1

An investigation into cyberbullying, its forms,

awareness and impact, and the relationship

between age and gender in cyberbullying

A Report to the Anti-Bullying Alliance by

Peter Smith, Jess Mahdavi, Manuel Carvalho and Neil Tippett

Unit for School and Family Studies, Goldsmiths College, University

of London

We thank Alessa Ferretti and Lalitha Chamakalayil for assistance, and the Anti-
Bullying Alliance for funding for this project.
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Executive Summary

• Cyberbullying describes forms of bullying using electronic devices such as

mobile phones and email.

• Cyberbullying is becoming more prevalent, with the increased use of

technology.

• We investigated the nature and extent of cyberbullying among school pupils in

the London area.

Method:

• A questionnaire was returned by 92 students aged between 11-16 years, from

14 different London schools, in June/July 2005. It comprised multiple-choice

questions, with some qualitative sections, and took 20-25 minutes to complete.

• The questionnaire looked at the incidence of cyberbullying in school, and

outside of school, distinguishing between seven types of cyberbullying; Text

message bullying; Picture/Video Clip bullying (via mobile phone cameras);

Phone call bullying; Email bullying; Chat-room bullying; Bullying through

instant messaging; and Bullying via websites.

• It assessed awareness of the different forms of cyberbullying.

• It assessed the perceived impact of the different forms of cyberbullying in

relation to more usual or traditional forms of bullying.

• Age and gender differences were examined.

Results

Incidence of cyberbullying:

• 20 students, or 22%, had been victims of cyberbullying at least once, and 5, or

6.6%, had experienced being cyberbullied more frequently, over the last

couple of months.
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• Phone call, text messages and email were the most common forms of

cyberbullying both inside and outside of school, while chat room bullying was

the least common.

• Prevalence rates of cyberbullying were greater outside of school than inside.

Age and gender:

• There were no significant differences related simply to age.

• Girls were significantly more likely to be cyberbullied, especially by text

messages and phone calls, than boys.

• A significant interaction between age and gender was found in relation to the

effects of email bullying, and the use of instant messaging, which showed

contrasting opinions between boys of different age groups.

Awareness of cyberbullying occurring:

• Student’s responses differed concerning awareness of each subtype of

cyberbullying occurring in school or among their friends.

• Students were most aware of bullying by picture/video clips (46% knew of

this taking place), followed by phone calls (37%) and text messaging (29%).

The other methods were slightly less well known, in particular chat room

bullying, which just 12% were aware of happening.

Perceived impact of cyberbullying:

• Picture/video clip and Phone call were perceived to have more impact on the

victim than traditional forms of bullying.

• Website and Text message bullying were rated as being about equal in impact

to traditional bullying

• Chat room, Instant messaging and Email bullying bullying were believed to

have less of an impact than traditional forms of bullying.

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The nature of cyberbullying, and who is told:

• Most cyberbullying is reported as coming from one or a few students, in the

same class or year group.

• Most cyberbullying lasts only a week or so, but some lasts much longer,

especially phone call bullying.

• A substantial minority (around one-third) of victims have told nobody about it.

Views on school banning mobile phones or private internet use:

• Most pupils thought that banning mobile phones would result in pupils using

them secretly

• Most pupils thought that restricting private internet use in school could not

prevent such forms of cyberbullying outside school.

Comparison with other studies:

• The findings from this survey are in line with previously reported findings

from studies by the NCH, which found that between 20 and 25% of school

students had ever been cyberbullied (compared to 22% in this study).

• Rates of text message and chatroom bullying were similar, although a greater

percentage reported bullying by email in our survey.

• These findings are all higher than reported rates of cyberbullying in studies by

Oliver and Candappa (2003) and Balding (2004), although both of these

studies focused on only one year group.

Implications for further work:

• Future research should make use of the seven subtypes of cyberbullying, all of

which have been found to occur in school, even though sometimes to a limited

extent.
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• A greater sample size would allow for a more thorough exploration, which

would include more year groups to compare across the entire age range and

allow a more profound examination of age differences or the lack of them.

• The gender difference found in cyber victimisation is interesting and strongly

merits further study on a larger sample.

• It proved useful to compare how often cyberbullying was experienced inside

and outside of school, and given the prevalence outside school, further

exploration of where and when this happens would be worthwhile.

• Work on the perception of impact of cyberbullying could usefully be related to

the content of mass media publicity about cyberbullying, as well as to the

actual nature of the bullying, and technological advances such as ‘bluetooth’.

• A longitudinal approach, measuring responses over two or more time periods,

would allow researchers to assess changing attitudes towards cyberbullying,

and any increases in its use among schoolchildren.

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Introduction

‘Bullying’ is often defined as being an aggressive, intentional act or behaviour that is

carried out by a group or an individual repeatedly and over time against a victim who

can not easily defend him or herself (Whitney & Smith, 1993, Olweus, 1999).

Bullying is a form of abuse that is based on an imbalance of power; it can be defined

as a systematic abuse of power (Smith & Sharp, 1994; Rigby, 2002).

Using these definitions for bullying, we can extend them to define cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying therefore can be 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 can not easily defend him or herself. Cyberbullying is a form of

bullying which has in recent years become more apparent, as the use of electronic

devices such as computers and mobile phones by young people has increased.

Cyberbullying can take many forms, and for this study we subdivided the concept of

‘cyberbullying’ into 7 sub-categories:

• Text message bullying

• Picture/Video Clip bullying (via mobile phone cameras)

• Phone call bullying (via mobile phone)

• Email bullying

• Chat-room bullying

• Bullying through instant messaging

• Bullying via websites.

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These sub-categories were chosen because ‘cyberbullying’ is a very broad term, and

the sub-categories would help to get a better understanding of the range of

cyberbullying and which forms were most prevalent.

Previous research on cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is a fairly recent concept, and the research exploring it is still in its

initial phases. The relatively few studies that have been carried out are mostly

confined to examining just one aspect of cyberbullying (for example text messaging),

or are carried out in conjunction with other research.

NCH (formerly known as the National Children’s Home) have produced two surveys

on cyberbullying. The first study, from 2002, focuses mainly on text message

bullying. NCH conducted a national survey and the main findings were that one

quarter of 11 to 19 year olds in the U.K. had been threatened or bullied via their

mobile phone or personal computer, and that 16% had received bullying or

threatening text messages. Of those who had reported being bullied by text messages,

29% had not told anyone that they had been bullied. There is an unspecified sample

size for this study.

NCH followed up this initial study with a more detailed survey, “Putting U in the

picture-Mobile phone bullying survey 2005”. This was a survey of 770 young people

aged 11-19, conducted in March/April 2005. It found that 20% of young people had

been bullied or threatened by some sort of digital bullying, and that 14% had been

bullied or threatened through text messages, 5% through chat-rooms and 4% through

email. Text message bullying was thus the most prevalent form of cyberbullying.
 8

10% of youngsters reported being photographed by a mobile phone camera and

feeling threatened, and of these, 17% reported they felt that the image had been sent to

someone else. Also, 11% claimed to have sent a bullying or threatening message to

someone else. The other main findings were that 26% of those bullied said it was a

stranger bullying them, and 28% of those bullied told no one about the bullying.

Oliver and Candappa (2003) also had some data on cyberbullying in a study focused

on various bullying related issues. The report briefly mentions text message bullying

in relation to Year 8 students (ages 12-13). 4% of students surveyed in year 8

revealed they had received nasty text messages, and 2% of students from year 8

revealed that they had received nasty email messages. There was an unspecified time

frame for this study, and indeed for all those reviewed so far.

Another study, which briefly features statistics related to cyberbullying, was

completed for the SHEU (Schools Health Education Unit) (Balding, 2004). A health

related questionnaire was completed by 40,439 young people between the ages of 10

and 15. The questionnaire focused on several aspects of young people’s lives,

including a question related to cyberbullying, “Have any of the following happened to

you in the last month?” completed by students in year 6 (ages 10-11). Of these, only

1% of both boys and girls indicated they had been bullied through their mobile phone,

whereas 21% said they had been teased and 22% had been called nasty names.

A survey compiled by the NSPCC and ‘Sugar’ Magazine in 2005, conducted through

‘Sugar’ magazine, looked at cyberbullying in relation to girls. This report was based

on replies from 992 teenage girls across 11 regions in the U.K., and the average age of
 9

respondents was 15. Text messaging was a frequent form of bullying, with 13% of

respondents saying they had sent nasty text messages and emails, and nearly half had

received nasty or threatening text messages or emails. However, it is important to

bear in mind that these results are not a representative sample of the population, as

only readers of ‘Sugar’ magazine who chose to respond to this survey replied, and so

they are a selected sub-group of the population.

Outside the U.K., an article in www.theinquirer.net, an Australian news website,

provides brief statistics on cyberbullying, taken from a study by the Queensland

University of Technology. The statistics given are that 13% of students have already

experienced cyberbullying by year 8, and that 25% of students knew somebody who

had experienced cyberbullying. This article also reports that more than half the

students asked thought that the phenomenon was on the rise. There is an unspecified

time frame or sample size for this study, and the method of collecting data is not

known from the article provided.

An American website I-Safe reports research on cyberbullying, from a survey of

1,500 students from grades 4-8 (ages 9-13 years old). The main findings (cited from

www.mmu.k12.vt.us) were that 42% of children claimed to have been bullied whilst

online, that 35% had been threatened online, and that 21% had received threatening e-

mails or other messages. 53% of students surveyed admitted being mean or hurtful

online and 58% had said nothing to their parents if they had been threatened online.

Again how respondents were recruited is not specified.

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It is worth mentioning here that there are no significant gender differences reported in

any of this previous research, in relation to cyberbullying.

The fact that there is still little research on cyberbullying and electronic forms of

bullying was confirmed when searching for journals using Internet sites such as Psych

Info, and getting no matches. The key words “cyberbullying”, “text message

bullying”, “sms bullying”, “cellular phone bullying”, “chat room bullying”, “internet

bullying”, “instant messaging bullying” and “electronic bullying” found very few

relevant results when searching through journal websites such as Psych Info.

When searching the term “cyberbullying” or “text message bullying” etc on the

internet (e.g. Google), several help and information websites appear indicating that

the awareness of a new type of bullying - namely cyberbullying, is increasing.

Several of these websites offer advice on how to deal with this form of bullying (tell a

teacher etc), and a main theme that appears is that cyberbullying is a form of bullying

which follows the victim home, and where the bully can remain unidentifiable and

invisible to the victim. Some of this information is attached as Appendix B to this

Report.

Aims of this study

One aim of this study was to have a more general understanding of cyberbullying and

its prevalence in the age group 11-16 years. Cyberbullying is a fairly new concept,

and research into cyberbullying is still in its initial phases; this study aimed to

increase the understanding of the concept of cyberbullying. Text message bullying

and email bullying are the aspects that have been mainly looked into by previous
 11

research, and this study aimed to include aspects such as chat room bullying, and

bullying by phone calls, which fall into the category of cyberbullying. Another aim

was to look at whether there were any gender or age differences, or any significant

age/gender interactions, in the prevalence of cyberbullying. No significant gender

differences, or gender and age interactions, had been reported in previous research

into cyberbullying, and it is not clear if these were looked for or not. We also aimed

to examine awareness generally of different forms of cyberbullying; and the perceived

impact on the victim compared to more usual or traditional forms of bullying.

Methodology

Questionnaire and Study Design

A questionnaire was devised by the research team at Goldsmiths College, University

of London, partly following the structure of Olweus’ Bully/victim questionnaire

(1996). Following small-scale piloting, the final version had 88 multiple-choice

questions, which covered 7 sub-categories of cyberbullying (Text message bullying,

mobile phone call bullying, picture/video-clip bullying, email bullying, chat-room

bullying, bullying through instant messaging, bullying through websites) and included

some other general questions. The questionnaire also had some qualitative items,

where participants could comment on a certain question, and give a more detailed

answer. The questionnaire itself took 20-25 minutes to complete. The time-frame for

this study was given as the ‘past couple of months’, so responses only reflect incidents

in that term, between Easter and giving the questionnaires in late June or early July. A

copy of the questionnaire is attached as Appendix A.

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To obtain participants, a list of mixed gender high schools in various London LEA’s

was made, and schools were called and told about the study and asked whether they

would like to participate. Several schools were called until enough participants were

recruited for the study. In total 20 schools agreed to participate, and each school

named a teacher responsible for the administering of the questionnaire. Eight

questionnaires were then mailed out to each of the 20 schools, and the schools were

asked to distribute 1 questionnaire to a boy and a girl from each year. The schools

were asked to pick their participants randomly. The questionnaires were mailed out in

late June, when most schools had year 11’s on study leave, due to the GCSE

examinations, and so years 7-10 were asked to complete the questionnaire.

The questionnaires were mailed with a cover letter attached to each questionnaire, and

also with a letter addressed to the teacher in charge of administering the

questionnaires with specific instructions (including what to tell the participants, and to

seal the envelope with the completed questionnaires in front of the participants to

acknowledge anonymity). A pre-paid envelope addressed to Goldsmiths College, for

the schools to send back the completed questionnaires without having to pay postal

charges, was enclosed. Participating schools were given contact numbers to contact

the research assistants in case of any problems/concerns, and if any concerns were

aired then the schools could ask a researcher to go to the school and administer the

questionnaires, although in fact every school administered the questionnaires without

further help.
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Procedure

The pupils were handed the questionnaire, and the supervisor read out instructions.

The questionnaire included a page explaining cyberbullying, and some of the aims of

the study. Pupils were told that participation in the study was optional, and that if

they did not want to complete the questionnaire they did not have to. They were also

given an information sheet (at the back of the questionnaire), for them to take home,

that provided contact numbers and websites if they needed advice or help. Pupils

were also told that their questionnaires would be anonymous and that the school

would remain anonymous in the report of the research.

Out of the 20 schools that agreed to participate, 14 schools sent back completed

questionnaires. Some schools did not manage to send back a complete set of 8

questionnaires, and the total number of completed questionnaires was 94 (with 2

rejected due to incomplete responses).

Participants

92 participants from 14 different schools returned questionnaires. Table 1 shows the

breakdown of completed questionnaires, by age (younger = 11-13 years; older = 14-

16 years) and gender. For a few questions, N is less than 92.

Table 1. Age and gender participant totals.

Gender
Total
Boy Girl
Younger 19 24 43
Age
Older 24 25 49
Total 43 49 92
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Results

Descriptive analysis of cyberbullying and its seven categories

We first compared rates of being bullied overall (in any way), and being cyberbullied.

Table 2 gives the responses to the first two questions of the survey, which assessed

how many students had been bullied or cyberbullied at school in the past couple of

months (from a total of 92 and 90 respondents, respectively).

Table 2. Numbers (and percentages) of students that had been either bullied (total N =
92) or cyberbullied (total N = 90) in school, in the last 2 months.

Have you been bullied in Have you been

school in the last 2 cyberbullied in school in
months? the last 2 months?

Haven’t been bullied

50 (54.3%) 70 (77.8%)
Once or twice
29 (31.5%) 14 (15.6%)
Two or three times a month
1 (1.1%) 1 (1.1%)
Once a week
6 (6.5%) 3 (3.3%)
Several times a week
6 (6.5%) 2 (2.2%)

Being bullied was not infrequent in this sample, with 46% reporting it at least once

over the last two months, and 14% at least two or three times a month or more often.

These figures were lower when examining the prevalence of cyberbullying. 22% of

students had been cyberbullied on at least one occasion, while 6.6% had suffered

repeated victimisation. Although the figures for being cyberbullied are less than half

of the overall figures for being bullied in any way, it shows that cyberbullying is

present, and is already being used intensively in the victimization of some students.
 15

Table 3 presents a more detailed description, by examining the prevalence of each

subtype of cyberbullying, inside and outside of school. It also reports the number of

students who are aware of each form of cyberbullying taking place. The final column

presents an impact factor, through which we are able to gauge the effect that this kind

of bullying has on its victim, compared to more ‘traditional’ methods. The impact

factor has been calculated by assigning values to the severity respondents believed

each form of cyberbullying has on the victim compared to traditional bullying (less

harmful = -1; the same = 0; more harmful = +1). Thus a more positive score means

that the impact of this form of cyberbullying is seen as high, a negative score as low.

The first two data columns of Table 3 show that phone call, text message and email

bullying are the most common forms of cyberbullying, both inside and outside of

school. Picture/video clip, instant messaging and website bullying were reported to a

lesser degree; and with chat room bullying, only one pupil reported suffering this at

school. Within school, almost 15% of pupils had been bullied through text messages

and phone calls at least once, while 3% were victimized in these ways or by email

bullying more than once or twice. All three of these more common forms of

cyberbullying have higher prevalence rates outside of the school. One quarter of the

sample (23 participants) had been victimized by phone calls outside of school at least

once, and 10 on a more regular basis. Although chat room bullying was the least

likely method to occur in school, its use outside of school was equal to several other

cyberbullying subtypes.
 16

Table 3. Numbers (and percentages) for questions regarding the seven subtypes of
cyberbullying. Any = once or twice; Repeat = more than once or twice.

How often How often How often How often Number of Impact
have you have you have you have you pupils aware factor
been been bullied bullied of this type (see
bullied in bullied others in others of text).
school? outside school? outside cyberbullying
school? school? taking place.
(Any (Any (Any (Any
victims, victims, offenders, offenders,
Repeat Repeat Repeat Repeat
Victims) Victims) Offenders) Offenders)
Phone Call 13 23 3 7 34 15
Bullying (14.3%) (25.0%) (3.3%) (7.6%) (37.0%)

3 10 1 1
(3.3%) (10.9%) (1.1%) (1.1%)
Text message 13 16 2 3 27 -3
bullying (14.3%) (17.6%) (2.3%) (3.4%) (29.3%)

3 3 0 1
(3.3%) (3.3%) (1.1%)
Email 5 10 2 3 22 -16
Bullying (5.5%) (10.9%) (2.2%) (3.3%) (24.4%)

3 4 2 1
(3.3%) (4.4%) (2.2%) (1.1%)
Picture/Video 6 6 2 3 42 27
Clip phone (6.5%) (6.5%) (2.2%) (3.3%) (45.7%)
bullying
0 0 0 0
Instant 5 5 3 4 23 -18
Messaging (5.5%) (5.5%) (3.3%) (4.4%) (25.3%)
Bullying
1 3 0 1
(1.1%) (3.3%) (1.1%)
Website 5 5 2 2 17 1
Bullying (5.5%) (5.5%) (2.2%) (2.2%) (19.1%)

0 1 0 0
(1.1%)
Chat room 1 5 0 2 11 -23
bullying (1.1%) (5.5%) (2.2%) (12.1%)

0 0 0 0
 17

The next two columns of Table 3 show the findings for pupils who admitted to

bullying others by cyberbullying. Phone calls are again the most common method,

followed closely by all the other forms, which show little difference in terms of how

often they are used to bully. Again, these forms of cyberbullying are more commonly

used outside of school, especially chat room bullying which no one reported using to

victimize others within school.

Awareness of different forms of cyberbullying occurring

The fifth data column of Table 3 presents results for awareness. When asked which

forms of cyberbullying they were aware of taking place (in school or among their

friends), most students (46%) knew of bullying via pictures or video clips on mobile

phones, while slightly fewer (37%) knew of phone call bullying. These figures were

less for the other subtypes, ranging from 29% for text message bullying to 19% for

website bullying; the least known method of cyberbullying was via chat rooms, with

just 12% aware of this happening.

The impact of various forms of cyberbullying

The final data column of Table 3 provides an impact factor for each form of

cyberbullying. This provides an insight into the effect that each form of cyberbullying

is perceived generally to have upon its victim. Picture/video clip bullying has the

highest impact factor (27) indicating that a large number of pupils believe the effect

this has on its victim is worse than that from usual forms of bullying. Phone call

bullying also scores highly on this scale. Text message and website bullying have

relatively neutral scores, respondents feeling that the effect they have is similar to that

of traditional bullying. Bullying by email, chat rooms and instant messaging all have
 18

negative impact factors: students perceive these forms of bullying as less effective, or

less harmful upon their victims.

Qualitative Analysis

A later section of the questionnaire asked participants to describe any other forms of

cyberbullying that had not been covered so far. 15 participants (17%) gave additional

methods of cyberbullying, of which the most commonly stated form was “Happy

slap” (although ‘happy slap’ is a form of bullying which involves picture/video clips

on a mobile phone and so could come under that category already in the

questionnaire). Other forms of cyberbullying included “voicemail bullying” (where

nasty messages are left on the mobile answer phone service), bullying via “free SMS

websites” (websites where free SMS text messages can be sent), “prank calls”

(bullying via phone calls, where a ‘joke’ is played on the person who is called) and

“bluetooth bullying” (bluetooth is a way to send messages and files via mobile

phones to everyone in a certain vicinity).

Analysis of Age and Gender effects

To examine the effects of age or gender on participant responses, two-way univariate

ANOVAS were performed. The analyses use the scores collected from questions

which asked students to state how often they had been bullied in each way. Scores

were ranked from 0 to 4, 0 meaning the child had not been bullied at all, through to 4

where the child had been bullied several times a week. The key findings that were

statistically significant are presented below in Table 4. The results did not reveal any

significant effects concerning age, however five questions showed gender differences.

The significance level and mean scores for each group are presented.
 19

Table 4. Two-way univariate ANOVA’s, significant results (NS=not significant)

Age/Gender
Questions Age Gender
Interaction
F = 4.87, p = 0.030
Have you been bullied in school? NS NS
(Girls = 1.04, Boys = 0.51)
Have you been cyberbullied in F = 4.53, p = 0.036
NS NS
school? (Girls = 0.54, Boys = 0.17)
How often have you been bullied via F = 5.68, p = 0.019
NS NS
phone calls in school? (Girls = 0.40, Boys = 0.05)
How often have you been bullied via F = 11.55, p = 0.01
NS NS
phone calls outside of school? (Girls = 0.88, Boys = 0.12)
How often have you been bullied via F = 6.13, p = 0.015 NS
NS
text messages outside of school? (Girls = 0.35, Boys = 0.07)

Girls were more likely to be both bullied and cyberbullied in school than boys.

Gender differences were separately statistically significant for phone call bullying,

both inside and outside of school; and for text message bullying outside of school. In

all cases girls reported a greater degree of victimization than boys.

Figure 1 illustrates this gender difference by comparing the mean scores for each type

of cyberbullying across gender. It provides visual confirmation that girls were more

involved in most forms of being cyberbullied than boys. Girls score higher, not just on

overall cyberbullying, but in many of its subcategories, including phone call, text

message and email bullying. No boys reported being bullied in chat rooms or by

instant messaging. The only subcategories in which boys score higher (but not

statistically significantly) than girls are picture/video clip and website bullying.

Among boys, text messaging is the most common form of cyberbullying, while for

girls, bullying by phone appears to be the most frequently used method. Therefore

both genders show varying degrees of involvement in cyberbullying, and some of the

subcategories appear to be more suited towards one gender than to another.

 20

Cyber bullying at
0.60 school
Tex t bullying in
school
P icture bully ing in
school
0.50
P hone call bullying
in school
E mail bullying in
school
0.40 Chatroom bully ing
in school
Instant Mess aging
bullying in s chool
Me an

Website bullying in
0.30 school

0.20

0.10

0.00
boy girl
g e nd e r

After assessing any age or gender effects, further analysis was conducted to explore

for any interactions between these variables. Two questions showed significant

results, and are presented in Table 5, along with the mean scores for each group of

participants. The first of these concerned the question ‘Do you think the effects of

email bullying are better or worse than that of traditional bullying?’. It appears that

young boys believe the effects of email bullying to be worse than girls of the same

age. However, this difference disappears in the older age group.

 21

The second finding was that older boys are more likely to bully others by instant

messaging than younger boys. As before, girls responses to the question remained

fairly consistent across age groups. Younger boys were the least likely to bully others

by instant messaging.

Table 5. Significant findings for age-gender interactions: mean scores and

significance levels.
Younger Older Significance
Are the effects of email bullying
1.14 0.56 F = 4.115
Boys
better or worse than traditional
p = 0.047
bullying? 0.60 0.79
Girls
Have you bullied others through
0.47 0.92 F = 4.344
Boys
instant messaging outside of
p = 0.040
school? 0.67 0.60
Girls

Who does the cyberbullying?

Three questions asked about who had done any cyberbullying – which class they were

from, whether boys or girls, and how many students were involved. These were asked

for each of the seven types of cyberbullying, but were of course only answered by the

relatively small numbers of pupils who had experienced each type. The data in Tables

6, 7 and 8 are therefore shown by number of students responding.

Table 6 indicates that most of the cyberbullying is done by students in the same class,

or (most often) in a different class but the same year group. It was never reported by

students from a lower grade. A number of those cyberbullying were not in the school

(the questions did not discriminate bullying inside or outside school); and sometimes

the identity of cyberbullies was not known – especially for phone call bullying.
 22

Table 6: In which class(es) is the student or students who bully you by [type of
bullying]? Numbers of pupils responding in each category.

Phone Text Email Picture/ Instant Website Chatroom

Call Message video messaging
clip
In my class 3 3 4 3 1 2 1
Different class 7 7 2 5 2 - -
same year
Higher grade 2 1 - 1 1 - -
Lower grade - - - - - - -
Different grades 1 - - - 1 - -
Not in my 2 4 3 3 3 2 1
school
I do not know 8 1 3 2 1 1 1

Table 7 indicates that both boys and girls are reported as doing the cyberbullying –

but, generally more girls than boys.

Table 7: Have you been bullied by [type of bullying] by boys or girls? Numbers of
pupils responding in each category.

Phone Text Email Picture/ Instant Website Chatroom

Call Message video messaging
clip
Mainly by one 6 3 2 - 3 1 -
girl
By several girls 4 4 2 1 1 1 -
Mainly by one 4 4 2 5 1 1 -
boy
2 1 - 1 1 - -
By several boys
By both boys 2 2 - - 1 1 -
and girls
I do not know 5 1 6 2 1 1 2

Table 8 indicates that the cyberbullying is generally done by one student, or a small

group of 2 or 3 students; although sometimes this is not known.

 23

Table 8: By how many students have you usually been bullied by [type of bullying]?
Numbers of pupils responding in each category.

Phone Text Email Picture/ Instant Website Chatroom

Call Message video messaging
clip
Mainly by 1 7 6 5 7 2 2 -
student
By a group of 7 7 1 - 2 1 -
2-3 students
By a group of 4 2 1 2 2 - 1
4-9 Students
By more than 9 - - - - - - -
students
By several - - - - 1 - -
different groups
I do not know 4 - 4 - 2 2 2

Duration of cyberbullying, and seeking help

Two questions asked about how long any cyberbullying had lasted; and whether they

had told anyone about it (and who they had told). These were asked for each of the

seven types of cyberbullying, but were of course only answered by the relatively

small numbers of pupils who had experienced each type. The data in Tables 9 and 10

are therefore shown by number of students responding.

Table 9: How long has the bullying by [type of bullying] lasted? Numbers of pupils
responding in each category.

Phone Text Email Picture/ Instant Website Chatroom

Call Message video messaging
clip
It lasted one or 8 9 6 7 5 3 1
2 weeks
It lasted about a 4 4 2 1 2 - -
month
It lasted about 1 - 1 - 2 - -
six months
It lasted about a 3 - 1 - 1 1 -
year
Gone on for 4 1 1 1 - - -
several years
 24

Table 9 indicates that predominantly the cyberbullying had just lasted one or two

weeks. However for a few students it had lasted longer, and especially for phone call

bullying where 7 students reported it as happening for a year or longer.

Table 10 indicates that parents, and friends, are told about cyberbullying much more

often than teachers or other adults in school (of course, some of this cyberbullying is

happening outside school). A substantial number of students however have told

nobody, and this is true of all the types of cyberbullying.

Table 10: Have you told anyone (that you have been bullied by [type of bullying])?
Numbers of pupils responding in each category.

Phone Text Email Picture/ Instant Website Chatroom

Call Message video messaging
clip
Your class 1 2 1 1 - 1 -
teacher
Another adult at 2 3 1 - - - -
school
Your parents/ 7 2 1 - 1 - -
guardians
Your friends 5 1 4 3 3 3 -
Somebody else - 1 - - - - -
Nobody 7 5 5 5 4 2 3

Would banning mobile phones or private internet use in school, help to avoid

cyberbullying?

This question was asked (in the appropriate form, see Appendix A) for each of the

seven types of cyberbullying, but was of course only answered by the relatively small

numbers of pupils who had experienced each type. All students could respond to this

question (not just victims), so the data in Table 11 are therefore shown in percentages.
 25

Table 11: Do you think that banning mobile phones/ private internet use in school
would help to avoid bullying through [type of bullying]? Percentages of pupils
responding in each category.

Phone Text Email Picture/ Instant Website Chatroom

Call Message video messaging
clip
Yes 14 21 23 22 21 22 24

No, students 29 44 14 39 9 10 8
will use the
internet whilst
the teacher is
not looking
No, they will 43 22 46 24 51 49 46
just use the
internet after
school
No, both of 15 14 18 15 20 18 23
above

Table 11 shows that only a minority of pupils think that banning mobile phones or

private internet use in school would prevent the bullying. Over half think that even if

mobile phones were banned, they could still be used secretly to send nasty text

messages or video clips. So far as internet based bullying is concerned (email, instant

messaging, website, chatroom) over half believe it will just happen after school.

Discussion

Rates of bullying and cyberbullying

A sizeable proportion of the students, 46%, reported that they had been bullied in

some way at least once over the past two months and of these, 14% suffered from

bullying on a more regular basis. These figures are comparable to previous general

survey figures on large populations (e.g. Whitney & Smith, 1993). Rates of

cyberbullying were, not surprisingly, less: 22% had been cyberbullied at least once or
 26

twice, and 6.6% were subjected to repeated attacks of cyberbullying; for 5 students

this victimisation took place at least once a week or more often. Although

cyberbullying is not as common as the traditional methods of victimisation, it is

already a significant issue in schools.

Bullying by phone calls proved to be the most frequent form of cyberbullying

experienced; 14% suffered from this at school at least once, and 3% frequently; but

this rose to 25% outside school, at least once, and 11% frequently. Text messages

were next most frequent, followed by email bullying, both more frequent outside of

school. The other forms of cyberbullying showed lower rates of occurrence both

inside and outside of school, although chat room bullying was infrequent, and neither

it nor picture/video clip bullying had been experienced repeatedly in this sample. In

relation to admitting to bullying others, phone call bullying was again the most

frequent, with 3% using it inside school, and 8% outside school. The least used

method of bullying was again through chat rooms, and only outside school.

Awareness of cyberbullying occurring

Awareness of forms of cyberbullying shows a different profile to that of reported

experience. The form of cyberbullying most well known to students was through

picture or video clips, with 46% aware of this taking place. This was followed by

phone call and text message bullying, which 37% and 29% of students had heard of

respectively. Chat room bullying was the least recognised form of cyberbullying, with

just 12% aware of this type of victimisation taking place.

 27

This raises an interesting distinction between different methods of cyberbullying.

Phone call and text message bullying were the most used forms of victimisation

according to the respondents, yet the method of cyberbullying most students knew of

was via picture or video clips. A possible explanation for this is the heightened media

coverage concerning bullying through video clips or pictures on mobile phones, more

generally referred to as ‘happy-slapping’. 15 respondents reported ‘happy-slap’ as an

additional method of cyberbullying, yet very few students reported bullying others or

being bullied via this medium. It may be that the related media coverage has

heightened awareness of video clip bullying, which is why students are more

conscious of this form of cyberbullying than others, which, although more prevalent,

have received less press coverage.

Perceived impact of cyberbullying

The impact factor in Table 3 gives an indication as to how serious students perceive

the effects of cyberbullying to be, compared to traditional forms. The responses show

a variety of opinion regarding each of the seven subtypes. Picture/video clip and

Phone call bullying scored highly on the impact factor, with the majority of

respondents believing these forms of cyberbullying are more harmful to the

individual. Website and Text messaging and scored fairly neutral values, indicating

that respondents felt the effect these forms have is similar to that of usual forms of

bullying. At the opposite end of the scale, Chat room bullying, Instant messaging and

email bullying all scored negative values; respondents felt these methods of

cyberbullying were less damaging to the victim.

 28

The reason for this discrimination is unclear given the current data. Online

applications can give the child the opportunity to block offensive messages, which

may explain why bullying through chat room, instant messaging or email was

perceived to be less damaging. Phone calls on the other hand, allow the bully to accost

the victim outside of school hours, which may indicate why it is considered more

harmful than traditional bullying, which is mostly centred around physical contact.

The limited amount of data prevents a more thorough examination of this issue, but

future research should aim to investigate why students perceive some forms of

cyberbullying to be more hurtful to the victim than others, and how this compares to

the harm caused by traditional bullying methods.

Gender differences

Comparing the pupil’s responses between genders revealed some interesting findings.

Girls were significantly more likely to be both bullied and cyberbullied at school than

boys. Furthermore, girls were more exposed to bullying by text messages and phone

calls, the two methods of cyberbullying found to be the most prevalent among

schoolchildren. Traditionally, girls show similar or lower rates of being bullied than

boys (e.g. Whitney & Smith, 1993). Previous research into cyberbullying has found

no significant differences between genders, so the findings uncovered here may

purely be attributable to the sample used. However, as Figure 1 shows, we found girls

involvement in being cyberbullied to be consistently higher than boys, with girls

reporting greater victimisation through all cyberbullying methods with the exception

of website and picture/video clip bullying. This gender difference is also borne out by

the data in Table 7, where more girls are thought to be involved in doing the

cyberbullying, than boys. Future research needs to re-examine this gender

 29

discrepancy, to discover if these results are attributable purely to the sample, or are a

wider reflection of gender roles in cyberbullying.

Age differences

We also explored for differences between responses according to age. No significant

differences were found between the 11-13 and 14-16 age groups. In general there is

usually some decline in self-reports of being bullied, with age (Smith, Madsen &

Moody, 1998). That there is no decline here may reflect increasing ownership and

use of mobile phones and email with the older age group. As Table 6 shows, most

cyberbullying is within the year group, by pupils of about the same age. Studying a

wider age range of pupils would be desirable for looking in more detail at age trends

in cyberbullying and at which age it starts being a significant problem.

Examining for any interactions between age and gender, two significant results were

found. Younger boys perceived the effects of email bullying to be more severe than

older boys, or than girls in either age group. Also, older boys were significantly more

likely to bully others through instant messaging than younger boys, while among

girls, there is again little fluctuation. This indicates that boys from different age

groups may have varying perceptions towards cyberbullying. Bullying research

commonly encounters problems concerning boys of different age groups, and this

study is no exception. However, the fact that only two questions showed this

discrepancy means the findings are not consistent throughout the whole study, and

only gives an indication of a more generalised interaction between gender and age

groups, which future research may be able to substantiate with a larger sample.
 30

The nature of cyberbullying, and who is told

Tables 8, 9 and 10 show that most reported cyberbullying comes from one, or 2-3,

other students, and much of it lasts one or two weeks. Our data does not allow us to

say how or why the cyberbullying stopped, but while much is short-term, some can

last a lot longer – especially, it seems, phone call bullying, where one-third of victims

said it had lasted about a year or even longer. Many victims had not told anyone

about it - varying from about one-third to one-half, for different forms of

cyberbullying. These figures are however similar to general survey figures for

traditional forms of bullying (e.g. Whitney & Smith, 1993).

Pupil’s views on banning mobile phones or private internet use

This was viewed positively by only about one-fifth of pupils (Table 11). It seemed to

be generally felt that pupils who wanted to cyberbully would continue to use mobile

phones secretly, for text messaging and picture/video clips, even if not for actually

calling (which might be a bit more obvious). Regarding internet use, the scepticism

was more that it would be used outside school, so these figures are not in themselves

an argument against school action in this respect.

Comparisons with previous research

Previous studies have mainly focused on the prevalence of a certain type of

cyberbullying. This study differentiated between cyberbullying inside and outside of

school, and also included more sub-categories of cyberbullying than most previous

studies. Table 12 shows the comparisons that are possible between the incidence rates

found in the current study, and the NCH studies from 2002 and 2005.
 31

Table 12. Comparisons of rates of being cyberbullied, between the current study and

previous NCH studies.

This study: This study: NCH 2002 NCH 2005

Inside school Outside school (11-19 yr olds) (11-19 yr olds)

Experienced
22.2 % NA 25% 20%
cyberbullying
Bullied by
14.3 % 17.6 % 16% 14%
text
Bullied via
1.1 % 5.5 % NA 5%
chatrooms
Bullied via
5.5 % 10.9 % NA 4%
email

In the current study, the difference between bullying inside of school and outside of

school is distinguished (this is not the case in the NCH studies). Cyberbullying was

more prevalent outside of school, this might be because it is easier to use

communications devices outside of school than inside. The results between the

studies are similar (more so with the inside school results for email bullying, and the

outside of school results for chat room bullying). The similarities between these

figures, and the relatively large percentages, support each other and add weight to the

statement that cyberbullying is becoming a common form of bullying.

The figures for text message bullying however are higher than the results published in

Oliver and Candappa’s (2003) report, where 4% of year 8’s had received nasty text

messages, and 2% nasty email messages; and from the SHEU report (Balding, 2004),

where 1% of year 6’s were reported to have received nasty text messages. In the case

of the SHEU report, the low figure may possibly be due to the younger age of their

respondents.
 32

Regarding telling anyone about cyberbullying, the previous NCH surveys found rates

of not telling of 29% and 28% respectively. Our figures are higher than this; though

given the relatively small number of victims (only 20 overall in the sample), this

comparison can only be made tentatively.

Implications for future studies

There were some problems encountered in the data collection process. One was the

administering of the questionnaires, which were sent out by post, with instructions.

The recruitment of participants was left to the teachers administering the

questionnaire. The teachers were instructed to select one boy and one girl from each

year, and to pick a random sample. There is a possibility that the teachers may not

have followed these instructions precisely, and instead chosen a selective sample.

Some students may have volunteered rather than be chosen to represent a class

average (although participation is always voluntary), and so participant recruitment

might not have been as randomised as desired.

The length of the questionnaire could also be considered an issue. The questionnaire

had 88 multiple-choice questions, plus several qualitative items and was estimated to

take 20 to 25 minutes to complete. There is a possibility that the attention span of the

participants waned through the course of the questionnaire; although most

questionnaires were completed satisfactorily. Due to the fact that there is little

previous research into cyberbullying, it was felt useful to produce a comprehensive

questionnaire to understand different aspects of cyberbullying.

 33

The questionnaire was distributed at a time when almost all schools had their year 11

(ages 15-16) students away on study leave for their G.C.S.E examinations. Therefore

the questionnaire did not represent as wide a range of ages as it could have, if it were

administered at a different time.

Finally, not all schools approached, returned questionnaires (even though they had

previously agreed to participate). The sample size of n=92 is not large. However the

sample does come from 14 schools, so results are more representative than if just one

or two schools had provided larger samples.

Some suggestions for future research:

• Survey a larger number of participants and schools, preferably with whole

classes or year groups participating. A greater sample size would allow for a

more thorough exploration.

• Do the survey at a time of year when all year groups are at school (when no

year groups are away for study leave etc); including more year groups to

compare across the entire age range would allow a more profound examination

of age differences or the lack of them.

• The gender difference found in cyber victimisation is interesting and strongly

merits further study on a larger sample.

• Examine the method of administering the questionnaires, and consider having

research assistants administer the questionnaires themselves, rather than

teachers.
 34

• The length of the questionnaire could be reduced. Future studies could look at

more specific areas of cyberbullying, following on from areas highlighted

from this study.

• Work on the perception of impact of cyberbullying could usefully be related to

the content of mass media publicity about cyberbullying, as well as to the

actual nature of the bullying, and technological advances such as ‘bluetooth’.

• Measure the effects of cyberbullying over different time periods, for example

this same questionnaire could be administered in a year or two, to see whether

the rates of cyberbullying are dramatically changing.

Conclusion

Cyberbullying seems to be a type of bullying which is becoming increasingly

prevalent, as the use of technology increases by young people. Previous studies have

mainly focused on the prevalence of cyberbullying generally, or of a sub-category

(e.g. text message bullying). This study differentiated between cyberbullying

occurring inside and outside of school, and also included more sub-categories of

cyberbullying than most previous studies. It found that cyberbullying was reported

more outside of school than inside, and that ‘Phone Call Bullying’, ‘Text Message

Bullying’ and ‘Email Bullying’ were the most prevalent forms.

The findings from this study correlated with previous findings, from the NCH studies

(2002, 2005), and also looked into several types of bullying (such as instant

messaging, and website bullying) which had previously not examined. This study

also found a significant difference by gender, for certain questions, and that girls are

generally more exposed to cyberbullying than boys. No significant findings between

 35

age groups were found. Most cyberbullying was done by one or a few students,

usually from the same year group. It often just lasted a week or so, but sometimes

much longer. A substantial minority of victims had told nobody about it.

This study broadened our understanding of cyberbullying, by looking at some aspects

not looked at before. Suggestions for further research are made, and for a better

understanding of cyberbullying to be obtained.

The nature and increasing extent of cyberbullying obviously raise issues about how to

deal with it, and whether existing anti-bullying strategies are effective in this context.

A thorough examination of this is outside the scope of this Report, but Appendix B

does list some current websites with information and advice on this topic.
 36

References

Balding, J. (2005). Young People in 2004: the health-related behaviour questionnaire

results for 40,430 young people between the ages of 10 and 15. Schools Health

Education Unit, Exeter.

NCH (2002). NCH National Survey 2002: Bullying. www.nch.org.uk

NCH (2005). Putting U in the picture-Mobile phone bullying survey 2005.

www.nch.org.uk

NSPCC/ SUGAR (2005). The NSPCC/SUGAR reader survey on bullying 2005.

www.nspcc.org.uk

Oliver, C. & Candappa, M. (2003). Tackling Bullying: Listening to the views of

Children and Young People. Department for Education and Skills, Nottingham.

Olweus, D. (1996). The Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire. Mimeo.

Bergen, Norway: Research Centre for Health Promotion, University of Bergen.

Olweus, D. (1999). Sweden. In Smith, P.K., Morita, Y., Junger-Tas, J., Olweus, D.,

Catalano, R., Slee, P. (Eds.), The Nature of School Bullying: A cross-cultural

perspective (pp.2-27). London: Routledge.

Rigby, K. (2002). New Perspectives on Bullying. London: Kingsley

Smith, P.K., Madsen, K. & Moody, J. (1999). What causes the age decline in reports

of being bullied in school? Towards a developmental analysis of risks of being

bullied. Educational Research, 41, 267-285.

Smith, P.K., & Sharp, S., editors (1994). School bullying: Insights and Perspectives.

London: Routledge.

Whitney, I., & Smith, P.K., (1993). A survey of the nature and extent of bullying in

junior/middle and secondary schools, Educational Research, 35, 3-25.

 37

www.theinquirer.net (2004). Article on a study by Queensland University:

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19135

www.mmu.k12.vt.us. Study by I-SAFE America (2004), cited on this website,

http://www.mmu.k12.vt.us/informati on/archive/ISafe/isafe.html
 38

Appendix A: Cyberbullying Questionnaire

Cyberbullying

Our names are _____________ and we are researchers at Goldsmiths

College which is part of the University of London.

We are interested in how children and adolescents get on with each other in and out of
school.

You do not have to answer this questionnaire, but we would be grateful if you did.
Anything that you write will be treated as most confidential. You do not have to put
your names on the questionnaire.

Your teachers, the head teacher and your classmates will not be shown your answers.
No one in the school will know what you write, so please answer truthfully.

Please only turn over each page when you are told to do so.
 39

School: _____________________________________________________________

Date: _______________________________________________________________

Class/Year: ___________________________________________________________

Your age: _______________________________________________

Please state your ethnic origin.

White

Black Caribbean

Black African

Black other

Indian

Pakistani

Bangladeshi

Chinese

Mixed Race

Other

In this case, please specify: __________

_________________________________

Are you a boy or a girl?

girl

boy
 40

Most of the questions are about your life in and out of school in the past 2 or 3 months,
that is, the period from Easter until now. So when you answer, you should think of how it
has been during the past couple of months and not only how it is just now.

Before we start with questions about bullying, we will first define or explain the word
bullying. We say a student is being bullied when another student, or several other students
say mean and hurtful things or make fun of him or her and call him or her mean and
hurtful names
completely ignore or exclude him or her from their group of friends or leave him or her
out of things on purpose
hit, kick, push, shove around, or lock him or her inside a room
tell lies or spread false rumours about him or her or send mean notes and try to make
other students dislike him or her
and other hurtful things like that.

When we talk about bullying, these things happen repeatedly, and it is difficult for the student
being bullied to defend himself or herself. We also call it bullying, when a student is teased
repeatedly in a mean and hurtful way.
But we don’t call it bullying when the teasing is done in a friendly and playful way. Also, it is
not bullying when two students of about equal strength or power argue or fight.

Today we would like to look at a special kind of bullying: Cyberbullying.

This includes bullying
o through text messaging
o through pictures/photos or video clips
o through phone calls (nasty, silent etc. )
o through email
o in Chat rooms,
o through Instant Messaging
o through Websites
Bullying can happen through text messages/pictures/clips/email/messages etc sent to you, but
also when text messages/pictures/clips/email/messages etc are sent to others, about you.
 41

1. First of all,
have you been bullied at I haven’t been bullied at school in the past couple of
school in the past couple of months
months (any kind of bullying,
It has only happened once or twice
including cyber-bullying)?
2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

2. Now, just thinking about cyber-
bullying, how often have you I haven’t been cyber-bullied at school in the past couple of
been cyber-bullied at school in months
the past couple of months?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Text message bullying

(receiving abusive text messages (SMS) on your mobile phone)

3. How often have you been

bullied through text messages I haven’t been bullied through texts in the past couple of
in the past couple of months months in school
in school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

4. How often have you been

bullied through text messages I haven’t been bullied through texts in the past couple of
in the past couple of months months outside of school
outside of school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________
 42

5. Have you bullied others

through text messages in the I haven’t bullied through texts in the past couple of
past couple of months in months
school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

6. Have you bullied others

through text messages in the I haven’t bullied through texts in the past couple of
past couple of months outside months
of school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

7. Have you heard of bullying

taking place through text Yes:
messages in your school or _______________________________________________
circle of friends in the past _______________________________________________
couple of months? _______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
___

No
8. Do you think text message
bullying compared to has less of an effect on the victim
“normal, traditional,
has the same effect on the victim
conventional” bullying…
has more of an effect on the victim

don’t know

Reasons:___________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
_____________________________
 43

9. In which classes is the student

or students who bully/bullies I haven’t been bullied through texts in the past couple of
you through texts? months

In my class

In a different class but same grade/year

In a higher grade

In a lower grade

In different grades

Not in my school

I do not know who sends me those messages

10. Have you been bullied
through texts by boys or girls? I haven’t been bullied through texts in the past couple of
months

Mainly by 1 girl

By several girls

Mainly by one boy

By several boys

By both boys and girls

I do not know who sends me those messages

11. By how many students have
you usually been bullied I haven’t been bullied through texts in the past couple of
through texts? months

Mainly by 1 student

By a group of 2-3 students

By a group of 4-9 Students

By a group of more than 9 students

By several different students or groups of students

I do not know who sends me those messages

12. How long has the bullying
through texts lasted? I haven’t been bullied through texts in the past couple of
months

It lasted one or 2 weeks

It lasted about a month

It has lasted about six months

It has lasted about a year

It has gone on for several years

 44

13. Have you told anyone (that

you have been bullied through I haven’t been bullied through texts in the past couple of
texts)? months

Your class teacher

Another adult at school

Your parents/guardians

Your friends

Somebody else ______________________________

I have told nobody

14. Do you think that banning
mobile phones in school Yes
would help to avoid text
No, students will use their mobile phones secretly
message bullying?
No, they will just text after school

What would you suggest to stop text message bullying?

__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
______________________________

Bullying through mobile phone pictures and/or video-clips

(nasty pictures/photos or video-clips, sent to you, or nasty pictures/photos or video-clips sent to others
about you)

15. How often have you been

bullied through pictures or I haven’t been bullied through pictures or video-clips in
video-clips in the past couple the past couple of months in school
of months in school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

16. How often have you been

bullied through pictures or I haven’t been bullied through pictures or video-clips in
video-clips in the past couple the past couple of months outside of school
of months outside of school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________
 45

17. What kind of bullying through

pictures or video-clips has Nasty/offensive pictures/video-clips have been sent to me
happened to you in the past
Nasty/mean Pictures/video-clips about me have been sent
couple of months?
to others

Other:__________________________________________
_________

Content: (Describe):
________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
___________________

18. Have you bullied others

through pictures or video- I haven’t bullied through pictures or video-clips in the past
clips in the past couple of couple of months
months in school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

19. Have you bullied others

through pictures or video- I haven’t bullied through pictures or video-clips in the past
clips in the past couple of couple of months
months outside of school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:________________________________________

20. Have you heard of bullying

taking place through pictures Yes:
or video-clips in your school _______________________________________________
or circle of friends in the past _______________________________________________
couple of months? _______________________________________________

No
21. Do you think picture or video-
clip bullying compared to has less of an effect on the victim
“normal, traditional,
has the same effect on the victim
conventional” bullying…
has more of an effect on the victim

don’t know
Reasons:___________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
_____________________________
 46

22. In which classes is the student

or students who bully/bullies I haven’t been bullied through pictures or video-clips in
you through pictures or video- the past couple of months
clips?
In my class

In a different class but same grade/year

In a higher grade

In a lower grade

In different grades

Not in my school

I do not know who sends those pictures/video-clips

23. Have you been bullied

through pictures or video- I haven’t been bullied through pictures or video-clips in
clips by boys or girls? the past couple of months

Mainly by 1 girl

By several girls

Mainly by one boy

By several boys

By both boys and girls

I do not know who sends those pictures/video-clips

24. By how many students have
you usually been bullied I haven’t been bullied through pictures or video-clips in
through pictures or video- the past couple of months
clips?
Mainly by 1 student

By a group of 2-3 students

By a group of 4-9 Students

By a group of more than 9 students

By several different students or groups of students

I do not know who sends those pictures/video-clips

25. How long has the bullying
through pictures or video- I haven’t been bullied through pictures or video-clips in
clips lasted? the past couple of months

It lasted one or 2 weeks

It lasted about a month

It has lasted about six months

It has lasted about a year

It has gone on for several years

 47

26. Have you told anyone (that

you have been bullied through I haven’t been bullied through pictures or video-clips in
pictures or video-clips)? the past couple of months

Your class teacher

Another adult at school

Your parents/guardians

Your friends

Somebody else ______________________________

I have told nobody

27. Do you think that banning
mobile phones in school Yes
would help to avoid picture or
No, students will use their mobile phones secretly
video-clip bullying?
No, they will just send pictures or video-clips after school

What would you suggest to stop picture or video-clip bullying?

__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
______________________________

Bullying through phone-calls

(receiving nasty/upsetting or silent calls on your mobile phone)

28. How often have you been

bullied through phone calls in I haven’t been bullied through phone calls in the past
the past couple of months in couple of months in school
school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

29. How often have you been

bullied through phone calls in I haven’t been bullied through phone calls in the past
the past couple of months couple of months outside of school
outside of school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________
 48

30. Have you bullied others

through phone calls in the past I haven’t bullied through phone calls in the past couple of
couple of months in school? months

It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

31. Have you bullied others

through phone calls in the past I haven’t bullied through phone calls in the past couple of
couple of months outside of months
school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

32. Have you heard of bullying

taking place through phone Yes:
calls in your school or circle _______________________________________________
of friends in the past couple of _______________________________________________
months? _______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
___

No
33. Do you think bullying through
phone calls, compared to has less of an effect on the victim
“normal, traditional,
has the same effect on the victim
conventional” bullying…
has more of an effect on the victim

don’t know

Reasons:___________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
_____________________________
 49

34. In which classes is the student

or students who bully/bullies I haven’t been bullied through phone calls in the past
you through phone calls? couple of months

In my class

In a different class but same grade/year

In a higher grade

In a lower grade

In different grades

Not in my school

I do not know who calls me

35. Have you been bullied
through phone calls by boys I haven’t been bullied through phone calls in the past
or girls? couple of months

Mainly by 1 girl

By several girls

Mainly by one boy

By several boys

By both boys and girls

I do not know who calls me

36. By how many students have
you usually been bullied I haven’t been bullied through phone calls in the past
through phone calls? couple of months

Mainly by 1 student

By a group of 2-3 students

By a group of 4-9 Students

By a group of more than 9 students

By several different students or groups of students

I do not know who calls me

37. How long has the bullying
through phone calls lasted? I haven’t been bullied through phone calls in the past
couple of months

It lasted one or 2 weeks

It lasted about a month

It has lasted about six months

It has lasted about a year

It has gone on for several years

 50

38. Have you told anyone (that

you have been bullied through I haven’t been bullied through phone calls in the past
phone calls)? couple of months

Your class teacher

Another adult at school

Your parents/guardians

Your friends

Somebody else ______________________________

I have told nobody

39. Do you think that banning
mobile phones in school Yes
would help to avoid bullying
No, students will use their mobile phones secretly
through phone calls?
No, they will just call after school

What would you suggest to stop bullying through phone calls?

__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
______________________________

Email bullying
(receiving abusive emails to your email account)

40. How often have you been

bullied through email in the I haven’t been bullied through emails in the past couple of
past couple of months in months in school
school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

41. How often have you been

bullied through email in the I haven’t been bullied through emails in the past couple of
past couple of months outside months outside of school
of school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________
 51

42. Have you bullied others

through email in the past I haven’t bullied through emails in the past couple of months
couple of months in
It has only happened once or twice
school?
2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:______________________________________________
________

43. Have you bullied others

through email in the past I haven’t bullied through emails in the past couple of months
couple of months outside
It has only happened once or twice
of school?
2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:______________________________________________
________

44. Have you heard of

bullying taking place Yes:
through email in your ___________________________________________________
school or circle of friends ___________________________________________________
in the past couple of ____________
months?
No
45. Do you think email
bullying compared to has less of an effect on the victim
“normal, traditional,
has the same effect on the victim
conventional” bullying…
has more of an effect on the victim

don’t know

Reasons:_______________________________________________
______________________________________________________
_______________

46. In which classes is the

student or students who I haven’t been bullied through emails in the past couple of
bully/bullies you through months
emails?
In my class

In a different class but same grade/year?

In a higher grade

In a lower grade

In different grades

Not in my school

I do not know who sends me those emails

 52

47. Have you been bullied

through email by boys or I haven’t been bullied through emails in the past couple of
girls? months

Mainly by 1 girl

By several girls

Mainly by one boy

By several boys

By both boys and girls

I do not know who sends me those emails

48. By how many students
have you usually been I haven’t been bullied through emails in the past couple of
bullied through emails? months

Mainly by 1 student

By a group of 2-3 students

By a group of 4-9 Students

By a group of more than 9 students

By several different students or groups of students

I do not know who sends me those emails

49. How long has the
bullying by email lasted? I haven’t been bullied through emails texts in the past couple of
months

It lasted one or 2 weeks

It lasted about a month

It has lasted about six months

It has lasted about a year

It has gone on for several years

50. Have you told anyone
(that you have been I haven’t been bullied through emails in the past couple of
bullied through emails)? months

Your class teacher

Another adult at school

Your parents/guardians

Your friends

Somebody else ______________________________

I have told nobody

 53

51. Do you think that

banning private internet Yes
use in school would help
No, students will use the internet to bully whilst teachers are
to avoid email bullying?
not watching

No, they will just email after school

What would you suggest to stop bullying through email?

______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
________________

Chat-room bullying
(being bullied in chat room through abusive messages)
52. How often have you been
bullied in chat-rooms in I do not use chat rooms
the past couple of months
I haven’t been bullied in chat-rooms in the past couple of
in school?
months in school

It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:____________________________________________
__________

53. How often have you been

bullied in chat-rooms in I do not use chat rooms
the past couple of months
I haven’t been bullied in chat-rooms in the past couple of
outside of school?
months outside of school

It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:____________________________________________
__________

54. Have you bullied others in

chat-rooms in the past I do not use chat rooms
couple of months in
I haven’t bullied in chat-rooms in the past couple of months
school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:____________________________________________
 54

55. Have you bullied others in

chat-rooms in the past I do not use chat rooms
couple of months outside
I haven’t bullied in chat-rooms in the past couple of months
of school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:____________________________________________
__________
56. Have you heard of
bullying taking place in Yes:
chat-rooms in your school __________________________________________________
or circle of friends in the __________________________________________________
past couple of months? _________________________________________

No
57. Do you think bullying in
chat-rooms compared to has less of an effect on the victim
“normal, traditional,
has the same effect on the victim
conventional” bullying…
has more of an effect on the victim

don’t know

Reasons:______________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
___________________________

58. In which classes is the

student or students who I do not use chat rooms
bully you in chat-rooms?
I haven’t been bullied in chat-rooms in the past couple of
months

In my class

In a different class but same grade/year?

In a higher grade

In a lower grade

In different grades

Not in my school

I do not know who sends me those messages

 55

59. Have you been bullied in

chat-rooms by boys or I do not use chat rooms
girls?
I haven’t been bullied in chat-rooms in the past couple of
months

Mainly by 1 girl

By several girls

Mainly by one boy

By several boys

By both boys and girls

I do not know who sends me those messages

60. By how many students
have you usually been I do not use chat rooms
bullied in chat-rooms?
I haven’t been bullied in chat-rooms in the past couple of
months

Mainly by 1 student

By a group of 2-3 students

By a group of 4-9 Students

By a group of more than 9 students

By several different students or groups of students

I do not know who sends me those messages

61. How long has the bullying
in chat-rooms lasted? I do not use chat rooms

I haven’t been bullied in chat-rooms in the past couple of

months

It lasted one or 2 weeks

It lasted about a month

It has lasted about six months

It has lasted about a year

It has gone on for several years

62. Have you told anyone (that
you have been bullied in I do not use chat rooms
chat-rooms)?
I haven’t been bullied in chat rooms in the past couple of
months

Your class teacher

Another adult at school

Your parents/guardians

Your friends

Somebody else ______________________________

I have told nobody

 56

63. Do you think that banning

private internet use in Yes
school would help to avoid
No, students will use the internet whilst the teacher is not
bullying through chat-
looking
rooms?
No, they will just use the internet after school

What would you suggest to stop bullying through chat-rooms?

__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
___________________________

Instant messaging bullying

(bullying through messages on MSN Messenger, Yahoo messenger, ICQ or similar messaging
services)
64. How often have you been
bullied through instant I do not use instant messaging
messaging in the past couple
I haven’t been bullied through instant messaging in the
of months in school?
past couple of months in school

It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

65. How often have you been

bullied through instant I do not use instant messaging
messaging in the past couple
I haven’t been bullied through instant messaging in the
of months outside of school?
past couple of months outside of school

It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

66. Have you bullied others

through instant messaging in I do not use instant messaging
the past couple of months in
I haven’t bullied through instant messaging in the past
school?
couple of months

It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

 57

Other:__________________________________________
__________

67. Have you bullied others

through instant messaging in I do not use instant messaging
the past couple of months
I haven’t bullied through instant messaging in the past
outside of school?
couple of months

It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

68. Have you heard of bullying

taking place through instant Yes:
messaging in your school or _______________________________________________
circle of friends in the past _______________________________________________
couple of months? _______________________________________________
______________________________

No
69. Do you think bullying through
instant messaging compared has less of an effect on the victim
to “normal, traditional,
has the same effect on the victim
conventional” bullying…
has more of an effect on the victim

don’t know

Reasons:___________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
_____________________________

70. In which classes is the student

or students who bully/bullies I do not use instant messaging
you through instant
I haven’t been bullied through instant messaging in the
messaging?
past couple of months

In my class

In a different class but same grade/year?

In a higher grade

In a lower grade

In different grades

Not in my school

I do not know who sends me those messages

 58

71. Have you been bullied

through instant messaging by I do not use instant messaging
boys or girls?
I haven’t been bullied through instant messaging in the
past couple of months

Mainly by 1 girl

By several girls

Mainly by one boy

By several boys

By both boys and girls

I do not know who sends me those messages

72. By how many students have
you usually been bullied I do not use instant messaging
through instant messaging?
I haven’t been bullied through instant messaging in the
past couple of months

Mainly by 1 student

By a group of 2-3 students

By a group of 4-9 Students

By a group of more than 9 students

By several different students or groups of students

I do not know who sends me those messages

73. How long has the bullying
through instant messaging I do not use instant messaging
lasted?
I haven’t been bullied through instant messaging in the
past couple of months

It lasted one or 2 weeks

It lasted about a month

It has lasted about six months

It has lasted about a year

It has gone on for several years

 59

74. Have you told anyone (that

you have been bullied through I do not use instant messaging
instant messaging)?
I haven’t been bullied through instant messaging in the
past couple of months

Your class teacher

Another adult at school

Your parents/guardians

Your friends

Somebody else ______________________________

I have told nobody

75. Do you think that banning
instant messaging use in Yes
school would help to avoid
No, students will use instant messaging whilst the teacher
instant messaging bullying?
is not looking

No, they will just use the instant messaging after school

What would you suggest to stop bullying through instant

messaging?
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
______________________________

Website bullying (for example setting up a negative website about someone, revealing personal details etc)

76. How often have you been

bullied through websites (in I haven’t been bullied through websites in the past couple
the past couple of months) in of months in school
school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

77. How often have you been

bullied through websites in I haven’t been bullied through websites in the past couple
the past couple of months of months outside of school
outside of school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
_______________________________________________
 60

78. Have you bullied others

through websites in the past I haven’t bullied through websites in the past couple of
couple of months in school? months

It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

79. Have you bullied others

through websites in the past I haven’t bullied through websites in the past couple of
couple of months outside of months
school?
It has only happened once or twice

2 or 3 times a month

about once a week

several times a week

Other:__________________________________________
__________

80. Have you heard of bullying

taking place through websites Yes:
in your school or circle of _______________________________________________
friends in the past couple of _______________________________________________
months? _______________________________________________

No
81. Do you think bullying through
websites compared to has less of an effect on the victim
“normal, traditional,
has the same effect on the victim
conventional” bullying…
has more of an effect on the victim

don’t know

Reasons:________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_____________________________

82. In which classes is the student

or students who bully you I haven’t been bullied through websites in the past couple
through websites? of months

In my class

In a different class but same grade/year?

In a higher grade

In a lower grade

In different grades

Not in my school
 61

I do not know who set up the website

83. Have you been bullied
through websites by boys or I haven’t been bullied through websites in the past couple
girls? of months

Mainly by 1 girl

By several girls

Mainly by one boy

By several boys

By both boys and girls

I do not know who set up the website

84. By how many students have
you usually been bullied I haven’t been bullied through websites in the past couple
through websites? of months

Mainly by 1 student

By a group of 2-3 students

By a group of 4-9 Students

By a group of more than 9 students

By several different students or groups of students

I do not know who set up the website

85. How long has the bullying
through websites lasted? I haven’t been bullied through websites in the past couple
of months

It lasted one or 2 weeks

It lasted about a month

It has lasted about six months

It has lasted about a year

It has gone on for several years

86. Have you told you (that you
have been bullied through I haven’t been bullied through websites in the past couple
websites)? of months

Your class teacher

Another adult at school

Your parents/guardians

Your friends

Somebody else ______________________________

I have told nobody

 62

87. Do you think that banning

private internet use in school Yes
would help to avoid website
No, students will use the internet whilst the teacher is not
bullying?
looking

No, they will just use the internet after school

What would you suggest to stop bullying through websites?

__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
________________________________________

Other forms of cyber-bullying

88. Are there any other forms of
bullying, involving the No
internet, mobile phones or any
Yes (please describe)
other electronic devices,
__________________________________________________
which we have not
__________________________________________________
mentioned?
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
______________

If you have been cyber-bullied in any way (texts, pictures/photos or video-clips, email, website,
chat-rooms, or other), what sorts of comments/remarks (for example about your looks, race)
were made? What has been done to you?

___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
____________

Do you have any other comments/suggestions/stories with regard to Cyber-bullying?

___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
 63

___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________

You have now completed the questionnaire. All the sections that you have filled
in are confidential so please do not discuss the answers you have written with
your friends or anyone else.

There is a sheet of paper attached to the back of this questionnaire, please keep it
and read it in your own time.

Thank you for taking part!

 64

PLEASE KEEP THIS

If you have a problem with bullying or anything else mentioned in the questionnaire
that you have just completed then you can talk to your teacher or Head Teacher who
will be able to help.

If you do not feel comfortable talking to someone in school you could talk to your
parents, and they can come with you to talk to a teacher about the problem.

You can also ring Childline, the number is 0800 1111. The call is free so you can ring
from a phone box, or if you ring from home and don’t feel comfortable telling your
family then the call will not show up on the telephone bill.

If you have access to the Internet you could look at a website such as
www.bbc.co.uk/education/bully, www.childline.org.uk or www.kidscape.org.uk for
advice and information.

It is important to remember that bullying happens to lots of people, and you are not
the only one that this happens to. There are people in your school and in
organisations like Childline who can listen to you and help you.
 65

APPENDIX B: Some websites and sources of advice on cyberbullying

[compiled by Unit for School and Family Studies, Goldsmiths College; also using
material from Vanessa Cooper at ABA, Rita Adair, ABA Eastern Region Coordinator;
and Kidscape].

WEBSITES
Websites change rapidly and are proliferating as regards cyberbullying. The list
below may be helpful but a Google search is also likely to reveal new sites.

Advice Websites and General Information Websites:

http://www.bullyonline.org/related/mobile.htm briefly states the increasing use of text

messaging as a form of bullying, and then offers comprehensive guidance on how to
deal with text message bullying.
www.dfes.gov.uk/bullying/pupilindex.shtml offers advice on how to deal with text
message bullying, offering guidance, what steps to take and what information to
remember about these incidents.
http://www.besafeonline.org/English/bullying_online.htm offers advice on text
message bullying and all other types of cyber bullying (email, msn messenger,
bullying on the internet) and general advice on how to deal with bullying.
http://safety.ngfl.gov.uk/schools/document.php3?D=d65 similar to besafeonline’s
website offering advice on all types of cyber bullying, but also with strategies of
prevention, dealing with the problem, on developing school policies, and with links to
anti-bullying organisations and advice networks.
http://www.kidscape.org.uk/childrenteens/cyberbullying.shtml gives advice on how to
deal with text message bullying and other forms of cyber bullying including video
messaging, chat rooms/instant messaging, email and web bullying.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/bullying/mobile.shtml explains what constitutes
bullying by mobile phone (including text and anonymous phone calls) and gives
advice on how to deal with this form of bullying.
http://www.media-
awareness.ca/english/resources/special_initiatives/wa_resources/wa_shared/backgrou
nders/challenge_cyber_bullying.cfm discusses cyber bullying and the relation of
cyber-bullying to Canadian law; and action that can be taken by parents, schools and
children to combat cyber-bullying.
http://wiredsafety.org/gb/law/spam/uk_cyberbullying.html briefly states increasing
use of SMS and Cyber bullying, and offers some advice and help lines.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19135 brief report on cyber-bullying, including
comments by a Queensland University of Technology (Australia) researcher, stating
that cyber-bullying reaches a large peer audience and allows no direct method for the
victim to retaliate.
http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/ofhc/news/Other/3879.asp offers information about
what is cyber-bullying and cyber-bullying in relation to the law.

www.thinkuknow.co.uk for information about staying safe on the Internet, links to the
NSPCC/Childline/childnet/NCH websites and games to download and play.
www.chatdanger.com gives advice for young people and parents on using Internet
Chat rooms safely.
www.kidsmart.org.uk offers an Internet safety guide for young people
 66

www.bullying.co.uk provides information and advice for parents and children about
bullying generally, suggests strategies for dealing with it and provides an e-mail
enquiry service.

SOME EMERGING THEMES ABOUT CYBERBULLYING

No place to hide
‘You can’t run or hide from cyber-bullying’. A main theme occurring in much of the
literature, especially on the advice websites, is that Cyber-bullying and Text message
bullying are not like the traditional form of bullying, where once the victim gets home
they are away from the bully until the next day. Cyber-bullying is a form of bullying
that the victim cannot escape as they are constantly being sent messages to their
mobile etc, and so therefore they cannot escape the bully and bullying.

Different effects?
‘Cyber-bullying worse than Traditional bullying?’
http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/14150257?source=Evening%20Standard
This article and others suggest that the psychological harm caused by cyber bullying
may be more harmful than the generally physical nature of traditional forms of
bullying. Self-harming by the victim has been reported due to text message and
cyber-bullying, and in the worst cases reports of suicides.

Breadth of audience
Cyber-bullying can reach particularly large audiences in a peer group compared with
the normally small groups that traditional bullying reaches. For example when nasty
comments are posted on the web, the audience that may see these comments is
potentially large.

Invisibility of those doing the bullying

Cyber-bullying is not a face-to-face experience, and provides the bully with an aspect
of ‘invisibility’ and at times anonymity. This has been shown by the creation of
online pseudonyms by bullies themselves, where they act completely different online
compared to as they would in real life. However it is important to remember that
electronic bullying is always traceable.

SOME ADVICE REGARDING CYBERBULLYING

General advice culled from websites

For victims of cyberbullying:

Do not reply to the bully, and in many cases this will eventually lead the bully to stop.
Do not ignore what is happening, and to contact an adult about the problem. Tell a
teacher or parent about any bullying, or call an advice line.

For parents:
Be aware of uses of the Internet, mobile phones and the possibility of cyber-bullying
and text message bullying. Encourage their children to talk to them if anything is
happening, and if so to take appropriate measures (contact the school, or mobile
network, ISP etc).
 67

[The Australian Government has a useful ‘Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety’, see
www.netalert.net.au]

For schools:
Amend existing bullying policies to include text message and cyber-bullying, and
ensure these forms of bullying are addressed in anti-bullying materials and
interventions.
[The Australian Government has a useful booklet and CD ‘CyberQuoll Internet
Safety Education for Primary school Students’, see www.netalert.net.au]

Sanctions against those doing cyberbullying:

ISPs (Internet Service Providers) have Acceptable User Policies (AUPs) that dictate
how their Internet service may be used by customers, and if this agreement is broken
then the ISP can cancel the Internet connection. The AUPs could be extended to
include cyber-bullying under their policies.
Some legal provisions in Britain could be used to combat text message or cyber-
bullying: the Protection from Harassment Act; and the Malicious Communications
Act 1988/ Section 43 of Telecommunications act 1984.

SPECIFIC ADVICE FOR DIFFERENT FORMS OF CYBERBULLYING

Text/Video Messaging (taken from www.kidscape.org)

• Don’t reply to text messaging or video messaging that is obscene or abusive.
Your mobile service provider e.g. Orange, T-Mobile, Vodaphone etc should
have a number that you can ring to report abusive messaging. Try their
website for details.
• If you get your service from BT and receive an abusive call and would like
advice, call Freefone 0800 666 700. A recorded message will tell you what to
do if you need more help. You can also call free on 150 for personal advice
and information about how BT can help you tackle the problem. If the
problem continues then contact your nearest BT bureau on 0900 661 441
during office hours. The bureau deals exclusively with malicious and
nuisance calls. BT may suggest tracing future calls or changing your
telephone number. Almost all calls can now be traced.
• Be careful who you give phone numbers to and don’t leave your mobile lying
around when you are not there.
• If you receive messages that upset or frighten you, make a record of the times
and dates you received them, and report them to the police.
• If you keep getting abusive calls consider changing your mobile phone.

E-mail (kidscape.org)
• If you receive a nasty or abusive email (known as being flamed) don’t reply.
If it’s from someone you think you know, like someone at school, they’ll want
some kind of reaction. Don’t give them the satisfaction of replying and they’ll
probably stop.
• If they don’t stop you need to find out where the email is coming from. Using
an email client like Outlook or Outlook Express, clicking the right mouse
button over an email will reveal lots of details about where and who the email
came from. You can then get your parents to contact the school or the service
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provider of the sender of the email. The service provider can be contacted by
writing abuse@ whatever the ISP host is, i.e. [email protected].
• The email can also come from people you don’t know. Under no
circumstances should you reply to these types of email, even if they have a
Click here and stop receiving this email link – this will just confirm your email
address as a real one.
• You can delete the emails but if the situation becomes serious print them off
so that if you need to take action you have evidence.

Web (www.kidscape.org)
• If the cyberbullying is on a school or community website, do as you would do
if the bullying was face to face – tell someone like your parents or teachers.
• If it’s on a site that you don’t know about, you will have to do a bit of research
to find out who hosts the website. There is a good article on Bullying Online
(see website details below) about general online safety, with a section on how
to get more details on possible owners of the website.

Chatrooms or Instant Messaging (IM)

Staying Smart (taken from www.kidsmart.org.uk)
• Safe – Staying safe always involves being careful and not giving out your
name, address, mobile phone number, school name or password to people
online.
• Meeting someone you have contacted in cyberspace can be dangerous. Only
do it with your parents/carers permission and then when they can be present.
• Accepting e-mails or opening files from people you don’t know or trust can
get you into trouble. They may contain viruses or nasty messages.
• Remember someone online may be lying and not be who he or she say they
are. Stick to public areas in chat rooms. If you feel uncomfortable get out.
• Tell your parents/carers if something makes you feel worried or
uncomfortable.
• Remember someone online may not be who they say they are. Stick to public
areas in chat rooms. If you feel uncomfortable get out.
• Always think about what you write – it is very easy for people to get the
wrong idea about what you write or how you write it.
• Tell your parents/carers if something makes you feel worried or
uncomfortable.
• Reliable – someone online may be lying about whom they say they are and
information you find on the Internet may not be reliable.

Notes from the Anti-Bullying Alliance

Text Someone www.textsomeone.com www.truancycall.com

Text Someone has been developed by a company called Truancy Call who provide
schools with a service to call parents on the first day of a pupil’s absence. Text
Someone is a system that enables pupils to report any problem they are having or
other information such as thefts or anti-social behaviour, directly and confidentially
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by text, voice or email to a number which the school can publicise. The message
would be automatically forwarded to an appropriate person in the school via a secure
link. It is being piloted in a school in Leicester in Anti-Bullying Week.

Childnet International
Childnet International’s mission is to work in partnership with others around the
world to help make the Internet a great and safe place for children. Mary-Louise
Morris from Childnet International spoke about what they call cyberbullying at the
Kidscape conference earlier in November. She referred to a research paper by
Professor Sonia Livingstone from LSE called UK Children Go Online (partly
sponsored by NCH) which looked at how children use technology www.children-go-
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online.net . According to this research, 33% of children say they have received nasty
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messages online. She also referred to an American website www.cyberbully.org

HT TH

which describes how the effects of text bullying can be even more hurtful than other
bullying because it seems more intimate, there’s no escape and hurtful material can be
disseminated so widely so quickly. From the point of view of the child who is
bullying, cyber bullying offers anonymity which leads to disinhibition (more likely to
say something you would not say face to face). Childnet International’s Kidsmart
Project have produced a leaflet for children about Internet Safety which includes
reference to phone/text bullying. On their website you can also download a report
from a conference in Tokyo about children and technology which includes a paper
from John Carr, Associate Director for Children and Technology at NCH

NCH
NCH have a project/campaign called ITOK on their website which provides advice to
children and young people about mobile phone bullying.

Fones4Schools campaign www.fones4schools.co.uk

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This campaign works with schools to collect old mobile phones and redeem them for
cash donations to the school and prizes for the children. As part of this they send out
up to 200,000 action packs to students and would like to work with ABA to use these
packs to promote an anti-bullying initiative focusing on text messaging.

Vidicom
A UK company that specialises in the development and support of various SMS (text
messaging) platforms and wishes to help in the campaigning against bullying. They
have developed a service where people who are in distress for various reasons can
send a text message and receive a reply rather than having to talk to someone on the
phone. It is not clear who or where the reply would come from.

Magility
Although the perception is that nothing can be done apart from changing one's
number or getting the Network operators involved, Magility has devised blocking
software downloadable directly onto victims' phones that gives them (the victims)
control over content entering their phones.