Social Media Use and Cyber-Bullying: A Cross-National Analysis of Young People in 42 Countries

Wendy Craig; Meyran Boniel-Nissim; Nathan King; Sophie D Walsh; Maartje Boer; Peter D Donnelly; Yossi Harel-Fisch; Marta Malinowska-Cieślik; Margarida Gaspar de Matos; Alina Cosma; Regina Van den Eijnden; Alessio Vieno; Frank J Elgar; Michal Molcho; Ylva Bjereld; William Pickett

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.03.006

Social Media Use and Cyber-Bullying: A Cross-National Analysis of Young People in 42 Countries

J Adolesc Health. 2020 Jun;66(6S):S100-S108. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.03.006.

Authors

Wendy Craig¹, Meyran Boniel-Nissim², Nathan King³, Sophie D Walsh⁴, Maartje Boer⁵, Peter D Donnelly⁶, Yossi Harel-Fisch⁷, Marta Malinowska-Cieślik⁸, Margarida Gaspar de Matos⁹, Alina Cosma⁵, Regina Van den Eijnden⁵, Alessio Vieno¹⁰, Frank J Elgar¹¹, Michal Molcho¹², Ylva Bjereld¹³, William Pickett¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.
² School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Kinneret Academic College on the Sea of Galilee, Zemach, Israel.
³ Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.
⁴ Department of Criminology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
⁵ Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
⁶ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
⁷ The International Research Program on Adolescent Well-Being & Health, School of Education, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
⁸ Department of Environmental Health, Health Sciences Faculty, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
⁹ Health Promotion and Education Centre, FMH/ISAMB, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
¹⁰ Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
¹¹ Institute for Health and Social Policy, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
¹² Department of Children Studies, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland.
¹³ Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning (IBL), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
¹⁴ Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. Electronic address: will.pickett@queensu.ca.

PMID: 32446603
DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.03.006

Abstract

Purpose: Social media use (SMU) has become an intrinsic part of adolescent life. Negative consequences of SMU for adolescent health could include exposures to online forms of aggression. We explored age, gender, and cross-national differences in adolescents' engagement in SMU, then relationships between SMU and victimization and the perpetration of cyber-bullying.

Methods: We used data on young people aged 11-15 years (weighted n = 180,919 in 42 countries) who participated in the 2017-2018 Health Behaviour in School-aged Childrenstudy to describe engagement in the three types of SMU (intense, problematic, and talking with strangers online) by age and gender and then in the perpetration and victimization of cyber-bullying. Relationships between SMU and cyber-bullying outcomes were estimated using Poisson regression (weighted n = 166,647 from 42 countries).

Results: Variations in SMU and cyber-bullying follow developmental and gender-based patterns across countries. In pooled analyses, engagement in SMU related to cyber-bullying victimization (adjusted relative risks = 1.14 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.10-1.19] to 1.48 [95% CI: 1.42-1.55]) and perpetration (adjusted relative risk = 1.31 [95% CI: 1.26-1.36] to 1.84 [95% CI: 1.74-1.95]). These associations were stronger for cyber-perpetration versus cyber-victimization and for girls versus boys. Problematic SMU was most strongly and consistently associated with cyber-bullying, both for victimization and perpetration. Stratified analyses showed that SMU related to cyber-victimization in 19%-45% of countries and to cyber-perpetration in 38%-86% of countries.

Conclusions: Accessibility to social media and its pervasive use has led to new opportunities for online aggression. The time adolescents spend on social media, engage in problematic use, and talk to strangers online each relate to cyber-bullying and merit public health intervention. Problematic use of social media poses the strongest and most consistent risk.

Keywords: Adolescent health; Cyber-bullying; Epidemiology; Social media; Violence.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior / psychology*
Aggression*
Bullying
Child
Crime Victims / psychology*
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Cyberbullying / psychology*
Cyberbullying / statistics & numerical data
Europe
Female
Humans
Male
Mental Health
Social Media / statistics & numerical data*
Violence

Grants and funding

MOP341188/CIHR/Canada