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Modern technological developments have, unfortunately, brought with them
new means for children to bully. No longer is bullying confined to school, as a new
permutation known as cyberbullying has rapidly become widespread among today's
adolescents. The present study looks at the involvement of adolescents in traditional
bullying and cyberbullying. Participants for the study were fifty-six first-year students
from a mixed sex, suburban post primary school. The study is based on a correlational
design, and employs a quantitative survey, between subjects and within subjects
, design. Participants were informed that the questionnaire was not compulsory, so
those who took part did so voluntarily. All hypotheses in the study were exploratory
in nature, such as the role gender and ethnic origin play in various aspects of internet
usage. Girls were found to encounter more traditional bullying than boys, and girls
were also found to engage in more cyberbullying than boys. This may be due to the
indirect nature of cyberbullying. For future studies on the area of cyberbullying, a
more child centred approach may be considered, and perhaps more involvement from
the parents of adolescents.
