Cyberbullying Versus Face-to-Face Bullying

TLDR

Cyberbullying, a form of electronic bullying, has attracted intense media scrutiny due to high‑profile teen suicides, yet little is known about its nature because of limited theoretical clarity and a lack of comparison with face‑to‑face bullying. This paper reviews the limited theoretical and empirical literature on cyberbullying and face‑to‑face bullying, illustrating key points with examples from a qualitative study. The authors compare individual factors common to both forms and examine social information‑processing factors to highlight similarities and differences. Their analysis of social information‑processing factors reveals similarities and differences that may characterize cyberbullying relative to face‑to‑face bullying.

Abstract

Cyberbullying has been described as a type of electronic bullying and has recently been subjected to intense media scrutiny largely due to a number of high profile and tragic cases of teen suicide. Despite the media attention relatively little is known about the nature of cyberbullying. This is, at least in part, due to a lack of theoretical and conceptual clarity and an examination of the similarities and differences between cyberbullying and face-to-face bullying. This paper reviews the limited theoretical and empirical literature addressing both cyberbullying and face-to-face bullying, using some specific examples from a qualitative study for illustration. We compare and contrast individual factors common to cyber and face-to-face bullying. We then examine social information processing factors associated with face-to-face bullying and present a discussion of the similarities and differences that may characterize cyberbullying.