Cyberbullying among Colombian students: an exploratory investigation

Cyberbullying is a recognized and growing Internet phenomena. Although the body of research on this subject is rapidly expanding, most of the research has focused on the experiences of adolescents in industrialized nations, like Western Europe or Anglo-Saxon countries. But are the youth of developing countries exposed to the same risks? To address this question, this paper presents part of the results of a larger research project, and focuses on the occurrence of cyberbullying among Colombian high-school students. Data was collected on a sample of 359 respondents, 64.1% male and 35.9% female, between 13 and 19 years of age, using a pen and paper questionnaire. The analysis shows that episodes of cyberbullying are quite widespread among the sample group, as more than 60% of the sample group had been involved (as a victim or as a bully) in at least 2 episodes in the six months previous the research. Differences among sexes are analysed, but no significant result is shown. In conclusion, this study strongly suggests the necessity of deeper and wider investigation of cyberbullying among both boys and girls of the so called “developing countries”, as the diffusion of the phenomena seems to affect the youth of these countries too.