Poster #221 - Dealing with Cyber Aggression: Effects Associated with Confiding in a Friend and/or an Adult

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

A growing body of research has documented the association of negative psychosocial functioning and being cyber victimized. It has become increasingly important to examine the effectiveness of strategies children may employ when being cyber victimized. Of interest to the current research are strategies of seeking out others for support and help. Specifically, the present research, with children in China, examined telling a friend and/or an adult about being cyber victimized in relation to a variety of peer social competence measures.

Children (Grades 3-6, 8 classrooms; N = 494, males = 278, females = 216) participated (IRB approved) in group sessions. Cyber victimization was assessed using a 15-item questionnaire modeled after Jackson and Cohen (2012). Two additional items (Yes/No format) assessed whether children would tell another person (e.g., “Would you tell an adult about it?” and “Would you tell a friend about it?”). Self-reported loneliness was assessed (Asher, Hymel, & Renshaw, 1984) as was self-reported peer optimism (Deptula, Cohen, Phillipsen, & Ey, 2006). On a classroom roster, children circled the names of all of their friends (unlimited nominations); mutual friendship nominations were calculated. The Revised Class Play (Masten, Morrison, & Pelligrino, 1985) was used to assess peer nominations for traditional, classroom peer victimization (4 items) and peer sociability behaviors (7 items). Mutual Friends, classroom victimization behaviors, and peer sociability behaviors were each standardized by classroom to control for differences in class size.

Selecting only those children who reported being cyber victimized (N = 215), four groups were created: Didn’t Tell, Tell a Friend, Tell an Adult, Tell both Friend and Adult. A multi-group path analysis was conducted (Mplus 8.0). The model used extent of cyber victimization and extent of classroom victimization to predict loneliness, peer optimism, peer nomination sociability behaviors, and number of mutual friends (see figure). This model controls for the association of traditional, classroom victimization when examining the relation of being cyber victimized. Results indicated that loneliness was positively associated with cyber victimization for children who a) chose not to tell anyone, and who b) chose to tell both an adult and a friend. Peer optimism was negatively associated with cyber victimization for children who chose not to tell anyone; peer nominated sociability behaviors were negatively associated with cyber victimization for children who chose to tell both an adult and a friend.

These results suggest complex social contexts associated with the effects of being cyber victimized and seeking the support of others. Being silent and not telling someone was negatively associated with loneliness and peer optimism, but was not associated with group perceptions (sociability behaviors). The child is suffering to some degree but peers are not particularly aware. Telling only a friend or telling only an adult was not adversely associated with any social competence measure. Importantly, telling both an adult and a friend was associated with loneliness and lower peer nominations of sociability. Perhaps children who seek the more extensive sharing with others were those not being victimized more often, but being victimized more severely.

Authors

• Robert Washington, The University of Memphis
  Presenting Author

• Samantha Newman, University of Memphis
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tiffany Rybak, The University of Memphis
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yeh Hsueh, University of Memphis
  Non-Presenting Author

• Zongkui Zhou, Central China Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Robert Cohen, The University of Memphis
  Non-Presenting Author