RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Boni Avenue., Mandaluyong City

Graduate School

The Prevalence of Cyberbullying

and the Coping Mechanisms of
Elementary Pupils

JIMENEZ, SIENA ANNE MARRI S.

LECTURER: DR. SUSAN F. SORIANO

SUBJECT: EDUC205 – ADVANCED EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

 RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Boni Avenue., Mandaluyong City
Graduate School

TABLE OF CONTENT

Pages

I. Title 1

II. Table of Content 2

III. Introduction 3

IV. Review of Related Literature and Studies

Bullying 5

Effect of Bullying 6

Types of Bullying 7

Cyberbullying 8

Effects of Cyberbullying 11

Coping Mechanism toward Cyberbullying 14

Relationship between Cyberbullying and Coping Mechanisms 16

V. Theoretical Framework 19

VI. Conclusion 19

VII. References 20

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Introduction

Cyberbullying is one of the major problems that young teens and adults are facing

today. Cyberbullying can happen at any moment because of the easy access to internet.

Adverse effects of cyberbullying have great implications to children most especially in the

ways children cope with them.

Cyberbullying is a relatively new form of bullying, this bullying is committed by

means of an electronic act, the transmission of a communication by message, text, sound,

or image by means of an electronic device, including but limited to, a computer phone,

wireless telephone, or other wireless communication device, computer, games console

or pager. Remond et. Al, describe cyberbullying as deliberately threatening, harassing,

intimidating, or ridiculing an individual or group of individuals; placing an individual in

reasonable fear of harm; posting sensitive, private information about another person

without their permission; breaking into another person's account and/or assuming another

individual's identity in order to damage that person's reputation or friendships. (2014)

On September 12, 2013 the former President Benigno Aquino III signed Republic

Act No. 10627, entitled “An Act Requiring All Elementary and Secondary Schools to Adopt

Policies to Prevent and Address the Acts of Bullying in Their Institutions” also known as

the “Anti-Bullying Act of 2013”. According to the law all elementary and secondary schools

are require to adopt policies to address the existence of bullying in their respective

institutions. The policies shall be regularly updated and must include certain provisions

as a minimum. One such provision is a prohibition on bullying in both school premises

and in non-school-related locations, if the act/s in question create a hostile environment

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at school for the victim, infringe on his rights or disrupt the educational process. A

provision prohibiting retaliation against those who report bullying and through a system

of anonymously reporting bullying acts is also required.

The schools are mandated by the law to identify the range of disciplinary

administrative actions that may be taken against a bully which should correspond to the

gravity of his offense. Clear procedures are also mandatory for: reporting acts of bullying

or retaliation; responding promptly to and investigating reports of bullying or retaliation;

restoring a sense of safety for a victim and assessing the student’s need for protection;

protecting from bullying or retaliation of a person who reports acts of bullying and

providing counselling or referral to appropriate services for perpetrators, victims and

appropriate family members these students. (Marasigan, 2014)

Cyberbullying would refer to acts of cruelty commit by using the Internet or any

form of electronic media or technology that has the effect of stripping one’s dignity or

causing reasonable fear or physical or emotional harm. Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando

Andaya Jr., propose a bill at the House of Representatives defining cyberbullying or the

act of posting rude, offensive or insulting messages against the victim on the internet.

House Bill 5718 or the proposed Anti-Cyberbullying Act of 2015, cyberbullies shall face a

penalty of fines ranging from P50, 000 to 100, 000, or imprisonment between six months

and six years, or both, at the discretion of the court. (Yap, 2015)

Educational Psychologist, Dr. Conor McGuckin warns that we must begin to

prepare for future challenges of cyberbullying including an age where robotics and

artificial intelligence will be the norm. He also states that “The speed of escalation

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regarding cyberbullying is frightening. They, and we, still have huge challenges ahead

with the daily developments in robotics and artificial intelligence. We are concerned about

this – the reality that the bullies could be a mixture of both children and robotic / AI devices.

Parents and adults do have the personal resources to help. It just takes a bit of

confidence. Schools and teachers are doing a phenomenal job – they need the rest of us

adults to help build an ethical and moral society that will be fun and engaging for our

children. (Lochlainn, 2017)”

In this study, the researchers will determine the prevalence of cyberbullying among

elementary pupils. Their coping mechanisms will also be explored. The study will

promote awareness on cyberbullying of elementary pupils among teachers, parents and

the community to halt its increasing prevalence.

Review Related Literature and Studies

Bullying

Bullying is prevalent in the society especially now that technology become part of

the day to day living of the people. The number of internet users increases from 1999 to

2013 because internet user can be of any age (internet live stats, 2016). Thus, create

another form of bullying which is cyberbullying.

Children are one of the most important part of the society. Hence, the society

makes laws that would protect the children’s well-being. DepEd Order No. 40, s. 2012

also known as DepEd Child Protection Policy is one of the policies that the Department

of Education issued to protect children in school from abuse, violence, exploitation,

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discrimination, bullying and other forms of abuse. However, it is amended by another

order which is the DepEd Order No. 55 s. 2013. This order is all about the implementation

of rules and regulation of the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 where it covers not only the public

and private elementary and secondary school but also the kindergarten and learning

centers.

Nowadays, the children get updates from the internet about news, other current

events and mostly their assignments. The Department of Education creates a

memorandum that would protect the child from cyberbullying and potential risks of using

the internet. In line with the DepEd’s Child Protection Policy (DepEd Order No. 40, s.

2012) and the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Anti-Bullying (DepEd Order

No. 55, s. 2013), the DepEd Memorandum No. 94, s. 2016 otherwise known as Promotion

of Online Child Protection and Prevention of Cyberbullying is a project that produced

different CyberSafe Online Lesson Plans for grades five and six and the junior high school

to prevent and protect the child from bullying.

Effects of Bullying

Bullying is an everlasting problem in the lives of school kids. It is a problem that

affects all students, the person who bully, those who are victims, and the persons who

witnesses to interpersonal violence. Bullying may include verbal and physical assaults,

threats, ‘jokes’ or language, mockery and criticizing , insulting behavior and facial

expressions. These factors work individually, or collectively, to contribute to a child’s

likelihood of bullying. Bullying is difficult to eradicate in schools because it is so often

effectively used by students. Teachers as professionals have to deal with the

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consequences of pupil-on-pupil bullying. The impact of prejudice-related bullying should

not be underestimated. Bullying must be recognized, understood and taken seriously. (A.

Jan; S. Husain, 2015)

In the book Fight the Bully Battle: A Guidebook in Establishing Anti-Bullying

Programs in Schools by Marylendra Penetrante (2009), said that victims of bullying by

their peers suffers from psychological maladjustment, stress, and sleep disturbance

which cause them to performed poorly in school. Victims also avoid in engaging with the

bullies by not attending the class; the long-term consequences of repeated victimization

may result to low-esteem therefore some students don’t want to take part in school

discussions and activities. She also said that bullying has its specific effects not just on

the victim but also with the bully. Those students who bully other students experience

behavioral consequences, and it includes lower grades, some also experience anti-social

behaviors while other get to the point of using drugs, alcohol and tobacco, due to that

they don’t fear adults and they have oppositional behavior and defiance of authorities.

Children who are bullied can experience negative physical, school and mental

issues. They may experience, depression and anxiety, increased feeling of sadness and

loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns, and loss of activities they used to enjoy.

Types of Bullying

Based from NoBullying.com (2016), Physical Bullying is a harassment such as

name-calling or stalking and more violent behavior like physical abuse, hitting or

intimidating.

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Verbal Bullying is using words in a negative way to insults, teases and put down

someone to gain power over their life (NoBullying.com, 2014). This type of bullying is very

common in elementary in high school. Like for example, some may not notice that teasing

comment about someone’s physical appearance is also a form of verbal bullying.

However, there are other people whose true purpose is to inflict pain through their words.

Peters also said that it is hard to catch verbal bullies in the act because they are careful

in insulting other kids in front of other adult.

Most victims of physical bullying are anyone who doesn’t fit in in terms of size,

personality weakness, different racial group, poverty and being brainy (Peters, 2013).

According to Joanne Peters (2013), there four main types of bullying: verbal

bullying, physical bullying, social bullying and cyberbullying. All of these intend to hurt,

scare or humiliate and control someone which they can easily dominate.

Spreading malicious rumors, gossiping and out casting someone out of the group

are one of the typical form of social bullying. This kind of bullying is common among

teenagers, most especially teenage girls. Usually, those people with strong social skills

are likely to be involve in social bullying because they have the power to manipulate the

crowd and outcast someone.

Lastly, Cyberbullying is meant to harm someone’s social reputation, humiliate them

or scare them through sending or posting hurtful, embarrassing or threatening text or

images on the internet or through cell phones or other digital communication devices.

Most victims of cyberbullying are not aware that they are being targeted unless they are

able to see the post or text uploaded in the internet. Spreading the rumors and gossips

are easier with the use of internet than words of mouth because most of the people can

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access the internet and can go viral. Cyberbullying may be consider as the most

dangerous type of bullying for young people to experience (Peters, 2013).

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying comes in many forms, but the common element is the use of

technology like the internet and cell phones to harass a victim. The Cyberbullying

Research Center defines the phenomenon as, “willful and repeated harm inflicted through

the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices.” Cyberbullying can range

from small-scale name-calling via social networking sites to persistent threatening text

messages to unauthorized posting of personal pictures or videos to public websites.

Cyberbullies may create fake profiles on sites like Facebook to taunt their victims. They

may, for example, use a peer’s real name for the page and then post embarrassing photos

and demeaning comments. Victims may receive a barrage of anonymous calls, texts,

emails, or instant messages with hateful content without knowing who is behind them or

what triggered them. (2016, Delete Cyberbullying)

According to GMA News (2016) that eighty percent of teenagers aged 13 to 16

have been cyberbullied through social media. On National Capital Region and other

regions such as; Silang, Cavite; Zamboanga Sibugay; Bayawan City, and Bacolod City;

Negros; Cebu City and Tiu, Batangas that there are 1,268 school children aged 7 to 12

years old and 1, 143 aged 13 to 16 were the children surveyed about cyberbullying. In

their findings, 80 percent of teenagers are cyberbullied through social media, 60 percent

of 7 to 12 years old also suffer the same abuse. The survey of Stairway Foundation Inc.

on 2015 that 30 percent of children aged 7 to 12 years old and 13 to 16 were aware of

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peers who endured cyberbullying. The researchers of American Academy of Pediatrics

(2012) found that 32 percent of teens have been targeted of range of annoying of

potentially threat online activities. 38 percent of the online female report being bullied,

compared to 26 percent of online male.

Primary forms of cyberbullying according to Singer, (as cited in Louie, 2016) are

belittling in which publicly posting insulting and hurtful statements about another person

online, using one’s own social media account, impersonation or hacking into another

person’s account and posting offensive, embarrassing, or insulting content.

Impersonation can also involve someone taking over another person’s account and using

it to cyberbully other individuals, flaming in which engaging in an online fight over social

media, outing or trickery in obtaining and then disclosing private information about an

individual in order to humiliate them and cyberstalking which is repeatedly sending

humiliating, intimidating, threatening, or otherwise cruel messages to someone else

online or through text.

In the study of Yuksel Eroglu et. al., (2015), The Investigation of Prevalence and

Risk Factors Associated with Cyberbullying and Victimization their result shows that those

children with monthly family income below 2000 Turkish Lira or 26,655 are more likely to

experienced cyberbullying than those children whose family income is below 2000

Turkish Lira or 26,655 Philippine peso.

According to Katz, (as cited in O’Mahony, 2012) that cyberbullying can take the

form of sending nasty, mean or threatening messages, emails, photos or video clips;

silent phone calls; putting up nasty posts or pictures on a message board, website or chat

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room; saying hurtful things in a chat room; pretending to be someone else in a chat room

or message board or text message and saying hurtful things; or accessing someone’s

accounts to make trouble for them. Some instances of cyberbullying can be unintentional.

They can be the result of not thinking or a lack of awareness of the consequences.

According to Ericson, (as cited in Donegan, 2001) offenders were likely to used

bullying tactics as an outlet for other insecurities or problems in their lives. The usage of

bullying as a coping mechanism contributes to the cyclical nature that the process clearly

shown that the victims and offenders are alike. Not only do these flawed coping

mechanisms fail to resolve the emotional distress caused by bullying, they also expand

the overall problem of deviant behavior.

Effects of Cyberbullying

According to American Osteopathic Association, the negative effects of

cyberbullying often go unnoticed, as many victims feel the need to conceal the fact that

they are being bullied because they are embarrassed and afraid of further bullying. The

victims responds passively to bullying, and they are more anxious and their confidence

decrease. They also isolate themselves in the class, as a result bullying become

hindrance on their academic success and if this issue left unattended, there will be a

significant hurdle in a child’s development (2016).

In the study of DePaolis (2014), it said that cyber victimization has focused on

youth grade 5 to grade 12, and some negative psychosocial difficulties have been

correlated with cyberbullying such as lower self-esteem, higher levels of depression,

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social anxiety, and academic problems. Mostly of the youth who are being cyber-bullied

often feel emotionally distressed, afraid, and angry towards the cyber-bully (Ybarra et al.

2006). The impact of cyberbullying may depend on how long, how often, and the severity

of bullying incidents. In some studies, it shown that the greater the severity of bullying,

the greater the victims will experience mental health and social problems (Tokunaga,

2010). The higher levels of cyberbullying were related to higher levels of depressive

effects, and majority of the victims feels sadness, hopelessness, and powerlessness

(Perren et al, 2010). In Finkelhor et al. study, cyberbullying is classified as a stressor. For

example in the study they conducted, 32% of the victims experienced at least one

symptom of stress (2000), and victims of online harassment have higher rates of

traumatic experiences (Mitchell, Finkelhor & Jones et al. 2011).

Cyberbullying is related to disruptions in relationships, because victims of

cyberbullying are reported more isolated from their parents and peers (Brighi et al, 2012).

In some surveyed conducted victims of cyberbullying have fewer friendships and more

emotional and peer relationship problems, lower school attachments and more empathy.

It also shown that victims of cyberbullying were more likely to lose trust in to other,

experienced increase social anxiety, and decrease level of self-esteem (Nixon, 2014).

In the study conducted by Kowalski and Limber (2013), they found out that those

youth who were both victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying experienced more severe

forms of psychological concern like anxiety, depression and suicidal behavior, they also

experience physical health concerns, for example sleeping problems, headache, and

poor appetite.

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Cyberbullying is becoming a major issue that has gotten increased attention, and

the number victims are raising and like all forms of bullying, cyberbullying have effects to

the victims. Some study indicates that the harm caused by bullying, whether physical or

psychological, has many possible future effect and can result in a snowball effect of

lasting painful emotions and negative impacts (Donegan, 2012).

According to Thornton, the effects of cyberbullying is similar to physical bullying

because it has the same possibility to ruin a child’s life by damaging their self-esteem,

increased anxiety and major depression, she also believed that bullying make a child to

feel lonely, afraid, angry, and physically ill (2007). Bullying also create a life time self-

doubt and self-worth issues that hinders the victims potential, productivity, and emotional

well-being (Campbell, 2005). In terms of academic achievements, bullying creates

underachievers because victims of bullying often suffer from absenteeism due to dislike

for school, increases of tardiness, and school dropout. Bullying behavior can also cause

antisocial behavior by victims. (Lightburn, 2009).

In other studies, it shows that bully victims felt vengeful, angry, and felt helpless

(Hinduja & Patchin, 2009). Also in the study conducted by Cyberbullying Research

Center, involving a sample size of 468 students revealed that females are more

emotionally affected compared to males. In the study, females are more frustrated, angry,

and sad than males’ respondents (2009). The utmost effect of bullying are suicidal

thoughts or thoughts of revenge, according to Rigby and Slee (1999), youth who are

bullied or bully others, are at a higher risk of suicidal thoughts, attempts, and complete

suicides. Also statistically, both victims of cyberbullying and the offenders proved to be

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much more likely to have attempted to suicide, than youth who had not been affected

(Donegan, 2012).

Coping Mechanism Toward Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying can produce a number of negative, stressful, even traumatic feelings

which often bring about intense impacts on the well-being and other behaviour of the

victims.

Combating cyber bullying covers a wide scale of coping strategies that victims of

cyber bullying. They range from technical solutions, confronting a bully including

retaliation and avoidant strategies through seeking instrumental support (Perren et al.,

2012b). In addition to (or instead of) problem-oriented coping strategies, victims may use

emotion-focussed coping strategies which buffer the negative impact as they reduce

strong negative emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, helpless or guilt and other

internalizing difficulties (Völlink, Bolman, Dehue, & Jacobs, 2013). Seeking support has

been generally found to be a very helpful strategy irrespective of the people whom victims

confide in. To buffer the negative impacts of cyber bullying victims have been found to

seek emotional support, blame themselves or use other unhealthy coping strategies.

Machmutow and colleagues (2012) provide sufficient evidence that seeking support from

peers and parents is also effective in buffering depressive symptoms that cybervictims

report. However, seeking support needs to be a part of the repertoire of coping strategies

that individuals use when facing different stressful situations. Apart from internalizing

difficulties, some cybervictims also incline to externalizing behaviours such as drinking

alcohol (26%) and smoking cigarettes (23%) (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004). Therefore, Völlink

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and colleagues (2013) stress the need for training children to employ more effective

coping strategies which, in addition, should be followed by supportive and close

relationships within peer groups and family. As far as victims' coping strategies are

concerned, the literature offers evidence on a range of solutions employed by victims to

combat cyberbullying, such as technical solutions, retaliation or confronting a cyberbully,

seeking support, ignoring, and buffering the negative impact. The available evidence

informs us about the effectiveness of such coping strategies and paves the way for

examining new, emerging means to combat cyberbullying, and for assessing associated

challenges.

Research evidence indicates that children and young people who are already

vulnerable in some way are likely to need support in building up the personal resilience

necessary for coping with being bullied by their peers (Frydenberg et al., 2004). Parents

and educators need to be sensitive to the young person’s feelings of being trapped in a

downward spiral in which low self-esteem and interpersonal difficulties can undermine the

ability to defend oneself against social exclusion, rejection and intimidation. One outcome

is likely to be that the bullied student comes to expect negative treatment from the peer

group. Behaviour that more resilient students might brush off is therefore experienced

even more negatively leading to further victimization, and so the cycle continues (Escobar

et al, 2011).

The coping strategy have been divided by two branches of category. One model

was the transactional model (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and the approach- avoidance

model (Roth & Cohen, 1986). These two model were the most notable coping models. In

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the transactional model, coping was focused on problem and emotion while the approach-

avoidance model was more on the strategies of coping which focus on either approach

or avoidance. Both models provide solution to a problem or situation that an individual

may experience. In using these kind of models, individuals’ resources must be put into

consideration. In transactional model, since it focused on problem and emotion the model

has a process, the primary and secondary appraisal. The primary mode was focused on

whether the situation was a threat and the secondary mode was choosing a particular

coping strategies that were appropriate to the situation.

If the individual has a resources for coping with the situation, they can choose

between the approach mode which focuses on the direct solution to the problem and the

avoidance mode. This model can relate to cyberbullying like leaving a website, deleting

the message or deactivating an account. There were times that coping strategies may fall

into two categories at the same time. Because of that Skinner, Edge, Altman and

Sherwood (2003) suggested to put these models into arrangement of coping strategies.

Relationship between Cyberbullying and Coping Mechanisms

Kaiser Family Foundation Study (2016) also found that the time spent at social

networking sites accounts for almost an hour each day, while sending and receiving text

messages on cell phones accounts for approximately an hour and a half each day. Due

to the increase in adolescents who own cell phones and have access to the internet, the

opportunity to cyberbully or be the victim of a cyberbullying event has increased.

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According to Judy Monroe Peterson, author of How to beat Cyberbullying (2013).

The result reveled two primary coping strategies as follows: first, the Reactive coping

strategies include avoiding the cyberbullying situation by deleting or ignoring messages.

Second, the Preventive coping strategies include talk in person and increase security and

awareness (2013). In this insight, it is refers to strategies were interpret in terms of coping

and findings suggestion need for a victims of cyberbullying.

Some of the coping strategies that are available for victims of traditional bullying

are clearly not available to cyberbullying victims, and vice versa. For example, the victim

of traditional bullying, who encounters the aggressor face-to-face, can try to physically

escape or stand up to the bully. While cyber victims cannot employ these strategies, there

are technical solutions available to them that are not available to victims of traditional

bullying, such as blocking the aggressor’s account, reporting the incident to the

administrator of a website, and other cyberspace-specific coping strategies (Perren et al.,

2012).

Studies that deal directly with coping strategies build their schematic distribution

differently. Parris et al. (2011) carried out qualitative ethnographic research into the

coping strategies applied directly to cyberbullying among high-school students. They

devised categories which characterize the coping strategies used in the context of

reactions to cyberbullying. They divided the coping strategies of the respondents in terms

of reactive and preventive coping. Reactive coping included avoiding, accepting,

justification, and seeking social support. Preventive coping (strategies aimed at

preventing or reducing the probability of the incidence of cyberbullying) included talking

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in person (face-to-face contact in order to prevent misunderstanding), increased security

and awareness, and also a category "no way to prevent cyberbullying occurred as a

representation of helplessness regarding prevention.

The extensive range for reported prevalence rates is likely due to differences in

how the researchers are conceptualizing the construct “cyberbullying”, and also the

method with which the researchers are selecting their sample and measuring

cyberbullying incidences. Despite the wide range in prevalence rates, these results

suggest that numerous adolescents are being victimized after school at home and on the

weekends (Dehue, Bolman, & Völlink, 2008).

However, what may be most interesting is that 35% of the sample of reported being

“not bothered” by the cyberbullying that they endured. The phenomenon of adolescents

not being affected by cyberbullying has been reported in other studies, but it is still unclear

why some students report being unaffected while others report suffering negative

outcomes. It is possible that students who do not suffer negative outcomes possess

coping strategies that are adaptive for dealing with coping with cyberbullying. (e.g.,

Raskauskas & Stoltz, 2007)

In some studies of researchers, it is said that the efficient of coping strategies lies

on the capacity to reduce immediate stress as well as to prevent its long-term

consequences, such as, influences on psychical well-being, or the development of an

illness. The effectiveness of coping strategies may appear different to the victims than to

those observing and evaluating (Synder,1999). In this insight, victims of cyberbullying

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develop coping strategies to have behavioral changes in cyberspace and also this

strategies took several forms when dealing with this stressful situation.

Theoretical Framework

This research aims to know the prevalence of cyberbullying and the coping

mechanism of elementary pupils.

According to the social learning theory of Albert Bandura, people learn from the

people around him/her by observing, imitating and modelling. In the book of

Developmental Psychology Revisiting the Classic Studies, environment factors contribute

to the development of aggression that some bullies learn inappropriate actions from the

people in his or her environment (Slater & Quinn, 2012). They taught that what they have

observe was right and acceptable because the person who modelled it was an adult who

is more knowledgeable than them. In social media, 66 % of teens are reported to have

witness online cruelty as well as witnessing other joining in the harassment (PSYCH 424

blog, 2014). This may be a factor for teens or pupils to imitate what they see and observe

from the internet and harm their peers through social media or any other technological

devices.

Conclusion

Nowadays, teen are actively posting, liking, commenting and tweeting all across

Social Media and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. As part of the new millennium

we do agree that cyberspace truly help us in every aspect of our lives now. Some studies

shows that the use of cyber network helps both the teacher and pupils. For example,

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social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube brings additional voices

to the classroom to help stimulate engagement, discussion, and understanding. However,

threatening, harassing, intimidating, or ridiculing an individual or group of individuals still

exists and much worse compared to the traditional, because we don’t know who they are

dealing with. Also, researchers found out the some elementary pupils experienced

receiving unwanted messages and calls, name calling, and abusive comments in the

social media platform. Worst part is the way pupil cope with this kind of experience is

through ignoring and avoiding. The study also find out that there is a significant

relationship between the select indicators of prevalence of cyberbullying such as time

spent online and the coping mechanism of the elementary pupils.

Pupils should be aware of how prevalent cyberbullying is and what could be the

indicators that they are already experiencing cyberbullying and even witnessing

cyberbullying in order to quickly address the situation. The teachers should be updated

and well informed of the signs of cyberbullying so that they can provide a possible

solutions to cyberbullying among their pupils.

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Boni Avenue., Mandaluyong City
Graduate School

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