Bullying in a Networked Era: A Literature Review
This research update presents an aggregation and summary of recent academic literature on youth bullying. The purpose of this document is to “translate” scholarly research for a concerned public audience, which may include but is not limited to parents, caregivers, educators, and practitioners. This translation highlights recent findings and developments in the literature and makes them accessible to the informed but non-expert reader.
The document’s two guiding questions are “What is bullying?” (Section I) and “What can be done about bullying?” (Section II). Section I begins with a brief overview of key definitions and related research conversations and then addresses bullying’s prevalence, the types of individuals involved in bullying, the characteristics of individuals involved and the consequences of their involvement, and community-level dynamics related to bullying. Section II covers four areas where action has been taken to address problems associated with bullying – school policy, curricula, school climate, and parents – and ends on a note about approaches that mix or cut across these areas. The purpose is to render lessons learned from research and assessment accessible to those interested in deepening or expanding their knowledge of bullying-related issues.
Both the online and offline contexts in which bullying occurs are the focuses of this research update. In research as well as popular discourse, bullying has been segmented into “cyberbullying” and “traditional bullying.” Although the medium or means through which bullying takes place influence bullying dynamics, online and offline bullying are more similar than different. This dynamic is especially true as a result of the increasing convergence of technologies. Looking broadly at the commonalities as well as the differences between offline and online phenomena fosters greater understanding of the overall system of which each is a part and highlights both the off- and on-line experiences of young people – whose involvement is not typically limited to one end of the spectrum.
This document uses “traditional bullying” and “offline bullying” interchangeably, as it does “cyberbullying” and “online bullying.” The second pair of terms are used to refer to bullying that occurs through information and communication technologies (ICTs) generally, which includes using mobile phones for phone calls and texting. The document tries to indicate when reviewed studies differentiate between bullying occurring only through the Internet, or through other technologies as well, in their
analyses. However, with the increasing convergence of technologies, mobile phones used by youth more frequently include Internet access, which at times can make it hard to distinguish between Internet use and mobile phone use.
Published : 17th September 2012
Author : Nathaniel Levy, Sandra Cortesi, Urs Gasser Edward Crowley, Meredith Beaton, June Casey, and Caroline Nolan [ More From This Author ]
Publisher : The Berkman Center [ More From This Publisher ]
Rights : The Berkman Center
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