The relationship between online activities, netiquette and cyberbullying

Abstract

While cyberbullying shares characteristics with face-to-face bullying, there is a uniqueness of online interaction that makes it more pervasive and the impact longer-lasting. Cyberbullying should be understood within a broader context of online activities and how adolescents perceive of what is permissible in the online space. This study investigated the relationship between levels of online activities and cyberbullying behavior, while examining the moderating impact of netiquette. Communication with parents, age, gender and location were also considered. A face-to-face survey was conducted on a nationally representative sample of 12 to 15. year-old adolescents (N. =. 1200) in South Korea during April and May, 2013. The results show that frequent users of the Internet and SNS are more likely to engage in, become victims of and witness cyberbullying behavior. On the other hand, studying online, netiquette, and communication time with parents were negatively correlated to cyberbullying behavior. Knowing the mechanism of social interaction online and the awareness about the consequences of their behavior are important factors that shape young people's online behavior. This suggests that a more proactive approach to prevent and mitigate negative behavior online is needed. The results add to the knowledge that informs cyberbullying prevention methods. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.