Digital image bullying among school students in Belgium: an exploration of the characteristics of bullies and their victims

Abstract

This article focuses on digital image bullying, which has never been studied separately from other types of cyber bullying with much detail. Based upon a survey among 456 Belgian students between 16 and 21 years old, the prevalence and circumstances of this way of cyber bullying, and the characteristics of victims and perpetrators were studied. The study reveals that 10.1% of the respondents have been victims, while 9.2% have been bullies. Based on logistic regression analysis, it was investigated whether cyber bullying influences victimization and vice versa, and if school variables, social variables and internet use impact upon victimization and perpetration. Boys are more often perpetrators than girls. Mostly, they bully youngsters they have met at school or during leisure times. Being a victim and being a perpetrator appear to be predictive for each other. Bullies and their victims have more specific social contacts than youngsters who do not bully or are not bullied. As for the frequency and intensity of internet use, the research could not reveal any difference between bullies and non-bullies, nor between victims and non-victims. These findings lead to the hypothesis that the specificity of digital image bullying consists of the fact that the real and the virtual world are closely interconnected.