Adolescent Cyberbullying and Cyber Victimization: Longitudinal Study Before and During COVID-19

Background: Adolescent cyberbullying has been a persistent issue, exacerbated by the shift to remote learning and increased screen time during the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes have sparked concerns about potential increases in cyberbullying and its associated risks. Objective: This study aims to explore how factors such as age, exposure to violent media, parental communication quality, internet access, sex, and sibling relationships influence cyberbullying behavior at school. Additionally, we examine how the COVID-19 pandemic may have altered these dynamics. Methods: Leveraging a panel dataset, we examine the same group of adolescents both before and during the pandemic. The analysis focused on identifying relationships between the selected factors and cyberbullying perpetration and victimization, with an emphasison the dynamics introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Perceived quality of parental communication was found to reduce the risk of both cyberbullying perpetration and victimization, with the former effect becoming more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Exposure to violent media increased both cyberbullying perpetration and victimization, but the effect on perpetration decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The well-established correlation between internet access and both cyberbullying perpetration and victimization remained unaffected by COVID-19. Surprisingly, adolescents with siblings were less likely to become victims or perpetrators of school-related cyberbullying, irrespective of the pandemic. Conclusions: In hindsight, COVID-19, functioning as a kind of natural experiment, has provided us with a unique opportunity to examine the effects of a global event, forcing major behavioral changes on the persistent challenge of cyberbullying in middle schools.