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Cyberbullying among Youth with and without Disabilities

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Abstract

Cyberbullying refers to bullying that occurs through the Internet and text messaging. While strides have been made in understanding the frequency with which cyberbullying occurs and its correlates, only a handful of published studies have examined cyberbullying among individuals with disabilities. Thus, this study examined cyberbullying prevalence rates and correlates among 231 participants age 16 to 20 (M = 19.32) with and without disabilities (51% male; 70.6% Caucasian). The study also examined the influence of disability status on participants’ ability to detect the presence/absence of cyberbullying. Both individuals with and without disabilities displayed high prevalence rates of cyberbullying victimization, with youth with disabilities displaying significantly higher rates. Perpetration rates did not differ significantly between the two groups. Disability status (present/absent) did not influence the ability of participants to detect the presence or absence of cyberbullying. Implications of the findings for prevention/intervention efforts are discussed.

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Notes

  1. Situations involving and not involving cyberbullying were included to allow us to determine where differences in perceptions of cyberbullying by those with and without disabilities occur, if at all. We were interested in whether individuals with disabilities might fail to identify situations that had been classified as definitely cyberbullying but be more inclined to label situations that were not cyberbullying as electronic bullying.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, 29634, USA

    Robin M. Kowalski

  2. Department of Psychology, UNC-Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, 28223-0001, USA

    Allison Toth

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  1. Robin M. Kowalski
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  2. Allison Toth
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Correspondence to Robin M. Kowalski.

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Kowalski, R.M., Toth, A. Cyberbullying among Youth with and without Disabilities. Journ Child Adol Trauma 11, 7–15 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-017-0139-y

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