Numerous studies have been undertaken to understand the construct of bullying, especially owing to its reputation as a schoolyard problem that many children and adolescents have encountered. Indeed, peer bullying at school has become so prevalent that it is now an international concern. Bullying can be defined as the intentional harming of an individual or a group, through physical confrontation or by intimidation through electronic media, over a period, in instances where the victims cannot often defend themselves (Hendricks and Tanga, 2019). In a school setting, bullying has been attributed with multiple negative outcomes by disrupting the academic work of the victims and often leading to dropouts and even suicides. Often, bullying occurs in setting where individuals cannot determine the group they want to join, as is the case with children at school, where it is compared to being ‘caged’. To establish a hierarchy within the social network, bullies will often try to exert their power and influence, which often has detrimental effects. Vitally, with the increased uptake of digital tools, especially among adolescents and young adults, bullying has extended into cyberspace, whereby cyberbullying is now commonplace and rampant. Considering that contemporary society is intricately intertwined with digital communication media, the current study aims to highlight the effects of cyberbullying on the health outcomes of victims.
Previous studies on the effects of bullying on the victims have pointed to the development of both internalising and externalising problems that are significant mental health challenges. Cyberbullying can be understood as an intentionally harmful behaviour, which repeatedly occurs over time, and is orchestrated via electronic media. It may take different forms, including sending harassing messages, posting demeaning comments on social networking sites, and threatening someone (Kowalski and Limber, 2007). Unfortunately, cyberbullying has somehow been accepted, especially among adolescents. Compared to traditional forms of bullying, the risk with it is that it reaches a vast audience and preserves both the messages and images in a somewhat permanent state (Patchin and Hinduja, 2006). In a survey documented by the Pew Research Centre, about 60 per cent of American teenagers had experienced some form of cyberbullying, highlighting the exponential rise of cyberbullying incidents over the past few years (Schodt et al., 2021). The increase has coincided with the increased uptake of social media across different segments of populations across the globe, signifying a shift from cyber utilisation to cyber immersion. The internet has become a primary and necessary means of communication.
As such, though the focus of most studies on cyberbullying has been on children and teenagers, cyberbullying and its allied phenomena, including online harassment, cyber-aggression, and cyber-incivility, remain real problems for adults as well. Previous studies have indicated a significant relationship between a person’s involvement in cyberbullying – particularly as a victim, and affective disorders. For instance, high levels of victimisation through cyberbullying have been credited with increased rates of depression among adolescents and college students (Nixon, 2014). Notably, a significant proportion of victims of cyberbullying (up to 93 per cent in some studies) have reported experiencing feelings of hopelessness, sadness, and powerlessness, which are indicators of depression. Vitally, psychosomatic complaints have been found extensively among victims of cyberbullying, thus affirming the notion that cyberbullying contributes extensively to the depressive states of victims. Furthermore, cyberbullying has been conceptualised as a stressor; for instance, in a study detailed by Nixon (2014), a significant proportion of victims of cyberbullying reported having at least one stress symptom. In addition, those targeted through online harassment have indicated having increased rates of trauma symptoms. Similarly, in a survey focused on understanding the extent of cyberbullying among adolescents, the findings indicate that a significant proportion of the respondents reported being emotionally distressed. Anxiety also stands out as a common effect of the bullying where the victims feel concerned about their safety, especially since most of them do not know the perpetrators of the bullying, resulting in heightened fear regarding the identity of those attacking them.
Studies on the effects of cyberbullying have pointed to an association between involvement in cyberbullying and an increased propensity for suicide, especially among adolescents and young adults. The positive correlation determined between adolescents’ involvement in cyberbullying and suicidal behaviour, as detailed by Nixon (2014), indicates that the more the adolescent
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