Abstract
Cyberbullying has become a significant mental health concern for the public due to its substantial adverse psychosocial and mental health hazards for children as well as youth. The current study examined the relationship between the trauma of cyber-bullying victimization with mental health (i.e. social anxiety, social competence, and life satisfaction) among a purposive sample of adolescents through a cross-sectional research design. Standardized scales and questionnaires were used to assess constructs understudy from the sample of 160 adolescents, including 80 boys (40 victims and 40 non-victims) and 80 girls (40 victims and 40 non-victims) studying in universities in Pakistan. Results revealed cyberbullying was significantly related to mental health problems, including social anxiety, social competence, and life satisfaction. Results further indicated that cyber-bullying showed a higher level of social interaction, anxiety, and low level of social competency related to initiating relations and satisfaction with life in comparison to non-victims. The present study findings contribute to the understanding of the interplay of cyberbullying behavior and mental health problems. This interplay is beneficial for the development of interventions and tailored programs to lessen the adverse impacts of cyberbullying.
Keywords. Cyber-bullying victimization, mental health, social anxiety, social competence, life satisfaction
Introduction
Over the last two decades, smart technologies introduced the advanced use of cell phones and the internet to develop speedy and functional connections across the globe. These advancements in communication technology have a dark side to a virtual world that includes traumatic experiences of cyberbullying with a devastating impact on the mental health of adolescents who are attracted to advanced technology. Cyberbullying results in traumatic events or circumstances that include emotional or physical harm of life-threatening aspect, which impede long-lasting devastating effects on an adolescent’s socio-emotional, physical, mental, or spiritual well-being and functioning (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2014). This functioning is usually perceived as one’s mental health comprised of one’s positive psychological, emotional, and social well-being (Galderisi, Heinz, Kastrup, Beezhold, & Sartorius, 2015). Empirical evidence yields that apart from the harm impedes by trauma, what seems to be most important is the repetitive nature of cyberbullying because it disrupts trust in oneself, others, and the world. Cyber-bullying is usually perceived as a way of indirect aggression in which electronics are used to insult, taunt, harass, intimidate or threaten peers (Raskauskas & Stoltz, 2007). Therefore, social change equipped with hi-tech change allows opportunities for predatory behavior, which is characteristic of a small number of people.
One study by Hinduja & Patchin (2020) showed that the level of frequency of exposure to bullying is the greatest factor in predicting the level of trauma. Chronic exposure to cyberbullying has been linked to greater mental health problems, such as negative emotional arousal, psychological distress, and physical and mental fatigue, symptomatology, and pathology in children (Nielsen, Tangen, Idsoe, Matthiesen, & Magerøy, 2015). Numerous studies revealed that being bullied compromises the physical (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010), emotional (Cross et al., 2015; Cowie, 2013), psychological (Nielsen, et. al., 2015; Kowalski et al., 2014; Moore et al., 2017), academic (Kowalski et al.,2014; Schoeler et al., 2018), mental (DeLara, 2018; Kaess,2018), behavioral (Quinn & Stewart, 2018), economic (Brimblecombe et al., 2018) and social (Mishna et al.,2016) health of youth.
External to these direct consequences, research has concluded that these instabilities cost long-term consequences not only in children but also in their later adulthood period (Wolke et al., 2013; Klomek et al., 2015). Mainly, misuse of advanced technologies has been linked with the overuse and early exposure at a younger age as it was observed that school-age children like to hide the cell phone in their school bag and misuse the phone in the form of blackmail, fraud, and harassment (Parasuraman, Sam, Yee, Chuon, & Ren, 2017). Adolescents also use multiple social networking sites to harass or bully others. Consequently, at times, the cyberbullying victims can become future cyberbullying offenders due to their own social anxiety and depression (Niu et al., 2020). Not very far away, everyone is aware of the detrimental effects of the “Blue whale game” (Khasawneh et al., 2020). Similarly, Facebook is another widely famous social media platform and application used among the young generation that has a vital role in increasing cyberbullying, leading to poor mental health(Huiet al., 2015; Grajales, 2014; Laranjo et al., 2015).
Latest studies show that adolescents who were online victims of cyberbullying expressed more fear of negative evaluation, avoidance, and social anxiety than the group of adolescents who had not suffered victimization in any context (Canas et al., 2020). Adolescents who were cyberbullied reported a significantly lower level of life satisfaction (Canas et al., 2020) and poor social competence (Drummelsmith, 2016).
Previous research has demonstrated that young people have a more frequent ability to adapt and use modern communication technologies than adults. The younger generation is the dominant user of the internet and easily learns how to use smartphones(Weber & Pelfrey, 2014, p. ?).Due to the increased use of the internet and social networking apps in Pakistan, cases of cyberbullying have also been increased(ISPAK, 2014; Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, 2015; Shah et al.,2016).Keeping the above stance in mind, the present study aims to explore adolescents’ traumatic cyber-bullying experiences and the potentially problematic effects on a person’s mental health. In this study, mental health was conceived as a construct comprised of one’s interpersonal competence: defined in terms of interpersonal relationships, self and group identities, and development of citizenship (Ma, 2012), life satisfaction: an overall assessment of feelings and attitudes about one’s life at a particular point in time ranging from negative to positive (Buetell, 2006); and social anxiety: defined by a persistent fear of embarrassment or negative evaluation while engaged in social interaction or public performance (Safren, et al., 1999). The following hypotheses were made to achieve the aims of the study:
H1. Cyber-bullying victimization would be a significant positive predictor of social anxiety and a significant negative predictor of interpersonal competence and life satisfaction among adolescents.
H2. There will be high social anxiety, low interpersonal competence, and low life satisfaction among cyberbullying victims as compared to non-victims
Method
Sample
The sample is 160 adolescents, 80 boys (40 victims and 40 non-victims) and 80 girls (40 victims and 40 non-victims). The sample population’s age ranged from 15-19 years (M = 17.65, SD = 1.67) years which fits in the parameter of middle and late adolescence (National Adolescent Health Information Center, 2004). Education level ranged from 9th grade to 4th semester of Bachelor of Science (BS-4) Years (12.5% 9th grade, 27.5% 10th grade, 18.13% 11th grade, 35% 12th grade, 6.88% BS-4 years). The sample was selected through a purposive sampling technique from the IT department of the University of Sargodha and internet cafes of Sargodha, Pakistan. The inclusion criterion was set as only those adolescents who were made part of the study, who were actively using social networking apps, who were not suffering from any physical illness or receiving any professional psychological help. They were further identified and divided into two groups (victims; non-victims) upon the briefing confirmation about cyberbullying standards concept definition (Raskauskas& Stoltz, 2007)
Instruments
The current study used four instruments to measure construct under study along with a participant’s demographic information sheet (including age, gender, education, family system, and family income per month) and an informed consent form. Online Victimization Scale (OVS). The Online Victimization Scale (Tynes et al., 2010) comprised of 21-items that assesses online victimization and is comprised of 4 domains i.e., general, sexual, vicarious online racial discrimination, and individual racial discrimination (6 points Likert scale). The General Online Victimization sub-scale has 8-items, and it is the measure of general victimization the respondent experienced online. Sub-scale measured personal victimization of the respondent experienced online and whether these experiences resulted due to offline interaction and specific victimization related to the respondent’s appearance or writing style. Sub-scale items also tap into the repeated nature of online victimization.
The Online Sexual Victimization sub-scale has 6-items, and it measures sexual victimization directly experienced by the respondent online. The Individual Online Racial Discrimination sub-scale has 4-items, and it measures racial discrimination directly experienced by the respondent online. The Vicarious Online Racial Discrimination sub-scale has 3-items, and it measures vicarious experiences directed at the same race, and cross-race peers witnessed online by the respondent. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for GOV were found to be 0.84, 0.76 for OSV, 0.66 for ORD, and 0.87 for VRS (Tynes et al., 2010). High scores on this scale yield high online victimization, whereas a zero score means no victimization.
Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale Self Report (LSAS-SR). The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale is (LSAS; Liebowitz, 1987) a self-report measure of social anxiety. The LSAS is comprised of 24 items, each showing a different social situation. For each situation, the person rates their level of fear and avoidance on a scale of 0 to 3. The items are further divided into two subscales: social interaction and performance situation. The total score is based on six additional scores i.e., total fear, fear of social interaction, fear of performance situation, total avoidance, avoidance of social interaction, and avoidance of performance situation (Baker et al., 2002). High scores on this measure show high social anxiety. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for LSAS total score were found to be 0.96, for Total fear 0.92, for Fear of social interaction 0.89, for Fear of performance 0.81, for Total avoidance 0.92, for Avoidance of social interaction 0.89 and Avoidance of performance 0.83 by Liebowitz (1987).
Interpersonal Competence Scale (Burhrmester, Wittenberg, Furman, & Reis, 1988). The scale consists of 40 items related to interpersonal, peer, social interaction, relationship with adolescents, and competency rate. This scale is further divided into five dimensions i.e., negative assertion, initiating a relationship, emotional support, personal disclosure, and conflict management. Four-week test-retest reliability was found as 0.78 for the total ICQ score and ranged from 0.69 to 0.89 for each of the domain scales. ICQ self-ratings and ratings by close friends showed a moderate correlation (ranging from 0.31–0.50 for the five domain scales; Buhrmester et al., 1988).
Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) of Diener, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin (1985) is comprised of 5 items, showing a general index of life satisfaction which denotes an adolescent’s subjective well-being. Scores of SWLS were obtained in 1-7 response categories. SWLS consisted of positive items, and scores range from 5 to 35. Therefore, high scores on this measure show high life satisfaction, whereas low scores show low life satisfaction. Previous researches reported SWLS to have an alpha coefficient of .84 (Diener et al., 1985), .87 (Funk, 2005), and .83 (Martínez, Buelga & Cava, 2007).
In addition to the OVS, LSAS, ICQ, and SWLS, a demographic data sheet form was used in which participants had to indicate age, gender, education, family system, and family income per month.
Procedure
The researcher approached the sample directly after obtaining Institutional Research Board approval, followed by permission from the authors to use the required scales. After having consent from concerned authorities (department administration and owners of net cafes) for participation in the present study, participants were elucidated about the study's purpose and procedure. They were requested to fill in relevant information (such as name (optional), age, gender, educational level, family system (i.e., joint or nuclear), and monthly family income) on a separately devised information sheet.
A total of 190 respondents were approached; however, 30 respondents could not complete the task due to withdrawal of study as lack of time, nonserious attitude, and incomplete questionnaires. Therefore, they were dropped from the study, and only 160 participants’ genuinely filled questionnaires were made part of the final analysis. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 22 was used for data analysis. Alpha Coefficient to assertion instruments reliabilities; Pearson correlation to see relationship strength and direction; Simple linear regression, to predict social anxiety and life satisfaction from cyberbullying victimization; and Independent samples t-test, to find out the difference between victims and non-victims in terms of their social anxiety and life satisfaction due to experience of cyberbullying victimization.
Results in table 2 shows that general victimization is significant predictor of social anxiety, social competence and life satisfaction at [F (1, 158) = 9.46, 5.03, 18.58, p< .01, .05, .001 respectively] and explains .05%, .03% and .10% variance respectively that could be attributed to general victimization. Sexual victimization is significant predictor of social anxiety, social competence and life satisfaction at [F (1, 158) = 8.9, 5.94, 35.79, p < .01, .01, .001 respectively] and explains .05%, .03% and .03% variance respectively that could be attributed to sexual victimization. Racial victimization is significant predictor of social competence and life satisfaction at [F (1, 158) = 11.52, 11.65, p < .001] and explains .06% and .06% variance respectively that could be attributed to racial victimization. Vicarious racial victimization is significant predictor of life satisfaction at [F (1, 158) = 5.40, p < .01] explains .03% variance that could be attributed to vicarious racial victimization.
Overall Online victimization is a significant predictor of social anxiety, social competence, and life satisfaction at [F (1, 158) = 5.74, .03, p < .01] and explains .03% variance, respectively, that could be attributed to online victimization.
The result in Table 3 shows significant differences between victims and non-victims of cyber-bullying on social interaction and life satisfaction, showing a higher level of social interaction anxiety and low level of satisfaction with life among victims of cyberbullying as compared to non-victims.
Hypothesis 1: Cyber-bullying victimization would be a significant positive predictor of social anxiety and a significant negative predictor of interpersonal competence and life satisfaction among adolescents.
The result of Pearson correlation and regression analysis partially confirmed this hypothesis. Values of Pearson correlation and regression analysis showed that online victimization is positively related and predicted social anxiety and negatively predicted social competence and life satisfaction. Further, it was found that online victimization was positively related to social fear and avoidance of person but was not found to be related to performance fear and avoidance. It means that although the traumatic experience of cyber-bullying victimization is associated with high social anxiety but not necessarily with the fear of performance and avoidance of tasks among adolescents.
These results are supported by the research of Navarro, Yubero, Larrañaga, and Martinez (2012) that cyber-bullying victimization is related to social anxiety, fear, and avoidance of social interaction but not specifically in relation with social anxiety through fear of negative evaluation on given tasks/assignments and interpersonal difficulties to speak with peers and close friends.
Yet, it contributes to increased social anxiety due to bad experiences of online/victimization through the cyber world, which is negatively related to their social skills and competencies and general satisfaction with their life. As cyberbullying victims are more likely to experience anxiety (Fahy et al. 2016), studies also concluded that bullies often choose socially anxious adolescents for victimization because anxiety may be a risk factor to become a target of peer maltreatment (Espelage, Hong, & Mebane, 2016).
Moreover, the results are also in line with previous literature such as Tynes et al. (2010) revealed that cyberbullying experiences related to each domain of victimization were associated with decreased satisfaction with life which is following the results of a study showing that online victims reported less satisfaction with their lives (Ortega-Barón, Buelga, & Cava, 2016). Furthermore, a study by Romera, Cano, García-Fernández, and Ortega-Ruiz (2016) concluded that adolescents who were cyberbullied reported high social adjustment problems, peer relationships, and trust issues. Similarly, another study revealed that cyberbullied had less social skills and competencies as compared to nonbullied (Hafsa, & Hanif, 2018).
H2. There would be high social anxiety and low interpersonal competence, and low life satisfaction among cyberbullying victims as compared to non-victims
The present study also found similar results as social anxiety due to cyberbullying yield a negative relationship with life satisfaction and appropriate social skills of interpersonal competence for initiating relations, negative assertion, personal disclosure, and emotional support. These results are in line with earlier research findings, such as that of Nixon (2014), who concluded that cyberbullying in adolescents is negatively related to the health index. Their study also explored that adolescents become a victim of cyberbullying reported an increased level of loneliness, anxiety, depression, somatic problems, suicidal behaviors, aggression, substance abuse, and delinquent behaviors. Meanwhile, on the other side, it also provides opportunities for victims to threaten anyone while sitting in a comfortable room. It has a positive correlation between cyberbullying, psychological, and health problems (Rao, Bansal, & Chandran, 2018). Traumatic experiences of cyberbullying are also associated with negative mental health outcomes, such as victims showed signs of depression and PTSD (Nielsen, et. al., 2015; Plexousakis et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2011), and at extreme sometimes suicidal ideation (Khasawneh et al., 2020).
Conclusion
The present study concludes that cyberbullying victimization is a significant positive predictor of social anxiety; however, it is a significant negative predictor for interpersonal competence and life satisfaction among adolescents. This yields that adolescents who faced cyberbullying victimization had higher social anxiety and low social competence and satisfaction with life. Furthermore, victims were not high in terms of their social anxiety but they had low social competence and life satisfaction in comparison to nonvictims of cyber-bullying victimization.
Implications and Recommendations
This study is an important step toward extending knowledge about the seriousness of this new dimension called bullying. Findings from this study, combined with the extant literature on traditional peer victimization, can be used as a foundation for future studies. Ultimately, longitudinal studies are needed to provide information on the impact of this form of bullying and victimization over time. Because of the massive increase in the use of the internet as a vehicle for bullying, research on peer maltreatment must be expanded to include cyberbullying to facilitate an increased understanding of the unique characteristics and potential negative effects of this type of peer aggression.
As technology is progressively becoming a platform for peers to be involved in negative interactions, effective strategies to counter such negative behaviors are required. It is important to tackle this issue on several levels, such as parental involvement along with educators, school counselors, psychologists, and school policymakers are essential to lessen the incidence of and the risks of damaging psychosocial outcomes related to cyberbullying victimization.
There is a strong requirement for comprehensive, school-based programs focused on cyberbullying prevention and intervention. Education regarding cyberbullying could be integrated into school curriculums as well. Finally, the present study's findings may pave the way for further exploration of other dimensions regarding these variables.
