Abstract
This study examines the phenomenon of cyberbullying on Facebook and how it is related to school bullying among secondary school students in Singapore, aged 13–17. We also focus on generic use of Facebook and risky Facebook behaviors as the predictors of cyberbullying and victimization on Facebook. 1676 secondary students, from two secondary schools, participated in a pen and paper survey. The findings show that the intensity of Facebook use and engagement in risky Facebook behaviors were related to Facebook victimization and Facebook bullying, respectively. Moderately strong positive relationships between school bullying and Facebook bullying, as well as between school victimization and Facebook victimization, were also uncovered.
1. Introduction
Research on bullying has been carried out for decades. The reason for this drive to understand the phenomenon lies in the fact that victims of bullying experience a range of negative effects from poor academic performance to emotional trauma and even suicide (Dupper and Meyer-Adams, 2002, Glover et al., 2000, Ma et al., 2009 and Meadows, 2005). However, while researchers have been focused on studying face-to-face (FTF) or traditional bullying, communication technologies have been evolving. Social interactions are now occurring in a technology-mediated context as much as they are occurring FTF. Furthermore, the widespread use of social network sites (SNSs) and content-sharing sites has significantly transformed the nature of everyday social interactions.
Accompanying this shift in communication is the emergence of cyberbullying. Essentially, cyberbullying is bullying that occurs via information and communication technologies (ICTs). This study more specifically focuses on bullying that happens via Facebook, a popular SNS, which has an estimated 2.4 million users in Singapore, as of April 2011, of which, 13% are aged 13–17 (Socialbakers., 2011). Aside from the fact that Facebook is a popular social network site (SNS) among Singaporeans, this study focused on Facebook as a case study for bullying over SNS due to the specific affordances of the platform. Social network sites allow users to post comments on each other’s profile pages, send private messages, comment on each other’s postings, upload photos and videos, organize group events and join interest groups. While being a facilitator of social interaction, these same tools could also be used for cyberbullying. Examples of teenage victimizations on social network sites could be found in the United States as well as in Singapore, the research site for this study. While there has been plenty of research looking into cyberbullying across different platforms, none has specifically measured bullying that takes place over SNSes, such as Facebook. By tailoring measures of cyberbullying of Cassidy et al., 2009 and Patchin and Hinduja, 2010 to the context of Facebook, this study hopes to contribute to the literature of cyberbullying by exploring how it is manifested on a social network site.
Research shows that the likelihood of being involved in cyberbullying is predicted by the time spent online (Hinduja & Patchin, 2008) and risky online behaviors (Erdur-Baker, 2010). Therefore, this study also examines how the intensity of Facebook use (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007) and engagement in risky Facebook use relate to both the involvement in Facebook bullying and likelihood of Facebook victimization. We also seek to establish the relationship between school bullying and victimization and their Facebook equivalents.
6. Conclusion
Facebook has empowered youths by giving them more tools to expand their social networks and maintain existing relationships. However, the tool also serves as an additional channel through which bullying could now travel from the school into one’s home. Essentially, the root of the problem of bullying lies in the social environment, be it poor parenting or hostile peer relationships. A problem that exists in one’s social network would naturally also exist on an online platform that was designed to bring the network online, and facilitate its maintenance and expansion. Therefore, instead of focusing on solutions which are specific to that of cyberbullying, parents and schools should focus on the root of the problem, which very frequently manifests itself in everyday school bullying. It is also necessary to question the continued efforts in differentiating cyberbullying from school bullying. While the medium/environments certainly differs, it seems that fundamental causes and motivations are quite similar. Therefore, scholars may wish to veer away from overly technology-reliant explanations of cyberbullying. Rather, due to the affordances of social network sites, the convergence of offline and online social networks has allowed offline and online social problems to converge as well. It is important to recognize this development in order to better inform educators and parents on better ways to prevent bullying in school and online.
