Literature Review: Impact of Cyber Bullying on Elementary Students

This literature review explores the pervasive issue of cyber bullying and its significant impact on elementary school students. It defines cyber bullying as a form of aggression using technology to harass, threaten, or embarrass others, highlighting the vulnerability of elementary students due to their rapid social and biological changes. The review discusses various forms of cyber bullying, such as harassment, flaming, impersonation, and cyber stalking, and their detrimental effects on students' social, cognitive, and physical well-being, leading to decreased self-esteem, social isolation, and mental health issues. The review further emphasizes the importance of prevention strategies, including communication support from adults, incorporating e-safety education into school curricula, and implementing whole-school e-safety policies to equip students with the necessary tools to navigate the digital world safely. The review concludes that cyber bullying is a serious concern that requires a comprehensive approach involving educators, parents, and students to mitigate its negative consequences and promote a safer online environment.

Running head: IMPACT OF CYBER BULLYING ON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
STUDENTS
Impact of Cyber Bullying on Elementary School Students
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1IMPACT OF CYBER BULLYING ON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
Despite of the fact that technology has provided a range of benefits to young people, it
is of no doubt that it too has a “dark side” that harms human beings beyond repair. E-mail,
mobile phone cameras, social media platforms, websites, chat rooms, mobile phones are been
used by many young people today and often these are used by them for bullying their peers.
In contemporary world, cyber bullying has become a growing global issue with thousands of
incidents reported all around the world every year (Chan & Wong, 2015). This paper shall
elaborate on presenting a literature search on the subject of cyber bullying and its impact on
the elementary school students in particular. A range of studies, academic sources and peer
reviewed journals shall be analyzed for the same.
Literature Search
It is to mention that the topic of cyber bullying has been reported and researched by
several writers, educators, researchers as well as governments (Baldry, Farrington &
Sorrentino, 2015). It has become a significant phenomenon that could be very harmful for the
young people. There are a range of books, websites and academic articles that are published
for raising awareness about this concept among the general public and to help the victims of
the same.
The concept of Cyber Bullying
The term “bullying” can be defined as the “aggressive behaviors like spitting, hitting,
taunting, threatening, shoving etc. that is intentionally and repeatedly directed at an
individual who holds less power than the aggressor” (Garrett, 2014). It can take several
different forms including verbal, physical or social. All these forms are known as “traditional
bullying”. According to Vandebosch (2014), traditional bullying takes place face-to-face in
school. Along with the development in technology, proliferation of the modern technological
devices like mobile phones, a whole new form of bullying has appeared and it is known as

2IMPACT OF CYBER BULLYING ON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
“cyber bullying”. According to Ashktorab and Vitak (2015), cyber bullying can be referred to
any type of bullying that involves the usage of technology like mobile phones, laptops, tablets
etc. for harassing, threatening, embarrassing and targeting other person. DePaolis and
Williford (2015) have researched about the existence of cyber bullying in the schools and
they described it as “a menace that needs to be dealt with in a school setting so children can
feel safe using the Internet to learn”. It normally takes place in the platforms like chat rooms,
social media, gaming zone etc. as in this place, people can take participation in the sharing of
the contents.
Vulnerability of elementary school students
There are many types of cyber bullying including harassment, flaming,
impersonation, cyber stalking etc. Makri-Botsari and Karagianni (2014). Harassment is all
about sending rude and offensive messages. Flaming refers to the online aggression that
involves the usage of vulgar and offensive language between two parties. Impersonation
refers to the process of “breaking into someone’s account, posing at that person, or sending
messages to make that person look bad, get that person in trouble or danger, or damage that
person’s reputation or friendships” (Styron et al., 2015). Cyber stalking on the other hand is
all about sending intimidating messages online that makes a person to become afraid for their
security.
Research studies indicate that school students, especially the adolescents are the most
vulnerable one to cyber bullying. The age of the students is a significant contributing factor to
cyber bullying. The elementary school students are at a period of rapid social and biological
change. According to Makri-Botsari and Karagianni (2014), it is not only the ones who are
active on social media platforms who are vulnerable to cyber bullying. The students who get
involve in going through physical and social changes are also vulnerable to the acceptance,

3IMPACT OF CYBER BULLYING ON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
opinions and rejections of their peers and this could significantly impact their mental well-
being. During this age of 7 to 12 years, many adolescents tend to look forward for increased
autonomy and they are highly focused on finding out for peer relations and identity. They
often tend to feel strange and awkward and struggle with their sense of identity. At this stage,
the students who make use of different types of technologies for communicating can lose the
sight of what is important for him or her.
Impact of Cyber Bullying on Students
Being bullied through technological devices takes place frequently. According to the
study by Vaillancourt, Faris and Mishna (2017), about 10.0% of the elementary students
become the victims of cyber bullying. Among them 90% hide about their experiences from
their parents and about 50% justify it thinking “I need to learn to deal with it myself”.
Elementary school students belong to the adolescent stage. It is a period of abrupt social and
biological changes within a child. Particularly, the rapid physical changes linked with the
onset of adolescence as well as the changes from the primary to the secondary school led to
the dramatic transformations in the status and composition of the peer group of the student
(Margolin & Baucom, 2014). It is the period that witnesses a long series of rapid change in
the social lives of the students. However, cyber bullying at this stage act as an unfortunate by-
product of electronic communication and aggression of the adolescent, whose growth and
spreading is a significant cause for global concern. As per the study of Walker (2015), about
20percent of the students experience cyber bullying every year. Posting of demeaning and
hurtful comments to spreading negative rumours online are the most common complaint of
the students in between the age range 7 to 12 years old. Holfeld and Mishna (2018) have
opined that being cyber bullied negatively impacts the social, cognitive, social and physical
functioning of the elementary school students. Unlike the traditional bullying, cyber bullying
are very hard to escape because they can take place 24 hours a day because of technology and

4IMPACT OF CYBER BULLYING ON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
for the constant access to the internet. Furthermore, Eskey (2014) in this context too have
opined that bullying victimisation is related to many health related issues like decrease in
self-esteem issues and that of mental health among the elementary school students. It is
therefore very important to prevent cyber bullying for the education professionals.
Social acceptance is very important for the self-esteem and identity of youths. Cyber
bullying causes a permanent damage in these two areas and affect the emotional, social and
psychological well-being. The victims of cyber bullying often lack acceptance in their peer
groups that further results in social isolation and loneliness.
Furthermore, Holfeld and Mishna (2018) in this context have opined that during the
adolescent period, the frontal cortex of brain gets restricted and it is that part of brain that
supports ethical and rational decision making. Learning making good decisions needs the
human mind to pay attention to details, the actions and the consequences. However, the use
of technologies for communicating is hindering this process (Holfeld & Mishna, 2018). The
child who makes use of different types of technologies for communicating can lose the sight
of what is important for him or her.
Prevention
According to Saggers et al. (2017), adults, including the school administrators and
teachers should provide communication-support to all the learners in the elementary school
regarding cyber bullying. It can be done through incorporating some teaching strategies into
the school’s curriculum. They should teach the students about not sharing their personal
details online in any platform, especially in the social media sites like Instagram, Twitter
Facebook as they provide the young students with a highly accessible platform for connecting
themselves with others on the web. Although a child can connect with other for many reasons
in social media, but it should be kept in mind that some of those reasons could be malicious.

5IMPACT OF CYBER BULLYING ON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
Furthermore, it is also to mention that if schools make use of technology for delivering
instruction and education, it is also their responsibility to teach the students about their
correct usage. Schools can implement a “whole-school e-safety policies” in place to deal with
cyber bullying practices and prevent the exposure of students to a wide range of informative
websites (Chalmers et al., 2015). With the same, schools should also start training students on
the subject of e-safety so that they can equip them with all the necessary and critical tool to
help them understanding the complexity of the digital world and becoming aware about its
benefits and challenges.
Hence, from the above analysis of the recent literatures on the impact of cyber
bullying on the victimized elementary school students, it is to conclude that cyber bullying is
a common cause of emotional and mental disturbance among these young students that
further affect their academic career and mental development. It is more complicated as of the
fact that these issues of interpersonal safety are basically developed from the side of peer
groups and in the contexts that are quite difficult for the adults to manage and control. With
the same, it is also to conclude that despite of the value of technological tools for tackling
with the issue of cyber bullying; one cannot deny the fact that it is an interpersonal issue that
is grounded in social context. It is very important to consider the different characteristics of
cyber bullying while implementing any kind of cyber bullying tactics into their school or
class curriculum. They must build on the prevailing knowledge about reducing and
preventing direct bullying as often that takes the account of the distinctive form of cyber
bullying.
References:

6IMPACT OF CYBER BULLYING ON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
Ashktorab, Z., & Vitak, J. (2015, May). Designing cyberbullying mitigation and
prevention solutions through participatory design with teenagers. In Proceedings of the 2016
CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 3895-3905).
Baldry, A. C., Farrington, D. P., & Sorrentino, A. (2015). “Am I at risk of
cyberbullying”? A narrative review and conceptual framework for research on risk of
cyberbullying and cybervictimization: The risk and needs assessment approach. Aggression
and Violent Behavior, 23, 36-51.
Chalmers, C., Campbell, M. A., Spears, B. A., Butler, D., Cross, D., Slee, P., & Kift,
S. (2015). School policies on bullying and cyberbullying: perspectives across three Australian
states. Educational Research, 58(1), 91-109.
Chan, H. C. O., & Wong, D. S. (2015). Traditional school bullying and cyberbullying
in Chinese societies: Prevalence and a review of the whole-school intervention
approach. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 23, 98-108.
DePaolis, K., & Williford, A. (2015, June). The nature and prevalence of cyber
victimization among elementary school children. In Child & Youth Care Forum (Vol. 44, No.
3, pp. 377-393). Springer US.
Eskey, M. (2014). Cyberbullying in the online classroom: Faculty as the targets.
In TCC (pp. 30-41). TCCHawaii.
Garrett, L. (2014). The student bullying of teachers: An exploration of the nature of
the phenomenon and the ways in which it is experienced by teachers. Aigne, 5(1), 19-40.
Holfeld, B., & Mishna, F. (2018). Longitudinal associations in youth involvement as
victimized, bullying, or witnessing cyberbullying. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social
Networking, 21(4), 234-239.

7IMPACT OF CYBER BULLYING ON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
Holfeld, B., & Mishna, F. (2018). Longitudinal associations in youth involvement as
victimized, bullying, or witnessing cyberbullying. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social
Networking, 21(4), 234-239.
Makri-Botsari, E., & Karagianni, G. (2014). Cyberbullying in Greek adolescents: The
role of parents. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 116(21), 3241-3253.
Margolin, G., & Baucom, B. R. (2014). Adolescents' aggression to parents:
Longitudinal links with parents' physical aggression. Journal of Adolescent Health, 55(5),
645-651.
Saggers, B., Campbell, M., Dillon-Wallace, J., Ashburner, J., Hwang, Y. S.,
Carrington, S., & Tones, M. (2017). Understandings and experiences of bullying: Impact on
students on the autism spectrum. Australasian Journal of Special Education, 41(2), 123-140.
Styron Jr, R. A., Bonner, J. L., Styron, J. L., Bridgeforth, J., & Martin, C. (2015). Are
Teacher and Principal Candidates Prepared to Address Student Cyberbullying?. Journal of
At-Risk Issues, 19(1), 19-28.
Vandebosch, H. (2014). Addressing cyberbullying using a multi-stakeholder
approach: The flemish case. In Minding minors wandering the web: Regulating online child
safety (pp. 245-262). TMC Asser Press, The Hague.
Walker, C. (2015). An analysis of cyberbullying among sexual minority university
students. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 15(7), 44.
Vaillancourt, T., Faris, R., & Mishna, F. (2017). Cyberbullying in children and youth:
implications for health and clinical practice. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 62(6), 368-373.

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