Title of the article: Cyberbullying on Social Media: Definitions, Prevalence, and
Impact Challenges
Link: Cyberbullying on Social Media: Definitions, Prevalence, and Impact Challenges |
Journal of Cybersecurity | Oxford Academic
(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.