Cyberbullying in eastern countries: Focusing on South Korea and other eastern cultures

Abstract

This chapter reviews cyberbullying research in Asian cultures. It focuses especially on South Korea but also discusses Far Eastern countries such as China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It provides comprehensive information on cyberbullying in Eastern cultures, discussing incidence, terms, types, gender differences and related variables, perception, and prevention/intervention efforts. Due to different methodologies utilized across studies, it is difficult to make direct comparisons of the studies across cultures; however, it does provide a general picture of cyberbullying in these countries. There are terms for indicating cyberbullying in some countries (i.e., South Korea and Japan), which focus on psychological harms and victim’s peer status. The prevalence varies among countries; for instance, China has the highest incidence, Japan the lowest (Microsoft, http://goo.gl/gGrRSW, 2012). Gender differences are inconsistent, though boys were more likely than girls to be involved in cyberbullying in some studies. Both cyberbullies and cybervictims showed psychological distress, low self-esteem, and other internalizing or externalizing problems. Also, many pupils were not aware of their responsibilities during cyberbullying situations. This chapter provides important implications for building up prevention or intervention programs; the programs should focus on forming ethical cultures in cyberspace and increasing pupils’ moral sensitivity of cyberbullying. Some countries have taken actions for preventing cyberbullying, such as developing school regulations or websites. However, legal policies are still very lacking.