Larry Le
Department of Cybersecurity, Old Dominion University
CYSE 201S: Cybersecurity & Social Science
Dr. Leigh Armistead
October 1, 2023
Cyber Bullying Behaviors, Anonymity, and General Strain Theory: An Article Review
This study by Gang Lee and Matheson Sanchez aims to explore the nature of cyberbullying in college students, to identify which types of strain are most likely to be associated with undergraduate student cyber bullying perpetration and victimization, and to determine if anonymity has an effect on cyber bullying perpetration and victimization. The purpose of the current study aims to assess the role of six university-related strain elements as possible predictors for cyber bullying and cyber-victimization.
In the study they came up with four separate hypotheses. First, college students who exhibit higher levels of strains (the failure or prevention from achieving positively valued goals, the loss of positively valued stimuli, and the presence of negatively valued stimuli) are more likely to engage in cyberbullying behavior than students who exhibit lower levels of strains. Second, College students who exhibit higher levels of strains (the failure or prevention from achieving positively valued goals, the loss of positively valued stimuli, and the presence of negatively valued stimuli) are more likely to be victims of cyberbullying than students who exhibit lower levels of strains. Next, anonymity has an effect on cyberbullying behavior. Finally, anonymity has an effect on cyberbullying victimization.
Method
They used a multistage cluster sampling method. Surveys were given to a large southern university in the United States. During the fall semester the school randomly gave out the surveys to 18 random classes throughout all majors. On the survey they asked: did they threatening in online forums (like chat rooms, Facebook or Twitter), did they insult in online forums (like chat rooms, Facebook or Twitter), did they sharing private internet conversations without the other’s knowledge (such as chatting with a friend on Skype with other(s) in the room), did they make fun of comments in online forums (such as Facebook), did they send threatening or hurtful comments through email or text messages, and did they publish online an embarrassing photo without permission. This section was placed on a 4-point scale from never to more than three times.
The next set of questions asked was in relation to the general strain theory. So they first ask questions about academic shortcomings. Second, they ask questions based on their sense of injustice. Next they asked about if they have been on academic probation and if they have been threatened of losing a scholarship or losing eligibility in university academics.
In this study the control variable was age, gender, race, class year and gpa. Minimum was 18 and the maximum was 54 years old. The organized gender between male and female. For race they used white, Asian, Hispanic, African-American, and other. They also grouped the participants by freshman, sophomore, junior and senior. Finally they used gpa, which the minimum allowed was a 1.7 and the max was a 4.0.
Results
They analyzed that being threatened with losing or actually losing a scholarship and academic shortcomings have significant positive relationships with having cyberbullied in the past. It would also seem that they found that increased anonymity, that is to say, with less personal information disclosed online, is less likely to cause students to cyberbully. The strain was, in some instances, found to be a significant predictor of both cyberbullying perpetration and cyber-victimization, but the majority of the types of strain measured in the current study were not shown to be significantly associated with both, or even either.
Relation to Social Science Principles
The first principle of social science that I saw in the article was objectivity. Objectivity refers to the way that scientists study topics in a value-free manner. Science doesn’t exist to promote an opinion or a point of view. Instead, science exists to objectively advance knowledge. The study was created to try and correlate strains to cyberbullying. They didn’t let their opinions sway what the outcomes were. The second principle of social science that I saw in the article was ethical neutrality. When the surveys were being passed out, they made sure that the pool of applicants were very diverse. They split it to different age groups, majors and only accepted volunteers. Also out of the 18 classes they passed it out, they randomly chose only 15 classes. Only accepting volunteers protects the rights of the individuals. Finally the last principle that I noticed was parsimony. Parsimony means that scientists should keep their levels of explanation as simple as possible. At the beginning of the article they clearly stated each hypothesis. Also in their results they clearly stated which factors played a bigger role in cyberbullying and which didn’t see a difference.
Concepts From Class
The first concept from class that I noticed was the presence of human factors. The phrase human factors explores how those factors related to being a human influence products, processes, and systems. In the study they focus on multiple factors that might affect humans. The strains with academic shortcomings, loss of athletic eligibility and internet anonymity. Second concept that I saw prevalent was Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs suggests that all humans have needs that exist on a hierarchy. The theory suggests that as our lower-level needs are met, we begin to focus on meeting our upper-level needs. The need that I saw present in the study that they analyzed was the esteem need. The esteem need focuses on prestige and feeling of accomplishment and some of the questions that touch on this are when they are asked about if the individual has threatened or insulted people on online forums. They ask about if they have ever sent threats via text message or if they have posted embarrassing photos without their permission. Next concept from class that I picked up on was behavioral theories. Behavioral theories suggest that behavior is learned. In the study they connect people that have experience cyberbullying prior to people that cyberbully currently. They were able to make correlations from prior victims to current perpetrators. The final concept from class that I saw was victim precipitation. Victim precipitation refers to efforts to identify how victim’s behavior contributed to victimization. In the study they bring up anonymity, which is how big each individual’s internet presence is. They found out that the more people post online the more likely they are to become a victim of cyberbullying.
Conclusion
One of the most important results of this study is how this topic relates to challenges and concerns of marginalized groups. One of the control variables that they measured is cyberbullying between genders. In the study it was recorded that a majority of cybercrime victims are women. After reading this article, I think it identifies some major societal contributions. First contribution would be the emphasis of supporting students that have lost academic scholarships or that are on academic probation. It was shown in the study that they are more likely to be involved in cyberbullying because they have less to lose now. Another societal impact that this article states is the fact that more anonymity contributes to a smaller percentage of becoming a cyber victim. It is known that the less time you spend online the less likely others will have a chance of cyberbullying. This is important in our current society because as we are more often on social media, knowing this leads to cyberbullying is humbling.
Reference
Lee, G., & Sanchez, M. (2018). Cyber Bullying Behaviors, Anonymity, and General Strain Theory: A Study of Undergraduate Students at a South Eastern University in the United States . International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 12(1). https://doi.org/https://www. cybercrimejournal.com/pdf/Lee&SanchezVol12Issue1IJCC2018.pdf