Does cyberbullying occur simultaneously with other types of violence exposure?

• Main Authors: Marlene A. Vieira, John A. Rønning, Jair de J. Mari, Isabel A. Bordin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Associação Brasileira de Psiquiatria (ABP) 2019-01-01
• Series: Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry
• Subjects: Adolescence; cyberbullying; bullying; child abuse; community violence
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-44462019005001101&lng=en&tlng=en

Objective: Our study aimed to verify whether cyberbullying victimization among adolescents occurs concomitantly with other forms of violence exposure (at home, at school and in the community). Methods: A collaborative longitudinal study by Norwegian and Brazilian researchers was conducted in Itaboraí, a low-income city in southeast Brazil. At baseline, trained interviewers applied a semi-structured questionnaire to a population-based sample of 669 in-school adolescents (11-15 years old). The investigated types of violence exposure included cyberbullying, traditional bullying, severe physical punishment by parents and community violence (victimization and eye-witnessed violent events outside the home and school). Results: In the previous six months, 1.9% of the adolescents had been victims of cyberbullying, and 21.9% had been victims of physical aggression, verbal harassment and/or social manipulation by peers. However, only 5.5% of the adolescents considered themselves bullying victims. In the previous 12 months, 12.4% of adolescents had suffered severe physical punishment, 14.0% had been victims of community violence, and 20.9% eye-witnessed community violence. Multivariable regression analysis showed that victimization by multiple types of traditional bullying and self-perceived bullying victimization were correlates of cyberbullying victimization, while suffering violence at home and in the community were not. Conclusion: This study provides evidence of an association between cyberbullying, traditional bullying and self-perceived bullying among low-income Brazilian adolescents.