University of Twente Student Theses

Slachtoffers over traditioneel pesten en cyberpesten - Een onderzoek naar de beleving van traditioneel pesten en cyberpesten vanuit het perspectief van slachtoffers in de leeftijd van 10 tot 18 jaar

Wagteveld, Kim (2013) Slachtoffers over traditioneel pesten en cyberpesten - Een onderzoek naar de beleving van traditioneel pesten en cyberpesten vanuit het perspectief van slachtoffers in de leeftijd van 10 tot 18 jaar.

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Abstract:	Bullying is an individual and social problem which has long been around. In addition to traditional bullying, children are also cyber bullied. Cyber bullying is one of the negative consequences of using the Internet, an online environment which children use more often and at a younger age. Although there is already a lot of knowledge about traditional bullying and cyber bullying, for so far there has not been done much research on the victims' perspectives. This study is therefore aimed to allow victims to share their experiences and feeling and based on that look from a different perspective to bullying. This may help to find possible ways to reduce the problem. This study was conducted using the qualitative research method interviews. Through an interview by chat 15 respondents, in the age of 10 to 18 years of age, were asked about their experiences and perceptions. Subsequently the interviews were processed and connections between different statements were made using a coding scheme. The results showed that victims are still bullied more often in the traditional way than they are on the Internet. An important finding was that cyber bullying is often combined with traditional bullying and that both forms of bullying often involve the same perpetrator(s). It was also found that the impact of bullying is larger when the victim is bullied through both forms of bullying. As a consequence victims may, besides psychological, physical and social problems, experience feelings that they are no longer safe wherever they go and that they are always and everywhere accessible. In cyber bullying victims also perceive the audience to be larger. Another important finding is that cyber bullying can be divided in two different forms: 1) bullying in a 'close to real life environment' and 2)bullying in a 'more distanced from real life environment'. It turned out that bullying on platforms more 'close to the real world' felt worse than bullying in the 'more game like environment', because in the former a lot of personal information is disclosed (for instance on social networking sites) instead of being a more fictional character in games like Habbo Hotel. The results also showed that victims usually blame themselves for being bullied and that the social environment mainly helps by providing support and soothing. They also appear not to be able to solve or reduce the bullying situation. School in particular seems to be unable or not willing to help the children leaving a lack of trust in their capacities among victims. Parents do try to help, but are often powerless. Sometimes they also underestimate the seriousness of the problem. Friends or girlfriends are often too insecure themselves and are too afraid to compete against the bully. Moreover classmates often pick sides of the (popular) bully. These factors mainly account for the fact that children are afraid to talk about the bullying and think the problem will not be resolved anyway. What is more is that the environment pays to little attention to discuss bullying as a problem, which ensures that children are not or hardly aware of the negative consequences of their behavior. A recommendation therefore was to create awareness and trust and make the subject discussable. In addition to the fear to talk about bullying, victims are also often too afraid to compete against the bully or to confront the bully. Frequently used coping strategies are therefore, avoiding, seeking social support and externalizing. About the method, it can be concluded that an online interview can be considered as a successful method to map children's experiences and perceptions. In particular the anonymity of the conversations seemed to be beneficial for children's willingness to participate and share their stories. A recommendation for future research is to create a special chat environment in which respondents can be completely anonymous. At best this virtual surrounding should have a professional trustworthy design. Furthermore giving a small compensation might work as an advantage to recruit children and to motivate children to go on with the interview during the research.
Item Type:	Essay (Master)
Faculty:	BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:	05 communication studies
Programme:	Communication Studies MSc (60713)
Link to this item:	https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/63490
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