Cyberbullying and Its Emotional Consequences: What We Know and What We Can Do
Book Chapter
Reio, TG, Ledesma Ortega, CC. (2015). Cyberbullying and Its Emotional Consequences: What We Know and What We Can Do
. 145-158. 10.1016/B978-0-12-801873-6.00008-X
Reio, TG, Ledesma Ortega, CC. (2015). Cyberbullying and Its Emotional Consequences: What We Know and What We Can Do
. 145-158. 10.1016/B978-0-12-801873-6.00008-X
Bullying has been increasingly studied recently because of its direct link to emotional distress, maladaptive social functioning, poorer health, and physical violence. Noteworthy has been the advent of cyberbullying in recent years, wherein the Internet and cellular phones are used to intentionally inflict harm on others. This chapter focuses on the emotional consequences of cyberbullying among children and adolescents. We define emotional consequences as negative feelings listed as, or derived from, one of the six basic emotions posited by Ekman and Friesen (1971). We begin by clarifying the definition of cyberbullying, followed by a discussion of three theories, which help support our understanding of the antecedent and emotional outcomes of cyberbullying among children and adolescents. First, we present Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behavior, followed by Agnew’s (1992) general strain theory, and finally Andersson and Pearson’s (1999) “tit-for-tat” theory. Last, we present intervention strategies and future research directions.