Differences in Cyberbullying Victimisation and Perpetration According to Age and Locality in Slovenia

Cyberbullying is a phenomenon that developed with the rise of everyday ICT use, especially by children and young people. Still, extant research on the subject in Slovenia is extremely limited, with only a few contributions or inclusions of questions in studies with a different focus. To deepen the existing knowledge, our aim was to examine the relationship between the age of respondents, the type of environment they come from, and their personal involvement in cyberbullying. We conducted analysis on data collected with an on-line questionnaire in 2018, with which we obtained responses from 2,991 primary and 2,296 secondary school students from various areas around Slovenia. We found that at least 55.3% of participants had been cyberbullied in that school year, and 10% had cyberbullied someone else in the previous two months. Both victimization and cyberbullying were significantly more common among older students from secondary school than those from primary school. Among primary schoolers, 15- and 16-year-olds were the most frequent victims (57% and 57.7% within age), and 15-year-olds were the most frequent bullies (10.4% within age). There were no significant differences according to age among secondary schoolers. In terms of location, we found statistically significant differences among primary school children, where the percentage of victims was the highest in suburban areas (58.3%). Cyberbullying perpetration and victimization in secondary schools were not significantly affected by the type of local environment.