Cyberbullying: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction Cyberbullying has been a top issue for young teenagers at the age of 12-18 entering middle school and high school causing them to become more at risk towards suicide. On October 24, 2012 Felicia Garcia a 15 year old high school student in New York committed suicide by jumping in front of a train in Staten Island. Reposts have shown that Felicia was being bullied by other classmates due to alleged accusations towards her having sexual encounter with the school’s football players, she was bullied both in school and social media which had led her to feel that her only option for the bullying to stop so she took her own life away (Pelfrey, 2014). Ryan Patrick Halligan was a 13 year old student in Vermont, US. Ryan Halligan was bullied …show more content…
Increase exposure to the online environment has contributed to a heighten appreciation of the potential negative impact of cyberbullying. Recent cross-sectional studies have shown association between cyberbullying victimization and mental health problems, and even between cyberbullying victimization and suicide (Bannink, 2014). According to Bannink, cyberbullying has become a major issue towards young adolescents, but it has become more common for young teenagers to use social media. Not only using it for their own entertainment, but to also use it against other teenagers. Cyber bullying I characterized as bullying occurring through electronic communications, such as email and instant messaging. As many as 14% of youth report frequent in cyberbullying (Duong, 2014). Although the percentage of cyberbullying seems low it is still a problem towards the victims who are being cyberbullied. They begin to become anti-social with others and become afraid to speak to an adult about their situation. With that being said, the more cyberbullying occurs the more mental health problems and suicide risks can occur amongst the victim who has been cyberbullied by their other