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Nearly half of American teens between the age of 13 and 17 have reported experiencing cyberbullying behaviours, a survey by the Pew Research Center revealed.
According to the survey conducted between April 14 and May 4 this year, the most common cyberbullying behaviour was name-calling. At least 32 per cent of the teenagers complained of being name-called online or on their cellphone. At least 22 per cent said false rumours were spread about them online and 17 per cent claimed having received explicit messages they never asked for.
The Pew survey report says 15 per cent of the teens were constantly asked of their whereabouts by someone other than their parents, while 10 per cent claimed they were physically threatened.
The report says in a total 28 per cent of teens experienced multiple types of cyberbullying. The report used six behaviours like offensive name-calling, spreading false rumours online, receiving explicit images not asked for, physical threats, constantly being asked of whereabouts by someone other than parents and explicit images of them shared without their consent.
Talking about age groups that complained of cyber bullying, 49 per cent of the teens between 15 and 17 years of age claimed of having experienced at least one of the six types of online behaviours, as against 42 per cent of those aged 13 to 14.
The report says 22 per cent of older teens said someone sent them explicit images they never asked for as against 11 per cent of their younger counterparts. According to report, teenager girls between ages of 15 and 17 said they have faced cyber bullying as compared to the younger girls and boys.
At least 54 per cent of girls of that age group said they experienced at least one of the six cyber bullying behaviours, as compared to 44 per cent of boys between 15 and 17. Also, 41 per cent of boys and girls said they experienced at least one of the six cyber bullying behaviours.
At least 32 per cent of the teenager girls said they experienced two or more types of online harassment behaviours asked about. This is a larger percentage as compared to the 24 per cent of boys who made the same complaint. At least 32 per cent of teens between 15 and 17 are likely to have been a target of cyber bullying.
Talking about cyber attacks targeted at ethnic groups, the report claims that White teens are more likely to report being targeted by false rumours than their Black counterparts.
The report stated that a large majority of teenagers called for permanent bans from social media and criminal charges against perpetrators, expressing belief that such acts can reduce harassment on platforms.
