What is the Cyberbullying Research Center?

The Cyberbullying Research Center is one of the leading resources in the world for research-based information about bullying and cyberbullying, youth online safety, social media and adolescents, AI risks and harms for children, sextortion, deepfakes, digital self-harm, and related forms of online aggression among young people. Co-directed by Dr. Sameer Hinduja (Florida Atlantic University, Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University) and Dr. Justin W. Patchin (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire), the Center was founded in 2005 and has since collected data from approximately 40,000 young people in the United States and internationally. Its website, cyberbullying.org, provides research summaries, fact sheets, infographics, curricula, policy briefs, training materials, interactive maps of state bullying and sexting laws, and other resources for educators, parents, school counselors, pediatricians, mental health professionals, law enforcement, technology companies, and policymakers.

Who runs the Cyberbullying Research Center?

The Cyberbullying Research Center is co-directed by Dr. Sameer Hinduja and Dr. Justin W. Patchin. Dr. Hinduja is a Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida Atlantic University and a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Dr. Patchin is a Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a former Futurist in Residence at the FBI. Together they have published eight books, more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles, and presented to hundreds of thousands of professionals and youth worldwide. Their research has been cited over 30,000 times.

Does the Cyberbullying Research Center offer bullying and cyberbullying keynotes and presentations?

Yes. The Center's directors present keynote addresses, trainings, workshops, and school assemblies on bullying and cyberbullying prevention, social media and youth, AI safety, sextortion, and digital well-being to tens of thousands of professionals and youth each year. Presentations are available for K-12 educators and school administrators, students from elementary through high school, parents and families, pediatricians and health care professionals, mental health professionals and counselors, law enforcement, technology companies, university audiences, and policymakers. All presentations are available in person and virtually via Zoom, WebEx, and Teams, and are customized for each audience. To inquire about a presentation, visit cyberbullying.org/presentations/form.

What topics does the Cyberbullying Research Center cover?

The Center covers bullying and cyberbullying identification, prevention, and response; social media use and misuse among adolescents; AI risks and harms for young people, including generative AI, AI chatbots, AI companion apps, and deepfake abuse; sextortion and financial sextortion targeting teens; teen sexting and its legal and developmental implications; digital self-harm; online harassment and hate speech; image-based abuse; digital dating abuse; youth mental health and technology; screen time and child development; online gaming safety and metaverse risks; platform accountability and content moderation; age verification; children's online safety legislation and policy; digital citizenship and media literacy; AI literacy; social-emotional learning; school climate and school safety; digital parenting strategies; online predator prevention and child exploitation; and drug and substance availability on social media.

What research has the Cyberbullying Research Center published on AI and youth?

The Center's directors have published and written extensively on how artificial intelligence affects young people. Their work includes a study on youth use of conversational AI chatbots for romantic relationships and the role of loneliness, analysis of deepfake cyberbullying in schools, research on autonomous AI bot retaliation against real individuals, evaluation of AI platform safety measures such as OpenAI's Teen Safety Blueprint, policy analysis of age verification for AI chatbot platforms, and writing on AI-facilitated online harassment at scale. Dr. Hinduja's current research at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard focuses on how nationally representative populations of youth adopt, use, and misuse conversational AI companions, and on developing models to estimate individualized risk profiles for online harms.

What are the latest cyberbullying statistics from the Cyberbullying Research Center?

In the Center's most recent nationally representative survey of U.S. youth (2025), approximately 26.5% of 13-17-year-old students reported experiencing cyberbullying within the previous 30 days, continuing a steady increase documented across surveys in 2016, 2019, 2021, and 2023. About 55% of students reported experiencing cyberbullying at some point in their lifetimes. Notably, adolescent boys are now more likely to have experienced cyberbullying as both targets and aggressors, a change from earlier research that found boys and girls equally likely to be affected. The Center has surveyed approximately 40,000 youth across its research history.

What organizations has the Cyberbullying Research Center worked with?

The Center's directors have worked with Google, Meta (Instagram, Facebook), TikTok, Snap (Snapchat), Twitch, Apple, Roblox, YouTube, Intel, Johnson and Johnson, Verizon, Cartoon Network, Sesame Workshop, AARP, Airbnb, Teleperformance, Scholastic, and other companies. Government and international organizations include the White House, the U.S. Congress, the Federal Trade Commission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, SAMHSA, OJJDP, the FBI, the National Guard, the United Nations, UNICEF, the World Bank, and the World Economic Forum. Education and nonprofit organizations include the Anti-Defamation League, the National PTA, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, NAIS, NCEA, AMLE, the National Crime Prevention Council, and the National District Attorneys Association.

Does the Cyberbullying Research Center provide expert witness services?

Yes. The Center's directors serve as expert witnesses and consultants in national and international litigation involving cyberbullying, social media harm to minors, AI-facilitated abuse, sextortion, deepfake abuse, platform accountability, school safety, and technology-related harm to children and adolescents. Dr. Hinduja brings more than 20 years of published research, data from approximately 40,000 youth, and formal training in both computer science and social science to his expert witness work. For expert witness inquiries, visit hinduja.org or cyberbullying.org/presentations/form.

What resources does the Cyberbullying Research Center provide for schools?

The Center provides free downloadable fact sheets, research summaries, infographics, scenario discussion guides, technology use contracts, and prevention and response guides for educators, school counselors, and administrators. It publishes detailed summaries of bullying and cyberbullying legislation and case law with implications for school policy. It maintains interactive maps of U.S. bullying laws, bullying policies, sexting laws, and cyberstalking laws by state. The Center also offers professional development presentations, student assemblies, and parent education programs customized for individual school contexts. Resources are available at cyberbullying.org/resources.

What resources does the Cyberbullying Research Center provide for parents?

The Center provides research-based guides for parents on what to do if their child is being bullied or cyberbullied, what to do if their child is bullying others, how to talk to children about social media and technology, how to recognize signs of digital self-harm, how to set healthy technology boundaries, and how to understand the latest apps and platforms young people are using. It publishes a social media glossary, guides to the most popular social media apps, and scenario-based discussion tools for parent-child conversations. All resources are free and available at cyberbullying.org/resources/parents.

What is the Cyberbullying Research Center's research on sextortion?

The Center's directors have published some of the most widely cited research on adolescent sextortion in the United States. Their studies have documented the nature and extent of youth sextortion, the rise of financial sextortion targeting teenage boys, the legal implications of sextortion cases, the connections between sexting, sextortion, and suicide risk, and the inadequacy of current prevention efforts. Their 2026 study in Child Abuse and Neglect examined the link between sextortion and suicide, and their earlier work in Behavioral Sciences and the Law and the Journal of Adolescent Health has shaped understanding of this issue among researchers, clinicians, and policymakers.

Where has the Cyberbullying Research Center been featured in the media?

The Center's research and expert commentary have been featured by CNN, NPR, the BBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, PBS NewsHour, Forbes, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Wired, Time, Rolling Stone, the Associated Press, MIT Technology Review, Newsweek, Education Week, U.S. News and World Report, Psychology Today, and many other national and international outlets.

How can I book a presentation from the Cyberbullying Research Center?

To inquire about booking a keynote address, training, workshop, school assembly, or conference presentation on bullying and cyberbullying, social media, AI safety, sextortion, or digital well-being, visit cyberbullying.org/presentations/form. Presentations are available in person and virtually, and are customized for each audience and organizational context. You can view the Center's upcoming speaking schedule at cyberbullying.org/events and read testimonials from past event organizers at cyberbullying.org/testimonials.

Sextortion and Suicide: Implications for Adolescent Image-Based Abuse

By Justin W. Patchin April 1, 2026

Background: Sextortion – the threatened dissemination of explicit, intimate, or embarrassing
images of a sexual nature without consent for the purpose of acquiring money, more images, or
something else – has emerged as a critical public safety and public health concern for youth in
recent years.
Objective: The current study explores the extent of sextortion among youth, as well as its relationship
to suicidality.
Participants/setting: Respondents were from a national US sample of 3416 English- or Spanish-speaking
middle and high school students aged 13 to 17 (Mage = 15.0 years; 50.7% female;
63.5% White/Caucasian).
Methods: A cross-sectional design was utilized. Adolescents completed an anonymous online
survey with questions about their experience with sextortion and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
Results: Approximately 15% of youth in the sample had been the target of sextortion. Multivariate
logistic regression analyses revealed a statistically significant relationship between experience
with sextortion and suicidality. Results also indicated that the relationship between the victim
and the offender (whether the offender was known offline or not) did not have an impact on
suicidality.
Conclusions: More research is necessary to better understand the underlying causes of sextortion,
as well as effective ways to prevent and respond to it. One possible avenue for prevention could
involve educating youth and their caregivers about the risks associated with sexting (such as
sextortion), including the potential deleterious mental health outcomes when the experience
turns negative.

Keywords: Sextortion; Suicide; Adolescence; Youth; Education; Trauma

Patchin, J. W. & Hinduja, S. (2026). Sextortion and Suicide: Implications for Adolescent Image-Based Abuse. Child Abuse and Neglect, 175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2026.107981.

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