Internalizing Correlates of Participants of Traditional Face-to-Face Bullying and Cyberbullying

Date of Submission

2014

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Psychology

Department Chair

Robert A DiTomasso, PhD, ABPP, Chair, Department of Psychology

First Advisor

Rosemary B Mennuti, EdD, NCSP, Chairperson

Second Advisor

Diane Smallwood, PsyD, NCSP

Third Advisor

Susan Swearer, PhD

Abstract

With increased access to and usage of technology among children and adolescents, the prevalence of cyberbullying in the United States has increased over the past decade. However, there are few studies in the United States that examine the social-emotional impacts of involvement with cyberbullying. There is also a lack of research that compares the social emotional impacts of involvement with bullying in the traditional face-to-face sense, the impacts of being involved solely with cyberbullying, and the impacts of involvement with both formats of bullying. This study assessed the prevalence of the various forms of bullying and assessed depression and anxiety levels among bully victim subtypes, both traditional and cyber. Eight hundred and twenty four high school students from an urban/suburban school district completed the Bully-Youth Survey, the CDI-2: SR [S], and the MASC-10. Several ANOVA analyses were conducted to determine whether or not there were significant differences among bully victim subtypes with relation to depression and anxiety scores. Although very few significant pair-wise differences were found among group results, the trends in the data imply a "cumulative effect" on rates of depression and anxiety as involvement with the various formats of bullying increases. Students who were involved only with cyberbullying displayed the lowest levels of anxiety and depression, but students who were involved in both traditional and cyberbullying displayed the highest levels of depression and anxiety.

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