Kids Hide Cyberbullying Incidents from Parents

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By SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 10/13/2008 2:05:00 PM

Cyberbullying is more common than you think, and teens aren’t telling their parents about it, says a new study in the Journal of School Health.

In fact, some 72 percent of teens who are frequent Internet users say they’ve been the victim of online bullying at least once during the past year.

“Extending the School Grounds?—Bullying Experiences in Cyberspace” says online bullying is associated with in-school bullying, with 85 percent of respondents who reported at least one online incident also reporting being bullied in school.

Meanwhile, 90 percent of bullied teens don’t tell their parents about the online incidents, mainly because they feel the need to deal with the problem on their own and are fearful of parental restrictions on Internet use, says the study.

"Just as school-based bullying is considered a public health concern, online bullying should be recognized as an issue that needs attention," say the study’s authors Jaana Juvonen and Elisheva F. Gross of the University of California in Los Angeles. “Because of the generation gap in electronic communication, however, parents and educators need to better understand both the positive and negative functions of teen online behavior.” 

Bullying is a national public health problem affecting millions of students, but with the rapid increase in electronic communication, bullying is no longer limited to schools, the study adds.

The most frequent forms of online and in-school bullying involved name-calling or insults, and the online incidents most typically took place through instant messaging. Repeated school-based bullying experiences increased the likelihood of repeated cyberbullying more than the use of any particular electronic communication tool, with about two-thirds of cyberbullying victims reported knowing their perpetrators, and half of them knowing the bully from school, the study says.

Both in-school and online bullying experiences also were independently associated with increased social anxiety.