The contextual development of cyber bullying in early adolescence: a longitudinal and social network analysis.

The proposed study addresses three limitations in current research on cyberbullying: 1) the lack of a valid and reliable measurement instrument, 2) the lack of attention to the social context in which the cyberbullying takes place and 3) the lack of longitudinal data. Therefore, the purpose of the pre-study is to develop a multidimensional measurement instrument for cyberbullying. The actual study will use a research method which has been proven to work for traditional bullying - i.e. Social Network Analysis (SNA) - to better understand "who-cyberbullies-who", "who-is-cyberlullied-by-whom" and "who-observes-cyberbullying-by-whom". The class/school context, which is often linked to bullying and cyberbullying by adolescents, will be adopted as a starting point. Through SNA (where pupils are to indicate on a list with who they interact positively or negatively face-to-face and via Internet or mobile phone) offline as well as online relationships between pupils will be mapped. These pupils (from the first and second year of secondary school) will also be studied for a longer period of time. Data will be gathered totaling four waves. This way analysis can show, for example, how age-related evolutions and contextual changes (such as moving to another class) can influence social networks and the involvement in cyberbullying.

Keywords:Social network analysis, Cyber-cullying, Early adolescence, Media use

Disciplines:Communication sciences, Journalism and professional writing, Media studies, Other media and communications