A new (October 2014) study (http://jea.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/10/27/0272431614556351.full.pdf+html)
examines the reciprocal associations between cyberbullying behavior and young
adolescents’ social status. For this purpose, a two-wave panel study with an
8-month time interval was conducted among an entire grade of 154 secondary
school pupils (age 12-14). The survey featured items on traditional bullying
and cyberbullying as well as peer-nomination questions on sociometric and
perceived popularity.
Cyberbullying was related to subsequent
increases in perceived popularity of the perpetrators. In contrast, traditional
bullying perpetration was not longitudinally associated with social status
during the studied period.
Although perceived popularity was also expected
to precede cyberbullying behavior, this was not observed. Taken together, the
results suggest that electronic forms of bullying, rather than traditional
forms, can provide a means to acquire additional perceived popularity in early
adolescence. The findings warrant future research on the factors that moderate
the association between cyberbullying and social status.
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