I will be in DC this week at the US Department of Education’s “Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Summit.” You can check out an agenda here, a participants list here, and additional reading materials here. My slides are included in the latter PDF as well. I have been asked to speak on the “Current State…
By Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin Empirical studies and some high-profile anecdotal cases have demonstrated a link between suicidal ideation and experiences with bullying victimization or offending. The current study examines the extent to which a nontraditional form of peer aggression – cyberbullying – is also related to suicidal ideation among adolescents. Among a…
By Justin W. Patchin and Sameer Hinduja This Research Summary summarizes how youth are modifying their use of social networking sites as it relates to online privacy and the disclosure of personal information. Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. (2010). Cyberbullying research summary: Changes in Adolescent Online Social Networking Behaviors from 2006 to 2009. Cyberbullying Research…
Justin W. Patchin What should you do if your child bullies others online? Elizabeth Englander, our colleague at the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, provided an excellent response to this question in her answer to a parent who commented on the recent New York Times article. First of all, parents need to approach this problem like…
By Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin This Research Summary explores the relationship between cyberbullying and suicidal ideation. Results suggest that victims of cyberbullying and those who cyberbully are at an elevated risk for suicidal thoughts and attempts. Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. (2010). Cyberbullying research summary: Cyberbullying and suicide. Cyberbullying Research Center. Retrieved [insert…
By Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin General Strain Theory argues that individuals who experience strain, and as a result of that strain feel angry or frustrated, are more at risk to engage in criminal or deviant behavior. Results indicated that youth who experienced strain or anger and frustration were more likely to bully others…
By Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin This Research Summary explores the relationship between cyberbullying and self-esteem among teens. Results suggest that students who experienced cyberbullying, both as a victim and an offender, had significantly lower self-esteem than those who had little or no experience with cyberbullying. Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. (2010). Cyberbullying research…
The concept of peer mentoring generally involves older students advising and counseling younger students about issues affecting them. Since younger adolescents tend to look up to (and seek to emulate) older adolescents, this dynamic can be exploited to teach important lessons about the use of computers and communications technology. Peer mentoring has been fruitful in…
We have more great news concerning our book: the National Crime Prevention Council has chosen to feature it as its June 2010 Book Club selection! Part of this feature involves an extensive interview, where I discussed in detail how each and every person can take an active role in the prevention of cyberbullying and online…
I have been talking a lot lately about online reputation with teens. I think it is important for youth to recognize that anything they put online and anything they do offline that gets posted online, could end up being immortalized on the World Wide Web. I advise students to start thinking about their online reputation…
If you look at any “Top Ten List of Ways to Keep Your Kids Safe Online” that you find on the Internet, no doubt one of the recommendations that you will find near the top is: “Keep the family computer in a common area of the house.” While this is sage advice, it is also…
By Justin W. Patchin and Sameer Hinduja Bullying at school is a common problem facing youth, school officials, and parents. A significant body of research has detailed the serious consequences associated with bullying victimization. Recently, however, a new permutation of bullying has arisen and arguably become even more problematic. Cyberbullying, as it has been termed, occurs when youth…
Formspring.me, launched in November 2009, is a user-to-user question and answer web site. If you sign up, the site presents visitors to your page with the ability to anonymously ask you anything via a web form. You can then post your answer, along with the question, for all to see. A benefit of Formspring is…
Dr. Justin W. Patchin speaks to Joy Cardin on Wisconsin Public Radio about Cyberbullying (47 minutes) Originally aired April 20, 2010 listen now
Justin and I were chatting recently about an example cyberbullying case that involves a student who repeatedly is posting comments on her Facebook page about a teacher at school, stating “Mr. Z is a douchebag,” “Mr. Z is a jerk and nobody likes him,” and “Please post ‘I Hate Mr. Z’ comments on my wall!” …
An increasing amount of educators and parents are asking us our thoughts on “Chatroulette,” which was created by a Russian teenager in late 2009. User traffic has increased from 500 people a day last November to 1.5 million daily as of March 2010, and major IT companies are seeking to purchase it from its ingenious…
An increasing amount of educators and parents are asking us our thoughts on “Chatroulette,” which was created by a Russian teenager in late 2009. User traffic has increased from 500 people a day last November to 1.5 million daily as of March 2010, and major IT companies are seeking to purchase it from its ingenious…
Recent press coverage has been focused on “hentai” video games being produced in Japan and distributed all across the world in an underground manner. Hentai generally refers to sexually explicit or pornographic comics and animation, and video games of this ilk have been available for years overseas. Recently, though, they have been “ripped” from DVD-ROMs…
It is not often that students are charged in criminal court for their participation in bullying. But that is what happened this week. As has been well-publicized, 15-year-old Phoebe Prince of South Hadley, Massachusetts, committed suicide in January after experiencing extreme levels of bullying from her classmates. After conducting a thorough investigation, District Attorney Elizabeth…
Let’s return to our multi-post (here, here, and here) discussion of student and teacher interaction on social networking sites or in other online venues. Social networks such as Facebook and MySpace are primarily for socializing. “Socializing” involves interacting for social purposes, and “social purposes” are those marked by friendly companionship with others. It seems, therefore,…
By Justin W. Patchin and Sameer Hinduja MySpace has received a significant amount of negative attention from the media and many concerned adults, who point to several isolated incidents where predators have contacted, become involved with and even assaulted adolescents whom they met through the popular social networking web site. Furthermore, concerned parents have expressed…
I recently participated in a joint podcast organized by Sage Publications with fellow social scientists Robert Agnew, Carter Hay, and Paul Mazerolle to chat about the relationship between the sociological concept of strain, traditional bullying, and cyberbullying. According to Agnew’s General Strain Theory, strain has three sources: (1) the failure to achieve positively-valued goals; (2)…
Justin and I have been focusing a lot on what I like to call “Facebook Faux Pas” – or, in general, unwise practices on social networking, social media, and microblogging sites. A new site has been receiving a lot of attention lately – PleaseRobMe.com. Check it out at your convenience. Basically, it runs a simple…
Routledge (Taylor and Francis) is making some of their copyrighted journal articles available at no cost through June, and our research piece entitled “Cyberbullying: An Exploratory Analysis of Factors Related to Offending and Victimization,” published in Deviant Behavior, is one of those and is available here. To date, it is one of the most downloaded…