Edinburgh academic calls for research funding into cyberbullying

An Edinburgh academic is calling for more funding to be invested into research into bullying. Professor Ian Rivers, Head of Psychology at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and co-author of a report, ‘The Prevalence and Correlates of Cyberbullying in Adolescence: Results of a Five-Year Cohort Study”, has carried out research into cyber bullying, in particular, bullying by text message, to identify the nature of text messages being sent, and to identify any gender differences in the nature of messages being sent.

Professor Ian Rivers explains: “Over the past five years, cyberbullying has remained the second most prevalent form of bullying reported by pupils. Victims of cyberbullying are more likely to report having fewer friends, feel less liked than their peers and more frequently report feeling lonely in school. We now need to focus on developing effective intervention strategies to tackle this problem, recognising that, since 2003, this type of victimisation has been illegal, and subject to criminal prosecution”.

A further piece of qualitative research also by Professor Rivers and Nathalie Noret from York St John University: ‘Text Messaging as a Form of Bullying: An Analysis of Content”, demonstrates the particularly nasty and threatening nature of the text messages young people are receiving when they are cyberbullied. The most common form of text messages reported were those which included some element of name calling. Gender differences were also evident in the types of messages reported by victims, with more girls receiving messages that included being called names and more boys receiving text messages that included ‘death threats’.

Professor Rivers adds: “Research now needs to focus on the impact of this and other forms of cyberbullying (i.e critical websites; insulting or nasty messages sent over the internet) on the well-being of victims, as well as investigating the relationship between the sender and recipient further. Although cyberbullying is now being included in more anti-bullying strategies in schools, parents and teachers need to be aware of the potential dangers of this form of aggression which invades young people’s home as well as school lives. Young people need to be advised how to deal such messages, including storing them as evidence and reporting incidents in the same way as they would any other act of bullying.”

The study, now in its 6 th year, is the largest systematic investigation of cyberbullying and its relationship to other forms of bullying. It features in the House of Commons Commons Education Select Committee report on bullying . Internationally, researchers have shown that between 19% and 25% of adolescents report being cyberbullied*