To Help or Not to Help: Intervening in Cyberbullying Among Chinese Cyber-Bystanders

Effectiveness of digital game-based GISCC program on cyberbullying prevention among Chinese adolescents

BACKGROUND

The increasing use of social networking sites has increased the efficiency of social interactions but inevitably contributed to the risk of cyberbullying. Despite evidence of the effectiveness of offline intervention programs for cyberbullying, few have examined online interventions, especially in the Chinese context.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to develop and validate an innovative Game-based Intervention for School- and Cyberbullying for Children (GISCC), which combines training on psychosocial and behavioral components with interactive role-play games.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

A randomized trial method was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the GISCC intervention, comprising 105 Chinese adolescents who were randomly assigned to the experimental (n = 55) and control (n = 50) groups.

METHODS

Independent sample t-test, paired-samples t-test, ANCOVA, and MANCOVA were used to test the differences in the trained components before and after the intervention.

RESULTS

The results showed that the GISCC intervention significantly reduced cyberbullying behaviors (F = 37.50, p < 0.001), violence intentions (F = 4.95, p < 0.05), and mental health problems (F = 60.28, p < 0.001); and increased self-efficacy (F = 18.26, p < 0.001), and conflict resolution skills (F = 36.46, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study provided empirical evidence in the Chinese context for digital health intervention approaches for cyberbullying prevention. We also identified the essential components (empathy, self-efficacy, violence prevention, conflict resolution with families) for future research on developing effective digital intervention tools to reduce cyberbullying.

Why Sitting by in Cyberbullying: The Measurement and Influencing Factors of Outsider Behavior

Bystanders play an important role in cyberbullying, yet the majority of bystanders remain silent as outsiders. To date, research on the measurement and influencing factors of outsider behavior in the context of cyberbullying is lacking. This research first adapted a valid and reliable instrument to measure this construct and then examined its influencing factors based on the arousal: cost-reward model. In Study 1, a total of 901 participants (55% female, mean age = 20.84) were randomly divided into two subsamples: one for exploratory factor analysis (n = 450) and the other for confirmatory factor analysis (n = 451). The final eight-item measurement had good reliability and validity with a three-factor structure of self-disengagement, cautious avoidance, and victim blaming. Study 2 investigated the relationships among the severity of cyberbullying incidents, empathic concern, cost for help, and outsider behavior. Among 331 participants (57% female, mean age = 21.08), 168 participants were randomly assigned to the high-severity group. Results found that the severity has indirect effects on the three outsider behavioral orientations through the empathic concern. Severity also has indirect effects on outsider behaviors of cautious avoidance and victim blaming through the influence of empathic concern on cost for help.

Development and Validation of the Defending Behavior Scale of Cyberbullying for Adolescents

In the context of cyberbullying, bystanders engage in a diverse array of defending behaviors, employing a range of strategies tailored to the specific forms of bullying they encounter. These defending behaviors have been demonstrated to effectively mitigate the adverse effects of cyberbullying on victims. This study involved the development of the defending behavior scale of cyberbullying for adolescents and a subsequent assessment of the scale's reliability and validity. Firstly, the structure of defending behavior was explored based on the results of in-depth interviews and previous studies in the literature. The defending behavior scale of cyberbullying for adolescents was then developed, and 550 middle school students were selected for item analysis and exploratory factor analysis. Secondly, 526 middle school students were selected for a series of reliability and validity analyses, including tests of convergent validity, discriminant validity, and structural validity, to assess the reliability and validity of the scale. The final version of the scale comprises 24 items distributed across four dimensions: emotional support, reporting authority, aggressive defending, and problem-solving. The four factors collectively account for 66.26% of the total variance. The internal consistency coefficient α of the scale was 0.92, with the internal consistency coefficients α of the dimensions being 0.88, 0.92, 0.92, 0.92, and 0.87, respectively. The scale demonstrated good convergent validity, discriminant validity, structural validity, and criterion validity. Finally, the scale has measurement equivalence across genders. The defending behavior scale of cyberbullying for adolescents was demonstrated to possess good reliability and validity, to meet the requirements of psychometrics, and to be suitable for use in measuring defending behavior in adolescent cyberbullying.

Adolescents' Cyber-Defending for Cyberbullying: A Socio-Emotional, Beliefs, and Past Experience Model

Adolescents experiencing cyberbullying attacks (i.e., cyber-victims) can suffer severe psychological harm (e.g., suicide). To combat cyberbullying, people can defend the cyber-victims (cyber-defending). Unlike past studies, we proposed a comprehensive theoretical model of cyber-defending that includes socio-emotional aspects, beliefs, and past bullying experiences (as a bully, victim, and/or witness; face-to-face vs. online). We then empirically tested it among 817 students across seven secondary schools using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results revealed that participants with higher social competence, depression, affective empathy, or stronger pro-victim beliefs reported more cyber-defending. Furthermore, beliefs and past experiences mediated the relationships between socio-emotional factors and cyber-defending. These findings help build a theory of cyber-defending, provide practical implications, and offer future directions for promoting cyber-defending, which will ultimately reduce cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying and Associated Factors in Member Countries of the European Union: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Studies with Representative Population Samples

The aim of this study is to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarise the current state of empirical research and establish an up-to-date estimate of the prevalence of cyberbullying through the gathering of self-reported experiences from representative population samples from EU countries. Bibliographic searches were conducted on main electronic databases for studies until November 2021. We considered observational studies that provided data on cyberbullying prevalence and/or associated factors. Seven studies with data from 25 countries were included. Rates ranged between 2.8–31.5% for cybervictimization, between 3.0–30.6% for cyberperpetration, and between 13.0–53.1% for cyberbystanding. The rate of cybervictimization perpetration was 4%. Meta-analysis-pooled prevalence showed rates of 9.62% and 11.91% for cybervictimization and cyberperpetration, respectively. Given the large variation in the rates seen between the different examined studies, in addition to the increase over recent years in the prevalence rates of the different examined dimensions of cyberbullying, it would be useful to deepen research into the causes of these differences and the factors associated with each of the dimensions. This should be performed through populational surveys which enable the collection of a greater quantity of more consistent information with a view to designing prevention and intervention CB programs that are targeted and adapted towards the characteristics of the target population.