involve ignoring or deleting bullying messages, while preventing coping strategies may involve seeking help or increasing awareness about their security. The study further highlighted that when these strategies fail, students feel defenseless and that there is no way to reduce cyberbullying. Furthermore, Sampasa-Kanyinga and Hamilton (2015) highlighted the need to develop preventive interventions against cyberbullying. Their study suggested that cyberbullying victimization mediated the relationship between the use of social networking sites (SNS), psychological distress and suicidal ideations.

Cluster 2: gender in cyberbullying and mental health

The yellow-colored cluster contains keywords such as humans (265 occurrences), female (254 occurrences), male (254 occurrences), psychology (167 occurrences), child (147 occurrences), sex factors (20 occurrences), etcetera. It seems to present studies on gender-based differences in cyberbullying and mental health, often referred to as the gender debate cluster. This cluster contains studies contributing to the ongoing gender-based debate on cyberbullying and mental health. Various researchers have presented differing views on gender-based differences affecting cyberbullying and mental health. For example, Bannink et al. (2014) suggested that male participants showed resilience toward cyberbullying victimization, thereby not developing any mental health problems, whereas it was the opposite in the case of females. Merrill and Hanson (2016) also suggested higher cyberbullying victimization in female participants than in males, and that females sometimes bully other females as a way to release their mental pressure and emotional bursts. On the other hand, Kim et al. (2019) suggested a higher direct effect of cyberbullying victimization on depression in males compared to females. Hood and Duffy (2018) contributed to this debate by revealing that gender differences did not affect the cyberbullying intentions of adolescents. Fletcher et al. (2014) also reported no association of gender with cyberbullying in school learners. Additionally, this cluster consists of longitudinal studies that examine the relationship between cyberbullying and mental health over time. For instance, one of these longitudinal studies predicts cyber victimization in year one followed by developing anxiety in the following year. Similar results were predicted for cybervictimization in year two and anxiety in the following year. Another longitudinal study found a significant moderating effect of perceived social support on the relationship between homophobic cyberbullying, depression, and anxiety ( Wright et al., 2022 ).

Cluster 3: clinical and criminal studies on cyberbullying and mental health

This cluster in blue color illustrates studies related to clinical assessments and criminology on cyberbullying and mental health. Some of the keywords are bullying (219 occurrences), crime victims (147 occurrences), major clinical studies (105 occurrences), offender (24 occurrences), etcetera. One of the studies in the field of criminology suggested no significant differences in psychosomatic issues between victims of cyberbullying and traditional bullying ( Beckman et al., 2012 ). Paat and Markham's (2020) review study highlighted the modern-day cyber risks teenagers face, particularly focusing on the hidden dangers associated with cyberbullying, SNSs, cyberdating, and sexting, aiming to raise awareness about these crimes. Another clinical study analyzed the frequency of cyberbullying as a contributing factor to youth suicide in Canada ( Cénat et al., 2015 ). Though cyberbullying was not directly associated with suicide-related deaths, the presence of other mental health issues combined with traditional bullying and cyberbullying contributed to a higher prevalence of identified mental health issues, increasing the risk of suicide attempts and, in some cases, resulting in death ( Cénat et al., 2015 ). Patchin and Hinduja (2017) , two prominent authors in the field of cyberbullying, conducted a study to analyze the prevalence of digital self-harm in adolescents. They suggested that males were more likely to engage in digital self-harm activities than females. They also highlighted various factors including sexual orientation, experience with cyberbullying and depressive symptoms which significantly correlated with digital self-harm in adolescents.

Cluster 4: associating cyberbullying with mental health

This cluster in red color presents studies that have expanded the literature on cyberbullying and mental health. These studies have used more robust statistical methods to study various variables' moderation and mediation effects on the relationship between cyberbullying and mental health. Some of the keywords present in this cluster are depression (127 occurrences), adult (106 occurrences), and social support (33 occurrences). Feinstein et al. (2014) suggested that rumination significantly mediated the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and depressive symptoms in women. Elgar et al. (2014) examined the importance of family dinners, specifically family communication and contacts, in mitigating the negative impacts of cyberbullying victimization on mental health. They suggested that improved family communication helps alleviate mental stress and reduces suicidal tendencies, depression, and anxiety in cyberbullying victims. Sampasa-Kanyinga and Hamilton (2015) highlighted the need to explore the use of social networking sites in light of cyberbullying victimization to prevent adolescents' mental health issues. They also suggested that cyberbullying victimization mediates the linkages between social networking sites usage and mental health issues such as psychological distress and suicide attempts. Yu and Chao (2016) suggested that internet addiction significantly moderates the relationship between cyberbullying, cyber-pornography, and mental health. They suggested that parents and academics regulate the digital behavior of adolescents and guide them to use the internet better. Lin et al. (2022) indicated that people with higher resilience scores are well protected against depression resulting from cyberbullying victimization. Hence, studies clearly showed the importance of studying individual-level interventions to protect against cyberbullying and resulting mental issues.

Recent trends

Figure 7 represents the keyword overlay map of emerging topics and evolution/shifts in topics during the last 5 years, i.e., 2018–2022. Again, clusters are formed but based on the time of occurrence of keywords. Keywords presented in yellow and light-green colors indicate the emerging topics.

Figure 7 . Keyword overlay map. Source: SCOPUS, VOSviewer.

Cluster 1: most emerging cluster

This yellow-colored cluster presents the most emerging topics on cyberbullying and mental health. This cluster has keywords such as social anxiety, racism, pandemics, physiological distress, COVID-19, college students, workplace, etc. According to Hou et al. (2022) , there has been an increase in cyberbullying cases due to increased screen time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies on college students suggest that the unguided authority to surf the internet has made the collegiate to fall prey to cyberbullies or, in some cases, become one, knowingly or unknowingly ( Naik et al., 2021 ). Bansal et al. (2023a) also reported a positive correlation between depressive symptoms and cyberbullying perpetration in college students. Moreover, Baiden et al. (2022) and Cheah et al. (2020) indicated that racial minorities experience online discrimination, which contributes to increased mental health issues. Cheah et al. (2020) further recommended that healthcare professionals pay special attention to victims of online discrimination during COVID-19.

Cluster 2: second most emerging cluster

This parrot-green colored cluster includes studies on the second most emerging topics. It contains keywords such as social media, prevalence, violence, epidemiology, suicide, and gender. For example, Tamarit et al. (2021) explored the relationship between social network sites' addiction, self-esteem and sexo-erotic risk behavior like sexting and grooming in adolescents. Their findings also suggest that online addiction predicts sexo-erotic behavior, and such behavior is moderated by self-esteem. Rakic et al. (2021) suggest that individual and family factors including gender and family affluence status predict cyberbullying exposure in Serbian school students. Marengo et al. (2021) examined the occurrences of cyberbullying and problematic social media use in school students. They found that the risk of being cyber-victimized was higher when problematic social media use was present, and the reports of such cases were higher in female students than in males.

Cluster 3: interventions for cyberbullying and mental health

This cluster in teal color contains studies on preventing the degradation of mental health due to cyberbullying. This cluster contains words such as life satisfaction, prevention, mental health, cybervictimization, interventions, etcetera. Several studies have discussed interventions aimed at preventing cyberbullying and promoting sound mental health. For instance, Yosep et al. (2022) and Berardelli et al. (2018) explored and reviewed the literature on interventions that can decrease cyberbullying incidences and mitigate its negative effects on mental health. Yosep et al. (2022) suggested that nursing interventions such as prevention activities, peer-group support, and resilience programs can assist to reduce the occurrence of cyberbullying incidences and help improve mental health. Further, Berardelli et al. (2018) found that lifestyle behavior including cyberbullying, substance abuse, low exercise, and poor diet can severely affect mental health. They indicated that community-wide programs such as social skills training and psychoeducational family treatments can act as interventions against such behaviors and help elevate mental health. Myers and Cowie (2019) reviewed the fragmented literature on cyberbullying victimization in educational institutions and suggested some helpful interventions. They emphasized that educational institutions might adopt social and emotional learning programs to enhance emotional intelligence and empathy among students. The authors also highlighted Smith et al.'s (2016) restorative methods to create a co-operative and positive environment in schools, fostering positive relationships and bolstering the participation of academics and students in implementing such methods.

Cluster 4: adolescents and research techniques

This bluish-purple cluster presents studies on adolescent behavior and data gathering techniques. Keywords include adolescent behavior, surveys and questionnaires, psychological wellbeing, priority journal, internet addiction, mental disorders, sexual and gender minority. Various researchers including Barlett et al. (2016) , Cavalcanti et al. (2019) , Bansal et al. (2022) , Tanrikulu and Erdur-Baker (2021) and Reif et al. (2021) have explored the psychometric properties of various scales or inventories measuring cyberbullying in countries like the USA, Brazil, India, Turkey, Spain and Germany, respectively. Studies within this cluster also investigate and suggest the associations between cyber intimate partner victimization and alcohol use ( Trujillo et al., 2020 ), the relationship between cyberbullying experiences, gender, and depression ( Alrajeh et al., 2021 ). Additionally, authors like Reed et al. (2019) suggest that cyber sexual harassment from unknown males is prevalent among teenage girls and negatively affects their mental wellbeing. Some participants from their study also reported the prevalence of cyber sexual harassment from known males.

Studies have shown that cyberbullying has severely affected both the victims' and bullies' physical and mental wellbeing ( Kowalski et al., 2014 ; Bansal et al., 2023a ). For instance, incidences of cyberbullying have led to the development of psychological issues such as depression ( Litwiller and Brausch, 2013 ), and suicidal thoughts ( Islam et al., 2021 ). Therefore, numerous researchers have made significant contributions to the literature in order to deepen our understanding of the phenomenon and to explore various aspects, including prevention and interventions. Consequently, a vast body of knowledge has been generated, examining cyberbullying from different perspective such as economics, adolescents, and mental health. This vast literature has provided valuable insights through literature reviews, systematic literature reviews, meta-analyses, and bibliometric analyses. Although these studies have deepened our understanding, they have their own limitations. Hence, this study analyzed the academic performance of research articles through a qualitative bibliometric analysis of cyberbullying and mental health. It explores the development of knowledge in the field of cyberbullying and mental health. Lastly, this study was based on the suggestions and guidelines provided by Donthu et al. (2021) in relation to identifying trends in a field of study through the analysis of published literature.

The very first question answered was based on analyzing the publication and citation trends. Initially, there were < 10 publications per year on the link between cyberbullying and mental health, which increased over a period of time. Similarly, the cumulative citations have also increased to 12,322 by 2022. There could be various reasons for these results. During the initial years of research on cyberbullying, researchers focused on understanding the phenomenon of cyberbullying ( Kowalski et al., 2014 ). Also, during those years, present-day ICT infrastructure was developing, and few people had access to such infrastructure. After the advancements in SNS and ICT, the world saw a boom in ICT ( Yang and Hu, 2019 ). Furthermore, the rise of social media, attributed by the availability of ICT tools and wider accessibility of internet services, made many people spend their time on online activities. This rendered an opportunity for the cyberbullies to deter their acts ( Chan et al., 2019 ). This trend was fuelled further by the COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions on social and outdoor activities and the shift of study and workplace from offline to online during the pandemic caused people to increase their screen time ( Singh et al., 2021 ). Due to increased screen time, people fell prey to the hands of cyber bullies, especially the younger generation ( Bansal et al., 2023a ). Zhu et al. (2021) and Han et al. (2021) state that cyberbullying during COVID-19 also contributed to increased mental health issues, including anxiety and depression. These reasons supported the advancements in the research from understanding the phenomenon of cyberbullying to studying its consequences, specifically understanding its impact on the mental health of its victims and perpetrators ( Kowalski et al., 2018 ).

Next, a journal analysis was conducted. The most influential journals and emerging journals were identified. The researchers aimed to determine a shift in the publication area of these identified journals. The Journal of Adolescents Health ranked first with 2 016 citations, followed by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (703 citations) and the Children and Youth Services Review (535 citations). With the help of overlay analysis, the emerging journals were identified and marked in yellow. The American Journal of Health Promotion, Australian Psychiatry, BMC Psychology, and Frontiers in Digital Health are some of the emerging journals. The overlay analysis was also used to explore the shift in the preferred research areas which journals publish. The earlier journals, like the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, focused on publishing studies related to cyberbullying, the psychological wellbeing of children and youth, and social work practices. The studies published in these journals analyzed cyberbullying not only as a single but also explored its associations with other fields, including medicine and social sciences. This made these fields the best possible fields to conduct research on cyberbullying. Hence, the multidisciplinary nature of these journals confirms that cyberbullying is a multidisciplinary phenomenon with vast future potential for researchers.

In 2018, the focus shifted to the emotional wellness of children and psychological perceptions of using computers and electronic devices. In 2018, influential journals were IEEE Access, Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. The current focus is on neuropsychology, health-cultural-environmental communications, and clinical developments in psychology. Emerging journals are Current Psychology, BMC Psychology and Frontiers in Communication, to name a few. The literature from these journals will help authors identify trends in the research and new research avenues. The journals focused on publishing studies based on the wellbeing of children and youth and social work practices among them. The focus shifted to studies exploring human interaction with electronic devices. Finally, the current focus is on fields such as personality, positive psychology, and neuropsychology. Further, the analysis of the most influential articles revealed that articles titled “Psychological, physical, and academic correlates of cyberbullying and traditional bullying” by Kowalski and Limber (2013) ; “Cyberbullying, School Bullying, and Psychological Distress: A Regional Census of High School Students” by Schneider et al. (2012) ; and “Cyber bullying and physical bullying in adolescent suicide: the role of violent behavior and substance use” by Litwiller and Brausch (2013) are among the top ten most influential articles on the topic. The authors studied these articles to gain a better understanding of the topic.

The most influential publications on the topic were explored. It was found that Kowalski and Limber's (2013) article topped the list. It was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health and had received 682 citations until the date of data extraction. These authors studied the nexus between cyberbullying and traditional bullying experiences and their impact on the mental health of children and adolescents. This article was followed by “Cyberbullying, School Bullying, and Psychological Distress: A Regional Census of High School Students.” The article was published in the American Journal of the Public Health and was authored by Schneider et al. (2012) . The authors proposed a relationship between psychological distress and the instances of school and cyberbullying. The results of the document analysis also revealed that three out of the top 10 most influential publications were published by the Journal of Adolescent Health. Additionally, a document citation analysis on the data from the past 5 years was conducted. A document titled “Annual Research Review: The persistent and pervasive impact of being bullied in childhood and adolescence: implications for policy and practice” ranked first. The document was published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and was cited 192 times. The authors assessed the impacts of bullying on physical and mental health of children and adolescents.

The publications were then analyzed per country, and emerging countries in the field of study were identified. The results suggest that cyberbullying and mental health have attracted global attention and are not limited to a particular nation. In terms of publication trends, the USA ranked the highest among developed countries, followed by the UK and Spain. Researchers have attributed early research trends in developed countries to technological advancements and early adoption of ICT by citizens ( Englander, 2021 ), thereby increasing time spent on online activities and, consequently, an increase in cyberbullying ( Kowalski et al., 2022 ). Among developing countries, the People's Republic of China took the lead, followed by Indonesia and Vietnam. The analysis also reported that the most influential authors on the topic are from developed nations. P. K. Smith topped the list. Smith et al. (2008) also formulated the widely accepted definition of cyberbullying as defined earlier in this article. However, the overall country analysis revealed confusion as to why the two most populous nations, India, and China, have fewer publications than developed countries on the subject matter. To answer this question, a country overlay analysis was conducted. As expected, these two nations and other developing countries were marked in yellow, indicating their status as emerging countries that will likely play a leading role in future research on cyberbullying and its effects. Future researchers can focus on these emerging countries as most of these are Asian countries and regions which can provide deeper and a different understanding of cyberbullying and mental health due to rich cultural and religious differences from the western nations that may impact the development of attitudes and the behavior of residents of these Asian countries and regions.

Finally, a topical analysis was conducted to identify emerging keywords/topics in this field. The results suggest that cyberbullying and mental health are multidisciplinary. Words such as cyberbullying, human, mental health, psychology, child, adolescent, crime victims, major clinical studies, victims, crime victims, depression, victimization, gender, prevention, risk factors, interventions, COVID-19 and bullying are some of the widely used keywords. Based on the keyword analysis, four differently colored clusters comprising various keywords were retrieved. Cluster 1, in green, illustrated early studies on cyberbullying and mental health. A few of the keywords are cyberbullying, human and mental health. Cluster 2, in yellow, presents studies on gender in cyberbullying and mental health. Some keywords are humans, female, male and sex factors. Cluster 3, in blue, contains clinical and criminal studies on the topic. A few keywords are bullying, crime victims, major clinical studies and offender. Cluster 4, in red, presents studies that found linkages between cyberbullying and mental health. A few of the keywords are depression, adult, and social support. Lastly, the emerging trends were analyzed based on the usage of keywords for the period 2018–2022.

Cluster 1, in yellow, presents the most emerging topics in the cyberbullying and mental health domain. A few of the keywords used are social anxiety, racism, pandemics, COVID-19 and college students. Cluster 2, in parrot green, presents this domain's second most emerging topic. A few of its keywords are social media, violence, and epidemiology. Cluster 3 in teal color presents topics on interventions for cyberbullying and mental health. A few of its keywords are satisfaction, prevention, and intervention. The final Cluster 4, in bluish-purple, contains topics related to adolescents and research techniques. A few of its keywords are adolescent behavior, surveys, and questionnaires. Based on the emerging trends, Cluster 1 in yellow contains emerging keywords that have recently been used, whereas the opposite is true for Cluster 4 in bluish purple.

Implications of the study

The present study analyses the academic performance of the research articles and sets the future agenda for researchers in the cyberbullying and mental health domain. The study is not limited to a geographical location, culture, institutional setup, or age group. Hence, it provides an overall view of the topic of cyberbullying and mental health. Firstly, the results from first question presented the historic and current performance of the literatures. It further indicated a rising trend in publications and citations, which suggested a great future and increasing importance of the topic. These results will assist researchers by making them aware that the research potential of the topic is vast and increasing, as depicted by publication and citation trend analysis. Secondly, it analyses the most active and emerging countries publishing on the domain. In other words, the results indicated countries where the research has started but is in a nascent stage and countries where the research has not been started and requires focus. Thirdly, it helps researchers recognize a shift in the area of publication of journals. Fourthly, it helps them identify the most influential journals and articles on the topic of cyberbullying. For instance, the results presented a list of top 10 seminal articles and a list of top five emerging articles that can become a strong base of literature for the stakeholders. Lastly, by providing the topical analysis, this study informs the researchers about the emerging themes on the topic. For instance, future researchers can conduct a bibliometric analysis of cyberbullying from the perpetrator's angle. This study encourages researchers to explore the impact of cyberbullying on the mental health of people. Significant progress has been made globally in understanding cyberbullying. Now it is time to understand its impact of cyberbullying on people's mental health and to devise measures to reduce the impact. Hence, the study will help researchers analyze the future agendas on cyberbullying and mental health and to determine research gaps that require in-depth studies. The study will also help policymakers and academics to develop programs and policies for creating awareness regarding cyberbullying and its impact on mental health at both academic and other institutional levels. Programs on the topic will also help people understand the phenomenon of cyberbullying and reduce the feelings that hamper them from asking for help if trapped in cyberbullying or experiencing its adverse impact on their mental health. Furthermore, the laws in India do not adequately describe cyberbullying and its consequences. Hence, the definitions of cyberbullying offered in this study, especially by Smith et al. (2008) , will help the Indian policymakers to define cyberbullying, identity it as a crime, and frame rules/corrections/punishments based on severity depending on the intensity of consequences its victim suffers. For instance, a victim committing suicide after experiencing cyberbullying may be deemed as the most severe consequence of the cyberbullying and the law makers may define rules accordingly.

Limitation, scope for future studies, and conclusion

The study provides exciting results regarding the academic performance of the literature on cyberbullying and mental health. It still has certain limitations. Peer-reviewed journal articles were considered whilst excluding other sources such as book titles and articles presented at research conferences. The search was limited to articles in the English language only. Although English is considered lingua franca in academia, many authors prefer publishing their works in their mother tongues. Finally, data were extracted from a single database, namely SCOPUS. This may raise questions about research bias. It is suggested that future researchers consider these points and enhance the bibliometric base on the topic.

To conclude, this study analyzed academic performance of research articles on the topic of cyberbullying and its impact on people's mental health and explored the future research agenda on cyberbullying and mental health. The study answered questions such as the following: (a) What is the current trend in the publication and citations of research articles? (b.1) What is the current academic performance of countries based on their research article publications? (b.2) Which are the emerging countries and the origin countries of the most influential authors? (c) What are the most influential journals, and what is the trend of publication based on journals' preferred publication domains associated with the research topic? (d) Which are the most influential articles on the topic under investigation? (e) What are the emerging topics related to cyberbullying and mental health?

Data availability statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author/s.

Author contributions

SB: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Software, Supervision, Writing – original draft. NG: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. JS: Resources, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft. FV: Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing.

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Keywords: cyberbullying, mental health, bibliometric analysis, cyber perpetration, cyber victimization

Citation: Bansal S, Garg N, Singh J and Van Der Walt F (2024) Cyberbullying and mental health: past, present and future. Front. Psychol. 14:1279234. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1279234

Received: 25 September 2023; Accepted: 27 December 2023; Published: 15 January 2024.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2024 Bansal, Garg, Singh and Van Der Walt. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Naval Garg, naval.garg@dtu.ac.in

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Exploring Definition of Cyberbullying and its Forms From the Perspective of Adolescents Living in Pakistan

Research In Progress
Published: 14 November 2022
Volume 67 , pages 514–523, ( 2022 )

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Sidra Iqbal ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5144-2306 1 &
Humaira Jami 1

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There exists a great disparity in the literature on the definition of cyberbullying. This research aimed to explore the definition and forms of cyberbullying from adolescents’ perspectives. Six focus groups ( N = 36) were conducted with participants aged 16–21 years ( M = 17.6, SD = 1.8). The focus group guide was used to gain an understanding of adolescents’ perceptions and experiences of cyberbullying. The thematic analysis revealed that, contrary to the literature, participants do not apply traditional bullying definition (intention, repetition, and power imbalance) to cyberbullying. They argue about the relevance of traditional bullying criteria in certain contexts. For example, they stressed upon the perception of the victim, if the victim perceives something emotionally damaging, then intention, repetition and power imbalance become completely irrelevant. Memes and cybermobs were also found to be novel forms of cyberbullying. The current research extends the literature by adding adolescents’ perceived definitions and novel forms of cyberbullying.

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Introduction

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) has become omnipresent in present times. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the education of more than 1.5 billion children and young people. It has pushed them to use virtual platforms, which increases their vulnerability to cyberbullying (UNICEF, 2020 ). In Pakistan, the number of internet users has increased by 21% (11 million) between 2019 and 2020 (Kemp, 2020 ). The cases of cyber harassment have increased by 200% in Pakistan during the pandemic (Butt, 2020 ). Therefore, it is important to study the phenomenon indigenously.

Cyberbullying can be defined as a deliberate and repeated act of aggression mediated through digital devices (Hinduja & Patchin, 2006 ). It can take different forms. On a broader level, it can either be direct cyberbullying (sending insulting messages directly) or indirect cyberbullying (spreading rumours and fake news) (Hinduja & Patchin, 2014 ; Vandebosch & Van Cleemput, 2009 ). Cyberbullying can also be divided into types based on the mode of bullying, for example, visual/sexual cyberbullying, verbal cyberbullying, and social exclusion (Lee et al., 2017 ). A taxonomy of cyberbullying that focuses on specific types irrespective of mode has featured 8 types of cyberbullying; flaming, harassment, denigration, impersonation, outing, trickery, exclusion, and cyberstalking (Willard, 2007 ). Some recent studies have highlighted memes as a form of cyberbullying (Jaiswal, 2021 ; Nandi et al., 2022 ; Sharma et al., 2022 ). Cyberbullying can also take the form of a group. Certain incidents reported by the media represent how social media can be flooded with hate comments for a particular person leading to a cybermob (Bhutto, 2021 ; Safina, 2019 ; Seeker, 2015 ). This phenomenon has been reported in the news, but it has not received attention from the scientific community. Nevertheless, a monograph from the US army has discussed the role of cybermobs in causing insurgency or civil war in different countries (Krumm, 2013 ). The German literature uses the term cybermobbing to refer to cyberbullying. It does not differentiate between cyberbullying and cybermobbing (Fawzi, 2015 ; Marx, 2017 ; Schenk, 2020 ).

Although cyberbullying has received a lot of attention from researchers, the disagreement over the definition of cyberbullying still exists (Englander et al., 2017 ). Cyberbullying is considered a repeated and intentional act of hurting someone through the use of the internet (Tokunaga, 2010 ). Lee et al. ( 2017 ) have also defined it as aggressive behavior that is done with the intent of harm and is carried through the use of ICT. Similarly, it is understood as intentional and repeated aggression against people who cannot defend themselves in cyberspace (Menesini et al., 2012 ). The above-mentioned cyberbullying definitions are inspired by the definitions of traditional bullying. These definitions have taken into consideration the criteria of intention, power imbalance, and repetition while defining cyberbullying (Englander et al., 2017 ).

However, some definitions consider the unique context of cyberspace instead of trying to fit the traditional bullying approach. Disagreement exists over the importance of criteria like power imbalance, intention to harm, and repetition in defining cyberbullying. Patchin and Hinduja ( 2006 ) have ruled out the need for power imbalance to define cyberbullying. Yet, power imbalance can be viewed as online expertise and anonymity. Potential victims are also considered powerless if they cannot defend themselves online (Dooley et al., 2009 ). The relevance of intention and repetition is also questioned in the case of cyberbullying. The cyberbullying victims get harmed even if the act is unintentional and non-repetitive (Englander et al., 2017 ). Aspects of cyberbullying that are different from traditional bullying are the role of bystanders, pervasive nature of cyberbullying, anonymity, and use of technical skills (Berne et al., 2013 ; Nilan et al., 2015 ; Smith et al., 2013 ).

The phenomenon of cyberbullying has been explored by taking adolescents’ perspectives from different countries (Chan et al., 2020 ; Dennehy et al., 2020 ; Menesini et al., 2012 ; Ranney et al., 2020 ). The relevance of defining criteria is assessed. Adolescents consider intention to harm as an essential criterion to define cyberbullying (Nocentini et al., 2010 ; Spears et al., 2009 ). If an aggressive act is performed unintentionally, then it is considered a joke or a normal thing in online chat. Repetition is considered unnecessary in defining cyberbullying (Menesini et al., 2012 ). The single act of cyberbullying can be repeated by bystanders without the perpetrators’ attempt to repeat it (Dooley et al., 2009 ; Smith, 2009 ). The power imbalance is considered to be the most important criterion to define cyberbullying if it is defined as the inability of victims to defend themselves. The inability to defend creates an imbalance between the dyad which exacerbates consequences for the victim. Adolescents from six European countries endorsed this criterion for all kinds of cyberbullying. Anonymity also influences the perception of cyberbullying, if there is no anonymity and the behaviour is intentional, adolescents perceive it as cyberbullying. Yet, online aggressive acts that are anonymous and non-intentional are often not perceived as cyberbullying (Menesini et al., 2012 ).

Due to differences in the conceptualization of cyberbullying, research participants disagree with the statements that are used to measure cyberbullying. Some scales (Lee et al., 2017 ) add the phrases like “intention to hurt” while measuring cyberbullying. Yet, other scales (Patchin & Hinduja, 2015 ) do not add such phrases and only describe the behavior. An example item from such a scale is “someone spread rumours about me online”. Moreover, the scales (Antoniadou et al., 2016 ; Betts & Spenser, 2017 ; Hinduja & Patchin, 2015 ; Lee et al., 2017 ) do not consider the emerging forms of cyberbullying, including memes and cybermobs.

Different ways of understanding and measuring the construct has led to unreliable results regarding the prevalence and other aspects (Kowalski et al., 2014 ). The prevalence of cyberbullying varies between 1.9% and 65% in Canada only. The Chinese population have a prevalence of 11–57% (Brochado et al., 2017 ). Cyberbullying is a striking issue for adolescents and it is more prevalent in adolescents as compared to adults. So, the present research will take adolescents as a sample. In Pakistani youth, the prevalence of cyberbullying varies from 9-90% (Rafi, 2019 ; Saleem et al., 2021 ). There is a need to have a clear definition of cyberbullying that could help to create reliable and valid instruments (Olweus & Limber, 2018 ; Vandebosch & Cleemput, 2008 ). So, the current research aims to explore the definition of cyberbullying from adolescents’ perspectives. It will also explore the forms of cyberbullying experienced by adolescents on social media.

Research Design

This research has used the focus group research design under the qualitative research method.

Participants of focus group discussions included late adolescents of age 16–21 years ( M =17. 6, SD = 1.8). In literature, late adolescents are often considered as aged between 16 and 21 years (O'Sullivan et al., 2014 ). Students enrolled in different public and private educational institutes were considered. The inclusion criterion for sample selection was that all students must be using social media. Those having no access to the internet or gadgets were not included in the research.

Six focus group discussions were conducted till saturation point was achieved (that is the point at which new information stops emerging from data, rather, the same information is shared by the participants repetitively). The study included 36 participants, with 6 participants in each focus group. As for the sample’s use of social media, the most popular social networking sites were WhatsApp (83.3%), Facebook (69.4%), Instagram (66.7%), and Snapchat (44.4%). The description of the sample’s demographic characteristics is given in Table 1 .

A focus group discussion guide was used as an instrument to assist in data collection. It was developed in the light of existing literature. It included 12 broad questions and 5–7 probing questions. For example, one broad question was “Narrate any incident of cyberbullying victimization that you have heard or experienced”, the probing questions for this included the platform used to bully, the severity of the incident, and the consequences for the victim. After every focus group discussion, the questions in the focus group guide were revised to incorporate emerging aspects of the phenomenon under study. In the revised guide, questions related to cybermobs, memes, and bystanders on social media were added. For example, “Can memes be the source of cyberbullying? Quote any incident of cyberbullying through memes? Have you ever been in a situation where a large number of people criticized or bullied you on social media?”

After an extensive literature review, a focus group guide was made considering the research objectives.

Participants were then approached using the convenience sampling technique. They were informed about the nature and objectives of the research. Their written consent was taken before participation in the research. Their permission to audio-record the discussion was also taken. Participants were informed about the anonymity and confidentiality of their responses.

Before discussing the main topic of research, ice-breaking was done by talking about adolescents’ general use of the internet. The focus group discussions were conducted in distraction-free places. Most of the focus group discussions ended in an hour.

Data from audio-recorded focus group discussion was transcribed and then thematic analysis was done to understand the construct.

Results and Discussion

Several themes were identified by thematic analysis concerning the research objectives of exploring adolescents’ perceived definition, and the forms of cyberbullying. Themes that explain the phenomenon are adolescents’ perceived definitions of cyberbullying, constituents of cyberbullying, cybermobbing, and the role of cyber-bystanders in cybermobbing. The opinion of two independent raters was requested to assess the relevance of themes, categories, and codes. The percentage agreement was to be 83.7%. Throughout the results, hypothetical names for participants were used to maintain confidentiality. For example, in the name FG3-P4, FG3 refers to the third focus group discussion, and P4 refers to the fourth participant of the respective focus group discussion.

Adolescents’ Perceived Definition of Cyberbullying

This theme explains the way adolescents perceive the definition of cyberbullying concerning defining criteria (Intention, Repetition, and Power Imbalance). It was found that adolescents give importance to contextual factors instead of the above-mentioned criteria for defining cyberbullying. The two categories (opinion vs cyberbullying and perception of victim) explain the cyberbullying defining criteria that are considered important by Pakistani adolescents.

Adolescents regard the intention to hurt as an unnecessary thing to consider while deciding if an event is cyberbullying or not. The intention of a person cannot be measured. So, it is difficult to establish if the intention is good or bad. FG5-P4 (male) stated that “ The event will be considered as cyberbullying. If someone attempts a murder and apologize saying that he did it unintentionally, that is not how things work ”. Alipan et al. ( 2020 ) assessed the relevance of intention considering the perpetrator and victim’s points of view. It was found that perpetrators think that intention to harm should be considered while understanding cyberbullying. However, the victim labels the incident cyberbullying regardless of the intention.

Participants of the present research did not reflect on the intention by assuming themselves in the role of perpetrator or victims, rather they talked about intention considering different forms of cyberbullying. For example, in the case of verbal cyberbullying, adolescents consider that intention matters, one cannot be called a perpetrator just because he/she gave some opinion that was perceived to be wrong by the prospective victim. Nevertheless, when cyberbullying involves visual or sexual content, it was stressed that a person would be guilty of cyberbullying, even if it was unintentional.

The concept of power imbalance was interpreted differently in cyberspace. Anonymity was regarded as power for the perpetrator. FG4-P5 (boy) reported that “ When someone hides the identity, it makes that person more powerful than us. The issue of identity is common in all cases ”. The computer skills were also labeled as power because hacking or other skills make someone resourceful to become a cyberbully. This finding is in accordance with literature that indicates anonymity and technical skills as power (Dooley et al., 2009 ; Langos, 2012 ). Participants also expressed that cyberbullies can be people holding no power in real life. FG6-P5 (girl) reported that “ Those who do not hold power in real life think that keyboard is all they have then they use it for everything they can do”.

There was disagreement among participants on the importance of repetition in defining cyberbullying. When it comes to verbal cyberbullying, some adolescents stressed that a negative comment made once will not be cyberbullying rather it will be feedback. Those in favor of this narrative stated that “ Bullying is constant teasing. It is not a big deal if done for once ”.

Conversely, some participants were adamant that repetition is irrelevant for verbal cyberbullying. FG5-P4 (male) stated that “ If a negative comment is done for the first time, it will be considered as cyberbullying. If it is done, it is done. It will be considered as cyberbullying ”. Though there were mixed opinions on repetition concerning verbal cyberbullying, all participants from all focus group discussions agreed that repetition becomes irrelevant in case of visual or sexual cyberbullying. FG6-P3 (a girl) reported that “ If very sensitive information is used even for once, it is cyberbullying because the information gets propagated”. Though it is mentioned in some studies that repetition is irrelevant in defining cyberbullying (Dooley et al., 2009 ; Menesini et al., 2012 ; Slonje & Smith, 2008 ; Smith, 2009 ), the present research has found situations in which it is regarded as relevant and as irrelevant.

Other than widely accepted criteria, perception of the victim appeared as a new defining criterion as a result of thematic analysis. It explains that the person’s reaction to the event of cyberbullying matters the most. If an event affects the person negatively, then it will be called cyberbullying. FG4-P5 (a boy) reported that “ If someone feels bad by what we do, then it is bad no matter how it was done or if it was done once or a hundred times. If it feels bad, it is bad ”. Even the negative consequences experienced by the victim also depend upon the perception of the event. FG4-P1 stated that “ It will be considered as bullying because it does not depend upon our thinking it depends upon the other person, how he/she is perceiving. If that person is considering it bullying and feeling pressurized, then we will call it bullying ”. So, if the event is perceived negatively and has negative consequences for the victim, then it is cyberbullying even if the previously mentioned criteria of intention or repetition do not meet. A qualitative study with Australian youth has also found that the perception of the victim and negative consequences of the victim matter when defining cyberbullying (Alipan et al., 2020 ). However, perception is completely subjective. The same comment or post might be perceived as hurtful by one person and normal by another person. For example, FG2-P4 (a girl) was of opinion that if a friend says something mean, it should not be considered cyberbullying because the person is a friend. However, FG2-P5 (a girl) confronted her saying that “ Cyberbullying is cyberbullying even if it is done by a friend or someone else. It does not make it any different, it is the same thing ” .

The perception of the victim appeared to be important in defining cyberbullying, but the participants were of the view that people can take advantage of this criterion and tend to perceive benign comments, opinions, or criticism as cyberbullying to hold opinion makers accountable. According to this aspect, the alleged inappropriate comment can be an opinion about someone’s picture, politics, and religion. This kind of negative comment should not be considered an intentional cyberbullying. FG4-P2 (a boy) stated that “It is also possible that you comment about something without thinking that you are bullying. You might say a realistic thing but the other person think that you are criticizing to tease. If one does not like a post, he/she can give an opinion”. Similarly, adolescents asserted that if the opinion or counterargument is logical then it should not be called cyberbullying even if the other person perceives it to be. FG6-P3 (a girl) reported that “It can also be the constructive criticism, not necessarily intended to show hate” . The criminal law of Pakistan was amended in 2020 which has criminalized criticism toward some state institutes. It was discouraged by politicians and journalists, who took the stand that criticising is the constitutional right of the people. The criticism should not be criminalized and there should be a clear mention of the definition of the legal and just criticism (Khan, 2021 ). The clash of opinion during hot online debates is also interpreted as humiliating and cyberbullying. However, people’s choice of words should also be considered. FG6-P2 (a girl) stated that “It depends upon the nature of comment and the reaction of the victim”.

In short, intention and repetition can be considered part of the defining criteria for verbal cyberbullying. These cannot be taken as the criterion for visual/sexual cyberbullying or other severe forms and the person should be held accountable irrespective of the intention or repetition. However, the perception of the potential victims matters the most. If a person is negatively affected by someone’s comment, then the event should be considered as cyberbullying without thinking about intention, repetition, or forms of cyberbullying. Yet, if the person perceives a benign comment or constructive criticism as cyberbullying, then it should not be considered as cyberbullying.

Forms of Cyberbullying

This theme explains the forms or types of cyberbullying that were reported by adolescents through the narration of their experiences. The categories related to this theme include visual/sexual cyberbullying, blackmailing, cyberpranks, cybermobbing, bullying on gaming platforms, and memes. Visual or sexual cyberbullying involves using someone’s private photos to harm them. Adolescents have reported that it happens when pictures are misused, edited, or made viral. It can include mere sharing of someone’s pictures on social media or editing the pictures for blackmailing. The purpose of visual cyberbullying can be to humiliate and hurt the person (Lee et al., 2017 ).

The incidents of Blackmailing were also narrated by the participants of the present study. It can be done for money. An incident was reported by the FG3-P1 (a boy), in which someone’s Facebook account was hacked, putting personal information at risk. The person had to pay a lot of money to get it back. Social media blackmailing is prevalent in females, younger people, and those who use social media to share photos (Al Habsi et al., 2021 ). Blackmailing is experienced differently by Pakistani girls and boys. Participants from all focus group discussions were of the view that girls are blackmailed more often. Moreover, boys are usually blackmailed for money but their private information that can result in stigmatization is seldom at risk. However, the girls are blackmailed through photos, and sensitive and identifying information. FG4-P5 (boy) narrated an incident, in which his friend used a casual or modest photo of the girl to make a fake ID. He blackmailed the girl to talk to him. He threatened the girl to comply or he would message other boys with fake ID and they will think that the girl is messaging. It was so traumatic for the girl that she wanted to attempt suicide. Pakistani society judges or blames the girls for their victimization (Lodhi, 2020 ). They are thought to lose their honour if victimized. This makes the consequences of blackmailing worse for girls as compared to boys.

Cyberpranks are popular among youth. Adolescents enjoy playing tricks on their friends. Though pranks are intended for fun, they can have serious consequences for the victim. The perpetrators of cyberpranks often do not realize that they are creating psychological and emotional turmoil for the person. FG4-P4 (a boy) reported experiencing crying episodes, lack of concentration, and suicidal thoughts due to falling victim to cyberpranks. Since cyberpranks can lead to severe negative consequences for the potential victim, these can be considered a form of cyberbullying. Recent studies also indicate that social media pranks are performed by hiding identity and are intended to tease people (Jarrar et al., 2020 ). Baas et al. ( 2013 ) indicated that there is no clear line between cyberbullying and innocent pranks. The potential bullies underestimate the consequences of their seemingly harmless jokes or pranks. They tend to not empathize with the victim. So, the victim is likely to interpret the intended prank as cyberbullying.

All incidents of cyberpranks were reported by boys. Girls were of the view that they rarely engage in such activities. The present research found that pranks are usually played with the people you know. Because perpetrators can witness the victim and see their trick working, that becomes a source of enjoyment. FG4-P2 (a boy) shared his experience of falling a victim to prank “When I was in high school, I was talking with a girl then it went wrong. The next day, someone called on my phone and badly scolded and threatened me saying that I am teasing his girl. I was very afraid. Later, it was revealed that it was my friend who called”.

Multiphasic Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) are a common site of cyberbullying on gaming platforms . Adolescents cyberbully each other using live audio and chat options. Adolescents tend to lose their mind when they think that they are losing the game. They become so absorbed in the game that the virtual fight appears to be real. FG4- P5 stated that “It becomes inevitable because it feels that it is not a game but happening actually”. So, in these types of intense fighting games, the exchange of abusive language and arguments happens frequently. Pujante ( 2021 ) has found that trash talk is becoming increasingly common on gaming platforms. It includes verbal aggression like insulting remarks, slurs, swears, commands, and threatening statements. Sometimes, adolescents also cyberbully other players because they are obsessed with making progress in games and any hindrance is not taken lightly. FG4-P3 stated that “The person wants to reach the last stage and be a conqueror. So if at that time, you harm him, he will start to abuse and say why did you do it? It is the point from where an argument starts”.

Memes are one of the ways to be entertained or have fun. Nevertheless, they too have a dark side. Adolescents have also reported that memes are also a source of cyberbullying. They can also be perceived as blackmailing. FG5-P6 was of the view that “Now people make memes and put other person in trouble about whom memes are made” . Memes are also used for a lot of negative purposes that include targeting people personally, teasing others, spreading misinformation, and hurting someone’s self-respect. Memes are also used to make judgmental comments about people and spread them to the public. For example, someone may use a meme to highlight the other person’s shortcoming that is then laughed at by people on social media. Indian research has also highlighted cyberbullying through memes and regarded it as a serious problem for college students as memes may involve vulgar language and offensive comments about a particular student (Jaiswal, 2021 ). Adolescents have also reported the concept of reciprocal memes. If someone makes a derogatory meme, then the other person responds with another meme about the perpetrator. FG6-P3 stated that “I think memes are mostly for entertainment but if there are sexist or racist jokes then it does have a negative impact. It includes promoting bad things in the garb of a joke” . Participants of the current study maintained the stance that memes should continue to exist and they are a good source of entertainment but one should avoid targeting a specific person in memes.

Interestingly, those who make or share memes frequently do not always enjoy them. Whether or not a memer will experience negative consequences depends upon the nature of memes. FG6-P3 stated that “Those who make roasting memes try to look for negative in every situation. If memes are intended to insult others, then memer may develop a negative mindset over the time and start to see casual experiences in life negatively” . Those who make harmless memes do not bear such consequences. Making memes frequently also makes a person indifferent to problems, one starts responding to things with humor which exacerbates the problem. Though the audience of memes tends to enjoy and those who make memes also do it for fun but in the long run, it can lead to negative consequences for memers. FG4-P4 reported negative consequences “Due to watching a lot of memes our life has become a joke; we have also become a joke. I was a different person back then. I have observed that since I have been involved in this meme thing people’s serious talk also seems like a joke to me”. The literature agrees about memes as a problem (Kiela et al., 2020 ), but it is silent on the consequences of memes for those who make them. Conversely, participants also have mentioned that memes can elevate mood, and provide entertainment to the audience. Roster ( 2021 ) has also shown that memes can have positive consequences like engaging and motivating the respondents.

Cybermobbing

Cybermobbing was found to be a new type of cyberbullying. The exhibition of cybermobbing is similar to real-world mobs. According to the present research, a cybermob is a group of individuals that criticize someone (a person e.g., politician, or celebrity) on social media, which have negative consequences for the victim. Literature suggests that cyberbullying can take the form of a group where people may open a group against someone (Aizenkot, 2017 ). Cybermobs do not necessarily target a person, a mob can also be set up against an ideology, institution, government policy, or some other topic of discussion. Results of the present study have shown that virtual mobs or conflicts on social media can lead to conflicts in real life. Social media can surge with posts and comments against a certain person of ideology. Thus, cybermobs play a crucial role in mobilizing people which leads to mobs on roads (Krumm, 2013 ). The theme of cybermobbing has 4 categories: s ettings the stage, conformity, lack of support, and intolerance . The first category “ Setting the Stage ” indicates that the prolonged debates initiate the cybermobs. The argument is then fueled by involvement of bystanders. The number of comments on a particular post/topic of discussion increases exponentially, turning an argument into a mob. FG4-P4 quoted an example:

“ My classmate posted something like repugnant proxy war in Gilgit Baltistan then someone mentioned his friends to ask about their opinion. Then they all teamed up and said to him “this is strange what you are saying, you are a wrong person”. Those three persons, the only three did almost 200 comments then we asked our friend to mention us to take revenge and we all teamed up and started to fight. So, it kept going like this, commenting and mentioning each other so that number of comments became 1000. Other people also started to join ”.

The present research has shown that people use ruthless language to communicate their point of view. Cybermobs are usually observed for topics like politics and religion. Due to anonymity, adolescents use harsh language on social media (Kang et al., 2013 ). It gives them a sense of deindividuation. It absolves them of responsibility for their behavior. FG6-P2 gave an example in which someone was accused on social media of raping someone. Masses on social media believed it and bashed the alleged perpetrator, who was recently declared innocent by the court.

Conformity comes to the equation once the cybermob is formed. People see the mob situation as an opportunity to comment whatever comes to their mind without thinking or being logically correct. According to FG3-P1, “ After seeing the criticism many of the people do criticize ”. Participants reported that people add to the bashing of cybermobs without having any knowledge about the topic of the discussion. They lack a sense of social responsibility and act under the influence of the mob. Literature suggests that group membership can diminish the sense of individuality and people conform with the group even if it hurts someone. The deindividuation or herd mentality increases the intensity of the mob. Physical anonymity plays a significant role in participation in a real-world mob (Chomczyński, 2020 ; Myers & Twenge, 2016 ).

In the same way, anonymity in cyberspace increases people’s likelihood to be part of cybermobs. FG2-P6 (a girl) was of the view that we, as a nation, think emotionally and instead of focusing on different aspects of an issue, we follow cybercrowds. People get influenced by information without evaluating the different aspects of the matter. It includes paying attention to peripheral cues and getting persuaded (Myers & Twenge, 2016 ). Adolescents reported deliberate thinking or commenting against cybermobs on matters that were important to them. It was found that the people engaging in cybermobs do not realize that their bashing is immoral or can harm someone on cyberspace. Other than the group influence, moral disengagement can also explain it. Increased moral disengagement is related to a high level of cyberbullying perpetration (Bussey et al., 2015 ). Some participants reported remaining indifferent to cybermobs because they do not want to bother themselves with things that do not concern them directly.

There exists a lack of support for victims who get trapped in cybermobs. People on social media usually ignore the victim’s suffering and avoid speaking for the victim. FG5-P3 expressed that “ No one defends others, even relatives also say that let it go and think that their opinion would not be listened to when hundreds of people are furious against a person ”. The bystander effect becomes strong on social media because people cannot know if someone turned a blind eye instead of supporting the victim (Alipan et al., 2020 ). People may not support due to the screen barrier, as pain and bruises can be seen in physical bullying but it does not happen in cyberbullying (Meter et al., 2021 ). FG6-P3 reported that “ Most of the audience do not intervene, only the courageous people comment. Especially those who respond to your comment and then keep replying ”. The participants from all focus group discussions expressed fear of trolling and harsh criticism as a reason for not supporting the victim. According to Chomczyński ( 2020 ), bystanders fear supporting the victim because they know that a collective opinion about the matter exists.

Some participants tend to intervene on the behalf of the victim if he/she is a friend, relative, or acquaintance. Others expressed that they do not support avoiding unnecessary fights. They do not want to get bothered for the things that do not concern them personally. The perceived interest or investment of bystanders decides their intention to intervene or support the victim (Alipan, 2020).

Intolerance is also observed in social media debates where a lot of people with a similar point of view gather. They make it difficult for dissenters to express themselves. The expression of opposing opinions leads to severe bashing. According to FG5-P3, “ Our people do not listen, they say if many people are endorsing something then the dissenter must be wrong ”. Due to intolerance, people use vulgar language and destructive criticism to make their point, which fuels the cybermob. According to Singh ( 2017 ), intolerance and racial or religious bigotry enables a mob to take the law in their hand. Participants reported that people who add a logical point to the online arguments about religion or other topics also use inappropriate language. FG6-P3 reported that “ Even the good things are written in such a bad way that one says that I will not listen to this and I will not listen to the religion and I will not do anything good ”.

Consequences of Cybermobs

This theme explains the consequences of cybermobs for both the victim and other people in general. Consequences for the victim and attitude change are the categories falling under this theme. Cyber victims who experience bashing for interacting with cybermobs experience a lot of negative consequences. Participants reported that it can lead to poor mental health or depression. However, the consequences depend upon individual differences. Some people just ignore the backlash and become indifferent to it. FG4-P4 (a boy) wishes to not get hurt by the criticism but cannot help it. He stated that “ If I am criticized on social media that thing gets stuck in mind. It is retrieved from memory before sleeping or during the study ”.

When the cybermob favors one particular point of view, people also start to endorse it. So, cybermobs can lead to a change in the public’s attitude toward a social issue or a person who is at the center of a scandal on social media. FG6-P3 (a girl) reported that change in attitude can be due to lack of knowledge “ Yes people’s opinion can be formed. Like if someone does not know what the scandal is, he/she will read the comments and see the majority endorsing the same opinion then that person will modify own opinion if he/she is suggestible. This is how generally people are. Now a days, they do not research a lot to find out if the perspective is right: they just believe. One should not believe ”. Bystanders on social media get influenced by the popular perspective on social media.

Thematic analysis has shown that due to cybermobs, the alternative explanation about a matter does not surface strongly on social media. Even if people are exposed to it, they deny it and prefer going along the group. So, cybermobs can lead to polarization of opinion. According to Bakshy et al. ( 2015 ), social media is increasing opinion polarization because people are selectively exposed to information. Social media is affecting the attitude or perception of people (Younus, 2018 ). If a large group of people or a mob is endorsing something, it can intensify people’s opinions (Myers & Twenge, 2016 ). An alternative explanation does not exist because people start to bash those who comment against the mob. FG5-P3 (a boy) stated that “ Then one says that I will never comment again ”. Following a discussion about cybermobs, FG4-P5 (a boy) has explained how our thinking is influenced by social media “ I think social media has captured our way of thinking that God has made and started a new type of thinking. If someone fights with me, my original and natural way of thinking will not work ”.

To sum up, mobs can occur in cyberspace. Any social media fight or issue can turn into a mob if a lot of people get involved in it. The mob shows intolerance and harshly criticizes the target. People usually go along with the popular opinion on social media. They conform with the mob without assuming personal responsibility. Thus, the cybermob can contribute to public’s attitude toward a person or a social issue. However, the victim may experience depression or other psychological issues upon seeing masses turning against them.

Adolescents argue about the relevance of traditional bullying criteria (intention, repetition, and power imbalance) to define cyberbullying. Intention cannot be measured so it should not be considered while defining cyberbullying. On cyberspace, humiliating pictures or other content can be shared and seen for an unlimited number of times which makes repetition irrelevant. So, repetition by perpetrators also does not stand valid in eyes of adolescents. They have stressed the importance of the perception of a victim in defining cyberbullying. If a prospective victim perceives something to be emotionally damaging then it is considered cyberbullying, irrespective of intention, repetition, and power imbalance. Current research has found that cyberbullying can also be done through memes and gaming platforms. Memes are not only perceived to be a source of entertainment but also hurtful or personally targeting. Current research also found that the posts that go viral on social media can have thousands of comments. It often takes the form of a cybermob. It can lead to mental health problems for victims. Cybermobs also serve to increase the polarization of opinion in society as people tend to believe and follow what the majority says.

Implications and Contributions

The present research has added the adolescents’ perceived definition to the literature of cyberbullying. The way adolescents conceptualize the construct can be used in future researches and policy making. For example, adolescents stress that intention to harm is not a relevant criterion while deciding if some act of aggression is cyberbullying or not. The findings can be used by policy makers and law enforcing agencies who usually define cyberbullying as an intentional behavior and often give leeway to the perpetrator for unintentionally cyberbullying someone. The research has also contributed novel forms of cyberbullying (memes and cybermobbing) to the literature. It implies that emerging forms of cyberbullying and adolescents’ definitions should be considered while measuring cyberbullying. So, the instruments should capture these aspects to measure the construct precisely. The findings can be used by cyber psychology researchers for in-depth exploration of the phenomenon of cybermobbing in different cultures.

Limitations and Suggestions

The sample was taken from urban areas of Pakistan. The findings may not be generalizable to the whole of Pakistan. As the research was qualitative, the researchers’ subjectivity might have influenced the results. The definition was explored by taking adolescents’ perspectives, however, educators and policy makers can also be taken into account to understand their point of view and study the phenomenon comprehensively. Perspectives change with respect to age, time, gender, and advancement in technology. In future, cohort and longitudinal studies to study cyberbullying and change in construct can be considered.

Availability of Data and Material

Raw data in the form of focus group transcripts is available on request.

Code Availability

Codes will be available on request

Abbreviations

Focus group 5, participant 4

Focus group 4, participant 5

Focus group 6, participant 5

Focus group 6, participant 3

Focus group 2, participant 5

Focus group 4, participant 2

Focus group 6, participant 2

Focus group 3, participant 1

Focus group 4, participant 4

Focus group 4, participant 3

Focus group 5, participant 6

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Both of the authors contributed to the study conception and design. Literature review, data collection, and data analysis were performed by SI. The analyzed data and its description was reviewed by HJ. The first draft of the manuscript was written by SI and HJ commented on previous versions of the manuscript to help it improve. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Iqbal, S., Jami, H. Exploring Definition of Cyberbullying and its Forms From the Perspective of Adolescents Living in Pakistan. Psychol Stud 67 , 514–523 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-022-00689-0

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Exploring Definition of Cyberbullying and its Forms From the Perspective of Adolescents Living in Pakistan

Sidra iqbal.

National Institute of Psychology, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

Humaira Jami

Associated data.

Raw data in the form of focus group transcripts is available on request.

Codes will be available on request

Introduction

Research Design

This research has used the focus group research design under the qualitative research method.

Demographic characteristics of sample (N = 36)

Demographics		(%)

Boys	18	50
Girls	18	50

Private	17	47.2
Government	19	52.8

Secondary School	14	38.8
Higher Secondary School	11	30.5
Under graduation	11	30.5

Yes	31	86.1
No	5	13.9

After an extensive literature review, a focus group guide was made considering the research objectives.
Participants were then approached using the convenience sampling technique. They were informed about the nature and objectives of the research. Their written consent was taken before participation in the research. Their permission to audio-record the discussion was also taken. Participants were informed about the anonymity and confidentiality of their responses.
Before discussing the main topic of research, ice-breaking was done by talking about adolescents’ general use of the internet. The focus group discussions were conducted in distraction-free places. Most of the focus group discussions ended in an hour.
Data from audio-recorded focus group discussion was transcribed and then thematic analysis was done to understand the construct.

Results and Discussion

Adolescents’ Perceived Definition of Cyberbullying

Forms of Cyberbullying

Cybermobbing

“ My classmate posted something like repugnant proxy war in Gilgit Baltistan then someone mentioned his friends to ask about their opinion. Then they all teamed up and said to him “this is strange what you are saying, you are a wrong person”. Those three persons, the only three did almost 200 comments then we asked our friend to mention us to take revenge and we all teamed up and started to fight. So, it kept going like this, commenting and mentioning each other so that number of comments became 1000. Other people also started to join ”.

Consequences of Cybermobs

Implications and Contributions

Limitations and Suggestions

Abbreviations

FG5-P4	Focus group 5, participant 4
FG4-P5	Focus group 4, participant 5
FG6-P5	Focus group 6, participant 5
FG6-P3	Focus group 6, participant 3
FG2-P5	Focus group 2, participant 5
FG4-P2	Focus group 4, participant 2
FG6-P2	Focus group 6, participant 2
FG3-P1	Focus group 3, participant 1
FG4-P4	Focus group 4, participant 4
FG4-P3	Focus group 4, participant 3
FG5-P6	Focus group 5, participant 6

Author Contributions

Not applicable.

Availability of Data and Material

Code availability, declarations.

The authors declare that they have no have conflict of interest.

Ethical review and approval was taken from the review board of the National Institute of Psychology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad

Participants signed the consent form before taking part in the research.

Participants gave their consent for the publication of their data, provided that their identity will not be revealed.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Contributor Information

Sidra Iqbal, Email: moc.oohay@0labqiardis .

Humaira Jami, Email: kp.ude.pin@imaj .

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Cyberbullying Among Adolescents and Children: A Comprehensive Review of the Global Situation, Risk Factors, and Preventive Measures
Although cyberbullying is still a relatively new field of research, cyberbullying among adolescents is considered to be a serious public health issue that is closely related to adolescents' behavior, mental health and development (16, 17). The increasing rate of Internet adoption worldwide and the popularity of social media platforms among the ...
Cyberbullying and its influence on academic, social, and emotional
The objective of this study was to fill an existing gap in the literature regarding the influence of cyberbullying on the academic, social, and emotional development of undergraduate students. ... As there's very little research on the effect of cyberbullying on undergraduates students, especially in light of the availability of hand held ...
Cyberbullying: next‐generation research
Cyberbullying: next‐generation research. Cyberbullying, or the repetitive aggression carried out over electronic platforms with an intent to harm, is probably as old as the Internet itself. Research interest in this behavior, variably named, is also relatively old, with the first publication on "cyberstalking" appearing in the PubMed ...
PDF Youth and Cyberbullying: Another Look
a rich corpus of research literature on cyberbullying and is meant as an addendum to Youth and Media's (YaM) Bullying in a Networked Era: A Literature Review authored by Levy et al. in 2012. The purpose of this spotlight is to "translate" scholarly work for a public audience, which may include parents and caregivers, schools and educators,
Cyberbullying: a systematic review of research, its prevalence and
Research on school bullying started in the 1970s (Olweus, 1978) and since then the concept is understood as a specific type of aggression.Aggression is a broader concept and to be considered bullying, at least criteria such as intentionality, repetition or imbalance of power should also be present (Smith & Brain, 2000).Later, research on cyberbullying started at the beginning of the 21 st ...
Understanding Bullying and Cyberbullying Through an ...
Qualitative inquiry of bullying and cyberbullying provides a research methodology capable of bringing to the fore salient discourses such as dominant social norms and otherwise invisible nuances such as motivations and dilemmas, which might not be accessed through quantitative studies. ... The objectives of our longitudinal mixed methods study ...
[A cyberbullying study: Analysis of cyberbullying, comorbidities and
The authors of the literature recommend developing resiliency, but without analyzing the resilience factor. Objectives: The first aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of adolescents and adults engaged in cyberbullying. The second aim was to examine the coping mechanisms and comorbidity factors associated with the cyberbullied people.
Cyberbullying research
Cyberbullying research in its infancy (Tokunaga, 2010) ... family and individuals. Lan et al. (2022) highlight the need to design both community level programs and objective social activity plans of various stakeholders that would address SDG 16. In order to realize SDG 16.3 related to promoting law and equal justice, ...
Cyberbullying and its impact on young people's emotional health and
The nature of cyberbullying. Traditional face-to-face bullying has long been identified as a risk factor for the social and emotional adjustment of perpetrators, targets and bully victims during childhood and adolescence; Reference Almeida, Caurcel and Machado 1-Reference Sourander, Brunstein, Ikomen, Lindroos, Luntamo and Koskelainen 6 bystanders are also known to be negatively affected.
Cyberbullying and mental health: past, present and future
The events of cyberbullying are traumatizing and psychologically wounding (Paat and Markham, 2020 ). Victims of cyberbullying may develop depressive symptoms and insomnia (Kim et al., 2020 ), and counterproductive work behavior, along with experiencing lower job satisfaction levels (Kowalski et al., 2017 ).
Principles of cyberbullying research: Definitions, measures, and
As a new focus of inquiry, the knowledge base on cyberbullying is limited, and the need for solid information is great. Because cyberbullying is a worldwide problem affecting young people, new knowledge has important applications to the development of prevention and intervention programs that are sorely needed. This volume is the first to provide guidelines for cyberbullying researchers in ...
Frontiers
Other research shows that the incidence of bullying in the form of physical aggression is more diffused among primary school students, while cyberbullying occurs more among middle and high school students, increasing in the latter group. ... Regarding the first objective to evaluate the general perception of cyberbullying motivation, data ...
Cyberbullying and Mental Health: An Interdisciplinary Perspective
model for understanding the cyberbullying phenomenon based on complex and multifaceted. constructs of empathy such as emotional contagion, theory of mind, compassion, prosocial. behavior ...
(PDF) Cyberbullying: A Review of the Literature
cyberbullying, in which individuals or groups of individuals use the media to inflict emotional distress on. other individuals (Bocij 2004). According to a rece nt study of 743 teenager s and ...
Cyberbullying and mental health: past, present and future
Top cited publications. The top 10 highly cited research articles in the SCOPUS database are presented in Table 2.One of these articles, "Psychological, physical, and academic correlates of cyberbullying and traditional bullying," authored by Kowalski and Limber (2013), aimed to analyze the relationship between experiences of cyberbullying and traditional bullying in children and ...
Cyberbullying Prevention and Intervention Efforts: Current Knowledge
Bullying is a serious public health concern that is associated with significant negative mental, social, and physical outcomes. Technological advances have increased adolescents' use of social media, and online communication platforms have exposed adolescents to another mode of bullying—cyberbullying.Prevention and intervention materials, from websites and tip sheets to classroom ...
(PDF) Cyberbullying Detection: An Overview
Abstract. This paper is an overview of cyberbullying which occurs mostly on social networking sites and issues and challenges in detecting cyberbullying. The topic presented in this paper starts ...
Exploring Definition of Cyberbullying and its Forms From the ...
There exists a great disparity in the literature on the definition of cyberbullying. This research aimed to explore the definition and forms of cyberbullying from adolescents' perspectives. Six focus groups (N = 36) were conducted with participants aged 16-21 years (M = 17.6, SD = 1.8). The focus group guide was used to gain an understanding of adolescents' perceptions and experiences of ...
Cyberbullying and Children and Young People's Mental Health: A
There is a lack of evidence synthesis of longitudinal primary research on cyberbullying and mental health. While cross-sectional evidence, which measures outcomes at one point in time, can identify associations, longitudinal evidence is able to identify whether exposure (e.g., to cyberbullying) precedes any effect (e.g., on mental health ...
(PDF) Perception of cyberbullying among students: the study of a
In total, 76.3%. (strongly agree -30.7% and agree -45.6%) of our respondents also believed that students. engaged in cyberbullying as retaliat ion. Further, 59.1% (strongly agr ee -39.4% and ...
A Study of Cyberbullying Patterns Among Thai Youths
This research is a survey research with the objectives to 1) obtain the pattern of cyber bullying among Thai teenagers 2) know the personal factors (gender, family, hours of internet use, and number of internet access devices) affecting the pattern of cyber bullying in Thai youths and 3) use the obtained model to analyze impacts related to the brain, mind, and learning and create a program to ...
A Comprehensive Guide to Bullying Prevention in Schools
Learning Objectives:By the end of this course, participants will be able to: Understand: The complex nature of bullying, including its different forms, underlying causes, and impact on individuals and the school community. Identify: The signs and symptoms of bullying, both in victims and perpetrators. Develop: Comprehensive bullying prevention plans that address the unique needs and challenges ...
Interventions on Bullying and Cyberbullying in Schools: A Systematic
We also contacted experts in the field of preventive bullying research. ... Taking the above into consideration, the objective of this specific study is to systematically review the international research in this field and critically analyze the results of school-based interventions to reduce or prevent bullying and cyber-bullying.
(PDF) Cyberbullying Prevention and Reduction Strategies ...
Cyberbullying was described as a complex phenomenon by the court and other legal practitioners. involved in court cases. While previous research has significantly added to our understanding, there ...
Exploring Definition of Cyberbullying and its Forms From the
Several themes were identified by thematic analysis concerning the research objectives of exploring adolescents' perceived definition, and the forms of cyberbullying. Themes that explain the phenomenon are adolescents' perceived definitions of cyberbullying, constituents of cyberbullying, cybermobbing, and the role of cyber-bystanders in ...

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Introduction

Motivation of the present study

Methodology

Data extraction

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Data screening

Data analysis

Results and discussion

Journal analysis

Top cited publications

Country/region analysis

Research area analysis

Topical analysis

Cluster 1: early studies on cyberbullying and mental health

Cluster 2: gender in cyberbullying and mental health

Cluster 3: clinical and criminal studies on cyberbullying and mental health

Cluster 4: associating cyberbullying with mental health

Recent trends

Cluster 1: most emerging cluster

Cluster 2: second most emerging cluster

Cluster 3: interventions for cyberbullying and mental health

Cluster 4: adolescents and research techniques

Implications of the study

Limitation, scope for future studies, and conclusion

Data availability statement

Author contributions

Conflict of interest

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Exploring Definition of Cyberbullying and its Forms From the Perspective of Adolescents Living in Pakistan

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Implications and Contributions

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A Study of Cyberbullying Patterns Among Thai Youths

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How Are Bystanders Involved in Cyberbullying? A Latent Class Analysis of the Cyberbystander and Their Characteristics in Different Intervention Stages

A Comprehensive Guide to Bullying Prevention in Schools

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