Online Bullying Research Paper

1585 Words4 Pages

Gender Differences in Online Bullying
Daniel Chak
212908372
York University

With our growing society, our technology is rapidly advancing. With this technology advancing, our youth are getting to know it better than anyone else. Youth thought they can escape real-world bullying, with new technology, they now also face it online. Online bullying can be defined as "willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices." (Guckert 2013) This premature form of bully has taken the lives of many already, and is affecting our youth, both male and female. A question posed today is "are there gender differences in the effects of online bullying for adolescents between the ages …show more content…

There was a study done on approximately 4,400 6th grade to 12th grade students (49% females, and 63% non-whites) for this study. (Hindju, Patchin 2013) In this journal Hindju and Patchin, describe two types of social controls, a formal and an informal kind to stop online bully. Formal social control is with the use of policies to help deter the action. For example, an online moderator may ban an account if used inappropriately because it goes against the policies of the social media. Informal social control on the other hand, is when an individual is ridiculed for their inappropriate behaviour. For example, an online moderator can harshly criticize a user for their inappropriate behaviour and post it publicly for everyone to see. This form of social control is much more effective because the user is afraid of the public ridicule. There are two different sources of influence during the child to adolescent years, from parents and educators to peer groups. (Hindju, Patchin 2013) When a child is in their younger years, the child seeks approval from these adults in their lives. When they become adolescent, the friend group has a much stronger impact in shaping their attitudes because they are with them more often throughout the day. The methodology used for this research was a survey distributed in the spring of 2010 to a random sample of 4,441 students …show more content…

As stated above, females create more blogs, and post more personal content and will usually engage in conversation with people whom they do not know in real life. Online bullying has become more than just name calling, but unwanted sexual solicitation and harassment as well.

Bibliography
1. Mitchell, K., Wolak, J., & Finkelhor, D. (2007). Are Blogs Putting Youth At Risk For Online Sexual Solicitation Or Harassment? Child Abuse & Neglect, 277-294.
2. Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. (2013). Social Influences on Cyberbullying Behaviors Among Middle and High School Students. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 711-722.
3. Murphy, A. (2009). Electronic Bullying and Aggression in Adolescents. Library and Archives of Canada, 1-93.
4. Feinstein, B., Bhatia, V., & Davila, J. (2013). Rumination Mediates the Association Between Cyber-Victimization and Depressive Symptoms. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 29(9), 1732-1746.
5. Guckert, M. (2013). Understanding Bystander Perceptions of Cyberbullying in Inclusive Classroom Settings.

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