Danger of cyberbullying and Internet dependence of teenagers: interrelations and properties

In: Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology, Heft 3, S. 64-72

Abstract

Cyberbullying is a form of violence through bullying, harassment, bullying, humiliation, intimidation carried out using the Internet, mobile phones and other electronic devices. Cyberbullying is very common in modern society and causes significant harm to its victims, negatively affecting their mental and physical health. The purpose of this study is to identify in the Russian-speaking society the connections and properties of insecurity from cyberbullying and Internet addiction. The article shows that vulnerability to cyberbullying of adolescents is positively associated with Internet addiction and negatively with life satisfaction, while in girls it is also positively associated with stress, anxiety and depression, a craving for smoking and negatively associated with self-efficacy in affairs. Internet addiction of adolescents is positively associated with anxiety, depression and stress and negatively with self-esteem, life satisfaction and self-efficacy in business relationships, and in girls – also with self-efficacy in interpersonal relationships. Internet addiction in girls is stronger than in young men associated with insecurity from cyberbullying, with stress, with a decrease in self-efficacy in business and in interpersonal relationships, therefore, for girls, Internet addiction and insecurity from cyberbullying is more likely than for boys, is fraught with negative consequences. The connection between academic performance and Internet addiction turned out to be statistically insignificant, which differs from the conclusions of a number of foreign psychologists who found that there is a negative correlation between Internet addiction and academic performance. A negative relationship between academic performance and smoking in girls and a positive relationship between academic performance and stress in boys and girls were revealed. Craving for smoking in girls positively correlates with stress. Most of the relationships established in this study in Russian-speaking society between insecurity from cyberbullying and Internet addiction on the one hand and anxiety, depression, stress, self-esteem, self-efficacy, life satisfaction, and craving for smoking are consonant with foreign results on the corresponding relationships of cyberbullying and Internet addiction.