London, July 6 (IANS) Adolescent victims and perpetrators of cyber bullying tend to suffer from psychiatric and physical problems, says a new study.
Cyber-bullying is an aggressive, intentional, repeated act using cellphones and computers against victims who cannot easily defend themselves.
Andre Sourander, Turku University, Finland and colleagues questioned 2,438 Finnish adolescents in seventh and ninth grade (aged between 13 and 16 years). Of those, 2,215 (90.9 percent) responded.
‘The feeling of being unsafe is probably worse in cyber-bullying compared with traditional bullying,’ the study authors reported in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.
‘Traditional bullying typically occurs on school grounds, so victims are safe at least within their homes. With cyber-bullying, victims are accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week,’ they added.
The survey results said 4.8 percent of the participants were only victims of cyber-bullying, 7.4 percent were cyber-bullies only and 5.4 percent were both victims and perpetrators of cyber-bullying, according to a Turku University statement.
‘Of those who had been victimised, one in four reported that it had resulted in fear for their safety,’ the authors write.
In a US survey on internet use among individuals age 10 to 17 years, 12 percent reported being aggressive to someone online, four percent were targets of aggression and three percent were both aggressors and targets.
