Characteristics of Cyberbullying

Sarah G

EME 2040- 003

Dr. James Hatten

October 2nd, 2018

 

Annotation #3

Source Reference

Ang, R. P. (2015). Adolescent cyberbullying: A review of characteristics, prevention and intervention strategies. Aggression & Violent Behavior, 25, 35–42. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/10.1016/j.avb.2015.07.011

 

Article Type

Article from Aggression and Violent Behavior (Volume 25)

 

First Citation

“ “(Ang 2015).

 

Brief Summary

Rebecca Ang defines the meaning of cyberbullying and details its applications to today’s youth. Following this, the author refers to statistics from surveys which explains the percentage of cyberbullies identified in a given poll as well as the corresponding numbers of victims. Beyond this, Ang details the consequences of cyberbullying on the victims.

 

Summary

Rebecca Ang, author of, Adolescent cyberbullying: A review of characteristics, prevention and intervention strategies which is found in Volume 25 of Aggression and Violent Behavior discusses the qualities of cyberbullying and the statistics with regards to cyberbullying.

The following descriptions were used to describe cyberbullying:

Bullying extended through virtual fields
Anonymity and limited oversight by adult monitors
Electronic communication technology as a means to deliberately threaten, harm, embarrass or socially exclude another
Cyberbullying is common among all areas of the world. Even the reasons for cyberbullying were found to be similar throughout sixth to tenth grades regardless of race or ethnicity with influence in on both the victim and the offender sides:

Parental Communication
Social Isolation
Classmate relationships
Rebecca Ang also explains the motivations of the offenders to cyberbully which is encompassed in the Routine Activities Theory (featured in the vocabulary and quotes portion of this annotation). Beyond this, Ang predicts that more cyberbullying occurs among youth than what is reported.

 

Significant Quotes

According to Rebecca Ang, one of the theories that explains what motivates offenders to cyberbully others is called the Routine Activities Theory.
“Routine activities theory (Cohen & Felson, 1979) argues that three key elements must converge in time and space for crime to occur and these are proximity to motivated offenders, a suitable target and inadequate guardianship” (Ang 2015).

Parental intervention can be the key to lowering the risks of cyberbullying as well as preventing cyberbullying from occurring.
“These results and implications are consistent with social media research findings that parental mediation strategies are crucial in helping children and adolescents recognize the risks and consequences of personal information disclosure along with learning methods of protecting personal information and making discerning choices about what information they can reveal (Liu et al., 2013, Salaway et al., 2008). Because of the varying developmental needs of children and adolescents, doses of active versus restrictive mediation should be varied according to age, developmental level and context. In general, for adolescents, because they have a greater desire and capacity for autonomy, greater use of active mediation strategies relative to restrictive mediation strategies may yield more positive results” (Ang 15)

One helpful prevention technique for cyberbullying falls in the hands of the companies as Rebecca Ang says:
“Therefore, if policy makers could urge the Internet Service Providers for example, to make their privacy settings and reporting mechanisms more user-friendly and explicit, that could go some way in assisting cyberbullying prevention (O’Neill et al., 2011). Collectively, adopting a multi-systemic approach when considering cyberbullying prevention and intervention would likely result in the most effective outcomes” (Ang 2015).

Evaluation

Strengths: Rebecca Ang’s article was well written and reputable given all of the credible statistics imbedded within her writing.

Weaknesses: The only drawback of this article in my eyes is that it lacked specific ways for people to go about preventing cyberbullying and it instead gave more of a broad overview.

Vocabulary

Routine Activities Theory: argues that three key elements must converge in time and space for crime to occur and these are proximity to motivated offenders, a suitable target and inadequate guardianship

Proactive aggression: a cold-blooded, instrumental aggressive behavior that occurs without apparent provocation, and is motivated by anticipated rewards and outcomes resulting from aggressive acts

Reactive aggression: a hot-blooded, hostile, and impulsive response that functions as retaliation to a real or perceived threat, provocation or frustration.