The prevalence of cyberbullying among adolescents: A case study of middle schools in Serbia

Abstract

Cyberbullying has become widespread, and is generating growing concerns as it affects students and school climates in general. The objective of this article is to investigate the prevalence of cyberbullying among Serbian adolescents. Special emphasis was placed on gender differences regarding different forms of cyberbullying and victimization. In this study, 387 middle school students from five state schools in Belgrade were surveyed in order to obtain information about the prevalence of cyberbullying and victimization. The results show that most of the students used the Internet on a daily basis and that almost all of them possess their own mobile telephones. On average, 10% of students aged 11- to 15-years-old reported that they have cyberbullied others online, whilst 20% of them were victims of cyberbullying. The most common types of victimization reported by students were denigration and harassment, and most of the cyberbullying took the form of harassment. There were significant gender differences in cyberbullying, with male students reporting higher levels of bullying others and being victimized by cyberbullies than females. Implications for prevention and intervention are presented.