RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH CYBERBULLYING VICTIMIZATION AND PERPETRATION AMONG TAIWANESE CHILDREN

RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH CYBERBULLYING VICTIMIZATION AND PERPETRATION AMONG TAIWANESE CHILDREN by MI-TING LIN, BA, MS APPROVED: CHRISTINE MARKHAM, PHD RONALD PETERS, DRPH WENYAW CHAN, PHD PAMELA DIAMOND, PHD DEAN, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Copyright by Mi-Ting Lin, BA, MS, PhD 2016 RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH CYBERBULLYING VICTIMIZATION AND PERPETRATION AMONG TAIWANESE CHILDREN by MI-TING LIN MS, Soochow University, 2007 BA, National Taipei University, 2003 Presented to the Faculty of The University of Texas School of Public Health in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Houston, Texas May, 2016 ProQuest Number: 10126751 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion ProQuest 10126751 Published by ProQuest LLC (2016) Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author All rights reserved This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 - 1346 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all committee members and my family for their support RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH CYBERBULLYING VICTIMIZATION AND PERPETRATION AMONG TAIWANESE CHILDREN Mi-Ting Lin, BA, MS, PhD The University of Texas School of Public Health, 2016 Dissertation Chair: Christine Markham, PhD In Taiwan, a previous study indicates that 18.4% of adolescents were cyberbullying victims, 5.8% were perpetrators, and 11.2% were both The aims of the present study were to determine whether time spent online, risky Internet usage, and parental supervision were risk factors of cyberbullying victimization (study 1), explore the mechanism underlying the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and perpetration (study 2), and examine the risk factors (time spent online, risky usage, parental supervision, and emotional selfregulation) of cyberbullying among children, including bullies, victims, and bully-victims (study 3) A 2-wave de-identified secondary data analysis from an elementary school sample (220 5th grade students: Wave and Wave 2, 238 6th grade students: Wave only) in Taiwan was used Logistic regression analysis, mediation analysis, and one-way multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) were conducted The results indicated that time spent online and risky usage increased the odds of cyberbullying victimization However, parental supervision failed to predict future cyberbullying victimization (study 1) The association between cyber victimization and cyberbullying perpetration was mediated by emotional self-regulation (study 2) Compared to victim-onlys, bully-onlys, and neutrals (i.e., youth who experienced neither bullying victimization nor perpetration), bully-victims demonstrate higher amounts of time spent on the Internet, higher risky Internet usage, lower parental supervision, and lower emotional self-regulation (study 3) Combined, these studies make a significant contribution to the cyberbullying research These findings may contribute to the development of effective education interventions in children’s Internet usage to avoid cyberbullying TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables i  List of Figures ii  Background 1  Introduction 1  Specific Aims and Hypothesis .4  Public Health Significance 6  Human Subjects, Animal Subjects, or Safety Considerations .6  References 8  Journal Article .11  Investigating Antecedents of Cyberbullying Victimization: Application of Routine Activity Theory 11  Computers in Human Behavior 11  Introduction 11  Materials and Methods .17  Results 20  Discussion 20  References 26  Journal Article .35  Linking Cyberbullying Victimization to Subsequent Cyberbullying Perpetration: The Mediating Role of Emotional Self-Regulation 35  Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 35  Introduction 35  Materials and Methods .43  Results 45  Discussion 47  References 52  Journal Article .61  Risk Factors of Cyberbullying Victims, Bullies, and Bully-Victims in Taiwanese Children .61  Journal of Early Adolescence 61  Introduction 61  Materials and Methods .67  Results 70  Discussion 71  References 78  LIST OF TABLES Table Sample characteristics by cyberbullying status (n = 220) 33  Table The hierarchical binary logistic regression estimates for cyberbullying victimization 34  Table Indirect effect and direct effect from cyber victimization to cyberbullying perpetration 46  Table Participants demographic characteristics (n = 458) 84  Table MANCOVA analyses showing associations between risk factors and participation in cyberbullying 85  i LIST OF FIGURES Figure The conceptual model of current study 32  Figure Mediation model of this study 43  Figure Results of the mediator model .46  ii bully-victims Third, regarding risky Internet usage, the main effect for four groups was significant The mean scores of risky Internet usage were significantly higher among bullyvictims than among the other three groups Fourth, regarding emotional self-regulation, the main effect for the four groups was significant The mean score for emotional self-regulation was significantly lower among bully-victims than among victim-onlys and neutrals However, there were no significant differences in the mean scores between bully-onlys and bully-victims Discussion Previous research exploring cyberbullying has mostly concentrated on two groups of youth (i.e., victim-onlys and bully-onlys) There is a relative dearth of research on the bully-victim group relating to cyberbullying (Mishna et al., 2012) The overlap between cyberbullying victims and perpetrators is gradually being recognized by educators and researchers as a distinct group within cyberbullying (Chan & Wong, 2015; Wong et al., 2014) In fact, cyber bully-victims usually display more problem behaviors (e.g., aggressive behavior, smoking and drunkenness, and interactions with peers) as well as report poorer psychosocial states (e.g., self-esteem, belongingness, depression, and anxiety) than victimonlys and bully-onlys (Gradinger, Strohmeier, & Spiel, 2012; O’Brennan et al., 2009; Stein et al., 2007) Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the risk factors of cyberbullying among victim-only, bully-only, and bully-victim groups in children To extend our understanding of cyberbullying, we built on the routine activity theory (Cohen, & Felson, 1979) and empirical research to identify risk factors (i.e., time spent online, risky Internet usage, parental supervision, and emotional self-regulation) to compare between victim-onlys, 71 bully-onlys, bully-victims and, and neutrals Specifically, we anticipated that time spent online, risky Internet usage, parental supervision, and emotional self-regulation would be significantly different among victim-only, bully-only, bully-victim, and neutral groups Moreover, we predicted that bully-victims would report more time spent online, higher risky Internet usage, lower parental supervision, and lower emotional self-regulation compared to the other three groups The results generally supported our hypotheses First, our findings demonstrate that amounts of time spent online among victim-only, bully-only, bully-victim, and neutral groups are different More specifically, bully-victims spent the most amount of time on the Internet compared to victim-onlys, bully-onlys, and neutrals Second, as predicted, our findings indicated that the extent of risky Internet usage was significantly different between victim-only, bully-only, bully-victim, and neutral groups Specifically, bully-victims engaged in greater range of risky Internet usage than other three groups Third, our findings indicate that the levels of parental supervision were significantly different between victim-only, bullyonly, bully-victim, and neutral groups Specifically, bully-victims reported lower levels of parental supervision compared to the neutral group Lastly, our results note that the levels of emotional self-regulation vary among victim-only, bully-only, bully-victim, and neutral groups Specifically, bully-victims displayed lower levels of emotional self-regulation compared to victim-only and neutral groups Overall, findings in the present study identify: (a) time spent online, (b) risky Internet usage, (c) parental supervision, and (d) emotional self-regulation as four significant risk factors of cyberbully-victims Theoretical and Practical Implications 72 Our findings have implications for research on cyberbullying, particularly given the fact that most studies focus on identifying potential risk factors of victim-only and bullyonly groups of cyberbullying involvement but ignore a third distinct group related to cyberbullying (i.e., bully-victims) (Mishna et al., 2012) As Völlink, Bolman, Dehue, and Jacobs (2013) noted, cyber bully-victims differ significantly from victim-onlys, bully-onlys, and neutrals Our findings contribute to this research by recognizing several critical risk factors of cyber bully-victims and by targeting the childhood population that reports the highest cyberbullying prevalence rates (Tokunaga, 2010) Our findings suggest that the cyber bully-victim group is significantly related to the amounts of time spent online, the extents of risky Internet usage, the degrees of parental supervision, and the levels of emotional selfregulation More specifically, compared to the other three groups (i.e., victim-only, bullyonly, and neutral groups), the bully-victim group reports greater amounts of time spent online, higher extent of risky Internet usage, lower degrees of parental involvement and supervision, and lower levels of emotional self-regulation In line with the routine activities theory (Cohen, & Felson, 1979), a suitable target/victim, a motivated offender, and lack of a capable guardian are significant characteristics for both victims and bullies The present study extends previous research and provides researchers with a new lens for examining the risk factors of cyber bully-victims For instance, previous research indicating that adolescents who are involved in cyberbullying (i.e., victim-onlys, bully-onlys, and bully-victims) report using the computer for more hours a day than neutral adolescents (Mishna et al., 2012); our results demonstrate that spending time online is associated with cyberbullying, and that cyber bully-victims spend even more time online than victim-onlys, bully-onlys, and neutrals 73 Moreover, previous research indicates that children who are involved in cyberbullying display less awareness of safe Internet behaviors (e.g., not providing passwords to others) (Mishna et al., 2012; Sengupta, & Chaudhuri, 2011) Our study directly examined children’s risky Internet behaviors including meeting people whom they have met online and making very personal information public Thus, the present study contributes to cyberbullying research and suggests that risky Internet behavior is related to cyberbullying and cyber bully-victims show higher levels of risky Internet usage than victim-onlys, bullyonlys, and neutrals Also, previous research has indicated that parental supervision is negatively related to the likelihood of traditional bullying behaviors (Espelage, Bosworth, & Simon, 2000; Georgiou, 2008) Our findings illustrates that parental supervision is associated with cyberbullying, and cyber bully-victims report lower degrees of parental supervision than neutrals Additionally, by highlighting a negative relationship between traditional bullying and capacity of emotional self-control (e.g., Garner & Hinton, 2010; Mahady Wilton, Craig, & Pepler, 2000), the present study demonstrates that emotional self-regulation is related to cyberbullying, and cyber bully-victims show lower levels of emotional self-regulation than victim-onlys and neutrals Accordingly, these findings, which were built on solid theoretical foundations, can advance our understanding of cyberbullying research The current study also has a number of practical implications for parents and educators First, it is important to raise parents’ and educators’ awareness of the overlap between cyberbullying victims and perpetrators Particularly, Sourander and her colleagues (2010) suggest that those who are both cyberbullying victims and perpetrators display more severe psychological (e.g., depression and anxiety) and behavioral problems (e.g., smoking) 74 compared to those who are either victims or perpetrators Hence, parents and educators should pay greater attention to cyber bully-victims and provide assistances to decrease negative impacts on their well-being and behaviors Second, although our findings indicate that the amount of time children spend online is related to cyberbullying, it is not likely to be a practical solution to decrease time spent online because Internet usage still provides multiple benefits (e.g., increased knowledge) In addition, our findings suggest that risky Internet usage is significantly associated with cyberbullying Accordingly, schools could provide extra-curricular training for children to increase knowledge about safe Internet usage and enhance positive, ethical, polite, safe, and appropriate manners when communicating in cyber space Third, our findings demonstrate that parent supervision is associated with cyberbullying Thus, parents should be encouraged to gain greater knowledge, skills, and abilities for effective cyberbullying management For example, Sengupta and Chaudhuri (2011) suggested that children who use the Internet or computers in public spaces report lower likelihood of experiencing cyberbullying victimization than those who use the Internet or computers in private spaces Lastly, our findings suggest that emotional self-regulation is associated with cyberbullying Therefore, appropriate emotional management training should be considered for children, and teachers, counselors, and parents should develop knowledge, abilities, and skills for emotional management to help children regulate their emotions Limitations As is the case with any study, the present study is not without limitations First, this study uses self-reported data, and all participants were asked to respond to items based on their perception and experience Thus, it is possible that social desirability bias may have 75 influenced participants’ responses That is, cyberbullying behaviors might be under- or overestimated in the present study Future studies may consider using alternative data collection methods For example, researchers can recruit parents or teachers to assess children’ cyberbullying behaviors Second, all the participants were recruited in Taiwan Taiwan is seen as one representation of collectivism (Ali, Lee, Hsieh, & Krishnan, 2005), and it may demonstrate different patterns of cyberbullying in a cross-cultural context Moreover, all participants were 5th and 6th grade students in the present study Therefore, caution must be taken in generalizing the results to students in other cultural settings and in nonparticipating grades Third, measures of cyberbullying vary across studies Thus, variance in the prevalence of cyberbullying may exist when comparing the prevalence rates across studies and countries Finally, this study is cross-sectional Thus, care should be taken in drawing causal inferences regarding the direction of the specified relationships For instance, although we anticipate that time spent online, risky Internet usage, parental supervision, and emotional regulation may be significant factors of cyberbullying, it is plausible that cyberbullying victimization and perpetration may influence children’s time spent online, risky Internet usage, parental supervision, and emotional regulation Therefore, longitudinal research examining the causal associations between risk factors and cyberbullying is strongly recommended Conclusion The present study provides a significant contribution to the cyberbullying research Specifically, the present study examined risk factors associated with vary in levels of exposure to cyberbullying (i.e., victims-onlys, bully-onlys, and bully-victims) among 76 Taiwanese children These findings suggest that time spent online, risky online usage, parental supervision, and emotional self-regulation are related to cyberbullying Especially, the cyber bully-victim group demonstrates greater amounts of time spent online, higher degrees of risky online usage, lower extent of parental supervision, and lower levels of emotional self-regulation compared to the other groups Moreover, the present study provides parents and educators 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Education about Asia, 18(2), 36-39 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014) Electronic Aggression: Technology and Youth Violence Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/electronicaggression/... Children and Youth Services Review, 34(1), 63-70 Mishna, F., Saini, M., & Solomon, S (2009) Ongoing and online: Children and youth's perceptions of cyber bullying Children and Youth Services... antecedents, and outcomes of cyberbullying, including victims and perpetrators, but several critical gaps in the cyberbullying literature remain First, most previous studies were conducted without utilizing