Literature Review: Cyberbullying in Schools

Final Assignment 1: Literature Review

Cyberbullying in Schools

Julie Ormiston
#13338975
ETEC 500, Research Methodology In Education
Instructor: Oksana Bartosh
University Of British Columbia
April 11, 2011

Literature Review: Cyberbullying in Schools

Introduction
The goal of this literature review is to outline what is currently understood about cyberbullying and what is being done by schools to prevent and combat the problem. Initial exploration of available literature indicated that research on the topic that is current is limited. The liter ature included in this paper does effectively illustrate that bullying in all forms is a continuing
problem in schools and that it is imperative that schools make the issue a serious priority and
take preventative action now. The literature reviewed was selected by the following criteria:

1.

Does the literature discuss prevalence of cyberbullying to illustrate there is a growing

problem that needs to be addressed?

2.

Does the literature address how cyberbullying is being handled.

3.

Does the literature provide supporting evidence to show how effective schools are in
combating the problem?

Cyberbullying is an extension of traditional bullying acted out in a virtual world of user

anonymity. A society that is dependent on communications technology as well as relying on social networking sites to gratify the need for belonging is fodder for cyberbullying and at
present this insidious form of bullying is thriving in schools and students and teachers are potential targets. Generally, technology has a positive impact in schools as it allows students the opportunity to actively create, share, and learn from each other in ways that previous generations
did not have. Nevertheless, technology also has the potential to be misused as it is an effective
and anonymous tool for harassing others (Beale & Hall, 2007). This paper will demonstrate that
cybebullying is on the rise and schools are unable to effectively combat the problem. The literat-

Literature Review: Cyberbullying in Schools

ure reviewed supports the imperative need for change in bullying policy that currently limits a
schools authority to discipline perpetrators when the bullying occurs off school property or after
school hours.

Review of the Literature

Li, Q. (2007). New bottle but old wine: A research of cyberbullying in schools. Computers
in Human Behavior, 23(4), 1777-1791.
This article outlines a quantitative research study conducted by Qing Li in 2007 that involved 177 grade seven students in an urban city. The study focussed primarily on the examination of the nature and extent of cyberbullying among adolescents. As a secondary focus, the
study aimed to investigate the perceptions of adolescents regarding safety strategies implemented
at school. The participants were a random sampling from two middle schools located in a large
western Canadian city. Data was collected through an anonymous survey that required students
to report demographic information and any cyberbullying experiences.
The article cites numerous sources but the research studies are not current. Li states because it is a new phenomenon, limited research studies have been conducted (Li, 2007, p.1780).
The results of the study suggest that cyberbullying is increasing in number and also in severity.
The author states:
To support the appropriate use of technology in schools, teachers and
administrators must be knowledgable about the extent and various forms of
cyberbullying, and as a result, develop appropriate preventive and intervention
strategies to ensure the safety of all students. (Li, 2007, p.1780)
Therefore it is critical that schools take action and provide cyberbulling education to students and
staff as most teachers and administrators are not always aware that cyberbullying is occurring in
their school.

Literature Review: Cyberbullying in Schools

The results of the study support that cyberbullying is prevalent in schools. Data indicated
that one quarter of the students had been victims of cyberbullying, fifteen percent had bullied using electronic communication tools (Li, 2007). Most interesting, though not surprising was that
the majority of victims and bystanders did not report any incidents to adults. The study showed
that students had some confidence in adults successfully dealing with bullying as sixty seven percent thought adults tried to stop cyberbullying when informed (Li, 2007). However, since the
majority of incidents go unreported the data indicating the confidence level of youth in adults has
less value as a result.
The study examined the interrelationship of cyberbullies, cybervictims, and cyberbystanders. The data indicates that cyberbullies may also be victims and vice versa as often
the case in traditional bullying. This study illustrates the importance of research and intervention
programs using a holistic approach in design. The author mentions limitations regarding the survey in that consideration of how much accessibility students had to computers was not considered.
Cyberbullying is an evolving issue that is an extension of traditional bullying acted out in
a online environment. Cyberbullying is secretive in nature and extremely public in viewing. Cyberbullies are able to retain their anonymity and therefore it is difficult to combat cyberbullying.
In my view through data, this article illustrates effectively the critical issue of concern facing
many schools in this ever expanding age of technology.
Holladay, Jennifer (2011). Cyberbullying. The stakes have never been higher for students
or shools. Education Digest, 76(5), 4-9.
With advanced technology accessible to children, an environment for intense cruelty has
been created - and apparently it has become a "monster" out of control in the hands of children.

Literature Review: Cyberbullying in Schools

There has always been bullying among children but not in such a vast public way. In previous
years a child could write a note making fun of a classmate, or organize a "fight" on the playground -where teachers could stop the bullying. But now with Facebook and other social networking sites, it is visible to the whole world. In "Cyberbullying" Jennifer Holladay claims
"anywhere from one-third to one-half of youths have been targeted by cyberbullies" (Holladay,
2011, p.43).
In the past, administrators in schools had some control over bullying but as so much of
cyberbullying takes place outside of school it is almost impossible to monitor or control. There
is also the issue of freedom of speech. But California's Second Appellate District concluded
that online threats against a student were not protected speech and allowed a civil lawsuit against
the alleged perpetrators, their parents, and school officials to proceed" (Holladay, 2011). But to
identify the perpetrator is another problem as anonymity is allowed in various cyberbullying
vehicles. Gregg Gonzales, principal of Highland Academy, a K-8 school in Denver "asked every
parent in the middle school to support a 48 hour moratorium on Facebook activity at
home" (Holladay, 2011, p.44). Seemingly parents should have control over what their children
are doing on the computer but in today's busy world this seems highly unlikely. So how can cyberbullying be stopped? The Seattle Public School District launched a program to attack the
problem with four promising prevention practices. They are:
-

Debunking misperceptions about digital behavior

Building empathy and understanding

teaching online safety skills

Equipping young people with strategies to reject digital abuse in their

lives (Holladay, 2011, p.45).

Literature Review: Cyberbullying in Schools

It has been my experience that the more an adult/teacher talks about the student problems that
result from a particular activity, the more students are curious and ready to explore on their
own the very activity we are trying to stop.

Beale, A. V., & Hall, K. R. (2007). Cyberbullying: What school administrators (and parents) can do. Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas,
81(1), 8-12.
The article by Andrew Beale and Kimberly Hall discusses how adolescents use technology to bully and torment one another. Cyberbullying involves email, instant messaging, chat
rooms, websites where individuals are deliberately harassed and tormented. The authors recognize that despite efforts to develop programs and provide education on cyberbullying the problem still persists. Beale and Hall suggest that educators need to better understand the nature of
cyberbullying in order to effectively combat the problem.
A detailed description on the various forms of cyberbullying is provided and beneficial to
the reader. Email blocking programs and their limitations are mentioned as well as the lure of
IM and how it attracts and snags a potential cyberbully victim (Beale & Hall, 2007). The article includes the various methods that cyberbullies use to target other students. Most important
is the emphasis the authors place on the anonymity afforded to the cyberbullies through the internet and the various forms they use to target individuals.
The authors state that since children spend most of their day in school and since this is
where a large portion of cyberbullying occurs it is important that the issue be addressed school
wide (Beale & Hall, 2007). Therefore, all participants need to be involved for effective prevention. Schools, teachers, administrators and parents need to collaborate and support one another
in this growing problem of cyberbullying. For an effective prevention plan to be implemented
the latter is crucial for success in combating cyberbullying.
The authors recognize that the protection of students rights to free speech and privacy are
obstacles for current policy. The authors suggest that legislature add an electronic bullying

Literature Review: Cyberbullying in Schools

component to existing state laws that prohibit traditional bullying (Beale & Hall, 2007, p.12).
Currently schools can only discipline bullying that occurs during school hours and on school
property. Cyberbullying generally occurs after school on home computers or personal mobile
devices and therefore the schools have no jurisdiction to discipline in such incidents.
Tangen, D., & Campbell, M. (2010). Cyberbullying prevention: One primary school's approach. Australian Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 20(2), 225-234.
The article discusses a current study that compared students of a P4C school, (Philosophy for Children) and their self reporting of bullying with reporting of bullying from students
of a regular school, i.e., not exposed to the lessons learned at the P4C school. Philosophy for
Children school environment is a whole school approach to bullying looking at prevention and
intervention from multiple angles and across a broad spectrum of the school community (Tangen & Campbell, 2010, p. 226). The whole school approach is to have discussions with all the
children encouraging students to think for themselves -providing students with the challenge to
solve real-life problems and be more aware of social problems and how they can be worked
through with social dialogue (Tangen &Campbell, p. 226). In the study 35 students from a P4C
school were compared with students aged 10-15 years of age from other schools. The P4C students were required to complete an anonymous survey. The results showed similar responses regarding cyberbullying incidents experienced by both groups (the P4C group and students from
other schools). Furthermore, both groups felt that teachers were less likely to prevent cyberbullying than face-face bullying. Cyberbullying appears to be able to penetrate through well designed
preventive programs like P4C and so bullying in all forms is a continuing problem in schools
(Tangen & Campbell, 2010). It was concluded that the whole school approach made very
little difference in student bullying (Tangen & Campbell, 2010).

Literature Review: Cyberbullying in Schools

The authors state that currently very little research has been done on cyberbullying and
schools lack the knowledge to deal with the issue. Also, it is difficult to combat cyberbullying as
the perpetrators are able to hide their identity as the internet affords users anonymity and most
incidents go unreported (Tangen & Hall, 2010).
Conn, K. (2010). Cyberbullying and other student technology misuses in K-12 american
schools: The legal landmines. Widener Law Review, 16(1), 89-100.
Kathleen Conn writes that students K-12 in the United States are guilty of technology
abuse - not only against fellow students but also targeting teachers and administrators who are
unable to protect themselves from cyberbullying due to legal land mines such as the First
Amendment (Conn, 2010).
Most children have access to all types of technology and in most cases, unsupervised.
Teachers have great difficulty curtailing the use of cell phones in schools and text messaging
among students is rampant -even during class time (Conn, 2010).
Educators generally encourage the use of technology as an aid to learning, but it is often
being misused as a "public bulletin" to embarrass and harass other students and teachers. Students take embarrassing lewd cell phone pictures and post them for all to see, and hence public humiliation (Conn, 2010). Students engage in cyberbullying, cyberharassment, cyberstalking
and cyberthreats. Some instances of cyberbullying have resulted in suicides. Victims cannot escape from the various types of cyberbullying as when posted it is for everyone to see. The need
to stop cyberbullying is obvious, but how? What jurisdiction does the school have over cyberbullying done outside the school? The legal parameter governing student technology misuse is illustrated in "Morse v.Frederick, (done on student speech) where the court avoided students out-

Literature Review: Cyberbullying in Schools

of-school expression - only addressing in-school activities (Con, 2010). The Court's earlier position "Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District" offered some First
Amendment protection. And in schools, rights of speech and expression can only be legally acted
upon if there is "foreseeable" material and substantial disruption of school operations before any
discipline by the school can be acted upon (Conn, 2010).
Thus far any court decisions made against cyberbullying have been those attacks against
school personnel. A case in New York where a high school student cyberbullied the principal - it
was seen as a "reasonably foreseeable risk" that would "materially and substantially disrupt the
work and discipline of the school" which meant the student could be disciplined (Conn, 2010).
So unless the offense and the offenders meet the definition of "materially and substantially disrupt the work and discipline of the school" nothing can be done without interfering in the Fifth
Amendment. The teacher or administrator suffering emotional distress is not reason enough to
have punishment administered. Freedom of speech is the constitutional right of everyone but so
is the right to feel safe and protected from harm at school or the work place. Kathleen Conn
states however that in the school setting the right to individual freedoms conflicts with the rights
and responsibilities of teachers and school administrators. Students and school personnel have
the right to be protected from physical and psychological harm from cyberbullies and state legislatures need to redefine schools jurisdiction to include off-school cyberbullying if schools are to
have the authority to discipline offenders. (Conn, 2010).

Literature Review: Cyberbullying in Schools

Synthesis and Conclusion

A common theme that emerged in the literature is that cyberbullying is more prevalent in
schools than is currently considered or may have been perceived by adults. Understanding the
nature of cyberbullying and how wide spread the problem is, and yet a lack of current research
on the topic is profound evidence that adults do not fully realize this issue is critical and must be
aggressively addressed. As a result of limited adult knowledge regarding cyberbullying as well as
the lack of confidence young people have in the ability of adults to effectively combat the problem, cyberbullying is presently out of control in schools. Every student and educator is a potential target.
The literature reveals internet user anonymity, current bullying policy, and freedom of
speech as being key reasons responsible for schools inability to monitor, control, and combat cyberbullying. All the articles also highlighted the social and emotional consequences that can be
devastating and range from a drop in student grades to student suicide.
The critical and imperative need for educating school personnel and students on cyberbullying was another key point in all the articles reviewed. Although intervention programs have
been developed in schools, the technology is rapidly moving forward and leaving schools behind. No longer restricted to only targeting their peer group, cyberbullies increasingly target
school teachers and administrators.
The literature suggests cyberbullying incidents are more likely to occur in elementary
schools rather than in high schools. Therefore, future research should focus on the prevalence of
cyberbullying in intermediate grades 4-7 as well as school personnels technical proficiency to

Literature Review: Cyberbullying in Schools

monitor the social networking activities of students. Moreover, future research should focus on
legislation regarding bullying policy to extend outside the schools current jurisdiction to ensure
accountability of all participants involved.

References
Beale, A. V., & Hall, K. R. (2007). Cyberbullying: What school administrators (and parents) can
do. Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 81(1), 8-12.
Conn, K. (2010). Cyberbullying and other student technology misuses in K-12 american schools:
The legal landmines. Widener Law Review, 16(1), 89-100.
Holladay, Jennifer (2011). Cyberbullying. The stakes have never been higher for students or
shools. Education Digest, 76(5), 4-9.
Li, Q. (2007). New bottle but old wine: A research of cyberbullying in schools. Computers in
Human Behavior, 23(4), 1777-1791.
Tangen, D., & Campbell, M. (2010). Cyberbullying prevention: One primary school's approach.
Australian Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 20(2), 225-234.