Cyberbullying and Traditional Bullying in Greece: An Empirical Study

Abstract

The use of Internet technology has changed the way people interact rendering face-to face and verbal communication a trend of the past. Thus, a new world has been created for young people, who send emails, visit websites, use webcams, chat rooms and instant messaging through social media for communication. As a result, a new type of bullying, cyber bullying has emerged. The present study aims to investigate the extent of cyber bullying in Greece in terms of: a) gender and cyber bullying, b) hours spent on line and cyber bullying, c) cyber bullying and traditional bullying victims and d) cyber bullying victims and family relations. The sample consisted of 466 participants, 27% of which (N=128) were less than 18 years old. A standardized questionnaire was formulated for data collection and Chisquare, statistical test was used to test the research hypotheses formulated. The results revealed significant theoretical and practical implications, as the majority of the research questions confirmed the relationship between cyber bullying and traditional bullying victims, as well as cyber bullying victims and family relations.

Keywords

• cyberbullying
• traditional bullying
• victims
• adolescents
• victimization
• bullies