An Investigation of Cyberbullying and Its impact on Adolescents’ Mental Health in the UK

Furthermore, Wachs et al. (2017) differentiate cyberbullying from traditional bullying because the latter is more isolated, whereas cyberbullying, in a sense, is more public. The study of Del Rey et al. (2016) explains traditional bullying does not facilitate the path of the incident becoming popular. Still, cyberbullying can cause the incident to go viral over the internet, ruining the individual's life completely. Hence, in light of the previous statement, Graham and Wood Jr (2019) elucidate that although individuals can be hostile both offline and online, the major difference between the two bullying methods is that information, videos or pictures can be easily shared on the internet, which could potentially create a chain reaction of sharing the post consecutively to the whole world.

• Factors for Cyberbullying Involvement Effecting the Mental Health of Adolescents

Machackova and Görzig (2015) state that involvement in cyberbullying involves vulnerable groups such as individuals having psychological difficulties, being a girl and social disadvantages in the UK. Moreover, resilience factors were identified as self-efficacy, sensation seeking, lack of social support and internet use. Further, cultural factors such as crime rates and attitudes towards equality were identified. While through a broad perspective, three categories of factors of involvement in cyberbullying that affect mental health are individual, social and cultural factors (Machackova and Görzig, 2015). Additionally, individual-level factors include demographic variables (ethnicity, gender and age), psychological variables (self-efficacy, sensation seeking, psychological difficulties and ostracism, internet activities) and usage variables (online activities, excessive internet usage and online persona).

Moreover, other important one include internet skills variables (receiving and sending sexual messages, digital skills, meeting new online contacts, personal data misuse and seeing sexual pictures) and offline variables (missing school, getting in school trouble or with the police, and getting drunk) (Machackova and Görzig, 2015). Social factors include: being a member of a discriminative group, having socio-economic status, and being considered to have a disability such as mental, physical or learning. Moreover, parental factors were also identified (Machackova and Görzig, 2015). For example, according to Cowie (2013), UK college students had more anxiety, depression, paranoia or phobic anxiety, affecting their mental health due to being involved in cyberbullying. Moreover, these students said they do online bullying because they feel isolated, unsupported by teachers and parents, and sometimes unsafe emotionally at home and school.

In the study of Li (2010), in the UK, 45% reported that various factors cause involvement in cyberbullying: feeling insecure, jealous, angry having family issues. 64% reported that they do it for “fun”, and 1 in 5 people perceive bullying as an act of being “cool”. For example, students in the UK who were involved in cyberbullying had fewer friends, were mostly pessimistic, and had lower social acceptance. One of these students said that he bullies other people online, which means nothing to him (Betts, Spenser and Gardner, 2017).

In demographic factors, 6% of participants reported being a victim of cyberbullying, while 3% reported that they had bullied other people due to age or gender. In offline bullying, 56% reported that they bullied other people face to face, while 55% reported that they bullied others online (Machackova and Görzig, 2015). Moreover, almost 60% reported being bullied by others either offline or online. Individuals who bullied others were themselves bullied, and the ratio was found to be 10% (Machackova and Görzig, 2015). In social factors, 6% of adolescents and parents reported online bullying of the youth. Of those adolescents who were bullied online, 29% of their parents knew about their online bullying, 56% of parents stated that their kids were not bullied online 15% reported that they did not know or doubt it, and 8% of parents of non-victimised adolescents indicated that their kids had been bullied online (Machackova and Görzig, 2015).

According to Gaffney and Farrington (2018), the factors for cyberbullying involvement are psychological and cognitive factors, including loneliness and low self-esteem in the UK. Similarly, Shin and Ahn (2015) added that psychology, school, demographic and media-related factors affect adolescents' involvement in cyberbullying. Bevilacqua et al. (2017) state that factors associated with an individual, such as ethnicity, family composition, gender and SES, relate to cyberbullying outcomes and affect the mental health of youth in the UK. School-level factors were also identified. 10% interaction was found between all school-level and individual-level factors (Bevilacqua et al., 2017).

(Bevilacqua et al., 2017)

Hellfeldt, López-Romero and Andershed (2020) have identified the lack of social support as a cause of cyberbullying involvement and affects the mental health of young adolescents in the UK. Moreover, factors related to involvement in cyberbullying in the UK are recognised at levels of the socio-ecological system: cultural, individual levels, and social environment. The statistics are shown below:

 (Hellfeldt, López-Romero and Andershed, 2020)

• The Impact and Emotional and Social Consequences of Cyberbullying and Its Relative Effects on Mental Health

The research of Routledge. Heiman, Olenik-Shemesh and Eden (2015) contemplated that involvement in cyberbullying negatively impacts the mental health of adolescents in the UK. A similar author elaborated that one of the major impacts of cyberbullying involvement on adolescents' mental health is suicidal tendencies; victims of cyberbullying consider it as mental torture (Routledge Heiman, Olenik-Shemesh and Eden, 2015). At the same time, the research of Nixon (2014) indicated that the effect of cyberbullying involvement on adolescents' mental health in the UK has resulted in poor academic performance. In the study of Hamm et al. 2015,  the author provided a good example of one of the respondents in the UK who indicated that he began to face the issue of anxiety and depression after getting involved in cyberbullying because he has a fear of being caught and getting a lawsuit. The study by Gualdo et al. (2015) experimented to determine the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent mental health. Within their selected participants, they found that 86% per cent had access to the internet via their cell phones, while the rest used the internet on their PC and only for a short amount of time. According to a study by Navarro et al. (2015), the perpetrators who indulge in the habit of cyberbullying cosset themselves with increased substance use, higher levels of aggression and aberrant behaviours. Furthermore, there is a variance in cyberbullying prevalence rate ranging from 4% to 72%, with average reports of victims ranging from 20% to 40% in adolescents (Albdour et al., 2019). Based on the above discussion, the following hypothesis can be devised;

According to the study by Muhonen, Jönsson and Bäckström (2017), cyberbullying is one of the major threats that can affect an individual's mental health. A similar author elaborated that cyberbullying makes a victim feel humiliated due to a person's mental health, such as losing confidence (Muhonen, Jönsson and Bäckström, 2017). Similarly, the studies of Gualdo et al. (2018); and Meter and Bauman (2018) asserted that the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent mental health in the UK had restricted teens from participating in co-curricular activities such as sports, debates and other activities. Furthermore, the studies of Fahy et al. (2016) presented the following figure to highlight the prevalence of cyberbullying in the UK. Additionally, the research of Miller (2016) contemplated that cyberbullying has been a primary cause of making an individual vulnerable, consequently affecting their self-esteem.

Furthermore, the studies of Mishna et al. (2016); and Menesini and Spiel (2013) stated that cyberbullying results in making victims hopeless towards life; the victims begin to find their lives meaningless as the incident of cyberbullying has negatively affected their mental health. Similarly, the studies of Miller (2016) highlighted that cyberbullying results in harmful mental diseases such as depression and anxiety, due to which the victim loses their self-confidence. However, the research of Menesini and Spiel (2012) indicated that cyberbullying is one of the reasons that inclines a victim towards suicide as such event leads to extensive tormenting from peers and fellows via text messages and social media platforms.

Cyberbullying (McCarthy, 2018)

The above figure illustrates the prevalence of cyberbullying across the globe to support the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent mental health in the UK. The figure presented that 17% of children across the UK experienced cyberbullying in the year 2018 and shared it with their parents (McCarthy, 2018). In addition, the studies of Nixon (2014) contemplated that the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent mental health in the UK has prevented individuals from going to school due to stress from the event. However, the studies of Fahy et al. (2016) identified that cyberbullying involvement could affect adolescents' mental health by inclining them to commit violence as revenge for the cyberbullying event. Also, the study of Meter and Bauman (2018) indicated that self-harm is one of the major impacts of cyberbullying on the mental health of children in the UK. A similar author added that the young victims of cyberbullying face extensive mental pressure from society and friends after the event, which results in self-harming behaviour such as bruising themselves with unkind words or self-harming physically (Meter and Bauman, 2018).

Consequences Experienced By Young Victims of Cyber Bullying (Statista. 2015)

The above figure highlights the consequences of cyberbullying faced by young victims. The statistics revealed that approximately 42% of individuals become dissocialised, 39% lose self-esteem, 37% avoid meeting people, and 34% cry due to cyberbullying (Statista. 2015). The above-indicated consequences can be evaluated as an effect on mental health due to the event of cyberbullying among young individuals.

The study of Muhonen, Jönsson and Bäckström (2017) identified that cyberbullying makes an individual feel ill and withdraw their focus on other elements of their life such as well-being, education and healthcare. Furthermore, the studies of Menesini and Spiel (2013); and Pingault and Schoeler (2017) stated that cyberbullying makes the victims angry and vengeful, due to which they get involved in unethical activities such as crimes and threats to take revenge. According to Spears et al. (2015), cyberbullying has many adverse consequences on the victim that could continue for a longer period than what is attributable to the involvement of traditional bullying. The study of Sampasa-Kanyinga and Hamilton (2015) explains that there is plausible evidence that cyberbullying adversely affects mental health. For instance, loneliness, depression and social anxiety have been identified as common risk factors in victims.

Another relative mental effect of cyberbullying found by Wachs et al. (2016) study is the effect of anxiety and depression. Since in cyberbullying, the interactions are not occurring in the real world, and these interactions are through the internet, offenders tend to say things that they would not be able to communicate face-to-face under normal circumstances. This leads them to social anxiety and depression, and since this information is on the internet, they can't delete it (Brewer and Kerslake, 2015) completely. Furthermore, Varghese and Pistole (2017) elucidate that 58% of adolescents in the UK suffer from social anxiety when cyberbullied, and nearly 53% have increased levels of depression and develop mild social passive-aggressive behaviour. Such adverse mental effects of cyberbullying are long-lasting and leave a permanent impression on their lives. Due to these factors, they are still unable to live normally even after the bullying has stopped (Wolke, Lee and Guy, 2017). In the study of Zezulka and Seigfried-Spellar (2016), the author explains that the Pew Research Centre conducted a survey in the USA, and the results showed that nearly 75% of teenagers and adults have witnessed cyberbullying. More than 40% have themselves become victims.

Emotional Consequences

By the study of Selkie et al. (2015), many studies present a positive relationship between cyberbullying and the occurrence of emotional and behavioural problems in individuals, especially adolescents. Additionally, Kim et al. (2018) explain that the consequence of both traditional bullying and cyberbullying is more severe in individuals who experience both types of bullying simultaneously. In other words, they are being harassed physically and through cyberspace. The consequence of cyberbullying and its relative effect on mental health has a positive relationship, as explained by Miller (2016). Moreover, victims perceive behavioural and emotional problems, reduced self-respect, and increased substance use. According to the study of Giumetti and Kowalski (2016), the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent mental health is more severe if they have already been emotionally abused due to other circumstances and not bullying.

Social Consequences

The findings of the study of Palermiti et al. (2017) depict that cyberbullying has a significant association with the reduction of self-confidence in the victim. Along with lower levels of confidence, victims of cyberbullying try to exclude themselves from others, meaning they prefer loneliness rather than socialising with others (Extremera et al., 2018). Along with the mental health effects of loneliness, depression and social anxiety, cyberbullying is also associated with reduced self-confidence, making it difficult for the victims to interact with other people in their lives and make new friends (Mishna et al., 2016). Moreover, the factor of loneliness is associated with the victim when the perpetrator successfully manages to bully them through cyberspace and ensures that the victim is also being rejected in their social gathering (Hamm et al., 2015). Further in their research, the cyberbullied victims reported that they were being bullied on multiple social platforms and received personal messages on their number that included derogatory sentences. Many of these participants reported that they were unaware of their perpetrator and constantly feared something happening to them, so they reduced all contact with their social group (Gualdo et al. 2015). The research of Pingault and Schoeler (2017) contemplated that cyberbullying frequently forces an individual to go in isolation and that negatives harm a person's mental health as their social need do not get fulfilled.

HO: There is no significant impact of cyberbullying involvement on adolescents' mental health.

H1: There is a significant impact of cyberbullying involvement on adolescents' mental health.

Conclusion

The emerging form of bullying and threatening is cyberbullying, in which the electronic means the victim is harmed and he is not even aware of the perpetrator. The difference is also identified from the research findings that traditional bullying is more isolated. In contrast, the sense of cyberbullying is more public as cyberbullying incident goes viral and ruin the life of a person at the next level than bullying because of the sharing of personal information, videos or pictures publically.

Further, the research explored the factors associated with cyber-involvement, such as permeability, publicity, and permanence of online messaging, which is a significant reason for cyberbullying and affects adolescents' mental health. In addition, the factor of loneliness in the victim makes the perpetrator significantly involved in bullying through cyber-space. Additionally, factors related to cyberbullying involvement in the UK are analysed at different levels of the socio-ecological system: cultural, social environment and individual levels.

The impact of cyberbullying on adolescent mental health was also the research's major objective to investigate. The research evaluated that if the adolescents have already been suffering from severe emotional abuse, they are more about the mental health problems caused by cyberbullying and most likely to have increased levels of extreme anger, dissociation, and depression. The negative consequences of cyberbullying that affect mental health are investigated as a reduction in self-confidence, difficulty in socialising, and loss of meaning in life. Moreover, these consequences cause some mental health effects of cyberbullying on adolescents, such as loneliness, depression and social anxiety. Additionally, cyberbullying is mostly from anonymous perpetrators. This fear of the unknown harming an individual hugely impacts adolescents' mental health, and the rates of substance use and suicides become prevalent. Therefore the hypothesis for the research proved to be true that cyberbullying involvement has a significant impact on adolescents' mental health.

Cyberbullying has become a serious threat to adolescents in the last decade and has become a major concern of researchers investigating the overall effects and impact of cyberbullying on young people. Therefore, this study has analysed the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent mental health and investigated the effects and negative consequences of cyberbullying. The research has highlighted the difference between traditional bullying and cyberbullying. It was explored that the increased cyberbullying significantly affects adolescents’ well-being, and its higher rates are growing psychological problems among young people, such as depression, anxiety, self-injurious behaviour and suicidal thoughts. Moreover, it proved a hypothesis made after evaluating the research objectives through secondary analysis that cyberbullying involvement significantly impacts adolescents' mental health. Further, it has been highlighted in the research that the role of parents and schools is essential in creating awareness regarding cyberbullying among adolescents to decrease its high rates. Technological changes can also be beneficial as a mitigation practice for cyberbullying.

Recommendations

Cyberbullying in the UK is prevailing, especially among adolescents and has adverse effects on the mental as well as physical health of adolescents. Therefore it is essential to raise awareness among healthcare professionals, educators, parents and, most importantly, adolescents related to the serious nature and impact of cyberbullying to reduce it. Following are a few recommendations for mitigating cyberbullying practices, especially from adolescents' perspective.

• Bullying mainly starts in school; therefore, there should be cyberbullying prevention and intervention programs at school targeting teenage students in particular. It can be done by addressing adolescents’ beliefs at both individual and classroom levels around cyberbullying. The student should also be trained in effective coping strategies for cyberbullying and its negative effects.
• Parents can play an effective role in preventing their children from being victims or perpetrators of cyberbullying by providing them with emotional support and awareness regarding the negative consequences of cyberbullying. Further, they can use some prevention efforts related to cyberbullying, such as enhancing their children’s self-esteem and empathy, promoting warmth, reducing their time spent online and nurturing their relationships with their children. Most adults are likely to hide their cyberbullying experiences from their parents. However, an effective connection and check on children by parents can reduce the impact of cyberbullying on adolescent mental health.
• The schools, districts, governments and legal institutions are recommended to introduce new laws addressing cyberbullying in specific and electronic harassment, which can surely be effective in reducing the risk of increased cyberbullying activities associated with social media. They should also create awareness among individuals that they should report these incidents without being threatened if they face cyberbullying.
• Some technological advancements can also help reduce cyberbullying, such as firewall blocking services, mobile parental control, online reporting facilities, slanderous email blocking, IP address tracking applications, online service rules, etc.

Future Implications

The current research has investigated cyberbullying involvement and its effects on adolescents' mental health in the UK. It has also evaluated the factors associated with it and the mental health problems faced by adolescents who suffer from cyberbullying. The current research benefits adolescents and youngsters as it can create awareness among them about the prevailing rates of cyberbullying. Further, the research has provided some useful recommendations that can help parents know that cyberbullying can be more adverse than traditional bullying and they might not even be aware if their children are suffering. The research has provided strategies for parents to support their children and teach them how to be secure from harmful acts of cyberbullying.

Moreover, this research is also helpful for the schools, government and communities to know the fact that the negative consequences of cyberbullying require strong implications for adolescents especially. Lastly, the current research is also beneficial for future researchers interested in investigating the related research area. The current research could be carried out using primary methods by collecting data through interviews or questionnaires to assess the individual experiences of cyberbullying and bullying. In future, the current study can be analysed with extended objectives, such as the difference between bullying and cyberbullying based on gender, cultural and social aspects.