Cyber Bullying Issues - Research Proposal Example

?Running Head: Cyber Bullying The Effect of Emotional and Psychosocial Difficulties and Anonymity in Online Interaction on the Willingness of Teenagers to Engage in Cyber Bullying A Research Proposal Name Course Title Name of the Professor Date of Submission Table of Contents Chapter I Introduction Statement of the Problem Page 3 Brief Background to the Problem Page 3-4 Brief Statement of the Significance of the Problem Page 4 Purpose of the Study Page 4 Specific Objectives Page 5 Hypothesis Page 5 Chapter II Review of Related Literature Theme 1: Defining and Categorizing Cyber Bullying Page 5-6 Theme 2: The Profile of a Cyber Bully Page 6-7 Theme 3: Emotional and Psychosocial Motivators for Cyber Bullying Page 7-8 Theme 4: Anonymity in the Internet Motivates Cyber Bullying Page 8-10 Summary and Rationale Page 10-11 Chapter III Methods Study Design and Data Collection Methods Page 11-12 Sample Page 12 Setting Page 12 Instrument Page 12-13 Procedure Page 13 Data Analysis Page 14 Limitations Page 14 Timeline Page 15 References Page 16-17 Appendix A: The Assessment Report Page 18 Chapter 1 Introduction The increase in the prevalence of Internet usage in the recent decade led to a rise in the number of studies on cyber bullying. In spite of the alarming increase of cyber bullying cases, there remains an inadequacy of research concerning the motivations for cyber bullying. The most evident motivation for cyber bullying is similar to that of the motivation for traditional bullying. Bullying offers those who engage in it some sense of power and self-confidence (Beran & Li, 2005). Nevertheless, not like offline bullying, cyber bullies normally fail to hear or see the outcomes of their teasing or harassments, hence they are less apt to feel empathy for their victims or feel guilty of their actions as they may had they saw the reactions of their victims in person (Slonje & Smith, 2008). Thus, students are more likely to engage in cyber bullying than in traditional one. Given the heightened use of the Internet among students nowadays, it is important that educators and other school personnel are knowledgeable of and understand the kinds of actions that are classified as cyber bullying, and most importantly the motivation behind the involvement of students in these activities. Ultimately, it is similarly crucial to become aware of useful ways of addressing episodes of cyber bullying when they happen. Statement of the Problem Cyber bullying, not like traditional bullying, can take place anytime and anywhere, and it is virtually unlikely for a cyber bullying victim to avoid or walk away from the cyber bully. Moreover, in majority of cases, even though the cyber bully knows or is acquainted to the victim, the latter does not know his/her attacker’s identity. Hence, according to some studies (Willard, 2006), anonymity in the Internet is the primary motivator of cyber bullying. However, aside from this external motivation, there are also internal ones such as emotional and psychosocial problems (Ybarra et al., 2007) which are discussed in the latter sections of the research proposal. This study focuses on the motivations behind the behavior of cyber bullies. More specifically, this study explores potential motivators, namely, (1) emotional and psychosocial factors (e.g. depression and anxiety) and (2) anonymity in the Internet. Brief Background to the Problem Cyber bullies have distinct social and psychological profiles. Teenage cyber bullies, according to Pellegrini and colleagues (1999), have a tendency to have low self-discipline and high emotionality. Even though bullies are reactively and proactively antagonistic, bullies seem to exercise proactive hostility to build authority and power in their peer groups. Bullies display little or no empathy to their victims (Pellegrini et al., 1999). As reported by Menesini and colleagues (2003), bullies are usually aware of the feelings of their victims but are reluctant to or incapable of letting those sentiments affect them. Schoolyard bullying and cyber bullying equally affect bullies. Bullying, as reported by Ybarra and colleagues (2007), is correlated with serious psychological and health difficulties among adolescents such as poor academic performance, emotional distress, anxiety, and depression. Research on cyber bullying is a new field of inquiry. Even though studies on cyber bullying focus on the effects of bullying on victims and other researchers have explored the frequency, associated factors and forms of victimization and incident of cyber bullying in depth, there remains an inadequacy of findings about the factors that motivate adolescents to engage in cyber bullying and whether cyber bullying behaviors can be predicted from certain psychological and social needs (Englander, 2008). These issues are addressed in the study. Brief Statement of the Significance of the Problem Identifying the motivations for cyber bullying will build better understanding of and raise awareness about this phenomenon and lessen the interpersonal aggression that can stem from it. By presenting an approach that tries to explain the factors motivating cyber bullying activities, there is increased possibility of building effective interventions to dissuade cyber bullying and prevent unfavorable outcomes. The significance of the problem is rooted in the fact that earlier studies had identified an array of external (e.g. anonymity) and internal (e.g. emotional state) motivations for cyber bullying. These findings provide a paradigm to interpret motivations that may be valuable in informing future studies and to create effective interventions intended to prevent the harmful consequences of cyber bullying. The findings of these studies may be useful for practitioners working with cyber bullies in formulating preventive interventions to deal with the internal and external needs of the cyber bully. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to explore the factors motivating grade school students to engage in cyber bullying. The researcher uses non-experimental qualitative methodology to present a detailed understanding of this issue. This study tries to find other motivations for cyber bullying not included or identified in contemporary literature or were not explained in earlier studies. Transmitted feelings, for instance, stressed the bully’s need to release undesirable emotions rather than victimizing a person. According to the study of Varjas and colleagues (2010as cited in Shrock & Boyd, 2011), ‘protection’ was described as the desire of the cyber bully to safeguard him/herself from possible harm so s/he victimizes others. This study aims to explore these unidentified factors. Specific Objectives The specific objectives of this study are: (1) To identify the relationship between students’ willingness to participate in cyber bullying and their psychological and social conditions; (2) To identify the effect of anonymity in the Internet on the eagerness of students to engage in cyber bullying Hypothesis The study tries to verify the following hypotheses: (1) Students who are emotionally, psychologically, and socially distressed are more likely to take part in cyber bullying activities; and (2) Anonymity in the Internet largely motivates students to engage in cyber bullying. Chapter II Review of Related Literature Defining and Categorizing Cyber Bullying First and foremost, in order to accurately contextualize the motivations for cyber bullying, it is important to explore the different definitions of cyber bullying developed by different scholars. Usually, bullying includes different forms of harassment ranging from verbal to physical ones (e.g. kicking, beating, hitting, etc.) (Ortega et al., 2007). Others involve teasing, discriminating, and threats. According to Petermann (2003 as cited in Riebel et al., 2009), these actions are classified under three distinct levels, one for relational bullying, one for verbal, and one for physical. Little and colleagues (2003 as cited in Riebel et al., 2009) develop this assumption by differentiating between two domains: the ‘whys’ or reactive and instrumental hostility contrary to the ‘whats’ or relational and overt hostility (ibid, p. 298). Given these new ways of studying motivation for cyber bullying, Smith and associates (2008) developed a new definition of cyber bullying: “negative or hurtful repetitive behavior, by the means of electronic communication tools, which involve an imbalance of power with the less-powerful person or group being unfairly attacked” (ibid, p. 1). Obviously, there are several forms of cyber bullying. Since cyber bullying is a quite new development, an agreement has not yet been made on how to classify it. A number of researchers, such as Smith (2008), categorize by form of medium (i.e. differentiating between cyber bullying thru chat, e-mail, SMS, and others). Nevertheless, Ortega and associates (2007), taking into account the enlarging similarity between these technologies, propose the classification by form of action, like Willard’s (2006) taxonomy. Willard (2006) enumerates eight types of cyber bullying. However, not all of these types can actually be classified as cyber bullying if one considers that bullying constantly requires the feature of recurrence (Riebel et al., 2009). Willard (2006) admits it by explaining that several of the occurrences she considers should instead be referred to as ‘online social cruelty’ (p. 105). The rigid description of cyber bullying is merely valid to four of the types Willard lists (as cited in Riebel et al., 2009, 298-299): Harassment can be defined as repetitiously sending insulting or threatening messages to another person by e-mail, SMS, instant messaging or in chatrooms. Denigration is the spreading of rumors via electronic communication devices. Unlike with gossip in real life, by means of the Internet, information can be sent to thousands of people within seconds. Outing and trickery is similar: a message revealing personal information, which the victim sent to someone in confidence, is forwarded to other people in order to compromise the victim. Exclusion is equivalent to exclusion in real life and means withholding the opportunity of taking part in social activities. In an online context this could be excluding someone from multiplayer games, chats, or platforms. It may be noticed from the above classifications that the second and third types are not to be regarded as bullying if these occurrences take place just once. Yet, it should be remembered that these activities involve the feature of repetition as such (Willard 2006). As argued by Ortega and colleagues (2007), whenever a student repeatedly receives harassing messages online, s/he is victimized anew. A number of studies have been carried out on cyber bullying to date, such as Beran and Li (2005), Patchin and Hinduja (2006), and Li (2006) in the United States. The Profile of a Cyber Bully Ybarra and Mitchell (2004) took the lead in developing a profile of the cyber bully. They reveal that cyber bullies are equally probable to be male or female, and are more probable to be teenagers (ibid, p. 1310). Coloroso (2002) claims that bullies have general traits, which are as follows (ibid, p. 20): (1) likely to dominate other people; (2) like to use other people to get what they want; (3) find it hard to see a situation from another person’s vantage point; (4) use blame, criticism, and false allegations to project their own inadequacies onto their target; (5) refuse to accept responsibility for their actions; and (6) crave attention Just like schoolyard bullies, cyber bullies are more prone to poor relationships with their parents or guardians. Cyber bullies are more likely than non-bullies to have a weak emotional attachment with their parents, to experience repeated parental discipline, and irregular attention from their parents (Ybarra et al., 2007). Cyber bullies are a lot more vulnerable to sexual or physical victimization by an adult, to deviant behavior, and repeated substance abuse. Possibly not unexpectedly, cyber bullies are excessive users of the Internet who have high self-confidence (Smith et al., 2008). Most frequent users of the Internet are more motivated to victimize others online. Cyber bullies are more likely than non-bullies to consider themselves authorities in the Internet and to suggest that the Internet was tremendously or quite crucial to their lives (Coloroso, 2002). Adolescents who take part in cyber bullying are more likely to have been victimized by cyber bullying in the past in comparison to non-bullies (Englander, 2008). Ybarra and Mitchell (2004) hypothesized that students engaged in online bullying are probably confronting different kinds of difficulties, which are discussed in the next section. Emotional and Psychosocial Motivators for Cyber Bullying A current study reveals that cyber bullies and their victims seem more likely to have emotional and psychosocial difficulties or problems (Shrock & Boyd, 2011). Cyber bullying is identified as an “aggressive, intentional, repeated act using mobile phones, computers or other electronic forms of contact against victims who cannot easily defend themselves” (Beran & Li, 2005, 269). In a study of Internet usage among teenagers in the United States, 12% admitted being hostile to a person in the Internet, 4% were victims of cyber bullying and 3% were victims and bullies at the same time (Boyd, 2007, 138). As claimed by Slonje and Smith (2008), “There are several special features regarding cyber bullying when compared with traditional physical, verbal or indirect bullying such as the difficulty of escaping from it, the breadth of the potential audience and the anonymity of the perpetrator” (ibid, p. 148). This statement clearly implies that cyber bullies are linked to alleged problems with behavior, concentration, emotions, and social life; feelings of insecurity at school; alcoholism and regular smoking; and hyperactivity (Slonje & Smith, 2008). Other motivations that were reported in the literature are retribution, racial prejudice, and homophobia (Ybarra et al., 2007). Teenagers admitted taking part in cyber bullying because they enjoy or acquire gratification from harming their victims (Menesini et al., 2003). Although a number of cyber bullies admitted victimizing others in order to gain self-confidence, others engage in cyber bullying because they thought they were challenged by their victims and tried to get even (Menesini et al., 2003). Moreover, some online bullies may harass others because they loathe them or are envious of them (Beran & Li, 2005). In addition, teenagers may engage in cyber bullying merely ‘for fun’ (Smith et al., 2008). This motivation is different from acquiring gratification by harassing others because teenagers who bully ‘for fun’ may not be interested on whether or not their victims are harmed. Anonymity in the Internet Motivates Cyber Bullying As stated above, cyber bullying has been described as a form of bullying that includes the exploitation of communication technologies, such as the Internet. Similar to the offline bullying, it is recurrent and deliberate. Not like schoolyard bullying, researchers have opposed the assumption that a power imbalance is a required element (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004). This current study identifies the distinct features of the behavior as (1) the anonymity of cyber bullies; (2) the emotional, physical, and psychosocial detachment of the victim and the cyber bully from the incident; and (3) the weak initiative of adults to intervene because of the influence of technology (Pearson, 2009). Cases of cyber bullying involve everything that concerns communications. Two general and interconnected motivations for cyber bullying involve anonymity and desensitizing (see no person, feel no empathy) outcome. Mason illustrated the way effect of anonymity on desensitization brought about by the distance or detachment offered by electronic communication weakens inherent self-discipline (as cited in Slonje & Smith, 2008). Hence, anonymity can safeguard teenagers from the outcomes of their actions in the Internet. A number of teenagers may exploit the opportunity to say or do things in the Internet that they would not be able to say or do face-to-face. Raskaukas and Stoltz reported that cyber bullies are emotionally and physically detached from their victims (as cited in Slonje & Smith, 2008); hence, they do not see or feel the effect of their actions (e.g. desensitization effect). The anonymity offered by electronic communications is negatively becoming a medium that numerous cyber bullies take advantage of. It is becoming apparent that new media, such as social networking sites, originally intended for social involvement, are building the perfect environment for cyber bullies to harass or control the susceptible identities of other adolescents. The Internet has restructured the way people communicate, articulate, and collaborate with each other. Due to the growth of social networking sites, according to Shrock and Boyd (2011), adolescents have been granted with a cyber environment to interact and socialize with their fellow teenagers. Still, a large number of adolescents usually feel compelled to take part in online sites in an attempt to gain social recognition from other teenagers, which, consequently, will unavoidably lead to adolescents experimenting and creating different identities in the Internet (Pascoe, 2009). Albeit, teenagers are usually regarded to be in the vanguard of adopting and integrating new technologies into their lives, they remain the most susceptible victims of cyber bullying (Pascoe 2009). Prior to the advent of the Internet, schoolyard bullying normally took place during school hours. However, in contemporary societies, bullies have a variety of instruments for humiliation, manipulation, and emotional victimization at anytime and anywhere (Pellegrini et al., 1999). Fundamentally, the Internet has become a sanctuary of bullies, where the anonymity weapon is widespread and it is practically not possible for victims to face their attackers in person due to anonymity. In the electronic era, adolescents seem to be spontaneously moving towards cyber environments to articulate and explore their identities, interact and socialize with people, and build relationships. Nevertheless, many people are becoming more and more anxious about the risks or threats linked to socialization thru these electronic media, that adolescents appear to explore with ease (Riebel et al., 2009). In the Internet, individuals are given the opportunities to create identities and unavoidably depict an annex of their real identities, but this also allows the decision to own an identity that, according to Pearson (2009), may “wildly differ from reality” (ibid, p. 11). This indicates that trickery or fraud may be more prevalent than initially thought. According to Boyd (2007), social networking sites, like MySpace and Facebook, are excellent illustrations of a space to create identity, as teenagers are given the chance to alter their profile to express an online identity, through discriminating selection of personal information and pictures shown to their friends. Although the Internet is a perfect opportunity to enable the building of adolescents’ identity and to interact with people online, this room is also occupied by cyber bullies that can harass and tease other teenagers when their identity is highly vulnerable. The identity that teenagers create and portray in the Internet is a performance act, as individuals ‘act out’ for a specific audience (Boyd, 2007). According to Pearson (2009), “The audience and performer are disembodied and electronically re-embodied” (ibid, p. 12) in a depiction of identity online that can assume any form that the actor wants. In relation to bullying, this shows, if encouraged to do so, that adolescents can decide to depict themselves as cyber bullies and act out this role with the purpose of disturbing and irritating the spectators, particularly the victim. Hence, anybody can play the role of a cyber bully, acting out the part to the level of their personal yearning (Pascoe, 2009). Concerning motivations, according to Englander (2008), teenagers thought that the Internet’s anonymity was a primary motivation for cyber bullying, but the direct intention for online bullying had a tendency to diverge between sexes. According to the study of Englander (2008) on cyber bullying in Massachusetts, females were significantly more prone to engage in cyber bullying when annoyed and wanted revenge, while males were roughly similarly prone to ascribe their engagement in cyber bullying to anger or teasing. The diagram below illustrates this finding: Figure 1. Frequency of Engagement with Cyber Bullying Based on Gender (Englander, 2008, 5) The findings of Englander (2008) are in agreement with other cyber bullying estimates in the United States, and the findings on motivation are specifically valuable in the field of inquiry when educating teenagers about cyber bullying. According to Thompson (2008), in the adolescent tradition of ‘ambient awareness,’ where in individuals are always or regularly using the Internet, because of social networking sites serving an central function in the life of normal teenagers, it is apparent that cyber bullying is more harmful than schoolyard bullying. The effects of cyber bullying are seriously damaging as some adolescents are motivated to engage in this activity by relationship and academic difficulties, psychological problems, and issues linked to anger, fear, depression, anxiety, and emotional wellbeing. As bullying takes place online it becomes very hard to monitor and trace compared to offline bullying. Hence generating an experience of seclusion among victims, and can be heightened by unidentified bullying, where in the bully may be anonymous. Summary and Rationale   This study tries to identify the role and level emotional and psychosocial problems, and anonymity serves in enabling cyber bullying in social media. This study clearly emphasizes the negative consequence of too much freedom in the Internet, as large numbers of teenagers are more and more creating anonymous identities online, with a lot of site builders not taking into account the potential misuse related with hidden identities. The creation of identity, anonymity, and emotional and psychosocial motivations for cyber bulling are explored in depth throughout this study. Researchers of cyber bullying, particularly those discussed above, seemed to recognize that motivations for cyber bullying may be destructive, even though these motivations are far from general. The researchers promoted the idea that unrestrained or excessive cyber bullying can be threatening, but virtually as many believed that for a large number of individuals it is not an issue. This appears to articulate the idea that cyber bullying is a problem that grownups may make a fuss about but that seldom involves a severe risk, similar, possibly, to threats such as substance abuse. Nevertheless, the findings indicate that cyber bullying is becoming an ever more important form of undesirable behavior. Hence, it is very vital to build cyber monitoring and environments that offer decisive and appropriate standards for desirable cyber behavior. Practitioners working with children and teenagers should be informed of the fact that cyber bullying is capably alarming and traumatizing. Teenagers, parents, teachers, and policymakers should be knowledgeable of the possible detrimental outcomes of cyber bullying. Chapter III Methods Study Design and Data Collection Methods This study uses a non-experimental qualitative research design, in particular the case study approach. The measurement used is the Information-Gathering Model developed by Finn and Tonsager (1997), which is an in-depth assessment from which the researcher tries to develop a hypothesis regarding the motivations for cyber bullying. The developed hypotheses stated in Chapter 1 is based not only on the ideas and experiences of the researcher with cyber bullying and whatever techniques have been employed to acquire information but on related research findings and psychological theory as well which connect the individual evaluation to the discipline of psychology that is most relevant to the issue at hand. This study generally applies a three-step procedure for detailed individual assessment. The first is fundamentally the data collection which is organized under a variety of headings (see Appendix A) comprising psychometric assessment; second is data analysis and interpretation; and the third involves the proposals founded on the researcher’s conclusions. It is not usually the case in information-gathering model that the participant has any involvement in creating these interpretations except for contributing information. Furthermore, the recommendations and conclusions are developed without consultation with the participants, and it is just after these are developed that the participants are provided with feedback. The researcher discloses and discusses the individual assessment reports to the participants afterwards. Sample Participants in this study are purposively selected. They should have knowledge of and know-how with technology, enrolled in Franklin K Lane High School located in Brooklyn, New York, and had experienced bullying someone online. Procedures of recruitment include direct invitation to participate in the study with the help of volunteers or school personnel. The sample is composed of 10 students, 5 females and 5 males. Their ages range from 13-17 with grade levels from 9-12. All of the participants have computers and Internet connections at home, use mobile phones, and engage in online social networking. Setting The Franklin K Lane High School in Brooklyn, New York is the sampling site. The researcher is currently employed in the high school which gives him the ease of access to potential participants. Still, informed consent is disseminated to the participants’ parents or guardians. Permission is also requested from the school administrator and involved teachers. Once the consents and permission have been acquired the researcher starts the sampling procedure. Instrument Available measures with reliable and valid psychometric features are selected from the information-gathering model and used in this study. The structure employed here is a mixture and has been discovered by the researcher to be adequately appropriate to ‘simplify’ the intricacies of factors related with motivations for cyber bullying. This instrument owes a great deal to the traditional assessment of psychiatric clients, supplemented by the application of personality assessment tests. It is composed of several interconnected steps for data collection which are combined to reach accurate conclusions. Identification of researcher and participant This is the first step which identifies general information (e.g. full name, birth date, home address, etc.) about the participant and the researcher himself. The researcher adds relevant information such as the dates of the assessment. Justification of Referral Results from the volunteers or involved school personnel about the qualifications and suitability of the chosen participants are requested. Participants are then briefed of the purpose of and their roles in the study. Reasons for the Assessment This part records the dates of the interview sessions with the participants, discussions with involved individuals, behavioral observations, psychological testing, and direct or indirect communication with people who are aware of the problems confronted by the participants. Documentary Information This section presents a detailed review of the documents about the identified motivations for cyber bullying. This includes private information about the participant which may be related, such as common ‘motivators’ like depression and anonymity. The documents also contain observations of the researcher of the functioning of participants in the school setting which may suggest that the participant acted in such a manner as to show motivations for engagement with cyber bullying. View of Current Conditions This section documents the participant’s account of the factors that motivated them to engage in cyber bullying. In particular, the researcher asks this question: “How is the participant performing in relation to his/her fellow teenagers? Any anomalies in the comparison may reveal other factors that motivate teenagers to bully online. The participants’ personal history is also documented carefully. This includes an investigation of emotional and psychosocial performance in school. The cyber bullies are at times victims of bullying themselves which forces them to engage in cyber bullying as well. Psychometric Testing The psychometric assessments used in this study are those related with personal-social and personality functioning. Assessments of emotional and psychosocial characteristics of the participants are required and other measures employed may reveal interpersonal behavior and self-confidence. It is relevant to examine the social network of the participants. Absence of social support may contribute to the extent of depression experienced by teenagers and is likely to raise the likelihood of their engagement with cyber bullying. Procedure An unstructured, open-ended individual interview process is used by the researcher to examine further the motivations for cyber bullying. Several questions are asked to each participant, such as “Why do you bully someone online? What sort of satisfaction do you get from it?” The consent forms given to the parents of the participants are first collected before the start of the individual interviews. Participants fill in a demographic form with items such as age, ethnic affiliation, etc. Each interview session is conducted for 30 to 45 minutes. The researcher gets approval from the Institutional Review Board of the university. Data Analysis The interview sessions with the participants are tape recorded and transcribed. The researcher uses a software program intended for transcriptions and organization of qualitative information. Interpretivist research methodology is employed since the study is descriptive and exploratory. The sample size is in agreement with the prescribed sample size for research employing detailed, in-depth interviews. The researcher requests help for the coding process. An expert in cyber bullying analyzes the coding manual, discerns conflicts to simplify definitions, and relevant quotes. The research teams maintain a complete record of the entire process, such as the unprocessed data. Limitations Additional or future studies are required to build a better understanding of the motivations for cyber bullying among adolescents. This current study is purely descriptive and exploratory. Additional studies should be carried out to verify the preliminary findings of this study. The small sample size from the Franklin K Lane High School in Brooklyn, New York confines the representativeness of the findings and indicates the need for studies to widen the generalizability of the sample size. Future studies are required to methodologically study gender continuities and discontinuities in the motivations for cyber bullying. It is essential for future researchers to interview a large number of adolescents about their perceptions of and experiences with cyber bullying. As literature on the motivations for cyber bullying keeps on expanding there will be a more reliable foundation for emerging knowledge for research regarding the prevention and management of this behavior. Nonetheless, despite of these limitations, this study makes a number of contributions to the field of cyber bullying that should encourage better understanding and capably assist in lessening harm linked to interpersonal aggression that can stem from bullying online. By presenting a paradigm that takes the initiative to clarify the factors that motivate cyber bullying, effective interventions to put off bullying online and remedy its harmful impacts can then be developed. This study shows how non-experimental qualitative methodology can be used to generate detailed knowledge about the motivations of cyber bullying that may be valuable for theoretical and practical work on this issue. Timeline May 20, 2011: Submission of the accomplished research proposal. June 2011: Approval of the study by the Program Director and Chairman of the Department July 2011: Gathering of secondary information for the Literature Review section August 2011: Gathering of primary information (e.g. sampling procedure, interview, focus groups) for the data analysis and interpretation; accomplishment of data collection requirements such as informed consent. September 2011: Writing of the individual assessment reports. October 2011: The study will be accomplished and disseminated to relevant psychological and educational journals for possible publication. November 2011: Tokens of appreciations and letters of gratitude will be sent to the participants and their families, and to others who have contributed to the research. References Boyd, d. (2007). Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Learning – Youth, Identity, and Digital Media Volume. (ed. David Buckingham). Cambridge MA: MIT Press (pp. 119-142). Beran, T., & Li, Q. (2005). “Cyber-Harassment: A new method for an old behavior. “ Journal of educational computing research, 32(3), 265-277. Coloroso, B. (2002). Kids are worth it!: giving your child the gift of inner discipline. New York: HarperCollins. Englander, E.K. (2008). Cyberbullying & Bullying in Massachusetts. In Campus Safety Best Practices Report, Department of Higher Education, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Menesini, E. , Sanchez, V., Fonzi, A., Ortega, R., Costabile, A. & Feudo, G. (2003). “Moral emotions and bullying: A cross-national comparison of differences between bullies, victims and outsiders.” Aggressive Behavior, 29, 515-530. Ortega, R., Mora-Merchan, J. A., & Jager, T. (Eds.). (2007). Acting against school bullying and violence. The role of media, local authorities and the Internet. Landau: Verlag Empirische Padagogik. Pascoe, C.J. (2009). Intimacy. In Mizuko, I et. al. Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out: Living and Learning with New Media. Patchin, J., & Hinduja, S. (2006). “Bullies Move Beyond the Schoolyard: A Preliminary Look at Cyberbullying. “ Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 4(2), 148-169. Pearson, E. (2009). “All the World Wide Web’s a Stage: The Performance of Identity in Online Social Networks.” First Monday, 14(3). Pellegrini, A. D., Bartini, M., Brooks, F. (1999). “School bullies, victims, and aggressive victims; factors relating to group affiliation and victimization in early adolescence.” Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 216-224. Randall, P. (2001). Bullying in Adulthood: Assessing the Bullies and Their Victims. London: Routledge. Riebel, J., Jager, R., & Fischer, U. (2009). “Cyberbullying in Germany—an Exploration of Prevalence, Overlapping with Real Life Bullying and Coping Strategies.” Psychology Science, 51(3), 298+ Shrock, A., & Boyd, d. (2011). Problematic Youth Interaction Online: Solicitation, Harassment, and Cyberbullying. In Computer-Mediated Communication in Personal Relationships. (Eds. Kevin B. Wright & Lynn M. Webb). New York: Peter Lang. Slonje, R. & Smith, P. K. (2008). “Cyberbullying: Another main type of bullying?” Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 49, 147–154. Smith, P. K., Mahdavi, J., Carvalho, M., Fisher, S., Russell, S., & Tippett, N. (2008). “Cyberbullying: Its nature and impact in secondary school pupils.” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49(4), 376-385. Stephen, F. & Tonsager, M.E. (1997). “Information-gathering and therapeutic models of assessment: Complementary paradigms.” Psychological Assessment, 9(4), 374-385. Thompson, C. (2008, September 5). “Brave New World of Digital Intimacy.” The New York Times. Willard, N. E. (2006). Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social Cruelty, Threats and Distress. Eugene, Oregon: Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use. Ybarra, M., Diener-West, M., & Leaf, P. (2007). “Examining the overlap in Internet harassment and school bullying: Implications for school intervention.” Journal of Adolescent Health, 41, S42-S50. Ybarra, M. L., & Mitchell, K. J. (2004). “Online aggressor/targets, aggressors and targets: a comparison of associated youth characteristics. “ The journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 35, 1308-1316. Appendix A The Assessment Report (adapted from Randall, 2001) Name: Date of Report: Justification for Referral: 2.0 Summary 3.0 Reason of this assessment 4.0 Background 4.1 Personal History 4.2. Educational Performance 5.0 Interview with (name of the participant) 5.1 circumstances of the interview 6.0 Psychometric testing 6.1. Interpersonal Behavior Survey (IBS) and Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) 7.0 Recommendations Read More