Is cyberbullying common among adults?

New Rochelle, NY, November 25, 2019–A new nationwide study examined the prevalence of negative behaviors that occur via digital communication, encompassing a broad definition of cyberbullying that includes both cyber-aggression and cyberbullying. The study, which assessed a national sample of New Zealanders 18-97 years of age, is published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. Click here to read the full-text article free on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking website through December 25, 2019.

In the article entitled “How Common Is Cyberbullying Among Adults? Exploring Gender, Ethnic, and Age Differences in the Prevalence of Cyberbullying” the researchers divided the national sample into age cohorts and compared whether the participants had ever been a target of cyberbullying and whether they had had such an experience within the past month.

The study, coauthored by Meng-Jie Wang, MA, Kumar Yogeeswaran, PhD, and Nadia Andrews, MS, University of Canterbury (New Zealand), Diala Hawi, PhD, (Doha Institute for Graduate Studies (Qatar), and Chris Sibley, PhD, University of Auckland (New Zealand), showed that almost 15% of the participants had ever been a target of cyberbullying. Young adults (18-25 years) experienced the highest levels of cyberbullying (during both the lifetime and past month timeframes), but substantial lifetime cyberbullying was reported by older age groups as well, including those 26-35 years (24%) and 46-55 years (13%), up to the 66+ age group (6.5%).

“This study, which reported cyberbullying’s prevalence based on various subgroups, provides important information that will allow for the development of more targeted prevention and treatment programs,” says Editor-in-Chief Brenda K. Wiederhold, PhD, MBA, BCB, BCN, Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, California and Virtual Reality Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium.

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Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly online with Open Access options and in print that explores the psychological and social issues surrounding the Internet and interactive technologies. Complete tables of contents and a sample issue may be viewed on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking website.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Games for Health Journal, Telemedicine and e-Health, and Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 90 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.