Bullying victimization: time trends and the overlap between traditional and cyberbullying across countries in Europe and North America

Cosma, Alina; Walsh, Sophie D.; Chester, Kayleigh L.; Callaghan, Mary; Molcho, Michal; Craig, Wendy; Pickett, William

doi:10.1007/s00038-019-01320-2

Original article
Published: 16 December 2019

Bullying victimization: time trends and the overlap between traditional and cyberbullying across countries in Europe and North America

Alina Cosma ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0603-5226^1,2,
Sophie D. Walsh³,
Kayleigh L. Chester⁴,
Mary Callaghan⁵,
Michal Molcho⁵,
Wendy Craig⁶ &
William Pickett⁷

International Journal of Public Health volume 65, pages 75–85 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Objectives

This study explores recent cross-national trends over time (2002–2014) in the occurrence of victimization by bullying; then it documents the overlap between cybervictimization and traditional bullying in 2014 among adolescents in 37 countries.

Methods

Data from four cycles (2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014) of the cross-national Health Behavior in School-Aged Children study were included (N = 764,518). Trends in traditional victimization were evaluated using logistic regression models in 37 countries. Prevalence of cybervictimization and the overlap between cybervictimization and traditional victimization were estimated.

Results

Linear decreases in bullying victimization were observed in 21 countries among boys, and in 12 countries among girls. The prevalence of cybervictimization was systematically lower than traditional victimization. Overall across all countries, 45.8% of those who reported cybervictimization also reported traditional victimization (46.5% for boys and 45.3% for girls), but wide country variations were observed.

Conclusions

These indicate the need for a more holistic perspective to intervention and prevention that considers all expressions of bullying, traditional or online. Public health programs and policies could focus on addressing bullying more broadly, rather than focusing on behaviors that happen in a particular context.

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Funding

The Canadian HBSC study is financially supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada (Contract Number CD016-123071-001/SS). HBSC Ireland was funded by the Health Promotion Policy Unit, Department of Health, Ireland. There was no involvement in the conduct of the research or preparation of the article by the study funders.

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Affiliations

Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Alina Cosma
Department of Psychology, Babes Bolyai University, Cluj Napoca, Romania
Alina Cosma
Department of Criminology, Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Sophie D. Walsh
Centre for Research in Public Health and Community Care, University of Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
Kayleigh L. Chester
National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland
Mary Callaghan & Michal Molcho
Department of Psychology, Queen’s University at Kingston, Kingston, Canada
Wendy Craig
Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen’s University at Kingston, Kingston, Canada
William Pickett

Authors

Alina Cosma
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Sophie D. Walsh
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Kayleigh L. Chester
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Mary Callaghan
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Michal Molcho
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Wendy Craig
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William Pickett
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alina Cosma.

Ethics declarations

Consent procedures required by ethical authorities for this type of survey were followed by each individual country. Institutional ethical consent was gained according to the requirements in each participating country, with schools, parents, and adolescents each providing informed consent or assent, either active or passive according to local requirements. Only those adolescents who volunteered to participate and whose parents did not object to their participation were included in the current study.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.

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Cosma, A., Walsh, S.D., Chester, K.L. et al. Bullying victimization: time trends and the overlap between traditional and cyberbullying across countries in Europe and North America. Int J Public Health 65, 75–85 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-019-01320-2

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Received: 27 February 2019
Revised: 30 May 2019
Accepted: 04 December 2019
Published: 16 December 2019
Issue Date: January 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-019-01320-2

Keywords

Bullying
Victimization
Cybervictimization
Adolescence
HBSC