Some problems with cyberbullying research

•Research on cyberbullying is plagued by inconsistent findings and exaggerated claims.•To build a coherent body of knowledge, a consensual definition is important.•Cyberbullying overlaps a lot with traditional bullying.•It is important to measure cyberbullying in a bullying context.•Cyberbullying sh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current opinion in psychology 2018-02, Vol.19, p.139-143
Main Authors: Olweus, Dan, Limber, Susan P
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:•Research on cyberbullying is plagued by inconsistent findings and exaggerated claims.•To build a coherent body of knowledge, a consensual definition is important.•Cyberbullying overlaps a lot with traditional bullying.•It is important to measure cyberbullying in a bullying context.•Cyberbullying should be regarded as a subcategory of bullying. Research on cyberbullying is plagued by inconsistent findings and exaggerated claims about prevalence, development over time, and effects. To build a useful and coherent body of knowledge, it essential to achieve some degree of consensus on the definition of the phenomenon as a scientific concept and that efforts to measure cyberbullying are made in a ‘bullying context.’ This will help to ensure that findings on cyberbullying are not confounded with findings on general cyberaggression or cyberharassment. We tentatively recommend that cyberbullying should be regarded as a subcategory or specific form of bullying, in line with other forms such as verbal, physical, and indirect/relational.
ISSN:2352-250X
2352-250X
DOI:10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.04.012