Title of the article: Cyberbullying on Social Media: Definitions, Prevalence, and Impact Challenges
(1) How does the topic relate to the principles of the social sciences?
The topic of Cyberbullying on Social Media relates to the principles of social sciences in several ways. It involves understanding of humans’ online behavior on social media and psychological traits of individuals engaging in cyberbullying. It also explores the impacts of cyberbullying on victims and preventative measures to mitigate its effects. Furthermore, it uses social cognitive theory to understand the relationship between perpetrator or victim and bystanders.
(2) The study’s research questions or hypotheses:
The study’s research focuses on defining cyberbullying, identifying contributing factors and influence of personality traits on cyberbullying behavior, examining how direct involvement and indirect experiences impact its prevalence, analyzing its effects on victims, and exploring effective preventative methods to reduce its impact.
The below listed research questions are directly from the article:
- How is cyberbullying defined in the literature?
- What factors contribute to cyberbullying, and how can they be measured?
- What is the impact of personality traits on the likelihood of engaging in or being victimized by cyberbullying?
- How do direct involvement and indirect experiences influence the prevalence of cyberbullying?
- How does cyberbullying affect individuals, and what measures can be taken to mitigate its effects?
(3) The types of research methods used:
This research evaluated relevant literatures under the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. It basically provided a detailed description of how the review was conducted, what were the inclusion and exclusion criterias in searching, what databases were used, and what were the findings along with descriptive statistics. It emphasized the impacts of cyberbullying on people from different age groups such as children, adolescents, adults etc.
(4) The types of data and analysis done:
This research study used various databases including, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Science Direct. Out of 4000 identified articles from databases, 71 articles were reviewed and analysed. Furthermore, in order to extract relevant information from the selected articles, they used a data extraction Excel form. Relevant information includes authors’ name, year of publication, region, type of study, method, sample type etc. They further categorized the data based on targeted age groups: Children under 10 years, Adolescents (10-17 years), Young adults (18-29 years), Adults (30 years or older) and, unspecified group.
(5) How concepts discussed in class relate to the article?
This article is related to the concepts discussed in class in many ways. In module 4, we studied how psychology and cyber are interconnected. Both in class and in this research article, it states that personality traits such as, machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy play significant roles in cyber offending. Furthermore, in module 5, we explored personality theories that highlight how the five major personality traits: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, contributes to the individuals’ behaviour in cyber offendings. Similarly, this article also referred to these 5 major personality traits contributing to cyberbullying.
(6) How does the topic relate to the challenges, concerns, and contributions of marginalized groups?
In the article, when conducting the research, they found that females are more likely to be a victim of cyberbullying than males. Additionally, they concluded that multiple reviews and studies suggest marginalized groups, such as the LGBTQ+ community are more susceptible to online harassment than any other group. Based on their findings, marginalized groups were among the groups who reported higher levels of victimization; 35 percent of marginalized participants experienced cyberbullying.
(7) The overall contributions of the studies to society:
Unfortunately, cyberbullying on social media is very common and prevalent in society, affecting many individuals and leading to long-term consequences such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and suicidal thoughts. Moreover, young children and adolescents are more likely to suffer from these mental health issues. Conclusively, this research study examines various aspects of cyberbullying, its impacts, and effective prevention and intervention strategies; its findings and implementing effective strategies could help many individuals prevent or mitigate the effects of cyberbullying, ultimately making valuable contributions to society.