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Involvement in Internet Aggression During Early Adolescence

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

The current study examined concurrent and longitudinal predictors of early adolescents’ involvement in Internet aggression. Cross-sectional results (N = 330; 57% female) showed that the likelihood of reporting Internet aggression was higher among youth who spent more time using Internet-based technologies to communicate with friends and who were themselves targets of Internet aggression. Offline relational aggression and beliefs supportive of relational and physical aggression also predicted concurrent involvement in Internet aggression. We used longitudinal data (N = 150; 51% female) to distinguish between youth who were aggressive in traditional contexts only (i.e., school) from those who were aggressive both online and offline. These results indicated that youth who were aggressive both online and offline were older at the initial assessment, were targets of Internet aggression, and held beliefs more supportive of relational aggression than youth who were aggressive offline only. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This study is based in part on the M.A. thesis project of the third author. Portions of this manuscript were also presented at the 2006 biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, San Francisco, CA. Special thanks to our co-principal investigator on the ISOP project, Dr. Laura Griner Hill, and to the numerous graduate and undergraduate students who worked on this study over the years. We would also like to thank the principals, teachers, and students who participated for their support of this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Washington State University, 501 Johnson Tower, Pullman, WA, 99164-4852, USA

    Nicole E. Werner & Matthew F. Bumpus

  2. Gritman Medical Center, 700 S. Main St., Moscow, ID, 83843, USA

    Daquarii Rock

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  1. Nicole E. Werner
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  2. Matthew F. Bumpus
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  3. Daquarii Rock
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Correspondence to Nicole E. Werner.

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Werner, N.E., Bumpus, M.F. & Rock, D. Involvement in Internet Aggression During Early Adolescence. J Youth Adolescence 39, 607–619 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-009-9419-7

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