Study Shows More Than 50 Percent of US Teenagers Experience Cyberbullying

New-research-shows-cyberbullying-problem-in-US
Social media icons displayed on a smartphone. Image courtesy of Twin Design.
By Team Cybersmile
Published

The study by Pew Research Center highlights the widespread nature of the problem amongst young adults.

A new survey undertaken by Pew Research Center has revealed that 54% of teens aged between 15 and 17 have experienced at least one of the six types of cyberbullying identified in the study.

Researchers asked 1,316 young people aged 13-17 if they had been affected by six distinct behaviors most commonly associated with cyberbullying. These behaviors included:

  • Offensive name-calling
  • The spreading of false rumors
  • Receiving explicit images they didn't ask for
  • Physical threats
  • Being constantly asked where they are, what they're doing, or who they're with by someone other than a parent
  • Having explicit images of them shared without their consent

Overall, respondents across the full age range showed that 46% of all participants had experienced at least one of the listed behaviors. However, the results of the survey indicate that 54% of older teen girls (15-17) have experienced at least one of the behaviors and were more likely to report being the target of false rumors and constant monitoring by someone other than a parent.

While bullying existed long before the internet, the rise of smartphones and social media has brought a new and more public arena into play for this aggressive behavior.

Spokesperson, Pew Research Center

As well as asking young people about their own personal experiences, the study asked more general questions related to online harassment in an effort to understand more about how teens view the wider issue and found that over half (53%) felt that cyberbullying was a major problem for young people, with just 6% saying it was not a problem.

Researchers also asked how teens felt about elected officials and social media platform efforts to address online abuse and found that an overwhelming number of teenagers (81%) felt that elected officials were doing an 'only fair' or 'poor' job along with social media sites (74%), and law enforcement (62%), all being seen as performing poorly. In contrast, 66% of participants felt that parents were doing an excellent or good job of addressing issues related to online abuse.