Cyberbullying and homophobic content communication in adolescence: An exploratory study of their relations

Abstract

Following previous attempts to integrate bullying and homophobia in adolescence, this research aimed to extend the study to cyberbullying and address the phenomenon in the Portuguese context. Thus, 688 students from the University of Porto were asked to recall their experiences of cyberbullying and homophobic content communication (CTH) during adolescence. The results revealed that 67% of the sample had targeted, and 34% agent, of at least one occurrence of cyberbullying. We also identified 44 frequent victims and 10 frequent perpetrators. CTH is frequent (45%), particularly with friends (34%), but also with strangers (23%). Confirming our hypotheses, significant correlations had found between the frequencies of cyberbullying and CTH behaviors, as a victim or as a perpetrator. The results therefore suggest that there is a need, at the level of intervention in adolescent bullying and cyberbullying, to confront directly its homophobic component.