Social Media Use and Cyber-Bullying: A Cross-National Analysis of Young People in 42 Countries
Craig W, Boniel-Nissim M, King N, Walsh SD, Boer M, Donnelly PD, Harel-Fisch Y, Malinowska-Cieślik M, Gaspar de Matos M, Cosma A, Van den Eijnden R, Vieno A, Elgar FJ, Molcho M, Bjereld Y, Pickett W
The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 126 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Cross-sectional study (classified by our AI screen)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Government
- World Health Organization
- Government
- Public Health Agency of Canada
- University or hospital
- University of Glasgow
- Government
- Public Health Agency
- Government
- Ministero della Salute
- University or hospital
- Universitetet i Bergen
- Government
- Folkhälsomyndigheten
- Government
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Government
- CIHR
- Grants
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP 341188); University of Glasgow (2017/2018)
Based on 9 listed funder(s).
Publication
- Published
- 2020-05-20 · J Adolesc Health · vol. 66 · issue 6 · pp. S100–S108
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Cited
- 387 citations · more than 100% of similar papers · 35.0× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 43 works
- Access
- Open access (hybrid journal) · CC-BY-NC-ND
- Research areas
- Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Child Development and Digital Technology
- Keywords
- social media use, cyberbullying, cyber victimization, cyberbullying perpetration, social media addiction, adolescents, online aggression, gender differences, age differences, cross-national differences, adolescent health
- MeSH
- humans, adolescent behavior, aggression, mental health, cross-cultural comparison, violence, adolescent, child, crime victims, europe, female, male, bullying, social media, cyberbullying
16 authors
From CA, IL, NL, PL, PT, IT, IE, SE
- Wendy CraigQueen's University
- Meyran Boniel‐NissimKinneret College on the Sea of Galilee
- Nathan KingQueen's University
- Sophie D. WalshBar-Ilan University
- Maartje BoerUtrecht University
- Peter DonnellyUniversity of Toronto
Abstract
Purpose
Social media use (SMU) has become an intrinsic part of adolescent life. Negative consequences of SMU for adolescent health could include exposures to online forms of aggression. We explored age, gender, and cross-national differences in adolescents' engagement in SMU, then relationships between SMU and victimization and the perpetration of cyber-bullying.
Methods
We used data on young people aged 11-15 years (weighted n = 180,919 in 42 countries) who participated in the 2017-2018 Health Behaviour in School-aged Childrenstudy to describe engagement in the three types of SMU (intense, problematic, and talking with strangers online) by age and gender and then in the perpetration and victimization of cyber-bullying. Relationships between SMU and cyber-bullying outcomes were estimated using Poisson regression (weighted n = 166,647 from 42 countries).
Results
Variations in SMU and cyber-bullying follow developmental and gender-based patterns across countries. In pooled analyses, engagement in SMU related to cyber-bullying victimization (adjusted relative risks = 1.14 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.10-1.19] to 1.48 [95% CI: 1.42-1.55]) and perpetration (adjusted relative risk = 1.31 [95% CI: 1.26-1.36] to 1.84 [95% CI: 1.74-1.95]). These associations were stronger for cyber-perpetration versus cyber-victimization and for girls versus boys. Problematic SMU was most strongly and consistently associated with cyber-bullying, both for victimization and perpetration. Stratified analyses showed that SMU related to cyber-victimization in 19%-45% of countries and to cyber-perpetration in 38%-86% of countries.
Conclusions
Accessibility to social media and its pervasive use has led to new opportunities for online aggression. The time adolescents spend on social media, engage in problematic use, and talk to strangers online each relate to cyber-bullying and merit public health intervention. Problematic use of social media poses the strongest and most consistent risk.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY-NC-ND).
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