Journal Article

Overlap of traditional bullying and cyberbullying and correlates of bullying among Taiwanese adolescents: a cross-sectional study

S. Pilar Suguimoto, Masako Ono-Kihara, Masahiro Kihara, Yukiko Tateyama, Takeo Nakayama, Chia-Wen Wang, Chang-Chuan Chan, Teeranee Techasrivichien, Patou Masika Musumari

2019

Overview

Background Due to the rapid development of information and communication technologies, cyberbullying has emerged as a threat to adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and correlates among profiles of traditional bullying, cyberbullying, and combined bullying among Taiwanese high school students. Methods This cross-sectional study employed two-stage cluster sampling in Taipei City, Taiwan. In total, 2028 high school students completed an anonymous questionnaire between March and May 2018. Nominal logistic regression analysis was performed, adjusting for clustering, to examine the correlates of each type-role category of bullying. Results The prevalence rates of cyberbullying, traditional bullying, and combined bullying were 9.9, 13.3, and 9.4%, respectively, indicating that one-third of students were involved in one of these types of bullying; 48.7% of those involved in cyberbullying also experienced traditional bullying, and 41.5% of those involved in traditional bullying also experienced cyberbullying. In any type of bullying, not only being a victim but also being a bully/bully-victim was significantly associated with at least one mental health problem (serious psychological distress, self-harm, or suicidal ideation), except in the case of cyberbullying bullies/bully-victims. Internet abuse and alcohol use were more concentrated among bullies/bully-victims than victims for all types of bullying, and a similar trend was observed among types of schools and school climates, suggesting that specific behavioural circumstances or school backgrounds are associated with bullying perpetration. Conclusions Bullying is a prevalent and complex phenomenon among adolescents in Taiwan, where traditional bullying and cyberbullying frequently overlap and are likely to occur against specific backgrounds. These facts should be taken into account in future bullying prevention and support programmes in Taiwan.

• Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC,BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Abuse / Adolescent / Adolescents / Analysis / Biostatistics / Bullying / Bullying - statistics & numerical data / Climate / Clustering / Combined bullying / Cross-Sectional Studies / Cyberbullying / Cyberbullying - statistics & numerical data / Data collection / Drinking (Alcoholic beverages) / Environmental Health / Epidemiology / Female / Health behavior / health promotion and society / High school students / High schools / Humans / Internet / Male / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Mental health / Overlap / Personal relationships / Prevalence / Public aspects of medicine / Public Health / Questionnaires / RA1-1270 / Regression analysis / Research Article / Risk Factors / Schools / Secondary school students / Secondary schools / Self-injury / Smartphones / Social networks / Social research / Stress (Psychology) / Students / Students - psychology / Students - statistics & numerical data / Studies / Surveys and Questionnaires / Taiwan / Technology / Teenagers / Traditional bullying / Vaccine / Young Adult / Youth