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A 15-year-old boy died by suicide after relentless cyberbullying, and his parents say the Latin School could have done more to stop it

By Megan Hickey

April 25, 2022 / 10:44 PM CDT / CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 15-year-old boy named Nate Bronstein was enrolled at one of the most prestigious private schools in Chicago and had a promising future — that is, until his parents say he became a victim of relentless cyberbullying by his classmates.

Nate took his own life. 

And in an exclusive interview with CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey, his parents allege that the Latin School of Chicago could have done more to stop it. 

Rose and Robert Bronstein never fathomed that they'd be speaking about their son, Nate in the past tense.

"I still can't process it," said Rose Bronstein.

"He definitely wanted to go to a college that had big time sports," said Robert Bronstein. "He loved to make people laugh, and laugh himself."

And of the school, Rose added, "It's a toxic culture – so toxic that we lost our son from it."

The Bronsteins' 10th-grader was a super-sharp, funny kid; A pillar in their family of five. He was a new transfer last fall to the Latin School of Chicago, at 59 W. North Blvd. in the Gold Coast.

But he was bullied by his classmates to the point that he didn't want to live to see his future. 

"It had been kept from us, so that's why we were completely, completely taken off guard when this happened," said Robert Bronstein.

The Bronsteins had concerns about their son adjusting to a new school — and according to a 68-page lawsuit just filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, they raised those concerns repeatedly with administrators. 

Bronstein Complaint (Filed 4.25.22) by Adam Harrington on Scribd

But according to the filing, they had no idea about the extent of the cyberbullying that tormented Nate. 

But the Bronsteins say Latin did. 

"Our son would still be alive today if Latin would have done their job and reported to us what had gone on within the school," said Rose Bronstein.

The Bronsteins say they were never told that on Dec. 13, 2021, Nate asked for a meeting with his dean of students to report that several students were bullying him via a text message thread provided to CBS 2, and on Snapchat.

One of those Snapchats, according to the lawsuit, encouraged Nate to kill himself.  Another used a phrase that's understood to be an indirect death threat. 

The dean listened, but took no disciplinary action, according to the filing. 

And exactly one month later, Nate's father found him hanging from a shower in the bathroom in their home. A noose was tied around his neck. 

Again, he was just 15. 

 "We would have known, and we would have protected him, and he'd still be here today," said Rose Bronstein.

It wasn't until after Nate died that the family was made aware of the texts, the Snapchats, the taunting — from another parent at Latin. And that's a problem — a legal one in the State of Illinois. 

Illinois General Assembly Public Act 098-0669 requires that every school in the state, including private schools, have an anti-bullying policy.

That policy must include information about how bullying should be reported and how it is to be investigated, and also that bullying incidents must be reported to the parents of those involved. 

"When there's an alleged incident of bullying, they are supposed to notify the parents of both parties involved," said Vitto Mendez, one of the leading experts in the country on state anti-bullying laws and their effectiveness.

Vitto Mendez confirmed that school administrators in the state of Illinois are legally obligated to report incidents of bullying to the family members of those involved.

Anna DiPronio Mendez is the executive director of the National Association of People Against Bullying, and she can speak to why notification is so important.  Her son Daniel's school knew about his bullying, but she was never notified until after he took his own life in 2009. 

He was just 16.  

"It's one of my biggest regrets that I've lived with to this day is why was I not contacted? Why was I not told?" she said.

In the weeks and months following Nate's death, students, parents, and even a current employee of the school reached out to tell the family they were not alone in their concerns about an alleged cover-up culture at Latin. 

You don't have to look much farther than Instagram to see public testimonials to that effect. 

The Survivors of Latin Instagram account was a public account with close to 3,000 followers. According to the creator, the 121 pages' worth of stories involve "anti-Blackness, xenophobia, racism, classism, sexual assault, homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny."

The Instagram page was taken down as of Monday night, but a Survivors of Latin Facebook page remained in place .

"Look, our son was 15, and his perception of what he can and can't handle isn't necessarily accurate – but that's why the policies exist, and that's why, now, the law exists – to involve parents," said Robert Bronstein. "The school has to err on the side of a lot of transparency," 

To be clear, the family isn't suing Latin for the money. They've pledged to donate any money gained through legal proceedings to anti-bullying and anti-suicide charities. They say they're speaking out because remaining silent would disrespect their son's memory. 

"You can't allow this to go on, because it's going to happen to another child," said Robert Bronstein.

The Bronsteins never got to watch their son grow up. But they hope they might give other parents the chance to step in. 

"We need transparency into what they did and didn't do while he was a student there, and after the fact," said Robert Bronstein, "because if this can be allowed to just be swept under the rug, then it's going to happen again — and we're not going to be complicit in that."

We reached out to the Latin School with several questions upon the filing of the lawsuit. The school issued the following statement late Monday:

"Our school community deeply grieves the tragic and untimely passing of one its students. It is a loss that impacts our whole community. Our hearts go out to the family, and we wish them healing and peace. With respect to their lawsuit, however, the allegations of wrongdoing by the school officials are inaccurate and misplaced. The school's faculty and staff are compassionate people who put students' interests first, as they did in this instance. While we are not, at this time, going to comment on any specific allegation in this difficult matter, the school will vigorously defend itself, its faculty and its staff against these unfounded claims."

If you or someone you know is concerned about suicide, you can contact the 24/7, confidential National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, or go  here  to online chat. More helpful resources can be found  here . 

Megan Hickey is a member of the 2 Investigator team, focusing on topical investigative stories.

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• A Majority of Teens Have Experienced Some Form of Cyberbullying

59% of U.S. teens have been bullied or harassed online, and a similar share says it’s a major problem for people their age. At the same time, teens mostly think teachers, social media companies and politicians are failing at addressing this issue.

Table of contents.

• Acknowledgments
• Methodology
• Appendix A: Detailed tables

For the latest survey data on teens and cyberbullying, see “ Teens and Cyberbullying 2022 .”

Name-calling and rumor-spreading have long been an unpleasant and challenging aspect of adolescent life. But the proliferation of smartphones and the rise of social media has transformed where, when and how bullying takes place. A new Pew Research Center survey finds that 59% of U.S. teens have personally experienced at least one of six types of abusive online behaviors. 1

The most common type of harassment youth encounter online is name-calling. Some 42% of teens say they have been called offensive names online or via their cellphone. Additionally, about a third (32%) of teens say someone has spread false rumors about them on the internet, while smaller shares have had someone other than a parent constantly ask where they are, who they’re with or what they’re doing (21%) or have been the target of physical threats online (16%).

While texting and digital messaging are a central way teens build and maintain relationships, this level of connectivity may lead to potentially troubling and nonconsensual exchanges. One-quarter of teens say they have been sent explicit images they didn’t ask for, while 7% say someone has shared explicit images of them without their consent. These experiences are particularly concerning to parents. Fully 57% of parents of teens say they worry about their teen receiving or sending explicit images, including about one-quarter who say this worries them a lot, according to a separate Center survey of parents.

The vast majority of teens (90% in this case) believe online harassment is a problem that affects people their age, and 63% say this is a major problem. But majorities of young people think key groups, such as teachers, social media companies and politicians are failing at tackling this issue. By contrast, teens have a more positive assessment of the way parents are addressing cyberbullying.

These are some of the key findings from the Center’s surveys of 743 teens and 1,058 parents living in the U.S. conducted March 7 to April 10, 2018. Throughout the report, “teens” refers to those ages 13 to 17, and “parents of teens” are those who are the parent or guardian of someone in that age range.

Similar shares of boys and girls have been harassed online – but girls are more likely to be the targets of online rumor-spreading or nonconsensual explicit messages

When it comes to the overall findings on the six experiences measured in this survey, teenage boys and girls are equally likely to experience cyberbullying. However, there are some differences in the specific types of harassment they encounter.

Overall, 60% of girls and 59% of boys have experienced at least one of six abusive online behaviors. While similar shares of boys and girls have encountered abuse, such as name-calling or physical threats online, other forms of cyberbullying are more prevalent among girls. Some 39% of girls say someone has spread false rumors about them online, compared with 26% of boys who say this.

Girls also are more likely than boys to report being the recipient of explicit images they did not ask for (29% vs. 20%). And being the target of these types of messages is an especially common experience for older girls: 35% of girls ages 15 to 17 say they have received unwanted explicit images, compared with about one-in-five boys in this age range and younger teens of both genders. 2

Online harassment does not necessarily begin and end with one specific behavior, and 40% of teens have experienced two or more of these actions. Girls are more likely than boys to have experienced several different forms of online bullying, however. Some 15% of teen girls have been the target of at least four of these online behaviors, compared with 6% of boys.

In addition to these gender differences, teens from lower-income families are more likely than those from higher-income families to encounter certain forms of online bullying. For example, 24% of teens whose household income is less than $30,000 a year say they have been the target of physical threats online, compared with 12% whose annual household income is $75,000 or more. However, teens’ experiences with these issues do not statistically differ by race or ethnicity, or by their parent’s level of educational attainment. (For details on experiences with online bullying by different demographic groups, see Appendix A .)

The likelihood of teens facing abusive behavior also varies by how often teens go online. Some 45% of teens say they are online almost constantly , and these constant users are more likely to face online harassment. Fully 67% of teens who are online almost constantly have been cyberbullied, compared with 53% of those who use the internet several times a day or less. These differences also extend to specific kinds of behaviors. For example, half of teens who are near-constant internet users say they have been called offensive names online, compared with about a third (36%) who use the internet less frequently.

A majority of teens think parents are doing a good job at addressing online harassment, but smaller shares think other groups are handling this issue effectively

Today, school officials, tech companies and lawmakers are looking for ways to combat cyberbullying. Some schools have implemented policies that punish students for harassing messages even when those exchanges occur off campus. Anti-bullying tools are being rolled out by social media companies, and several states have enacted laws prohibiting cyberbullying and other forms of electronic harassment. In light of these efforts, Pew Research Center asked young people to rate how key groups are responding to cyberbullying and found that teens generally are critical of the way this problem is being addressed.

Indeed, teens rate the anti-bullying efforts of five of the six groups measured in the survey more negatively than positively. Parents are the only group for which a majority of teens (59%) express a favorable view of their efforts.

Young people have an especially negative view of the way politicians are tackling the issue of cyberbullying – 79% of teens say elected officials are doing only a fair or poor job of addressing this problem. And smaller majorities have unfavorable views of how groups such as social media sites (66%), other users who witness harassment happening online (64%) or teachers (58%) are addressing harassment and cyberbullying.

Teens’ views on how well each of these groups is handling this issue vary little by their own personal experiences with cyberbullying – that is, bullied teens are no more critical than their non-bullied peers. And teens across various demographic groups tend to have a similar assessment of how these groups are addressing online harassment.

About six-in-ten parents worry about their own teen getting bullied online, but most are confident they can teach their teen about acceptable online behavior

Parents believe they can provide their teen with the appropriate advice to make good online decisions. Nine-in-ten parents say they are at least somewhat confident they can teach their teen how to engage in appropriate online behavior, including 45% who say they are very confident in their ability to do so.

But even as most parents are confident they can educate their child about proper online conduct, notable shares are concerned about the types of negative experiences their teen might encounter online. Roughly six-in-ten parents say they worry at least somewhat about their teen being harassed or bullied online (59%) or sending or receiving explicit images (57%). In each case, about one-in-four parents say they worry a lot about one of these things happening to their child.

These parental concerns tend to vary by race and ethnicity, as well as by a child’s gender. Among parents, whites and Hispanics are more likely than blacks to say they worry about their teen being cyberbullied. Hispanic parents also are more inclined than black parents to say they worry about their child exchanging explicit images. At the same time, parents of teen girls are somewhat more likely than those with a teenage boy to say they worry about their teen being bullied online (64% vs. 54%) or exchanging explicit images (64% vs. 51%). (For details on these parental concerns by demographic group, see Appendix A .)

• Pew Research Center measured cyberbullying by asking respondents if they had ever experienced any of six online behaviors. Respondents who selected yes to one or more of these questions are considered to be targets of cyberbullying in this study. Throughout the report the terms “cyberbullying” and “online harassment” are used interchangeably. ↩
• A 2017 Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults also found age and gender differences in receiving nonconsensual explicit images; women ages 18 to 29 are especially likely to encounter this behavior. ↩

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July 12, 2022

Cyberbullying linked with suicidal thoughts and attempts in young adolescents

At a glance.

• Young adolescents who experienced cyberbullying had an increased risk of suicidal thoughts or attempts.
• Screening for cyberbullying may help identify more young people at risk of suicide.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for adolescents and young adults in the United States. In-person bullying is known to raise the risk of thoughts of suicide and attempts for both victims and perpetrators.

Cyberbullying—bullying that happens online—has been on the rise in this age range. Increased use of the internet during the COVID-19 pandemic has further boosted this trend. But the links between cyberbullying and thoughts of suicide and attempts are less well understood than the effects of in-person bullying.

To help fill in this gap, NIH-funded researchers led by Dr. Ran Barzilay from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia used data from more than 10,000 young adolescents with an average age of 12. The participants were enrolled in a long-term study tracking brain development and child health.

As part of a survey for the study, adolescents reported if they’d experienced or perpetrated cyberbullying. This was defined as “purposefully trying to harm another person or be mean to them online, in texts or group texts, or on social media (like Instagram or Snapchat).”

The participants also answered questions about in-person bullying, including physical, relational (being left out or ostracized), or reputational (such as gossip) harm. Another study questionnaire asked whether they had experienced thoughts of suicide or attempted suicide.

The team explored the associations between the types of bullying and thoughts of suicide and attempts. Results were published on June 27, 2022, in JAMA Network Open .

Almost 9% of the young adolescents reported being a target of cyberbullying. Less than 1% reported perpetrating cyberbullying, but most of those who did also experienced cyberbullying. Female and Black participants were more likely to be bullied online.

The participants who experienced cyberbullying were more than 4 times as likely to report thoughts of suicide and attempts as those who didn’t. This association diminished but remained significant when the researchers adjusted for other factors known to affect thoughts of suicide and attempts. These include family conflict, racial discrimination, parental monitoring, and being supported at school.

The researchers also found that experiencing cyberbullying increased the risk of thoughts of suicide and attempts independent of in-person bullying.

Unlike the trends seen with in-person bullying, perpetrating cyberbullying wasn’t linked with an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts. The study was not designed to understand why this might be the case. The researchers suggest it may be due to the fact that cyberbullies often don’t observe and understand the effects of their bullying on the victims.

“At a time when young adolescents are spending more time online than ever before, this study underscores the negative impact that bullying in the virtual space can have on its targets,” Barzilay says. “It may be prudent for primary care providers to screen for cyberbullying routinely in the same way that they might screen for other suicide risk factors like depression. Parents and educators should also be aware of this risk factor.”

—by Sharon Reynolds

Related Links

• Rural Youth Often Lack Access to Suicide Prevention Services
• Biomarkers and Questionnaires Predict Suicide Risk
• StopBullying.gov
• Teen Suicide: Understanding the Risk and Getting Help
• Suicide Prevention
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
• Child and Adolescent Mental Health
• Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ Study (ABCD Study®)

References:  Association of Cyberbullying Experiences and Perpetration With Suicidality in Early Adolescence. Arnon S, Brunstein Klomek A, Visoki E, Moore TM, Argabright ST, DiDomenico GE, Benton TD ,  Barzilay R. JAMA Netw Open . 2022 Jun 1;5(6):e2218746. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.18746. PMID: 35759263.

Funding:  NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA); Lifespan Brain Institute.

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The unprecedented exposure of today's youth to the Internet and technology carries many benefits but also risks such as cyberbullying and online predation. The incidences of both cyberbullying and adolescent suicide are rising in the United States, with recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showing that 14.9 percent of adolescents have been cyberbullied and 13.6 percent of adolescents have made a serious suicide attempt. Cyberbullying has been associated with suicide of a victim in several recent cases, a phenomenon that has been newly termed cyberbullicide. Parents and youth are frequently unaware of the risks and potential criminal liability associated with cyberbullying. Legislation that protects against online bullying has developed from antibullying laws, and as an expansion of the requirement that schools prohibit any bullying at school or via technology that interferes with learning. Cyberbullying laws exist in certain states, but as there are no federal laws that address bullying or cyberbullying, cyberbullying is prosecuted federally via statutes governing cyberstalking. After examining the epidemiology of adolescent suicidality, cyberbullying, and cyberbullicide, this article reviews recent legislation governing cyberbullying. Finally, this article illustrates the role of the forensic psychiatrist in civil and criminal cases involving suspected cyberbullicide.

• cyberbullying

Today’s youth are exposed to the Internet through the ubiquitous presence of smartphones, social networking, and messaging, carrying a simultaneous devaluation of face-to-face and telephone communication. This rapid expansion of online socialization has introduced new complications to old problems, including the progression of bullying into cyberbullying and cyberbullicide. Cyberbullicide is a new term for a subclass of suicides that was coined by prominent cyberbullying researchers Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin in the 2000s. The term describes suicides that are directly or indirectly influenced by online aggression or cyberbullying. 1 , 2

Bullying is defined as “any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or group of youths who are not siblings or current dating partners that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is likely to be repeated” 3 as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Thus, cyberbullying is bullying that occurs online or through technology. Cyberbullying may take many forms, including embarrassing or hurtful comments or photographs being posted online or sent to the victim, rumors being spread about the victim online, sexual comments or gestures being posted, threats of harm being sent to the victim through messages, someone pretending to be the victim online, or offensive videos or webpages being posted about the victim. 4 Frequently, individuals who engage in cyberbullying are also victimized, a trend that is also observed with schoolyard bullying. 1 There is a growing literature regarding cyberbullying, but relatively little specifically about cyberbullying that is associated with suicide.

The evolving nature of adolescent peer aggression in the context of widespread online access has raised awareness of cases of suicide in which bullying and cyberbullying are reportedly associated with the suicide, making this an area requiring further study. In contrast to schoolyard bullying, cyberbullying grants potential anonymity to the aggressor, which can correspond to a diminished sense of prosocial remorse and inability of the victim to easily avoid attacks without fully detaching from online media. This anonymity increases the potential level of danger to a minor. Criminal or civil legal proceedings may occur when cyberbullying is associated with suicide. Forensic psychiatrists may be asked to opine on elements of culpability, including evaluation of the cyberbully, responsibility of third parties in not preventing the bullying, and psychological autopsy of the decedent. Such forensic evaluations generally follow a similar framework as other civil and criminal cases involving suicide or school bullying, with some specific considerations. This article outlines the phenomenon of cyberbullying associated with suicide, relevant legal statutes, and important considerations for the forensic psychiatrist who may be consulted in criminal or civil cases of cyberbullying resulting in suicide.

• Suicide and Cyberbullying Cases

In the absence of epidemiological studies, the data regarding cyberbullying and suicide derive predominantly from accounts of news stories. In 2010, the roommate of 18-year-old college student Tyler Clementi secretly live-streamed Mr. Clementi engaging in physical intimacy with another male alone in their dorm room and publicized it via messaging and Twitter. Two days later, Mr. Clementi took his life. 5 In 2013, 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick was extensively bullied and cyberbullied via multiple online platforms by girls from school, including her former best friends. She switched schools, but the cyberbullying continued, and after a year and a half, Ms. Sedwick took her life. 6 In 2017, 10-year-old Ashawnty Davis confronted a girl who had been allegedly bullying her, and someone posted a video of the fight on an app called Musical.ly, prompting more bullying. Two weeks later, Ms. Davis took her life. 7 In 2019, 16-year-old Channing Smith was outed as gay after explicit text messages he had exchanged with a male classmate were posted on social media; a few hours later, Mr. Smith took his life. 8

The media has attributed certain cases of suicide to cyberbullying, but correlation does not imply causation. The cause of any suicide is often multifactorial, and attributing a given suicide to cyberbullying alone would be an oversimplification and not fully accurate.

• Epidemiology

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death in individuals 10 to 34 years old, occurring at a rate of 10.2 per 100,000 individuals, and its incidence in this age group has risen 56 percent between 2006 and 2016. 1 , 9 According to 2019 CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) data, 18.8 percent of high school students seriously considered attempting suicide, 15.7 percent of high school students made a suicide plan, 8.9 percent of high school students attempted suicide, and 2.5 percent of high school students were injured in a suicide attempt. 9 Suicide affects not only the decedent but also family members, and has a ripple effect through the community. Importantly, suicide is often a preventable cause of mortality.

Also per the CDC YRBS data, 14.9 percent of high school students reported having been bullied electronically, and 19 percent of high school students reported being bullied on school property in the past year. The relative risk of being bullied on school property or electronically was higher for female versus male students, for Black versus White and Hispanic students, and for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students versus heterosexual students. Both cyberbullying and bullying are associated with depression, anxiety, behavioral problems, eating disorders, irritability, self-pity, decline in school performance, truancy, and somatic symptoms occurring in victim and offender. 9

Students who are involved in bullying and cyberbullying (both offenders and victims) have a significantly elevated likelihood of experiencing suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, or completed suicide. 10 A 2014 meta-analysis of nine studies that focused on the relationship between suicidal ideation and peer victimization revealed a robust relationship between peer victimization and suicidal ideation, as well as suicide attempts, across age and gender. 11 A 2017 study of bullying demonstrated a compounding effect from experiencing multiple types of bullying. 2 Bullying or cyberbullying that is rated as more severe or that interferes with learning at school is more likely to correlate with suicidal ideation. 2 Notably, although there is a strong correlation between bullying (online or at school) and suicidality, suicide is a relatively rare occurrence. Cyberbullying and school bullying both appear to increase the risk for suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, however, which are certainly risk factors for completed suicide. 9

• Review of Legislation

In 1999, when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, 12th grade students at Columbine High School in Colorado, killed 12 students, one teacher, and themselves, it was discovered that they had been chronically bullied prior to executing their mass shooting. This event catalyzed a national interest in bullying and the emergence of state antibullying legislation. The first state antibullying law was passed in Georgia in 1999, 12 one month after the Columbine shooting. Several states followed suit, including Colorado in 2001. 13 Following the events at Columbine, there was increased media attention on several youth suicides that occurred in response to bullying, and then increased legislation concerning bullying. An interest in preventing online bullying followed, and regulation of cyberbullying has gradually been adopted into bullying laws. Washington and Oregon were two of the first states, in 2005 and 2007, respectively, to extend their bullying policies to include online bullying. 14 , 15 Since the first decade of the 21st century, legislation enacted to protect against online abuse and harassment of young people has burgeoned.

State antibullying and cyberbullying laws have been rapidly adopted through the creation of new statutes and amendments to existing statutes. These statutes typically include some or all of the following components: a statement of purpose, definitions of bullying and cyberbullying, a requirement that the school district develop policies regulating bullying, prescribed components of local district policies, requirements for school district policies, and requirements for state education agencies. Most state statutes include a requirement that the school district develop policies to prevent school bullying, cyberbullying, and harassment. Thus, when students experience persistent bullying or cyberbullying, the board of education and the school system may be held liable for failing to protect the students from foreseeable risk. 16

Claims against the school may be prosecuted under state law involving claims of negligence or wrongful death, or under federal law on the basis of cyberstalking (as covered in the next section), or as civil rights violations. 16

Federal Legislation

There are no federal statutes specifically governing bullying or cyberbullying; in federal court, cyberbullying is prosecuted under statutes governing cyberstalking, and bullying is prosecuted under statutes governing stalking. Cyberstalking is defined as “engaging in conduct to communicate, or to cause to be communicated, words, images, or language by or through the use of electronic mail or electronic communication, directed at or about a specific person, causing substantial emotional distress to the victim” (Ref. 16 , p 169). The term cyberbullying is often used interchangeably with cyberharassment, although they are typically differentiated by the age of perpetrator, with cyberharassment typically involving an adult perpetrator, and cyberbullying involving a perpetrator who is a minor. A complete review of cyberharassment and cyberstalking can be found elsewhere. 17 , 18

On April 2, 2009, Representative Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) introduced the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act, but it was not passed by Congress. The proposed law included a fine and up to two years imprisonment for cyberbullying. The act was written to encompass both cyberharassment and cyberbullying. 19 Although Ms. Meier’s case has been discussed previously in The Journal, 20 , 21 it retains relevancy given its implications and precedent as one of the early cases involving attempted prosecution of cyberbullying.

Ms. Meier was a 13-year-old girl in Missouri who died by suicide in 2006. Ms. Meier, who had been bullied for years, was the target of cyberbullying carried out by a former friend’s mother, Lori Drew, aided by the former friend, Sarah, and Ms. Drew’s 18-year-old coworker, Ashley Grills. This cyberbullying was perpetrated as retribution for Ms. Meier allegedly spreading a rumor about Sarah. Ms. Drew created a Myspace account for a fictional teenage boy, “Josh,” which she used to initially befriend Ms. Meier and flirt with her. After several weeks, Josh began sending increasingly cruel messages and sharing cruel content about Ms. Meier with others. The final message he sent before Ms. Meier took her life told her that the world would be a better place without her. 22 The case was not prosecuted locally in Missouri as no state laws had been broken. As there was no state or federal statute specifically governing cyberbullying, there was no means of prosecuting on the basis of cyberbullying. Ms. Drew was prosecuted federally via the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (18 U.S.C.S. § 1030) based on violation of the Myspace Terms of Use Agreement. She was convicted of three misdemeanor charges and found not guilty of one felony charge. 23 On appeal, Ms. Drew’s motion for a judgment of acquittal was granted. The district court cautioned that if intentional breach of a website’s terms of service was prosecuted, federal law enforcement would be empowered “to pursue their personal predilections” (Ref. 23 , p 467) in prosecuting the most trivial of cases. In this case, an adult cyberbullied a child, the child subsequently took her own life, and the adult experienced no legal repercussions for her actions. Today, this case might have been prosecuted under the Missouri state harassment law 24 that was passed in 2008 following Ms. Meier’s death.

• First Amendment Challenges

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the government from abridging freedom of speech, thereby restricting the ability of public schools to regulate student speech. Courts have since interpreted the First Amendment to allow certain types of governmental restriction on speech. Examples include speech that causes a substantial and material disruption to the school environment as well as lewd and vulgar speech, overtly offensive language, defamation, libel, fighting words, incitement to violence, and threats that constitute a serious intent to cause violence. 25 There is now considerable debate over which forms of free speech on the Internet should be protected and which should be restricted. In some areas, this has been clearly defined: for example, child pornography has been unequivocally denied protection. Conversely, cyberbullying is so newly defined that the subject lacks authoritative precedent and current legislators have little firsthand knowledge of it. 26

The courts have both rejected and upheld First Amendment defenses in cases of cyberbullying. For instance, a recent case arguing unconstitutionality of the North Carolina cyberbullying statute reached the North Carolina Supreme Court. 27 The case involved high school student Robert Bishop who, along with peers, cyberbullied his classmate Dillon Price. Mr. Price’s mother found him so distraught (crying, throwing things, hitting his head) that she called the police. Mr. Bishop was tried and convicted of one count of cyberbullying in the state district court. The appeal process reached the North Carolina Supreme Court, which reversed the decision, finding the cyberbullying statute unconstitutional on the basis of restricting free speech and thus violating the First Amendment.

State laws have attempted to forestall First Amendment challenges by prohibiting cyberbullying only when it rises above a certain threshold. For example, in California, the threshold is defined as bullying that can be reasonably predicted to cause students to experience a fear of harm to their person or property, a detrimental effect to their physical or mental health, a substantial interference with their academic performance, or a substantial interference with their ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or privileges provided by a school. 28

• Role of the Forensic Psychiatrist

Forensic psychiatrists may be retained in both criminal and civil cases related to cyberbullying associated with suicide. As of January 2021, 48 states (all but Alaska and Wisconsin) include cyberbullying or online harassment in the language of their bullying laws. Most states (with the exception of Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Wyoming) have criminal laws that might apply to bullying and expressly include electronic forms of harassment. 29 Given that statutes governing cyberbullying vary by state, it is imperative that forensic psychiatrists become familiar with applicable statutes in their state or in any state where they may be involved in such cases. 30 State cyberbullying statutes for each state are rapidly changing; however, researchers Hinduja and Patchin maintain a list of cyberbullying laws (last updated January 2021) to which the reader is referred. 29 Training in child and adolescent mental health is helpful in managing these cases in providing a comprehensive understanding of child development, familiarity with normal and aberrant social relationships and educational experiences, and ability to recognize common presentations of psychopathology in minors.

Experts may be asked to evaluate diminished capacity, state of mind, or mitigation pertaining to the defendant, or to conduct a psychological autopsy of the decedent to determine causation. In the case of cyberbullying without death by suicide, a forensic psychiatrist might be asked to assess emotional damages, i.e., whether the minor experienced any short- or long-term psychological injury as a result of the bullying. In the case of suicide, the expert will be asked whether there are any other possible etiologies for the decedent’s suicidality beyond the bullying or cyberbullying. 31 The forensic psychiatrist may be asked to opine on liability for the school district or other third parties, such as parents, Internet provider, or software company. Forensic evaluators may or may not be given access to social media material, which is often highly protected.

An analysis of whether cyberbullying was the legal cause of the victim’s suicide relies on multiple factors. The defendant’s conduct must be both the actual and proximate cause of death, which in many states relies on the question of whether “but for” the defendant’s actions, the death would have occurred as it did. In the case of bullying associated with a suicide, the question is whether the suicidal act resulted from extreme pain or suffering inflicted by the bullying, or if the bullying has rendered the victim irresponsible; these questions serve to clarify if the suicide would not have occurred “but for” the bullying. 32 Although this question is determined by the trier of fact, forensic psychiatrists can provide insight into the mindsets of the bully or bullies and decedent victim.

Criminal Cases

In a criminal case involving bullying and suicide, the primary role of the forensic psychiatrist is to evaluate the defendant. Most commonly, the defendant is a minor, but in some cases, this may be an older adolescent or an adult (e.g., the case of Ms. Meier). The defendant would be an individual who perpetrated bullying using technology or the Internet, following which, a minor died by suicide allegedly in response to these actions. 31 A forensic psychiatrist could be hired by the prosecution or the defense either to perform a complete evaluation or to provide consultation based on the facts of the case.

It is important that the forensic evaluator be aware of the statutes and case law that are relevant to a given case and be able to consider these in providing recommendations to the retaining attorney, forming an opinion, producing a report, and giving testimony in court. Recommendations for how to approach each of these evaluations can be found in the next section.

Evaluation of the Accused Person

A forensic evaluation of a juvenile who has been charged with a crime related to cyberbullying is similar to other juvenile evaluations. The referral question may include whether cyberbullying reasonably led to the suicide. A thorough evaluation will be facilitated by acquisition of police reports, prior treatment records, school records, interviews with parents and other family members, and interviews of any romantic partners or close friends when available. In evaluating cases related to cyberbullying, transcripts of any online conversations and social media activity related to the bullying should be obtained, and the expert should become familiar with the apps or messaging venues used to perpetrate the bullying. In reviewing records and interviewing the accused person, the expert will organize the interview and investigation into six general categories which are reviewed here, along with relevant questions.

First, the expert will be asked to determine if the accused person understood the nature, wrongfulness, and potential illegality of the alleged acts. The expert will also need to determine: if cyberbullying was conducted with malice aforethought (i.e., the intention to cause harm), the likelihood that a cyberbully will engage in future violence, and presence of risk factors for violence and recidivism. In cases of cyberbullying, the perpetrators are usually children and adolescents who typically do not consider the ramifications of their actions or appreciate the implications of harassing behaviors as an adult would. 2

Given that instances of cyberbullying vary in severity and consequence, three “aggravating categories” have been formulated as increasing likelihood of antisocial tendencies and recidivism to aid in delineation between immoral behaviors that should not be criminalized, and antisocial behaviors that demand some degree of legal action. 33 The three categories are degree of sexuality, degree of intensity, and degree of violence. It has been proposed that only incidents that satisfy at least one criterion are suitably handled by criminal law, and those that do not satisfy any of these criteria can more likely be responded to outside the boundaries of criminal law. 33 Attention to these categories may prove relevant in determination of the need for juvenile waiver or transfer of jurisdiction.

Second, the expert should establish the nature and pattern of the cyberbullying. The evaluator must consider the time course of the cyberbullying and its severity, intended targets of the cyberbullying, the accused person’s account of the offense, potential motivators, and any previously undetected aggressive or abusive behaviors. The expert should determine if the accused person had previously engaged in cyberbullying, if there were multiple targets, if the accused acted alone or in conjunction with peers, and if the acts occurred privately or publicly. The evaluator should also establish if there was any evidence of in-person bullying, sexting, or revenge pornography, which often occur in conjunction to cyberbullying. An example is the case of 18-year-old Jessica Logan, who was cyberbullied by multiple classmates related to nude photographs of herself that she had sent to her former boyfriend, who had subsequently disseminated them, allegedly leading her to end her life. 34 Using the model of three aggravating categories, this would meet the criteria of sexuality and intensity. A complete review of sexting and revenge pornography can be found elsewhere. 20 , 35

Third, it is essential to establish a clear understanding of the relationship between the accused person and the decedent prior to the initiation of the cyberbullying, and determine whether the bullying was bidirectional. The evaluator should ascertain whether the accused person urged the victim toward self-harm or suicide, and whether the accused was aware of the victim experiencing psychological suffering from the cyberbullying.

Fourth, the evaluator should develop an understanding of the online environment in which the cyberbullying occurred and if it was isolated to electronic communication or included in-person bullying as well. The evaluator should inquire as to the means of electronic transmission of the material, including which electronic platforms were used and if the content included text, pictures, or both. In criminal cases, online data are typically obtained by subpoena from the Internet host or service provider.

Fifth, the evaluator should clarify if the accused person acted to aid the suicide, which would constitute a different phenomenon termed “facilitated suicide.” 36 Although many cyberbullies will urge or goad the person toward suicidal acts, in facilitated suicide, the accused person helps the person to plan the suicide. The evaluator should elucidate the intensity with which the accused goaded the victim toward suicide, including whether the accused person was present at the suicide of the victim or provided suggestions as to the means of enacting suicide. Additional inquiries include if the accused person provided physical means or props to facilitate suicide, if it was the intention of the accused person that the victim die by suicide, and if the accused person was aware of the victim engaging in self-harm, and, if so, how that knowledge affected the accused’s behavior.

Sixth, in order to assess for any mitigation, the expert should explore the home environment of the accused. Particularly salient areas of the psychiatric interview of the accused are delineated in Table 1 . Relevant conditions include: pre-existing mental illness associated with suicidal ideation, presence of manic or hypomanic episode or intoxication causing disinhibition, or any conditions that may limit the individual’s ability to understand appropriate interactions. Attention should be paid to any history of victimization of the accused, as this could represent a mitigating factor or influence the forensic expert to suggest treatment in a diversion program rather than incarceration. To make appropriate recommendations, the expert should obtain information about the level of structure and supervision at home and the degree to which parents can support intervention efforts.

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A Framework For Criminal Evaluation

Civil Cases

Civil litigation is commonly pursued in cases of cyberbullying associated with suicide among minors. The plaintiff is generally the parent or parents of the deceased minor (or any representative of the estate), and the defendant may be the person accused of cyberbullying, that person’s parents, the school, Internet service provider, or software company. Civil claims or causes of action could include cyberbullying, wrongful death, liability of the school for failing to prevent off-campus cyberbullying, or negligent supervision. A forensic psychiatrist can help the courts determine whether the alleged acts were proximally and causally related to the suicide, i.e., whether the suicide would have occurred but for the cyberbullying. In civil cases where the defendant is the school district or a school official, the forensic expert may be asked to evaluate liability. The forensic expert will consider whether the suicide or the cyberbullying could have been prevented, or whether the severity of the cyberbullying could have been minimized by appropriate action on the part of the school or particular school personnel. For claims related to negligence, the psychiatrist will be asked to determine whether the care provided by the parents of the accused or the supervision provided by school-based mental health services deviated from the standard of care, and whether the deviation was directly or proximately related to the suicide.

A psychological autopsy of the decedent, if necessitated, requires a thorough knowledge of the case, interviews of collateral sources, and a review of available records. 38 , 39 Digital data may contain important contextual information about the decedent. As much as possible, the aim is to develop an understanding of the decedent’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior during the time of cyberbullying; a detailed description of the cyberbullying, including its duration and severity; an understanding of the impact of the cyberbullying; and factors that aggravated or ameliorated the effects of the cyberbullying. To the extent possible, one should attempt to compile a complete psychiatric assessment, including if the decedent met criteria for any psychiatric disorders; an assessment of social functioning and activities of daily living; educational history and scholastic performance; and history of missing school or delinquency. Importantly, the forensic evaluator must attempt to clarify factors other than cyberbullying that contributed to the decedent’s distress, depression, or suicidal thoughts, including stressors related to friendships, loss of a loved one, family discord, difficulties in relationships, legal entanglement, and exposure to trauma. The expert should also assess predisposing factors, including family history, developmental history, a history of self-harm or prior suicide attempts, and history of trauma or abuse. Family members, witnesses, friends, teachers, coaches, and school officials can provide additional information on the decedent’s exposure to cyberbullying. If the decedent had undergone mental health treatment, this can provide useful information as well as whether the decedent was adhering to treatment recommendations. It would be important to note whether the decedent had a pre-existing medical or psychiatric illness that was exacerbated by the bullying. This information can be obtained through direct interviews, depositions, or other available records. 39 In civil cases, the evaluator must be wary of digital evidence, and question who had access to the technology and if the evaluee or the victim shared accounts with others, as well as become familiar with the ways in which both accessed the online environment.

Widespread access to technology among young people has shaped a form of bullying via the Internet that facilitates and even encourages harmful discourse. In areas where most children have access to the Internet, it has become a social tool, and the production of harmful content has become commonplace. Although violence among young people was present prior to the Internet, the social Internet has allowed for a deeper expression of violent language. Cyberbullying has ushered in a relatively new wave of suicides that are postulated to be related to the cyberbullying itself; this phenomenon predominantly affects adolescents as both perpetrators and victims. Forensic psychiatrists may be retained in civil or criminal cases to evaluate the alleged cyberbully, engage in psychological autopsy, and render opinions related to likelihood of recidivism. Forensic psychiatrists who become involved in these cases will need to familiarize themselves with relevant statutes and laws and the questions that arise in doing these evaluations in criminal and in civil settings. We have proposed a six-prong model for approaching criminal evaluations and described a similar approach to civil cases. These cases are complicated by the fact that the victims and alleged perpetrators are most often minors who must be approached with some developmental perspective. This article should serve as a guide for conducting such evaluations.

Disclosures of financial or other potential conflicts of interest: None.

• © 2023 American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
• Hinduja S ,
• Patchin JW.
• 3. ↵ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing bullying [Internet]; 2020 . Available from: www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/bullyingresearch . Accessed March 20 , 2022
• Englander E.
• Segarra LM.
• 9. ↵ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) overview [Internet]; 2020 . Available from: www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/overview.htm . Accessed March 20 , 2022
• van Geel M ,
• 12. ↵ H.B. 84 (Ga. 1999); O.C.G.A. §20-2-751.4 ( 2016 )
• 13. ↵ S.B. 01-080 (Colo. 2001); C.R.S. 22-32-109.1 ( 2022 )
• 14. ↵ S.B. 5849 (Wash. 2005); RCW 28A.600.477 ( 2020 )
• 15. ↵ H.B. 2637 (Or. 2007); ORS 339.351,353,356,359,362,364 ( 2022 )
• Stuart-Cassel V ,
• Springer JF.
• Blanch JL ,
• Elizondo P ,
• McNiel DE ,
• 19. ↵ Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act, H.R. 1966, 111th Cong. (1st Sess. 2009)
• Recupero PR.
• Pilkington E.
• 23. ↵ United States v. Drew, 259 F.R.D. 449 (C.D. Cal. 2009 )
• 24. ↵ Mo. Ann. Stat. § 565.090 ( 2017 )
• State v. Bishop, 787 S.E.2d 814 (N.C. ,
• 28. ↵ S.B. 231 (Cal. 2013); CEC 33550.2 ( 2013 )
• Thomas CR ,
• Bukstein OG ,
• Ghanayim K.
• 34. ↵ Logan v. Sycamore Community School Board of Education, 780 F. Supp. 2d 594 (S.D. Ohio 2011 )
• Lorang MR ,
• Ghossoub E ,
• Landess J ,
• Glancy GD ,
• Klein-Benheim M.
• Snider JE ,

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Cyberbullying among teens: our research shows online abuse and school bullying are often linked

Senior Lecturer in Investigative Psychology, University of Huddersfield

Senior Lecturer in Investigative and Forensic Psychology, University of Huddersfield

Reader in Investigative & Forensic Psychology, University of Huddersfield

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Over recent years, England has faced a concerning rise in cyberbullying compared to other countries. This issue has been compounded by an increase in digital activity among teenagers during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Cyberbullying , sometimes called online harassment or abuse, refers to behaviours where a person repeatedly causes harm to others using electronic devices and technologies. The modern abundance of devices with internet access makes it easier for cyberbullies to remain anonymous and create multiple accounts with different identities, giving them the freedom to attack multiple social media users simultaneously, often without obstruction.

There are numerous means of victimisation. These include making posts on social media intended to threaten or humiliate someone, publishing videos or photos that embarrass or intimidate, and “doxxing” — posting someone’s personal or private information, such as where they live, online.

All this harassment leaves victims feeling isolated, scared and depressed. We know that tragically, many victims contemplate suicide .

We have investigated school bullying and cyberbullying among young people in the UK, and have recently published our findings . Some 408 people aged 16-30 took part in this research project, which involved completing a survey online. The majority (351, or almost 90%) were still at school at the time they took part.

Some 37% of participants reported they had experienced cyberbullying. The victims primarily classified the perpetrators as their classmates, followed by students the victims perceived as “popular” in school, older boys or girls, and people unknown to them.

Victimisation took place on various platforms, with Facebook the most commonly reported (74%), followed by Twitter (17%), Snapchat (9%) and Instagram (9%). Common forms of victimisation included the spreading of malicious rumours (49% of participants who experienced cyberbullying said they were subject to rumours), threats (44%), and exclusion from a group, such as chat rooms or online games (29%).

Although our sample size was relatively small, and the majority of respondents were female, these findings are concerning, suggesting schoolmates cyberbully each other at a large scale. Importantly, victims reported that the online incidents they were subjected to occurred most commonly because of arguments in real-life settings. So it’s clear cyberbullying and bullying at school are often interconnected.

Read more: Anonymous apps risk fuelling cyberbullying but they also fill a vital role

When school bullying and cyberbullying collide

Nowadays, more and more schools and teachers tolerate students using mobile phones at school . And although social media and access to the internet can be a useful educational tool , there are students who use technology to victimise their classmates or others.

Other researchers have shown that cyberbullying can occur alongside verbal aggression and violent behaviour, and vice versa. An escalation of bullying in the schoolyard to bullying online, or vice versa, could be at the hands of the perpetrator, or of the victim seeking revenge. As one of our participants said:

He bullied me at school, shoved my things around for no reason and laughed at me with his friends, made fun of my clothes and the way I speak. I could not take it anymore, so one day I created a fake Facebook account and badgered him with texts and posts. I am not sorry, he deserved it for what he was doing to me at school.

Another participant told us:

She [a girl at the participant’s school] kept telling people to ignore me and not like my posts. She would embarrass me whenever I would upload a photo and she would share my photos with others just for a laugh […] So one day I just went up to her and told her to leave me alone but she laughed and that made me so angry so I pushed her down. Now she does it even more and her friends joined in as well. I don’t know how to stop this.

What should we do?

In today’s digital age, bullying among children and young people no longer stops when the school bell rings. But it appears that protective policies have progressed at a much slower pace than the means of cyberbullying have advanced.

It’s clear from our study, and other research in this area , that Facebook is a particularly risky platform for cyberbullying. With Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg having firmly denied criticism the company prioritises profit over users’ safety, it would be timely to see further protections put in place for users.

For example, Facebook should work to shorten the response time when online harassment is reported. Although we understand reports are usually reviewed within 48 hours , this can still allow ample time for further dissemination of abusive material.

Read more: How cyberbullies overtly and covertly target their victims

Separately, it’s crucial that schools and policymakers pay equal attention to cyberbullying as they do to traditional bullying, as well as the way the two interact. While there are multiple campaigns seeking to raise awareness about cyberbullying, it’s possible that teenagers in the UK would benefit from a more intense and sustained campaign to inform parents on how to protect their children.

Such a campaign could include expert advice for parents on how to monitor their child’s online behaviour in a constructive way, how to support their child in the event they do fall victim to cyberbullying, and how to manage the situation if their child is perpetrating cyberbullying. Regularly educating children at school about the consequences of school bullying and cyberbullying is also important.

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Parent experiences

Get advice and insight from other parents.

Many parents have dealt with cyberbullying in different forms — from child-on-child abuse to misogyny. Their experience has helped them tackle online bullying and support their children.

Below, they’ve shared their stories, how bullying impacted their children and what support they got to move forward.

Explore other parents' experiences with cyberbullying

Learn from other parents when it comes to tackling online bullying. Choose a parent below to learn more.

Nicola: My child was a cyberbully

Emma: Child-on-child abuse

Barney: Misogyny in sport

Beth: Talking about online hate

James: Celebrity influence of misogyny

Experiences from real families

Nicola’s story: my child was a cyberbully.

No parent wants to think of their child bullying someone else online. However, young people who may have never bullied anyone face-to-face can get drawn into cyberbullying easily, sometimes without realising that’s what they’re doing.

See Nicola’s story and how she dealt with her child’s actions.

How to tackle bullying behaviours

If your child shows bullying behaviour against others online, this guidance can help.

Emma’s story: Child-on-child abuse

Child-on-child abuse can happen in person and online, but many parents aren’t aware of what it actually is. Mum, Emma, shares her experience of online child-on-child abuse and what parents can do to help keep their children safe.

Learn more about child-on-child abuse

Featuring advice from psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos, learn how to keep kids safe from abuse online.

Barney’s story: Misogyny in sport

Barney’s teenage daughter first encountered misogyny online in a thread about the England women’s football team. Here, Barney shares the steps he took to counter sexism-based bullying online with his child.

Understand online misogyny

More than telling a child misogyny is wrong, this guide provides insight into the reasons behind the behaviour.

Real families’ experiences with cyberbullying

Meet real families featuring children of different ages as they talk about their online experiences with bullying and other issues.

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Share Your Cyberbullying Story

Share and read cyberbullying stories posted by others below. We have many resources on this site to help you deal with cyberbullying. If you are a teen, check out: Responding to Cyberbullying: Top Ten Tips for Teens. If you are an adult who is being harassed online, see our recommendations here . If you are a parent of a child who is being cyberbullied, please see: Responding to Cyberbullying: Top Ten Tips for Parents and educators should review: Responding to Cyberbullying: Top Ten Tips for Educators.

If you feel comfortable sharing your story, we would like to hear from you. You can anonymize your experiences if you’d like, and we promise to maintain your individual confidentiality to the maximum extent of the law. The more detail you can provide the better.  We use these stories to educate the public about the serious nature of cyberbullying with the goal of preventing others from doing it. We read every one of these stories and please know that you are not alone.  Even though it may seem like there is nothing that can be done to stop the cyberbullying, don’t give up.

Please note that any stories, anecdotes, or screenshots sent through email or through cyberbullying.org to us can be used by us as real-life examples of cyberbullying in academic papers, books, and presentations.  While form submissions through cyberbullying.org are anonymized, we will  never share any personal, identifying information  that you voluntarily choose to provide us in your communications to (or with) us.  If you have any questions or concerns about this, please  contact us .

SOME CYBERBULLYING STORIES SHARED WITH US

The following is a small sample of the thousands of anecdotal cyberbullying stories and comments we’ve received from children and adolescents who have experienced cyberbullying. If you would like to anonymously submit a description of your cyberbullying experience to us, please do so in the form below. Please provide as many specific details of your experience as you can.

""There is a site right now on face book that is called "Calling all hoes" that seems to be a place for people to write, for all the world to see, any hurtful or sick thought about anyone that they don't like-- Face Book refuses to take the page down... I don't know what to do and I feel that something needs to be done before we are hearing on the news about some poor kid who killed themselves over what's being written about them on this vile site. Help..... Anyone know how I, we, can begin the process of taking this Facebook page down?" "  - 17 year-old girl from US

""I have been friends with this person for 3 years now. Well best friends. I never thought she could do this to me. She's lying and getting our friends on her said. All i can do is watch. She's called me " Ugly RagDoll , Useless , Babied all my life , Jealous , I need to grow up , unpopular , I can go and riot under a rock! Who says these kinds of things? Only someone that is heartless and that has never been bullied before. They don't know how it feels i guess.""  - 12 year-old girl from MI

""My sixteen year old son was cyber bullied on Facebook over a period of 8 hours. The event was so traumatic it caused my son to have an acute psychotic break and to be hospitalized in an adolescent psychiatric ward for almost a month. He is changed forever and will never be the same mentally. Internet bullying can hurt and affect people and kids need to know this. These kids are not being punished in any way and think the incident is funny! We know it is life changing." "  - Parent of 16 year-old boy from MN

""Being I have been bullied many times before it makes me not want to live in this world anymore. I've been called probably every name out there.it really hurts. I sometimes contemplate suicide but i think where will that get me? i would only end up hurting the ones that i love.""  - 14 year-old girl from WA

""I am a Facebook user and I have reported these two people who are female who are putting all kinds of things about me on their wall and Facebook apparently don't care because they have not done anything about the bullying so far before or now. I don't think that this is right they should take these problems very serious!""  - 36 year-old woman from Pawtucket, RI

""I've been bully by the same person for almost 4 years now [AND YES, IS STILL HAPPENING RIGHT NOW] and he is an underclassman at my school. I don't know what the problem that got into him, I wasn't even doing anything. I thought that underclassmen should respect upperclassmen. He added me on Facebook and I just randomly accepted him, then on my birthday he start to say bunch of random crap to me and bunch of harsh stuff. Then a week ago, I blocked him and deleted him from my contact because he keeps bullying me no matter when, even in class or online. You don't have no idea how it makes me feel. Being bully by the same person for more than 3 years is pretty sucks, whenever i see him, I always look myself down even though I'm a whole lot older than him, I feel frustrated.”"  - 15 year-old boy from Muscat, Oman

""Whenever I am on Facebook, I am in fear of my account being hacked, mostly for the fact that Facebook app Yoville is a very effective method to obtain information and be able to successfully hack Facebook. I can't help but play it because i have online friends that I chat with. I just hate the fact that there are people that hack Facebook accounts through yoville for pleasure.""  - 18 year-old girl from NM

""It feels like you could die inside." "  - 13 year-old girl from CA

""My friend is Jamaican. There are 5 boys in our class and they bully this girl because she is black. They tell her to go back to KFC and they call her "Black Momma". No, this problem is not being solved and I'm scared to help her and tell them to stop. They are very mean and dangerous kids. We are in the same class.7th grade. In the age group of 12-13 or possibly 11 or 14." "  - 12 year-old girl from Brooklyn, NY

""A boy in my sixth grade math class called me mean names. Like four eyes, alien and more just for wearing glasses. It made me very upset. I don't think that kids who wear glasses shouldn't get made fun of. It's not someone's fault for wearing glasses.""  - 11 year-old boy from MI

""I have been threatened that someone was going to kill me and told me to shut the fuck up here is a picture http://twitpic.com/48br8p""  - 12 year-old boy from WA

""I've been bullied on Twitter, by two people in the last couple weeks. I've told them to stop and to leave me alone, but they keep at it. After I told them to stop and leave me alone, I stopped communication with them but they still kept tweeting me. I feel like I can't say anything with someone on Twitter bullying me. I try to make it look like I don't care and all, but it never seems to work. I've reported and blocked them. Anyone have any suggestions please?" "  - 21 year-old girl from USA

""How ironic that Miranda Cosgrove is being used as the celebrity face for anti-bullying, since I just told my 11 yr. old she can no longer watch "iCarly" because Carly and Sam (especially Sam) consistently bully "the less cool kids" on that show. Just watch one episode and you will see it. This is the problem. Everyone talks about stopping bullying, but they don't even recognize that THEY ARE THE BULLY!!!""  - 11 year-old girl from USA

""There's a game called habbo.com. Now there's a certain room in the called chromide club where the kids go to make fun of people. It's bad because they get your Facebook and make fun of the way u look. They spam your Facebook throughout the game and it hurts people's feelings.""  - 13 year-old girl from USA

""My daughter has recently been bullied by her so called "friends" so badly that we had to take her out of the school and enroll her in a private school which allows us to home school since it is such a distance to travel. We approached the school which did nothing. They acted concern but did not act on the information. The bullying did not stop at school, it went on further onto Facebook. The girls thought they it was funny and tried to make it look like my daughter had been saying ugly things about them. The awful part was while they were doing this they were acting like they were her friend and staying at our house. They actually said they had been planning all of it!! We thought it would quit once we took her out of the school, but they did not quit. It has affected her emotionally. She feels isolated because they went throughout the whole school telling lies about her. People were texting her and calling her as well as posting on Facebook. She blocked so many people but it has really affected her. I feel for her safety and that it has really affected her self-esteem. As a parent, I am angry at the other parents and at the school system. We have been let down by this school system. I am considering contacting the Texas Education Association. This is a large school district which has turned a blind eye to my child's wellbeing.""  - 16 year-old girl from TX

""some weirdo on twitter said some very hurtful things to me. Mostly about being a Christian. i don't want to go into it any more than that.""  - 13 year-old girl from WI

""Well i always get bullied and i hate it i feel like killing myself sometimes.""  - 13 year-old girl from Victoria, Australia

""I found my daughter was being cyber bullied a week ago. It had started a few weeks earlier but became extreme last week. This was part of an ongoing bullying campaigned by a group of girls at her school after a broken friendship. When it became Cyber I kept copies of the harassment which was lucky as I was able to take it to the school. She had been called vile horrible names, accused for things she hadn't done and set up to appear racist. There were threats of bashing. Finally she was provoked and she ended up using language out of character in retaliation. We rang the school who suggested the Police. We rang them and they said that as they are all under 14yrsold they couldn't do much. I then referred to the got schools policy which clearly stated that if cyber bullying could be directly related to the child and school then it was an issue the school had to deal with in order to create a safe environment for my daughter. Feeling i might be dismissed with "your daughter is too sensitive" or similar I wrote a very precise 3 page letter with 6 attachments cover 22 pages of evidence. Protocol was then followed which was satisfactory. I did however suggest that a very active learning program be set up to educate these children on how to use Facebook and how to change privacy settings etc. I explained that banning this technology was a useless endeavor and would not work so we need to work with it. I would love to be able to do more in the schools so have found your site fantastic.""  - 11 year-old girl from Australia

""I was walking home from school when i got a text message that read ‘you wait till tomorrow bitch you're going to die' when i got home i asked what was the matter she told me that she heard i told my cousin which was her boyfriend she was cheating on him (which was a lie). i tried to confront her but it failed i kept getting threating messages but it soon stopped when my cousin broke up with her.""  - 18 year-old girl from Victoria, Australia

""My son has been receiving text messages that are being set up on a computer internet webmail address. The person is sending him little messages, not really threatening, but bothersome. The person set up a bogus email address and sends messages to his cell phone up to 50 to 60 at a time of the same message. It ties up his phone and is a problem. He has already had to change his number once but the person found it. We are going to go to our State's Cyber bullying division for help after local police could not do anything.""  - Parent of 19 year-old boy from MS

""When I was 15, a freshman in high school, I was bullied over the Internet and at school. I felt like it came out of nowhere. One day the group of girls I called friends turned against me viciously over MySpace. They created a fake MySpace profile for me, which contained my cell phone number and instant message name. They photo shopped obscene sexual photographs of me and posted them in this profile. I was getting calls and began being stalked by strange men. These girls would make up sexually explicit rumors about me even though at the time I was a virgin. They would instant message me and tell me I was going to die. They were going to kill me. I was afraid to leave the house, to have friends, to pick up the phone. I lived in fear for so long. I knew they were looking for a fight and I refused to give them one so I deleted all known online presence and changed my number. I became recluse, a prisoner in my own home. Once I graduated high school I applied to college outside of my hometown to run away. Now, I am 22 and still have to live with the effects of these cruel girls. Trauma is hard to recover from but I know it is possible and I am stronger now than I have ever been. I am not that scared 15-year-old girl but I am still haunted by the girl I used to be." "  - 22 year-old girl from Middletown NY

""A guy i know (he is a good friend of mine now) used to be pretty cruel to me in front of my friends, mocking me. But i just want to say to every victim out there, don't stop believing it will all get better. Stand up for yourself, fight, do whatever you can. Peace.""  - 14 year-old boy from IA

""I think that cyber bullying is one of the worst things that a teenager may be exposed to. But in this age kids cannot act properly. The cyber-bullies are always not self-confident children who, in many cases, envy their victims. I was bullied twice. The first incident happened 2 years ago in a new social site- Formspring.me In this site you can send your opinion or question anonymously. One person sent me a message claiming that I was fake and that I wasn't a good friend. I was too offended to answer and I just disabled my account. The second incident happened a year ago. Those who I had considered my "best friends" tended to tease me often about my appearance. This teasing eventually led to harsh words exchanged over Facebook, which by a month time resulted in cyber-bullying. The bullying ended when I blocked them, and moved after the school year. So if you are bullied the best thing to do is to block those people or just find a different social network. Don't pay attention to the bullies because most of things they say are not true. However, if the bullying becomes very serious then an adult should be informed for help.""  - 14 year-old boy from USA

""I was and still am being bully by girls that once where my best friends. They tease and taught me and call me ugly, and some not so nice names. They keep messageing me on facebook and saying i need to stop when it isthem. Yesturday i heard this story of a 13 year old boy who committed suicide because of the bullies i was crying becasue of what happens to me. i just want it to STOP! But every time i tell the pricipial he will not listen:(...it is very hard but i deal with it.""  - 12 year-old girl from IL

""Cyber Bullying is a serious topic! I was bullied and began to cut myself... You may want to know why... time to tell I was bullied, stalked, and harassed. Never to my face but online the people who bullied me would make fake pages and put me on them saying I'm how and everything I'm willing 'to do' with a guy, but nothing on them were true... They told people to walk up to me and ask me if I was a hoe, lesbian, dyke, slut, pregnant.. etc. I couldn't take it anymore I was on the verge of suicide and when you're going through this you want to handle it alone, but truthfully you can't. So I began to cut. For everything I was going through. I got help. I came clean to a trusted adult and they told my mom everything my mom got very upset and began to take pills to solve her problems. I got madder and cut even more then I finally said no! STOP I haven't cut in a month and 5 days... i use to cut every day. So to wrap this up I'm done cutting my mom's still on pills and I told the police (about the bullying) and guess what. The sites and texts are gone!!! :)""  - 14 year-old girl from MN

""On December 17, 2010, my daughter was a victim of cyber bullying. There were four children involved in a chartroom within their e-mail accounts. One ring leader who seemed rather angry with my daughter started name calling, letting her know nobody liked her, and even went as far as wishing she would die in a hole. This obviously was a very hurtful conversation which led to my 11-year-old daughter to even consider death as an option. I thankfully monitor my child's accounts and was able to copy the conversation, and bring this conversation to my child's school. They acted quickly, and knew the severity of the situation. My hope is that there will be a positive outcome, and the four involved will have the opportunity to learn from this. Education and positive guidance are important tools to use as you do not want it to repeat, nor for you want it to fester in the minds of these young souls.""  - Father of 12 year-old girl from VA

""Our Pastor was texting our daughter early morning and late at night. Then started FB emails telling her to stay in contact however she could. He told her how horrible her family is and what liars we were. Told her we did things just to make her feel bad. We spent $35,000,00 to get a Permanent Injunction prohibiting contact for 10 years. Now he is suing us for his attorney fees.""  - Mother of 17 year-old girl from IL

""I stopped being friends with this girl who was just a bad influence on me, and she got a couple of her friends to hate me. On MSN they had a group chat room, and it was the two girls, and they were threatening to bully me at school, and I got scared about it. (The first girl) said if I came to school she would beat me up during recess, so during that day I hid in the bathroom at lunch.""  - 12 year-old girl from AL

""I have an account on this site called Formspring, and what it was is I got cheated on by my ex, and someone was just like, ‘You need to let him go,' and started cussing me out. People are harsh. People are very harsh. Then they were saying my articles suck.""  - 16 year-old girl from AL

""I broke up with this guy because I wanted to keep our relationship secret. So after a week he all of a sudden started texting me and saying how me and my brother were brats and how I was a B****. He said some pretty nasty things. I asked him why he said it and he said it was because I broke his heart and he was getting revenge from that. Me and my friends often get bullied it's one thing if it's at school but to bring it home was another. We have to stick up for each other. I thought school was supposed to be safe.""  - 16 year-old girl from USA

""When I was thirteen, a friend of a friend, whom I had previously contacted on good terms, decided that in the absence of my physical self, the bullying that used to go on in elementary school (I had become homeschooled since) should start a new online. She insulted me, telling me how glad she was not to be put in close proximity with my allegedly ugly face anymore and mocking me for my perceived sexual orientation. Whenever I thought I'd seen the last of her, out of the blue she would instant message me again just to share her opinion. I hadn't seen her in almost a year, but she still entertained herself by telling me how horrible I was. It was like she was conjuring up the school situation which I had tried so hard to overcome.""  - 15 year-old girl from CA

""My daughter is a victim of cyber bullying she is 15 ,someone placed her picture on another person's face and wrote a lot of vicious, hateful, discusting lies about her and from one cell phone to another the hole school had it going around she didn't want to go to school anymore i had a place herin another school, her self-confidence, self-esteem her grades were failing, she got sick, the school didn't help us they just wanted us to not pay attention to this cruel behavior, as a parent i was pissed, hurt and confused, all i could do was try to talk to her but she said mom it's too hard to overlook when everywhere you walk people are pointing at you calling you names, i just took her away from the school changed her cell phone number and just pray." "  - Mother of 15 year-old girl from Los Angeles, CA

""I had asked a guy to prom and posted pictures on Facebook of me and him. a girl that used to be my friend from where i used to live commented on them saying that i was desperate and i only asked him because i knew no one would ask me. Luckily, some of my real friends defended me, but i will never forget sitting in front of the computer screen crying because of something someone said.""  - 16 year-old girl from AZ

""WELL I WAS IN THIS RELATIONSHIP WITH THIS BOY CEJAY AND HE STARTEDTO GET UPSET BECAUSE I DIDNT WANT TO DO ANY THING SEXUAL OR PHYSIACAL SO HE STARTED TO POST MEAN AND HERTFUL BLOGS ABOUT ME. HE EVEN COMMENTED ON ALLMY STATUS I WAS EMBARASSED. WHEN I CONFRONTED HIM ABOUT HE DIDNT EVEN CAREOR HAVE ANY REGRET BUT IT WAS A DIFERRENT STORY WHEN I GOT REVENGE BY TELLING THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL ON HIM. THEN HE GOT UPSET AND DONE EVEN MEANER THINGS TO ME LIKE SEXUALLY HARRASSING ME BUT SINCE THEN IT BEEN BETTER BECAUSEI ERASED ALL OF MY EMAIL ACCOUNTS EVEN GOT OUT OF PUBLIC SCHOOL.""  - 14 year-old girl from Columbus, OH

""I was the new girl in school and everyone just had to be mean to me. The girls in my class wrote my name on the bathroom stall saying i like two boys when i did not even like one of them. i had trusted two of the girls and they let me down. In the bathroom stall every single girl could see it. Luckily i told my mom and then she told my teacher and they got detention with the principal for a week.""  - 12 year-old girl from Ontario

""Last year when i was 16 i was bulled because i liked this boy, my friend liked him too. So i started talking to him one day and my friend seen us so she stopped talking to me. She started spreading rumors about me. People us to beat me up after school. This went on for months until i told my father he went up to the school and told the principle. He suspended the kids now they don't mess with me anymore. If you are being bulled don't be afraid to tell an adult don't take matters into your hands don't let bullying happen if you see it tell an adult.""  - 16 year-old girl from OH

""I was on Facebook when a friend of mine wrote on my wall that whenever I was in someone's life their life started to get fucked up. That hurt a lot because I trusted this person. He verbally bullies me whenever he gets the chance. I don't want to tell my mom because she'll make a big deal about it. I'm really getting hurt from this. Why does he have to be a wimp and say it online and not to my face? He'd be a man if he did.""  - 15 year-old boy from MI

""I was bullied on a site, like MySpace. I had a MySpace page devoted to me. I thought for the longest time about killing myself, until one day I realized that god put me on this earth for a reason.. And killing myself wouldn't so any good. My bullies put signs in my yard. What killed me is the fact that the school could not do anything because it was done online. I will never get over this. Even though it happened a few years ago.""  - 16 year-old girl from IN

""Some girl in my daughter's grade started a rumor that my daughter is a lesbian, this got all over school, not happy with that she starting texting her with all this comments. I spoke to her mom and ask her to please make her stop. Well big mistake...she post comments on Facebook, mocking her. We will start counseling very soon, I'm afraid for my daughter safety, not sure how bad this is affecting her, and she tells me that she's trying to avoid them in school. This is a terrible experience that no child have to go thru.""  - Mother of 14 year-old girl from Suffolk, NY

""People always make fun of me because of my weight. They say I'm pretty but i can't believe them. Last year i was being bullied by an 8th grader at my school. People would send me messages saying that I'm a disgrace i shouldn't be in this world. my best friend also told me that after we got in a fight, i cried for so long knowing my best friend thought that of me and what hurt me too was that she said it with hatred the look in her eyes was like she never wanted to see or hear from me again. i felt so bad i wanted to kill myself. i thought it was the only way out. I've been bullied since i was in pre-school. i thought it would go away by now but its only getting worse. My sisters even make fun of me but they say that their just playing around. They don't think it doesn't hurt me but it does especially coming from my sisters, it makes me feel even worse.""  - 13 year-old girl from NV

""This girl I've known for a few years liked my boyfriend. She would always try to make me jealous by hugging him or anything she could think of. One day she posted a bulletin on MySpace all about him and I told her she shouldn't talk about him like that. She ended up harassing me online, calling me names. But when I went to school she would never say anything to my face, she denied ever saying anything to me when I confronted her in front of her friends. Then when I went back home she kept doing it over the computer. Her insults getting worse. Then I went to school and confronted her again and got in a fight. She hit me and I beat her up and now I don't know if that was the right thing to do. What else could I do?" "  - 15 year-old girl from NV

""My 14 year old daughter is being cyber bullied now. Found a website she belongs to called "Formspring". This is where anyone can (even if you dont know them) can post a comment to you or ask you a question. Then you respond if you want. I was so appalled that you can post and ask questions anonymously and you have no have no idea who is posting. Many of these posts are telling my daughter that they hate her and she should just go kill herself. If you cant see who posts these things what options do you have? I have banned my kids from the computer now unless it's for homework. I have deleted their Facebook accts. At my wits end. My 24 yr old son has started a web page for this. And I think everyone should start one to try to pull together communities in fighting this.""  - 14 year-old girl from USA

""I have a formspring account, which anonymously allows people to ask you questions. Instead of receiving what i thought would be nice questions, i constantly was sent comments like "you're ugly", "you're stupid", "you're a slut", etc. I have a total of over 1000 formspring "questions" and i would say that 95% of them were verbal abusing me and completely destroying my self-esteem. It got to the point where i couldn't stand going to school or even looking at myself in the mirror knowing that when people see me they think of a stupid, ugly, whore. People that stick and stones can break your bones, but names can never hurt you. But i have come to realization that the statement does not apply to the majority of teenagers. Verbal Abuse hurts.""  - 16 year-old girl from VA

""I was picked on in the 5th grade by having my stuff pushed off the table or having my belongings stolen. it went into 7th grade where i completely lost it, beat up the kid who was the leader of the bullies, and now he gives me the respect i deserve. Violence isn't usually the way to go, but in this case it helped a lot.""  - 14 year old boy from MA

""Hi my name is _____ i was targeted online on Facebook. One of my friends who i thought was my friend made a Facebook page that had the title _____ is pregnant. I'm not pregnant. I was so frustrated and upset because i didn't deserve this. My family and I am Catholic. One of my friends got brought into this. I went to the principle and he dealt with it. I have been a target my whole life how do i stop it.""  - 16 year-old girl from PA

""I have a fifteen year old who suffers from anxiety and depression and just yesterday I filed a police report. My son has a Facebook account and a classmate was posting some very disturbing comments to my son he was telling my son to end his life already, threatening him that if he went to school he was going to kick his a#! and calling my son a spic and telling my son to go back across the border my sons status on face book is bisexual and the things they were saying about him were disturbing. I printed all the posts went to my local police dept. were the police officer told me that he was not sure they could do much since they are minors could you believe that! I insisted I wanted something done and charges filed he gave me a report number and would call me today. I called my lawyer!""  - 15 year-old boy from MD

""Teammates, unknowingly to the victim, accessed the victims phone and put embarrassing remarks on the victims Facebook page, which were attributed to the victim. It appeared that the victim was confessing that they were gay.""  - 14 year-old boy from MD

""I came to college thinking everything would be all fun and games. I shortly found out it was not. My suite-mates, did not like me, for reasons I do not know. When they discovered I had a formspring page, they took the chance to say things to me that hit home, and then took actions against me in person. I felt hopeless, and the University I currently attend did not do anything about it. It was a low point in my life." "  - 18 year-old girl from NY

""I try to ignore her but she turns everyone against me and makes my life miserable. She spreads awful rumors about me and i just can't take it.""  - 14 year-old girl from TX

""My best friend and I were so close, we could almost be sisters. We were going on holiday to Scotland in October to take a break from all our crazy work from school, because we both just started an early GCSE. Until she started getting friendly with another girl, who I instantly didn't like, as I thought she was a bad influence. Eventually I started getting nasty texts and emails, and messages on MSN about my appearance and personality. I broke down in tears one night when something about Scotland came on the television. I started getting emotionally depressed at home and at school, and my work was getting effected and my family was deeply alarmed by this. In the end I told her that I wasn't sure if i wanted to go to Scotland with her, so the messages got worse. In the end I showed my parents and teachers and they were had a word with. It's not so bad now, even though I still get depressed sometimes, but now I'm sure who my true friends are." "  - 13 year-old girl from England

""When I was 13 in middle school I would receive anonymous phone calls on my cell phone during school and after school from some boys in my Spanish class threatening to rape me, kidnap me, kill me, and kill my dog. It was literally one of the most terrifying things that had ever happened to me, and after about 2 weeks of putting up with it, I finally reported them and they were arrested. Unfortunately that's not where it ended. These boys turned out to be the well-loved class clowns of the school and the torment from other students continued on MySpace. I ended up deleting it and didn't create another one until mid-8th grade when tensions died down a bit. I felt miserable for the rest of my middle school career and pleaded with my parents to transfer schools but they wouldn't listen. I did try to commit suicide more than once. The depression carried over into high school, but it was masked by having new friends that actually liked me. Eventually I did get help mid-Senior year and am continuing talk therapy in college.""  - 18 year-old girl from FL

""As you know, Japan has very bad bullying. Cyber bullying, physical bullying, and mental abuse bullying. We have a very high rate of suicide attempts at the age bracket of middle school kids to high school kids. This is a story about a best friend I had who committed suicide right in front of me. And all it started was a crush she had, it was such a small thing. All she wanted to do is have a normal teenage life; that never happened. She wanted to join in the group but everyone called her "gloomy, sullen, creepy." It wasn't very nice at all. The tone of their voices changed when she came in the room, there were thumbnails in her shoes, dead animals in her desk, and many more. There were also a lot of hate mail. Sometimes just to ease the pain I deleted the mails before she could even see them, but that didn't do much good. I wish I could've helped more... Every day I saw her eyes die and become darker and darker. It was the time when I was going home with her and we were waiting for the train to pass by; it was that time when she just pushed me away and ran in front of the tracks and committed suicide. Now it has been 3 years since she did this act, I still regret not saving her, I still regret everything I could not have done.""  - 16 year-old girl from Japan

""I was cyber bullied when i was in 8th grade by a bunch of girls telling me that i need to get a life so i went home told my mom and they kept bullying me still so then i just kept skipping school and getting i n trouble at home and then just ran away then i finally got everything figured out with the cops.""  - 13 year-old girl from KY

""I was cyber bullied when i was in 8th grade by a bunch of girls telling me that i need to get a life so i went home told my mom and they kept bullying me still so then i just kept skipping school and getting i n trouble at home and then just ran away then i finally got everything figured out with the cops""  - 13 year-old girl from KY

""When I was 8 years old, I met a girl who had gotten into a fight with me a week later. This resulted in cyber bullying that lasted 5 years. The girl was now 16 and was still harassing me. I told my parents who stopped the messages but then the girls mugged me and attacked me. I was in the hospital for 1 week. The girls were caught by the police and now the girls are in juvenile hall. I'm glad that it stopped.""  - 14 year-old girl from Wales, UK

""Honestly when I was being cyber bullied I felt like I wanted to never get out of the house or talk to anyone ever again. It led me to depression and the person who was bullying me... they believed that it was funny. I ended up staying quiet and even today I do get bullied online.""  - 17 year-old girl from NJ

""I get mean messages on Formspring, with people telling me I'm fat and ugly and stupid. I don't know what I ever did to anyone. I wish it wasn't anonymous...""  - 15 year-old boy from IL

""I frequent the adam4adam site often; at some point started getting several negative emails from this person who me of i have never met; I changed my screen name a few times only to have my old screen name come back tiaras me even more over the same thing. have complained to the adam for adam site & the best advice they could give me is to just block the person; what really made me up site with the site was that was once called a porch monkey & all they did was tell me to block the guy & not much was done to stop him from accessing his account; have complained many times that I want to take legal action against the person that keeps changing screen name when i change names; how can I find out this persons isp address to press charges??""  - 45 year-old man from CA

""I got cyber bullied after i got surgery on my knee & it was horrible they always said go die & your worthless why are you here? You're wasting air. it made me so depressed and i thought of suicide plenty of times but i wasn't going to let them get to me so i deleted all of them from my Facebook, MySpace and all that & it stopped until i went back to school. i just had surgery and couldn't walk so they put me in a wheelchair & everything was fine the few first days i had so many friends and they all loved me & helped me, but when my best friend came home from Mexico all hell broke loose, & people kept saying i was talking about her & lying about everything which wasn't true someone hated me so much they decide to make my life hell. That day @ lunch i had about 20 girls who were mad @ me because "i lied " & i didn't. they all tried to hit me & fight me when i was in a wheelchair after 5days after my surgery, so my boyfriend took me to the consular & that when i know i am de the biggest mistake, after that i got horrible texts,& people would call me & leave me voice mails & stuff and it was horrible , i thought about suicide & my mom caught me & ending up in the hospital i never want to go through that again it was horrible, all this was 1 year ago & this stuff is still going on I wish it would just stop.""  - 13 year-old girl from OH

""I usually feel pretty and liked it's not like i brag i just feel regular then on MySpace I comment on some girls status saying something like "I do that too!" I was just replying to something she said. Then like 5 minutes later she put.. "Sorry Friend But I See The Opposite Of Beautiful & Gorgeous When I Look At Herr (;" I felt something go threw me like jeeze what's wrong I was nice and friendly i don't deserve this! And usually I'm very insecure about my appearance and when I finally feel better she had to ruin it oh well STOP CYBER BULLYING" "  - 13 year-old girl from Sacramento, CA

""My elderly mother has been harassed by email by two different neighbors. The bullying has gotten so bad that it is causing health issues and my parents are trying to sell their house. They have hired a lawyer and reported the harassment to the police but to no avail. The police said they could arrest the people responsible but that wouldn't stop the harassment. I think this comes under the cyber bulling law in Iowa but I don't know if it has been used other than with schools and youths. I really need help for my parents.""  - Daughter of an 83 year-old woman from IA

""okaay so it's this boy and my friend use to go with him.. and so he liked me and i liked him back and so i asked my friend is it ok if i go with the boy she said alright she over him and i can have him and when i start going with him she started getting mad at me and i told her if it means that much to you ill break up with the boy cause i don't need no boys in my life as long as i got my friends.. so then she started calling my phone and started cussing me out so hung up and put her on my block list and she left me a voicemail threating me and all this other stuff i ignored it. Cause it doesn't really matter anymore.""  - 12 year-old girl from TX

""I was on aim minding my own business, and then all of a sudden a screen name I didn't recognize popped up. They started to talk to me and call me really horrible names. I felt like crying. I asked who it was a bunch of times and all they said was "none of your business." I blocked them but they always made a different screen name. I remember every word they said to me. I will never ever let it go because from that day on I was harassed badly and still never figured out who it was.""  - 11 year-old girl from CA

""My friend and i have 3 cyber bullies. They would call us randomly on their phones and not leave us alone. They would also text us really mean and bad things, like they called us lezbians and something else really bad. Yesterday i was watching a movie and she called me 2 times and i said stop. Then she kept texting me so many mean things that i wanted to throw my phone against the wall. I told my mom and she called her. My mom told her that she wanted to talk to her parents and the girl hung up. After that the mean girls texted me, wow you can't fight your own battles! Now my friends mom and my mom are doing anything they can to stop this. My mom is worried this is going to carry on into middle school.""  - 11 year-old girl from MI

""My son has been cyber bullied by the same child that is his age for a while now, he has threatened to beat him up and tells my son to kill himself because no one cares about him. My child is so sensitive and not to mention small for his age with type one diabetes. I have no idea who to turn to for this problem. I want to go to this other kids house and have a chat with his mother, but I don't know my rights.""  - Mother of 12 year-old from WI

""I was at this anime site where peopled bulled non-stopped in this chat room. All they did was tell me how stupid i was for a year. But then i would go back because people where nice to me. I've went their for a year people keep yelling at me calling me stupid stupid stupid stupid stupidstuipd stuipd buti was addicted to chatting . now i've been banned thank god and is freeeeee.""  - 15 year-old boy from IL

""Hi, my son has been repeatedly humiliated and harassed through an online gaming forum by other teenagers. It has had a tremendous affect upon him, he has cried, become angry, and is confused as to why these people don't like him. There has been continues postings about him and harassing personal messages sent to him. I naturally told him to stay off of this site. When I contacted the administrators of this forum, I received a response from an Attorney who is an administrator. He told me there was nothing they could do. As our conversation continued and I expressed to him that as a Dad this forum that accepts children has an inherent responsibility to protect them. He eventually banned my son, ridiculed me as a Father and challenged me to try and do something. What can I do as a Dad to ensure that Children like my son won't be emotionally abused through a Forum that allows children?""  - Father of 12 year-old boy from CA

""My friend and i have 3 cyber bullies. They would call us randomly on their phones and not leave us alone. They would also text us really mean and bad things, like they called us lesbians and something else really bad. Yesterday i was watching a movie and she called me 2 times and i said stop. Then she kept texting me so many mean things that i wanted to throw my phone against the wall. I told my mom and she called her. My mom told her that she wanted to talk to her parents and the girl hung up. After that the mean girls texted me, wow you can't fight your own battles! Now my friends mom and my mom are doing anything they can to stop this. My mom is worried this is going to carry on into middle school.""  - 11 year-old boy from MI

""I am tired of having him messaging me and saying inappropriate things, threatening, and just being downright annoying! I'm tired of having to block him over and over, I've reported him more than once...but he is still here. This whole conflict with him is ruining my gaming experience. I hardly enjoy signing onto the PSN.""  - 16 year-old girl from USA

""Somebody on Facebook would not stop bullying me. He was harsh and kept saying I was a "slutty bitch" whatever that is. I was very depressed, regardless.""  - 12 year-old girl from Russia

""Once i went on Facebook and all my friends were making fun of me. They said that i should kill myself and no one likes me and stuff like that. i was depressed for a long time. All my 'friends' weren't talking to me and i didn't know what to do. i went home and thought about suicide but i just couldn't. The principal in my school had found out about this and confronted these kids. They said sorry but they didn't mean it. I've always thought about suicide ever since." "  - 12 year-old girl from OH

""For years, in middle school i spent every day of my life being bullied. i was called "the emo lezbo" for almost 3 years straight. now i am 15 and in high school with low self-esteem, and still thinking about suicide as the way out. i can't ask for help, I'm scared my mom will take it out on herself. Sometimes i can't handle it, i wish i could have started over, not as me, but someone pretty and smart that everyone would love.""  - 15 year-old girl from USA

""My so-called "best friend" and I were joking around making a fake music video, and when we were making it she pranked me by pushing me in the pull. I broke my nose pretty badly and the video went around my school like wild fire. To this day I still get made fun of and its 2 years later.""  - 18 year-old girl from USA

""I have a form spring and for the past month that i have had it I have been bullied on it. Thank god i am not like that 17 year old girl because the things being said to me are so mean I don't even know how a person can come up with this "shit" for lack of a better word. I feel if this person has such a problem with me they need to grow up and say it to me in person instead of try to act tough posting stuff without their name on it. The web site is for questions not insults and I think police should be more active on these site so people like that can get help because clearly there are issues!!!""  - 17 year-old girl from Tewksbury, MA

""As a mom, I'm devastated by the cyber-bullying taking place against my 15-year-old daughter. Kids are ganging up, saying horrible things - ugly, fat, bitch - anonymously. If it's devastating for me, I can't imagine what it's like for her.""  - 15 year-old girl from CT

""My friend told me about a chat website, so I went on it. It was fun at first, until there were people who started saying mean things and harassing me on the site for no reason. I still remember some of the things they said, and I wish I didn't, because you keep on remembering and wondering if maybe it is true." "  - 14 year-old boy from M

""I was on aim minding my own business, and then all of a sudden a screen name i didn't recognize popped up, they started to talk to me and call me really horrible names. I felt like crying . i asked who it was a bunch of times and all they said was "none of your business" i blocked them but they always made a different screen name , i remember every word they said to me ,this happened to me about 3 or 4 years ago. i will never ever let it go because from that day on i was harassed badly and still never figured out who it was . Note: for every kid that has an aim, and you don't know who it is , and when you ask them over and over again and they don't tell you , tell an adult . It's the best thing to do when your being harassed good luck everybody i wish you all best of luck.""  - 11 year-old girl from CA

""I've never ben bullied myself .yes I've bullied and i regret it and want to apologize to the people who have been bullied it is wrong and don't think anyone should take your life nor feel depressed because jerks want to bully.""  - 14 year-old boy from NC

""Sometimes it's hard to believe what starts it, The truth is whatever the reason revenge, or because it makes you feel good. Cyber bullying or bullying of any type is against the law. It can have horrible outcomes that will kill others, and sometimes it can lead others to do crimes, murders, and sometimes even cause deaths to innocents that had nothing to do with it in the first place. Its time to take a stand now, that when we teach our children its okay to get revenge, or hurt others if they have hurt you, then its then we teach them its okay to cause pain, wars, this is bullshit. We don't have a right to cause any pain to any person for whatever reason. The time is now to stop the violence and it stops here and now. In our schools, Computer Labs, and the internet. STOP hurting others, it doesn't feel good, and in the end could cause you more harm then you realize. I was the victim of cyber bullying, I was also the cause of it at one point because I had continued to try to get revenge on those that hurt me. In the end it wasn't much of anything but pain, and the pain continued on to my own friends and others. It's not worth it no matter how much someone hurts you its needs to stop and it stops now... So here I am trying to make it stop.""  - 33 year-old man from AZ

""I have autism and have been made fun of for most my childhood. It hurts me so much when people pick on me and hardly ever think before they speak. They gossip and say whatever they want to without asking themselves if they will be rude to someone else by saying it. I have grown up quite a bit and wish they could understand, but they don't. My heart breaks from this pain inside me and they don't care at all.""  - 17 year-old girl from WA

""I gett harassed by this girl named amber she is in my class she always say im ugly and i cry every day :(""  - 12 year-old girl from CA

""BIENG BULLIED ISN'T GREAT BECAUSE AFTER A WHILE YOU START TO BELIEVE THE STUFF THAT THEY SAID TO YOU. I STILL CRY WHENEVER I THINK ABOUT WHAT THEY SAID.""  - 10 year-old girl from CA

""My son made the high school baseball team in December by February the team started to call him Down syndrome Darren. They would tease him all the time and push him in the hallways with his books. In March we found out about a Facebook page made called Down syndrome Darren and he was mortified. He stopped eating as much. Cried a lot and made comments about death. We went to the coach and team mom and they said they would take care of it. The boys that made the website were suspended for one baseball game but the teasing continued and the physical bullying got worse even though the website came down. He had his gear hidden, grape fruits thrown at him, he was tripped, pushed, shoved, and he was given a baseball with a penis drawn on it with all kinds of obsinities written on it. My oldest son came to a game and the parents told him that if he started anything they would call the cops. He told them they should call the cops on their own kids. They told the school that my oldest son threatened their sons and the police called me the next day telling me that there would be someone there to watch the games and not to bring my oldest son to the games any more. I was glad someone would finally be watching the team, but he was there to protect the other boys not my son. When the season was over he left. The coach was so concerned about his varsity players that he left his junior varsity and freshman players alone and my son was ganged up on and forced to wrestle and body box twice while being filmed by several boys. He did not win. He was teased and humiliated. He came home really out of control of his emotions he was so upset. He was punching things, flipped over the couches, and was screaming at the top of his lungs. We had to take him to the hospital when he threatened to kill himself for he cut his arm all up. He was in the hospital for 6 days. The most the school has done is said they are investigating it and that they would refer him to a new school. He never wants to go back to that school but come on that is the best they can do?""  - Parent of 14 year-old boy from CA

""A group of boys who i meet through my hall of residence have always had a thing against me, i appear to be outgoing, happy, confident and loud. I stand up for myself. What they didn't know is that I suffered from a mild depression from issues in my past. After constantly saying mean stuff and making mean gestures to me whenever they saw me or i came up in conversation they decided to make a Facebook group for a 'leaving party' for me, even though everybody new they did not like me. i am going on a unit exchange and they said this was for me and sarcastically talked about how sad they will be and how will they cope without me. Everybody knew it was a joke, they publicly humiliated me and expressed their hate for me. I was very very distressed and my confidence was and still is lowered. I was diagnosed with severe depression and have had suicidal thoughts which i am working on to get better. It has been a month and not one of them has apologized, my mother and father are furious and want me to go to the proctor of my university about it or the police but I am unsure if they could do anything about it. I thought when I got to university this would stop but it has gotten worse and I do not know what action I should take against them but I am scared that they will do it to someone weaker to me and this could be very, very bad.""  - 19 year-old boy from NZ

""2 or 3 years back, when I used Youtube as my social network, I was cyber bullied by a white-power obsessed bully. On my profile I said I lived in the United States but was from Ecuador. When this guy read it he started posting rude spam comments calling me a "spick" and "wetback". Of course, I fought back as much as I can, and when my friends read his comments they helped. They were also being victimized. After a while, I just blocked him and we all reported him to the site. He was gone, but later on he came back, and the same thing happened. When he returned months later, I was already fed up with it and blocked him fast. Happened one more time after that, but I learned that I should just ignore it because whoever the person is, he doesn't know anything about me. Right now, nothing recent has happened, and I don't use Youtube anymore, and I hope that kids know never to let someone get to you because if they have to insult you through the computer, then they aren't worth the second thought.""  - 15 year-old girl from NY

""how does it feel being the fat ugly outcast of all your pretty skinny friends why do you take a bazillion pictures of yourself ...like your some kind of model? i think you're a little too big for even a plus size model...and think you have to be pretty to model ... so epic fail for you nuff said... ""  - 14 year-old girl from DE

""When I was very young, in about 4th grade, I remember this group of girls made a website about me. It had a picture of a pig on it and said " _____ is a fat pig and everyone hates her!" I was devastated when it happened, but when I look back I just laugh. Cyber bullying is a problem because the internet and technology gives people a sense of security. People are much more likely to send a threatening text to someone then say something to someone's face these days.""  - 19 year-old girl from MN

""I was at this anime site where peopled bulled non stopped in this chat room. All they did was tell me how stupid i was for a year. But then i would go back because people where nice to me. I've went there for a year people keep yelling at me calling me stupid stupid stupid stupid stupidstuipd stuipd but I was addicted to chatting. Now I've been banned thank god and is freeeeee.""  - 15 year-old girl from IL

""Whenever i get on Facebook all i see on people's pages are people getting bullied and it is so upsetting. i have gotten bullied through I'm on Facebook to and it hurt...""  - 13 year-old girl from IN

""I was bullied on the internet and it made me feel like I wanted to kill myself. I have MySpace and not Facebook, but a friend of mine has Facebook and there was a class photo that I was in, and this guy from my school that I don't even know wrote "isn't that eco girl i thought she left last rofl". I am really quiet in school, so I only speak to like 3 or 4 people but i thought that was offensive because i once liked green peace in 8th grade but what was written on fb was in 12th grade!!! then this other guy wrote "yeah it is and in the other photo she is smiling. i didn't even think she knew how. Very rare indeed" and another said "very rare indeed. my god". the whole time ppl would show me fb, no one had ever commented on anyone else so rudely. Ever. Thank god I graduated by now, but it still makes me upset and feel worthless. Sometimes I just think I should get plastic surgery or die my hair so that none of those jerks will ever recognize and hurt me again! Seriously.""  - 18 year-old girl from VA

""Ok well this is more like an ongoing thing. A month or so ago my girlfriend dumped me, ok that's nothing bad but she started to threaten me with the law over a t-shirt and a couple dvd's that i probably don't even have. She's been getting worse and worse ever since we broke up. I need to know what to do. it's getting way too far out of hand. I've asked her to leave me alone, never worked. I've tried to block her number somehow that didn't work either. If she can't text me she sends me emails, it's me, or messages me on my yearbook or MySpace. I'm normally a level headed person which is why I'm doing this. I just want it to stop.”"  - 16 year-old boy from MO

""I had just moved to a new school in san Antonio called Harlandale.It was my second day of school and all of a sudden people were calling me a bitch and taunting me all the time. Random girls woyld try to fight me, boys called me ugly and said I had an STI, and some girls even pulled my hair and puched me. It got worser as time passed. I told my teachers, peers, the counselor and even the principle, but no one cared. I was beyond depressed and tried several times to commit suicide. I had never felt such pain inmy life.""  - 11 year-old girl from San Antonio, TX

""I'm not going to lie, I'm not the prettiest girl out there, but when people tell me that online, it really hurts me. The fact that I don't know who they are extremely bothers me. It could be the girl next door, someone at school, or even my friends. For me, the internet is stressful. Thing shave been leaked out that I would not like people to know. This makes me on edge every time I share information with my best friends. In fact, after a while of this bullying, I stopped talking to people completely. Isolation seems to be the only remedy that helps. There have been many occasions where I have tried to confront my parents, but they're quite ignorant (not being mean) when it comes to the internet. I can't just quit getting online, because the internet is the only way to get away from everyone. I don't like being around people, due to my extreme cases of bullying on and offline. Only certain people do I feel comfortable around. Those most likely similar tome. I wish people would just have a sense of sensitivity. Maybe this would prevent some bullying. When teens do cruel and harmful things to others, it makes me feel as if they don't have much of a heart. I know they do, but they need to show compassion once in a while and take a minute to think if they are hurting others.""  - 14 year-old girl from IL

""On MySpace a friend of my friend sent a friend request to me, I accepted even though I didn't know her, if she was friends with one of my other friends she'd be OK. But the next time I got on MySpace I noticed I had a comment. It was the same girl I added earlier, and for no provoked reason, she commented on my picture that I was ugly. I denied the comment and deleted her from my friends list, but for the rest of the day that comment secretly bothered.""  - 14 year-old girl from IL

""I'm sure you've all heard about this new site formspring.me. It's a truly horrible site. It gives bullies a chance to verbally insult people without putting a face or a name to them. It wears people down after a while and only causes drama. I was harassed for a good amount of time on it when I had one. It caused drama between a good friend of mine and me. Thankfully we resolved it. People also thought it was their business to know about my boyfriend and I, and would constantly ask questions, and my parents also saw these too. Formspring.me should be deleted. It will only cause hurt for teenagers around the world.""  - 15 year-old girl from CA

""I was on a social networking site and I was invited to a group that was about me and how no one liked me. I am now in therapy.""  - 14 year-old girl from WA

""Being bullied is something I've had to deal with for a very long time. I learned that after a while you start to believe that what people are saying is true. Your ugly, you should go die, vampire, ghost, fatty, demon, your unwanted, you're not needed, no one cares about you, i wish you were gone then life would be so much better. I've gotten a few of those, the thing is though, and I've dealt with it since pre-k. Not many can say that now can they. The thing is though that you could go home and get away from that, but when you add the internet those hateful people find you even at home and then you can't escape those lies, and because you can't escape you start believe them. I probably wouldn't be here today if it weren't for my lack of strength to do something like that, and if it weren't for my only true friend that found me during the best possible time to save me from my withering mind. It still happens today, and every now and then i break down and cry thinking it would be better just to die but I'm too weak to do that.""  - 16 year-old girl from USA

""I had left a comment on a picture on Facebook one afternoon, saying nothing that could be possibly hurtful. About five minutes later, A girl replied telling me, "Shut up, no one cares about what you have to say." This was a good friend of mine, who supposedly liked me. I responded saying, "Uh, where in the world did that come from?" She told me she hated me, and that I was a fat slut. She of all people should have known that I'm no good at handling critics. I knew this girl could be harsh, but none of her other friends would stand up to her. Instead, they all ganged up on me! A boy I never spoke to in my life then started a HATE group, about me! People whom I've never spoken to joined, and this girl who I thought was my friend took my pictures from my profile, and uploaded them onto the group, using mean and hurtful captions. During this time, I was already dealing with horrible depression, OCD, and General Anxiety. It made everything worse, and I felt like my suicidal problems were coming back. I would be too scared to even log into my email, in fear of being harassed by strangers. Eventually, after at least a month, Facebook deleted the group, even though I reported it long before then. I will never be the same because of this experience. Now, I know how badly it hurts to be bullied, and feel as if no one is on your side anymore.""  - 13 year-old girl from NC

""This just happened recently. This girl i know keeps calling me flat chested and anorexic. I'm not either of them. She just does it to annoy me. It's getting old. Plus she is way skinnier and more flatter than me. She has no room to talk either. And then whenever i told her that what she was doing was immature, she still does it! And I will feel bad if i tell the teachers, because then a whole bunch of people will think I'm a baby. And I am confused about all of this.""  - 13 year-old girl from WI

""The website CollegeACB.com needs to stop receiving revenues from advertisers and be shut down, because the website has become a place for cyber bullying. My daughter is the recipient of cyber bullying from this website from University students. It is a site for name calling, derogatory comments, insults, and humiliating words. How can a student show face at a university when this site postings and threads are anonymous, open to anyone to read? The site is being misused, and the terms of use and laws allow this and the owner of the site written words "they do not monitor or are responsible for the content". Changes need to be made.""  - Mother of 21 year-old girl from CT

""My younger sister, a seventh grader, started getting texts from her so called "best friend." These texts consisted of "You're a whore." "No one likes you." "You can go die." My sister confronted these people and told them to stop, and then i said something to them also. She is proud she confronted them and they have stopped being meant to her. All of her friends stood up for her too, they knew it was wrong." "  - 17 year-old girl from ID

""My son is 15. Some kid at his high school has posted a hate page on Facebook. I reported it 2 days ago but it has not been removed. It's obviously created by high scholars so I don't know why not. A few kids signed on to it. My son would not have told me about it but his friend told me. He said my son said he would be suicidal if people signed on to a hate page and there it was. I don't think he is suicidal. I know he and his friends are having a hard time with adolescence. I have seen these boys through their growing years and seen many instances of bullying among them -- which I have challenged them to change. My son says the kid who made the page wants to date my son's ex-girlfriend and is angry because she still "sweats" my son. Also another boy slapped my son a few weeks ago. He did not retaliate because: a) he didn't want to get into trouble with the school (they didn't find out anyway) and b) rumor was that this kid had a gun and was on outskirts of a gang. My son is a popular kid on the whole. He is an athlete, thinks well of himself, socializes possibly too much. But he's not a kid with all the advantages: we are struggling for money and have never really had a middle class lifestyle despite my master's degree. Also my husband died one year ago. Schools never think my son is vulnerable because of his overt optimism and popularity by the way. ""  - Parent of 15 year-old boy from OR

""My son has been resiliently harassed, humiliated, insulted, and persecuted by a class mate and his friends due to my son's religious and political beliefs; he has also attacked my son due to his physical appearance and weight. The bully went as far as to use my son's picture and full name to post a false message in which my son was "coming on" to him as if he was a gay person. He actually published this fabricated conversation on Facebook and lobot 'for all to see. He has defamed my son's character at school. The school has not be able to contain or neutralize this student's actions. They suspended him for a few days, but the teen continues to post comments about my son. Facebook has done nothing to stop the harassment despite constant complaints from us. The school administrators fails to see the connection between the cyber bullying and the promotion of a hostile environment at school. The bullying is such that we are considering a civil suit against the bully. The behaviors has affected my son's self-esteem and desire to go to school. My son used to be an honor students but his grades are suffering. the Oregon Laws do not address cyber bulling. The school mandate to have a policy to address bullying only covers behaviors wile at school despite the fact that bullying behaviors at school and cyber bulling are heavily interconnected and are the continuation of each other.""  - Parent of 17 year-old boy from Salem, OR

""I am currently 18 years old, but most of the bullying in my life occurred when I was in elementary school all the way through most of high school. Growing up, I was one of the few Caucasian children in my school. I was bullied constantly about that. People would constantly try to push me around, and threaten me. I felt horrible about the fact that I was white, so much that I started to resent myself for it. I can remember back to the third grade when I got so depressed about having to go to school and face the other children that did nothing but belittle me. I stopped going to school for days at a time. On average I would miss about 8 or more days in a month. I moved to a different town, where I thought things would be different seeing as I was no longer the minority. Eight grade proved to be even worse than the school in my hometown. I moved from the ghetto to a suburban town. This made me an even bigger outcast than before. I got picked on, pushed around, and verbally abused. The teachers and principal refused to do anything to the girls that were constantly putting me down because of the deep pockets that their parents had. I became suicidal by the time I was 13, but at the same time my focus was also on revenge. Every time I got picked on I wanted to target the abuser, I wanted to get even. High school came, and it got worse my freshman year. I stopped going to school any chance I had. On average I attended maybe 1 full week at a time. It got so bad that I had to be pulled out of a regular high school and put into homeschooling.""  - 18 year-old girl from CA

""I've been cyber bullied for ages by different people. A lot of the people who I thought were my friends actually ended up stabbing me in the back, and hurting me. I couldn't go to school without thinking all day about these hurtful comments that they said about me. I just wish that I could be invisible from all of this sometimes, but I have nowhere to go in real life either since I'm a social outcast.""  - 15 year-old girl from USA

""After a dance recital I was in, this girl who also danced that day instant messaged me on AIM. I don't know how she got my screen name because I had never given it to her. The words she typed into that chat box still echo in my head, two years later. She called me a "frizzy haired freak," "fat," "ugly," and a number of other things. I blocked her but then she either made another screen name or had one already and IMed me yet again saying even worst things. I only told one close friend of mine what had happened. I responded back in the conversation a couple of times saying "Why are you doing this?" and after a couple things she had said I responded "You're not perfect, so why are you pointing out my imperfections?" and at the end of the conversation I said "Thank you very much for putting my down so much that I can't stop crying." Now I had not been one to even think about self-injury but it's what I resorted in for the last couple weeks of school and for the past couple of years. Bullying online is the worst because if you have your AIM settings set to log the chats, then if you accidentally click the conversation, it will pop up for you to see it. Now I have not read the conversation since that day, but the words are just haunting. Even now when I see her, I drop my head down to my chest and stop talking and walk away. It's the worst feeling to feel inferior to a fellow student, but that's what has happened to me.""  - 15 year-old girl from MA

""When I finished school my boyfriend and I broke up, he had been sleeping with another girl and after we broke up him, his friends and her friends would send me messages both on the phone and over the internet saying "you're fat" over and over. I got so many phone calls while I was at work and university. This continued for over 6 months and the police couldn't do anything. Aside from the cyber bullying I was also threatened with physical violence and my house and car were egged.""  - 18 year-old girl from Sydney, Australia

""A girl in the year under me sent me nasty messages via Facebook. They were quite unfriendly and really made me feel bad - I'd never even spoke to the girl before them. She didn't know anything about me, still, she judged me. It's hurtful when people judge you for no good reason, when people make up lies about you, and when they isolate you. I've learned this the hard way." "  - 15 year-old girl from UK

""My 11 year old daughter is in fifth grade and was called into the principal's office because a sixth grade girl had received a threatening email and the mother of that child had performed an internet search on the email and it came back with the name of my daughter and showed that she also had a Facebook account. My daughter has neither of these. They questioned her and believed that she was not involved. We found the Facebook accountant sent a friend request to it. The person accepted it. I asked this person, "who are you and where do you go to school?" They replied," your daughter and the name of her school" My daughter was standing next to me at the time, there is no way it could have been her. I was able to read the posts on the wall of this account and it had very vulgar language and even said "I love to have sex" What worries me the most is that this person has repeatedly added strange men to the site and when you pull up some of their pages they have pornography on them. Most claim to be from all over the world, but at least three list local addresses. I am very frightened for my daughter because now these strangers know where she lives and the name of her school. We have filed a police report, but until an actual crime has been committed, they will not investigate. The school has questioned several girls but was unable to find who is responsible. We have also sent Facebook complaints and a copy of the police report, but they have not responded and have not taken the site down. We were made aware of this over two weeks ago and the site just continues to grow. We are desperate to protect our daughter, but do not know what to do.""  - Parent of 11 year-old girl from TN

""I'm 15, and I've been bullied by this one girl who accuses me of talking behind her back, when I really didn't. She has no respect towards me OR my best friend. I sometimes talk behind her back with my best friend, but I know that isn't nice, and she does it as well. One day she came up to me, like she was up in my face saying ''SAY IT TO MY FACE!!'' and I was scared and didn't know what to do... thank god a teacher was nearby... we worked out the situation, and my final answer was to not be her friend anymore. She wanted to be mine, but after how she treated me, came up to me and almost hit me, talked about me online, I don't want that to be in my mind as we are 'friends', but all I can say is ''I'm done with her and how she treats me. She has no respect.'' and that I'm moving on. People who make you feel sad, stressed, and mad, and even worried... they really aren't your true friend... A true friend wouldn't make you feel uncomfortable now, would they? So don't let the small stuff get to you. Good Luck :)""  - 15 year-old girl from NY

""I went to check my e-mail and there was a message from some people in my old school sent these threatening e-mails some saying "we'll hunt you down at your NEW school and you'll never know what hit you" i felt very scared and at the same time i wondered how they knew my e-mail address. So i told a teacher at that school but then I remembered that at that school they do nothing about this stuff and they are still coming those e-mails.""  - 13 year-old girl from Canada

""I joined some forums and found out how quickly people dislike those with talent. The stuff they said made me want to off myself. But I never would do that it would give them too much satisfaction. Though I did cut myself. Cyber bullying is the real deal.""  - 17 year-old boy from NJ

""I posted a video of myself singing a song on YouTube, and then 5 days later I found a video that an "anonymous" person made that basically took my video, slowed it down, zoomed into my face, and this person made side comments in the video such as "she's so ugly" and "i hate her." It made me scared, because I didn't know who would do such a thing, because it looked like it took a lot of time and effort to make the hate video, so this person must hate me A LOT.""  - 15 year-old girl from CA

""I think people who bully should get a life. Seriously i mean what is the point. In life you are not going to like everyone you meet but that doesn't give you an excuse to hurt them. I was once bullied by my so called "friends" they made me feel like crap. I kept it to myself. About 6 months after they started I thought hay there must be a reason they are doing it. So that night i went outside and screamed my loudest 3 times to let all the hatred, guilt, empty feelings out it worked. The next day I had very good mental strength and when the bullies came up to me I said hay leave me alone you know the reason for your attempt to hurt me but why. They didn't answer they were so surprised they walked away after that they left me alone. The moral of this is to have a strong mental mind and you will have the best feeling and the bully/s will leave you be. to all the victims out there stay strong!""  - 13 year-old girl from Australia

""A friend of mine who is still in middle school is currently being harassed online. People are telling her daily to kill herself, and I can see her breaking down more and more. I told her to surround herself with friends and that it is perfectly okay to fall on them when times are hard. Unfortunately the messages she is receiving are anonymous, but her friends are keeping her strong.""  - 14 year-old girl from NY

""Apparently, I look like a panda so kids at my school took it upon themselves to refer to me as panda express and "enjoy" the skateboard brand. At first I would just brush it off but then it genuinely started to get to me. I would go home and cry about it. I was already going through major problems at home but, getting called a panda at school would just make things hell for me. Then I got a form spring where i received comments telling me to go kill myself and that every time i walk the whole earth shakes. I wanted to kill myself. One night i was sitting there on my computer just shaking and crying so bad that i was ready to kill myself. I felt like nothing else mattered and everyone hated me. I had never done anything to these people for them to hate me so much that i don't deserve to be alive and i didn't get it. One day, I went to a concert and met every person i wanted to meet i even got kissed by some band mates I realized that in 10 years these people won't matter at all. I realized they were going to become nothing and by them doing that to me was terrible and that karma would get back at them.""  - 15 year-old girl from NC

""It all started with a silly argument on 'windows live messenger'. Name calling us just it at first. Then they all added there older, tougher friends into the conversation. It began to become scary, the older kids were threatening them. Promising to kill them. They all left the conversation, hoping it was just a joke, and saying: they want touch us. The day after they all got texts, saying: were coming. That's when they started getting worried. More texts came through but just to one now. It's you that we want' it said. They picked the smallest out of the gang, everyone was scared. The walk home from school was normal. No trouble from anyone. They girl went to the park, but some went home. The next day at school she came in with a black eye. 'They got me' she said crying. Cyber bullying is serious." "  - 12 year-old girl from England

""Hello, I have this model called the iPod touch. Over the years i have been cyber bullied with this chatting game called ‘Tap Tap Revenge' i think this is very unacceptable behavior of the bully, I was very upset with this because this specific bully was making funny of my skin color, I personally think that was very mean and cruel.""  - 11 year-old girl from WA

""A boy my daughter has known for years left comments on her Facebook page that was extremely disturbing. He told her (and anyone else readingher wall) that the world would be a better place without him, that all of his pain would be gone and that he was sick and tired of bi--ches lying to him. He wrote several lines of extreme profanity and a graphic sexual comment. One of his last comments was "someone is going to die". Icontacted the local police who called the boy's home phone. The officer contacted me and told me what had happened and that because he could not locate the boy's home address there was nothing further that can be done. I spoke with my daughter and she removed his name from her 'friends' list and told me she would not text him or contact him again. My daughter told me she didn't want this boy to know someone in her family had called the police. She denies being afraid of this boy because she said he always says these kinds of things but he doesn't really mean them. Where do I go from here?""  - 15 year-old girl from WA

""Have been cyber bullied but at the same time sexually harassed online. It started off with things being instant messaged from a boy in my class that was inappropriate but then they got worse. There were vulgar pictures, videos, songs, etc. sent to me. I didn't report him for a year. That was wrong to do, so once they got more threatening and violating i reported him to a teacher and to the police. I had to go to a small trial and he was found guilty i turned out okay but always report cyber bullying.""  - 12 year-old girl from NY

""I had chosen to give my Facebook password to one of my "best friends" she was friends with a girl that i had been having some bullying problems with. One day my "best friend" was at my enemies house and decided to get on my Facebook and delete all my pictures and they took a picture of this boy that i really liked and put it as my profile picture. they wrote "i miss you" "i am in love with you" ";i cry over you all the time" all over my profile. So all my friends saw it. and they also posted a video about me on YouTube saying that i copied their hairstyle (i had it 4 months before them) it was all really stupid but it hurt me so bad.""  - 12 year-old girl from NC

""I was talking to one of my friends on Facebook and I had no idea what was going on. I thought she was my friend but I was wrong. I talked to my parents about it and they told me to do what I thought was right. So I decided to go to my school principal and she called her down we started to talk and she said it was all a lie and that it was her friend. Ever since I was little I have been getting bullied and It caused me to feel bad about myself. I still am getting the same treatment. I asked her if i did something wrong and she just looked at me and walked way. I heard her gossiping about me and saying rude things. I found out that my guy friend was also a part of this. He took one of my pictures off of Facebook and photo shopped it. It hurt me really bad. He shown it to all the guys at my school and all the guys called me a slut a bitch a hooker and a whore. One of the guys kept harassing me and I just did not know what to do.""  - 13 year-old girl from FL

""I'm being harassed nonstop by so called friends from my elementary school, and people I don't even know but somehow they got a hold of my number. I am keep getting name called such as fag, douche bag, small dick, etc.""  - 15 year-old girl from Mississauga, Ontario

""There were bad comments made about my daughter on topix.com that she had been sexually active with several people and she named listed as the topic in my small town. How can topic be stopped. They don't sensor anything that anyone says and this has given my daughter a bad reputation because it's not true.""  - 15 year-old girl from KY

""Well it was Halloween and i stayed at one of my friend's house we when chipy and her mum gave me 1 for a bag of chips. We fell out the next day because she had the same hair style as me. A few weeks later she was sending me text is saying i owe her money if i don't give it her back she will batter me. The money she was talking about was the 1 her mum gave me. She written on Facebook that i am a tramp and i eat like a pig and calling me names all my friends at school fell out with me till they found out the truth.""  - 11 year-old girl from Manchester, UK

""Being bullied makes me feel like I'm worthless i matter to no one everyday i deal with it doesn't get better and people find new ways to intentionally hurt you. Everyone should be aware. Mine started out with a rude comment in kindergarten and is continuing now in the ninth grade. People always have to say something mean to me its become a part of their day. My only regret is wishing i knew what i know now don't worry about what people say too much it will only drive you to who knows what. Bullies are getting smaller everyday i know of a bully who is only in the pre k level. Just because it's not life threat ending doesn't mean its harmless many people make the mistake of not listening to you that's how a problem can be ignored. because no one took my friend seriously, she now resides unknown all because of bullies." "  - 14 year-old girl from NC

""My daughter was not only cyber bullied but our cars in the driveway were defaced and keyed. Phone calls and cell phone texts and every day harassment from two girls in her High school. I spoke with the principal, two assistant principals and the guidance counselor of the school, nothing was done about it because my daughter had deleted the information on her Facebook and her phone so they had nothing, even after one of the bullies confessed to some of it. This caused her to make some choices that affected her future, she is doing better now but her self-esteem is still low.""  - Mother of 16 year-old girl from Boca Raton, FL

""Two of my friends didn't like one of our teachers, and we found out that she was on a dating website. So they created a fake guy that was perfect for the teacher and chatted with her and stuff. They even set up dates with her and then went to the meeting place to watch her get stood-up. They always had the guy come up with some excuse for not making it to the date in order to keep the harassment going. I felt really bad for the teacher when my friends told me what they had been doing, so I told her about it without telling her which students it was because I didn't want my friends to get into trouble. She was really hurt by it...I could see it in her reaction to me telling her. She thanked me and told me that telling her was the right thing to do, but she ended up quitting her job and we had a substitute for the rest of the year, who was absolutely terrible. My friends never got into trouble for it because they were never identified as the culprits. I sometimes think that I should have given up their names, but then they could have done something mean like that to me too. They didn't even know that I told the teacher or that they were the reason that she quit. It was terrible.""  - 14 year-old boy from WI

""I am 13 year old girl who got upset with her best friend and made a very nasty picture of her. it involved her doing untrue sexual things with another girl. i am very ashamed of what i did and i apologized. We are now best friends again and we try to never bring up the horrible incident." "  - 13 year-old girl from NJ

""Ok so i was in class and this girl beside me sent an email to everyone in my class and they were all laughing and i did not know why well people made all kinds of rumors but this girl said that i got a hotdog stuck in me which was so not true but ya know well they sent me emails about it and printed off pics of a hot dog and gave them to me it was the worst thing ever i was so upset and i told the principle and they did nothing is sucked so bad!!""  - 15 year-old boy from NC

""Well, I started a website about the principal and saying how much we hated him. No one ever threatened him but it hurt his feelings. Needless to say, even though I did no wrong, I got in trouble for making the website. Needless to say I don't regret making the website because everything on it was true. He really is a jerk. I do however wish the things that were said about him were said in a nicer way. Now instead of getting expelled I have to write a stupid paper on cyber-bullying. Which is how I got to this website.""  - Boy from USA

""Hi I'm a 13 year old girl and its 2009 this whole year of school i have been getting bullied o this website called Tagged it's a fun website to be on and chat with your friends but when older guys start asking you to put naked pictures on there or starts asking what your body looks like to me it's hard i told them to leave me alone and they have just been harassing me 24/7 it's like I'm a punching bag i hate it they call me slut and whore an I'm sick of it and they even say worse words than that and it makes me want to kill myself bad because i can't take it anymore and i don't think it will ever change sometimes i wish it did though."  - 13 year-old girl from Marysville, OH

""Sometimes I get insulted for no reason because i said my mind so then I get into a fight and feel good when i convince the person/change their perspective/prove I'm right because it shows I have an impact on people. Once I got into a huge fight because these girls were bullying one of my friends and I tried to tell them to stop resulting in them insulting me very badly but me getting insulting them all the same. They made threats to beat her up, what else could I do? They printed out what I said but not what they said and showed the principal. I got in a lot of trouble but talked my way out of it telling the TRUTH (something THEY didn't do) and got let off with a warning.""  - 20 year-old boy from VA

""I was at my house one day and i texted my friend well she said she hated me and she never waned to talk to me again and i asked why and she said because I'm a dumb bad word and had no friends and she said that i was lonely and hated by my parents my family and i got scared when she finally said either go kill yourself or she is going to come kill me by herself or someone else will for her so that night i want to bed my phone off and i turned it on in the morning and there were some more texts from her saying you need to die if you die no one care because everyone hates you finally it got to the point where i did want to kill myself so i blocked her number then got onto my email the next day and she sent me nasty messages and she hacked into my email and sent messages to guy that were so nasty i do not even want to say what she did and from then on i don't know what I'm going to do.""  - 13 year-old girl from Marysville, OH

""I was bullied by these mean girls and they would tell me i don't deserve to live and that was a bitch and they would do all this mean stuff to me at school too.one day when i couldn't take it anymore i thought about committing suicide.""  - 17 year-old girl from NY

""I get bullied every day and i just want to hang myself I'm thinking about it but i doubt i will.""  - 14 year-old boy from USA

""When i was a little bit younger me and my 10 yr. old sister were bullied online what had happened was the person who i though was my best friend had lied and said they were not on a chat room well she ended up giving our phone number to a guy who was way older than us and he called our house it was scary because he called our house asking for my sister." "  - 17 year-old girl from PA

""If you honestly feel that bad about yourself that you feel the need to harass other people...then you need to point blank get a life. If you're religious, then trust in God to give you some self-esteem. If you're not good luck with that. The bottom line is that saying mean things to make yourself good is malicious and idiotic. It only makes you look like a fool and be branded as an oppressor. So if you're one of them and have the AUDACITY to try and justify yourself. Save it for someone who cares because i know for a FACT none of the people here do. It may be wrong to judge but those who commit this crime can't possibly have ANY character whatsoever.""  - 17 year-old boy from USA

""I've never been bullied online, and I've never bullied anyone else online. People chose to use the internet for this because they're too cowardly to say it in front of you so they do it anonymously. If someone's going out of their way to do this, it's because something about you or something you have that they don't is making them so angry that they can't stand to see you happy, they're just compensating for something they don't have by trying to destroy it. E-mail addresses can be changed. Web site administrators can track IP addresses which can be used to locate the computer used to post that message. Keep log files of their offenses as evidence, report it to someone (parent, teacher, police), nobody will just stand by and allow this to happen and these people can be found and will be dealt with seriously. Don't let yourself just be a victim thinking nobody can do anything because it's online, don't do nothing in hopes it will go away. Don't give them the satisfaction of getting upset and yelling at them. Solve the problem in the real world, don't give them the satisfaction by responding to what they say.""  - 17 year-old boy from Canada

""My story begins when a mother of one of my daughter's friends called me concerning two girls bullying our daughters at school. She began to explain that other girls have said that there was stuff written about her daughter on MySpace, and since she had no internet, she asked if I could investigate. When I went into the MySpace pages and started to read some things, I discovered that this one girls (one who bully's) had written about killing my daughter! I copied all of this right away so I could be armed with the information when I took it to the police station! They didn`t make a report. They sent me to the school and now the wheels are in action (I hope) for something to be done to punish these girls. I need some information on the cyber bulling law (if there is one) so I my plan my next step of action. I feel this girl should be punished for threatening my daughter's life. This is NOT a case of "girls just being girls"!!! I need to know what to do and where to go from here.""  - Mother from USA

""My friends don't want me around and i have invaded their privacy by bebo and found out that they hate me but feel sorry for me and bitch about me. Everything i say to them goes around my school. They have taken over my bebo account more than once and sent messages around saying that i had a sex change when i went on holidays. They are the only people in my class that i hang around with and i don't want to lose them but i have become depressed and suicidal and am afraid that if I'm pushed over the edge then it will be too late.""  - 16 year-old girl from USA

""My daughter was the target of cyber bullying. Although it occurred only once on the computer, I still consider it bullying. A group of girls downloaded her MySpace pictures and wrote hateful and obscene comments about her. They then sent it out to all of their friends. People began calling our home and telling us about the site. As soon as I called one of the parents, the web page began deleting--but not before a friend printed a copy of the first page of it. I didn't get all of it, but I got enough. These same girls continue to make references to my daughter on line, without actually saying her name, but we know they are talking about her. The worst part is that none of the parents will hold their daughters accountable because only one actually did the typing. We are left angry, hurt, and paranoid about what these girls will do next. These people were supposed to be friends, but one got mad at my daughter and then a group of these girls just thought it would be funny to make this web page. What recourse is there? That's what I'd like to know.""  - Mother from USA

""Hi - someone in the chat room that I frequent has been sending instant messages to my friends, telling them false things about me - for instance, I was told I called a friend from the chat room a "drunk" and a "dope head" - I smoothed that one over, but, this person has also taken to calling people at HOME and telling them to put me on "Iggy" and to not talk to me - she has also accused me of stalking HER, of reporting people to yahoo (which I have NOT done) - of paying for a search for her and her husband (again, NOT done, I DID do my research on a chat engine, to cover MY bases in this issue - but, it was all out there and available on the internet, public information). What recourse do I have to STOP her from doing this all the time? I mean, I spend HOURS in pm's explaining to people what I have not done, I have people mad at me, this is getting ridiculous, I have been coming IN this certain chat room for almost six years, she has been coming in there for 2. Please help! Don't tell me to just put her on ignore, she just pm's people with more lies, and I still hear about it, I want her to STOP. ""  - 17 year-old girl from USA

""My child struggles with her weight. In whom she thought was two of her best friends she confided her weight during a sleep over and the next day it was posted on their bebo sight. How cruel can kids be. Anyhow, I see profanity and slam every day on the internet while kids are so called chatting, as a parent my kids know that i am going to step in and read what is going on at any given minute. More should do so.""  - Mother from USA

""This one time this girl that was a lot bigger than me made me cries when i talked to her online because she told me if she saw me in school she was going to stuff me in a locker and that no one was going to find me for a very long time. I faked sick for a week and a half until i found the courage deep inside me to go to school. Nothing bad even happened. I was really relieved.""  - 18 year-old boy from NY

""Cyber bullying sounds interesting and I wasn't aware of that until I learnt it in class so I did bully some kid because he had pissed me off. I didn't know the damages can be that severe but what I did served him right, keeping him on his toes as he seemed real tough and rude outside but inside he was nothing but a chicken and I did what he deserved although I personally don't support cyber bullying.""  - 14 year-old boy from USA

""Hello i came out of the closet and not have my parents bullied me but many of the people at my school and many of the nuns in my parish have cyber bullied me and said i was committing a sin. But it's not my fault i love her.""  - 13 year-old girl from USA

""I hate how AOL is a place for haters. I always go this certain chat room and I've been doing it since I was 14 years old. I don't know why I even started, because all I face is people who tease me, ex-boyfriends from online who side with my enemies and people who criticize my looks. I'm often told in real life that I'm very pretty, but when I go online people tell me otherwise, like I have a big nose or other things wrong with me. I finally know that none of this is true, and that the person doing it has issues with themselves.""  - 15 year-old girl from USA

""I would like my story to be anonymous. I am a 14 year old girl who has been called fat online for many years. One day i was talking to my friend that i was pregnant. She sent the conversation to everyone and soon enough everyone called me pregnant. I got kicked out of school and i started to cut myself. i was admitted to a hospital and spent 5 months in intensive care until my baby was born. Cyber bullying ruined my life.""  - 14 year-old girl from USA

""When i was 13, i started dating a boy from the next town over and apparently a girl from that town had a huge crush on him and was very upset with me when she found out that i was dating him. She started yelling at me and threatening me over msn instant messenger. She scared me so much and when i would try to block her address, she would just create a new profile and continue where she left off. It got to the point where i was scared to go to see my boyfriend in his town because i was scared of running into her and what she would do to me. I am from Ohio.""  - 14 year-old girl from OH

""Being bullied really upset me. I hated the fact that people started to turn against me when I did absolutely nothing. Now I am a stronger person and I do not let anyone bother me. I just am myself no matter what. Always know that God is with you.""  - 15 year-old boy from NY

""Please call me re:post on an ADULTs MySpace blog with a minor girls picture - with the word 'whore' written over it - it was up for approx. a week than the girls face was 'whited out' but still appears on site ""  - Adult woman from USA

""People tell me that i am not good enough for my boyfriend and they mail me saying that they are going to kill me if i don't break up with him and i really love him so i don't want to break up with him""  - 13 year-old girl from TN

""People get bullied on the net all the time, if you can call it that. Only a fool would be hurt by it, everyone knows it's all done for the lulz." "  - 16 year-old boy from USA

""I think it is wrong to be bullied over the computer. When I watched a movie in my health class a boy committed suicide by hanging himself from the shower i thought i was going to cry. And I didn't even know him but he was only 13 years old. My message is don't bully or hurt anybody else and don't commit suicide. If you are bullied tell somebody. Yes i was bullied over the internet and it hurt and i agree that sticks and stones make break my bones and names will never hurt me is a lie because names hurt especially when it is about your image like getting called fat. It is just wrong and i may have bullied but not on purpose and i regret everything i said so talk to someone if you're getting bullied and if you're a bully then STOP your hurting people!!!!!!!!!!!""  - 13 year-old boy from USA

""My name Monique i know how it feels to be bullied i have all my life but now I've became a peer mentor its where u give information out to people younger than u that needs your advice I'm aged 15 i wanted to help people like other people helped me i love what i do because I've experienced it myself""  - 15 year-old girl from Canada

""I know what it feels like to get bullied it is not fun and although people who get bullied bully people back it is still not right so please don't bully and keep safe 4-ever & always!!!!!!!!!!!!<3 love is the key not hate<3<3<3<3<3""  - 12 year-old from USA

""There is a website called www.g00ns.net and there objective is to do are Cyber Bullying Online, Destroying and Hacking other Server Properties. Is there any rule that we have the rights to sue them and bring them to court. If you read regards to the information is there objective is to do a lot of online terrorism. I have a Server and they just destroy all of the Menus. I set my security in to high. However, they can still get in my server and ruin everything.""  - 18 year-old boy from USA

""I guess somewhere around where i live some kid committed suicide because he was being cyber bullied. I can't imagine what was going through his mind. Then the other day my friend was being bullied around and getting her computer hacked into and people that think they need to prove something or get equal with someone need to rethink it. Just forget about their insecurities and try to understand what they are going through because one day your payback might cost them their lives.""  - 14 year-old boy from USA

""I remember it like it was yesterday, they called me names of which I could never feel comfortable with. It was already hard enough to deal with my sexuality but then they had to make it even tougher with names such as "fag", "gay boy", "Michael Jackson's b****". It was just too much to deal with and I even felt like killing myself at one point.""  - 17 year-old boy from USA

""My daughter came home from school yesterday with some very disturbing news. Someone had gotten the password to her Yahoo account and sent sexually explicit e-mails to her friends, teacher, and family members. This is the first time we have dealt with this so I'm not sure what actions to take, but we've got a meeting scheduled with the school and I have contacted the police and I'm waiting for the investigators to call me back. If anyone could give me some advice I would greatly appreciate it.""  - Father from USA

""Some people write mean things about me and they don't think I will find out, or they will make sure I will see it, it is so mean. They call me fat, ugly, nasty and i just hate how they treat me!!!"  - 13 year-old boy from USA

""I have never actually experienced anything having to do with cyber bullying directly, but from what examples and stories listed in various places, I can tell this problem grows with the intensity and consequences of all other problems surrounding young people today. I wholeheartedly support efforts to abolish these senseless, demeaning acts.""  - 16 year-old girl from USA

""I am now home schooled because i was so badly harassed for being bisexual I'm dealing with my problems now but it still sucks that i can't go to a normal high school because of my sexual orientation the worst part is that i would actually convenience myself that these people were right and it got to me so bad that i was 50 one 50ed for cutting my wrist i know now that there comments don't and didn't matter and i wish someone would have told me that a long time ago.""  - 18 year-old girl from USA

""My daughter was devastated to discover a website called the I hate....(her name ) website on Bebo. It took us 5 months for Bebo to acknowledge that the site was willful bullying because they have so many sites. As it was an overseas site her education dept. in Qld stated they could not order it to be removed. The contents were so disgusting that when Bebo kept asking for more details we pasted the entire webpage and sent it, within 28 hrs. it was removed. Why doesn't Bebo screen the contents of each page? Because there are too many, thus the bullies have found the perfect way to bully until someone dies over this (suicide or murder as my daughter wanted to do) then there'll be an enquiry! Why have these free websites anyway? What moral, ethical and uplifting purpose do they serve?""  - Adult woman from USA

""I never realized how dangerous MySpace could be...It was foolish of me to put that suggestive picture of me in my bikini up. One day a guy sent me a message saying that he wanted to "do it" with me, and if I didn't he would tell everyone at school that I'm a little whore...I called the police after crying all day and talking to my parents.""  - 15 year-old girl from Canada

""I use to be cyber bullied; it makes you feel cared and vulnerable. I didn't like the feeling at all. The girl that was doing it got all of her friends to gang up on me and harassed me at school and posted embarrassing pictures of me online. I believe children chose to cyber bully because you aren't really talking to the person, you are writing. It isn't as scary to write something and not to look at them. I believe cyber bullying should be stopped before it led to scary situations than the ones that we've heard of.""  - 18+ year-old girl from USA

""I'm Nicole I'm in 1st year / 10 grade i get bullied by these girls at school they found out my msn and bullied me every time i block them they found new ways to bully me one day i told someone and it changed everything the girls can't go on the computer anymore and I'm so happy that i told.""  - 14 year-old girl from USA

""My daughter was informed that a website was developed about her. When we visited this awful site, I sent her out of the room and read all the horrible comments and untrue stories they had made-up about her. She is ten years old and a sweet person with a big heart. She is trying not to let this bother her, but honestly how does one do that? It is difficult for me to understand how someone could be so hurtful. Why would you spend the time to create an entire webpage full of ugly things to hurt someone?""  - Adult woman from USA

""My friend started bullying me online ever since the summer had begun. She'd been calling me an ADD freak, sped ("special ed" for short), lesbian, and gave me credit for writing the worst songs ever made. She said she rocked, she was so good, and I was so terrible at guitar. Now the upcoming party on my schedule, might give me a chance to grab a microphone and give away the horrible secret of this girl.""  - 13 year-old girl from CA

""October 9, 2006 my 17-year old niece, Rachael Neblett, took her own life after being bullied and stalked on MySpace. Six months after her death, Rachael's close friend, Kristin Settles, also committed suicide from depression. So, in an indirect way the bully cause two teenage deaths and destroyed two families. The families, along with community members in Mt Washington, KY have created a non-profit organization to spread awareness of cyber bulling and suicide. Our website is www.makeadifferenceforkids.org""  - Father of 17 year-old girl from Mt. Washington, KY

""Whenever I speak my mind on the internet I am bullied for it. I have many hobbies that I like to share and I am put down for them. It makes me want to throw those hobbies away because it has been happening ever since I started posting my work on the internet. I get bullied for the way I look and for what I like to do. Just because I am not as good as some people out there at my hobby doesn't mean you have to bug me about it until I give up.""  - 22 year-old girl from Canada

""Being bullied, whether in person or online, can make you feel horrible. I know it made me feel terrible. It lowered my self-esteem, and I can still remember the painful words that were said to me. Personally, I don't know if I'll ever recover from the emotional blows. Other times, I would just become a target for speaking my mind, and receive instant messages with nasty comments. For a long time, I've believed that there's some good in everyone, but now I am not so sure.""  - 18 year-old girl from USA

""Well i was talking on MSN on time this girl msn me saying that I'm gay, ugly and worthless. That made me feel so horrible inside....like I'm actually worthless. But i talked to my mum about and she made me feel happy.""  - 14 year-old boy from New Zealand

""This one guy in my school was bothering me, it involved blackmail (once using the private messaging system in an MMORPG), extortion, threats, name calling, slander, and many other things.""  - 15 year-old boy from USA

""I was good friends with a boy before i moved, once i started to email him he began to be very cruel and i cried a lot because we were really close before i left ... i gathered up the courage to tell him how he made me feel and his response was that because he couldn't see me he felt more at ease saying what he really felt - let me tell everyone out there that in the outside world we don't sat things for a reason, people's feelings. If you can't say it to my face don't say it at all.""  - 14 year-old girl from USA

""I used to be best friends with these two girls. Let's call them B and C. One day, B emailed me and said to check out this cool website. I went on and found that it was all about me. It said that I was a loser, a bad friend, an idiot and a backstabber. When I emailed B back she started saying that she didn't write that, it was all C but that it was funny and all so true. I then emailed C and she said it was all B. At that point, I just said "Forget it" and I stopped hanging out with them. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.""  - 16 year-old girl from USA

""I am a 12 year old boy from Canada being bullied it makes me feel really sad and mad they call me names I need help I don't know what to do any more.""  - 12 year-old boy from Canada

""One person has been harassing me on my aim instant messages and she has been using seven different screen name I blocked all of them and she always kept put new screen name to aim me.... she even harassed on my daughter (12 years old) for no reason... What do I do? Should I report cop about that?""  - Adult woman from USA

""A kid was sending my son emails on MySpace and saying that we were going to kill u and they kept doing then someone broke in to our house but it was one of Billys friends.""  - 13 year-old boy from USA

""I have never been harassed but I'm scared it's going to happen...i heard that people get their pictures taken and videos are being made when you are changing in the locker room when you don't know it and I'm kind of paranoiac but that so now i go and change in the bathroom stalls. I hope I'm not going to get my picture taken when i don't know it...signed unknown from Cali...""  - 15 year-old girl from CA

""Hi i have been teased and gossiped about my weight and face and its really sad Because the Girls who bully me because they are jealous""  - 13 year-old girl from USA

""Yes, i am a mother of a 21 yr. Old daughter, who has 2 beautiful baby boys and a boyfriend. The oldest boy's dad is crazy and has been sending text containing verbal harm messages and even a text holding a gun and a message to the boyfriend and just wanted to know what we should do. i worry about the babies""  - 21 year-old girl from USA

""I got bullied for being popular. you wouldn't think it would happen and neither did i, but i got targeted for having boyfriends other girls wanted and for going out with guys other guys were jealous of. People disliked me because i was happy with myself. Looking back i guess they wanted the self-confidence i HAD. it hurt but i lay low. i guess it got better, but of course there is the event of them never forgetting what they said about you in the first place, i still deal with that today.""  - 14 year-old girl from Australia

""Being bullied on websites on YouTube makes me sick since they can post rude comments and make hate videos to humiliate you there nothing but a bunch of stupid high school jocks.""  - 23 year-old girl from NM

""When i was in first grade there was this girl who bother me a lot she call me names and also tell me that my mom was fat and a slut it makes me feel bad and every time she told me that i cry and the kids laugh at me." "  - 14 year-old girl from Middletown, NY

""I was talking to this girl on msn, we never met before but my cousin knew her. She started bullying me and saying I'm a spoilt brat, i need a new life, and my life is soooo miserable. I started to say things back to her, it really did NOT help. I'm not that strong in religion, so she started to say I'm going to go to hell and i will live an even horrible life if i don't believe in god. She was saying more stuff to me that i don't even think I should put down. It lowered my self-esteem, i couldn't stop think about it. I don't think i should have said anything back, it just made thing worse... But it is tempting to say something back. I suggest you block them straight away, even if you do really like them, because they will just do it again and again and again.""  - 11 year-old boy from Australia

""Well once i was on MySpace and this kid started saying bad words and he said that he was going to kill me i was scared.""  - 12 year-old girl from Goshen, IN

""My old friend KC cyber bullied me all the time she would cuss me out and say really hurtful thing one day she texted me and said she was going to tell everyone my secret i was scared outta my mind she was going to tell my friends i was on medication for HIV then i told my mom about it and she told her mom and she told me that she would never do it again but we were never friends again.""  - 15 year-old girl from Daytona Beach, FL

""My ex-friend was telling everyone online that i was a fag and said that i didn't deserve to live everyone made fun of me and wanted to kill myself it hurt so bad but i switched schools last year and gotten better.""  - 17 year-old boy from NY

""I think everyone has cyber bullied, with or without realizing. And that is okay...if it doesn't go too far and you learn from your mistakes. Well in truth, I was a cyber-bully. I thought it was just fun and harmless since they never seemed to be hurt. After a while though, I felt guilty and I didn't know why. Then I heard of cyber bullying and I knew I was doing it. I quit then and there, with apologies and left those websites. Later on though, I became the victim. I was on a website, and some people I didn't know seemed to just choose me to target. They weren't really threatening, just annoying. After a while it got worse and worse and worse, and finally I snapped and got them reported to the websites moderators, and then I left that website as well. What I have learned? You can use the internet for good and bad, but the worse you use it for, the worse you will feel.""  - 12 year-old boy from USA

""I don't like any form of bullying at all. I am bullied every day at my school and I don't even get a break. A few days ago I even got a trash can put over my head and then they started kicking it. I HAVE BULLIED ALL OF MY LIFE AND NEVER AMITTED IT. That hurts me more than the bully's because that is the main reason my self-esteem is very low." "  - 13 year-old girl from TX

""I've had my Facebook for 3 or so years. i woke up one morning and someone had clearly hacked it. My name was whora cum-stain, and there were some very hurtful things posted about me on there. The internet is a clear target for someone to get hurt. It's clearly very easy to access your information. I don't have a Facebook anymore and I'm starting to appreciate not having one. I never want to go through that again.""  - 16 year-old girl from Canada

""I was bullied at school all those years ago. I still feel powerless and afraid of those people, I still feel they are better than me, have more than me etc. I still feel like I'm a loser who is a doormat. I hope I can stop feeling like this one day, but I see these people and I feel afraid again.""  - 41 year-old man from Australia

""This happened a few months ago maybe early September. A friend of mine slept over my house and asked to use my cell phone. I gave it to her and she began texting someone. I took back my phone and began texting whoever it was thinking it was a guy. But no it was some girl. We began fighting through texts and she began calling me some nasty names. I felt so horrible i wanted to kill myself after what the girl said to me.""  - 13 year-old girl from PA

""Well i was best best friends with this girl and i never knew that she was bullying my other friends so i always hung around her and i had no idea what was going on behind the scenes and if my friends told me what was happening i would just tell them she doesn't do that she's nice then a few months later everyone got really mad at me and i was so sad then she ganged up on me and was hurting me in horrible ways i can't count how many times i cried, after i realized what was happening my friends stopped being mean to me but that ex-friend is still horrible and i always felt like saying something mean to her but my mum always said "write it and delete it " so i didn't ever send anything bad to her but she sends me nasty Emails, I have told lots of teachers but because she always acts like a goody-2-shoes they won't believe me and won't tell her this is wrong to be mean. So please everyone who has bullied think about this and what i have said.""  - 11 year-old girl from Australia

""My name is Donna Faye Witsell. My daughter is Hope Sterling Witsell. She of course as you already know made the BIG mistake of sending a nude photo of herself to a boy she liked and trusted. That was not the beginning of her being cyber bullied. There is much more to Hope's story than what has been public at this point. I appreciate what you are doing. If I can be of any help to you know that, I have a new mission for the rest of my life. That is to be Hope's Voice and do whatever I can to help others to know that there is Hope and suicide is NEVER the answer.""  - Parent of 13 year-old girl from FL

""About two years ago, I was cyber bullied. Former friends of mine posted hate blogs, and most recently I found a YouTube video of them burning my picture with the theme song of I hope you die. The funny thing is the video was posted nearly two years ago. The scary thing is, even though I survived it. I pray that my college professors will not look up my name. If they do they will find it. To me this is a serious concept. I flirted with the idea of taking my own life during the time. That's the thing. Information spreads fast. With me it was no different. I was being attacked in my own living room.""  - 16 year-old bo from USA

""I get a haircut. And I'm a cheerleader and i get lots of layers, i tease them and i thought that they looked really cool. The next day i go to school wearing skinny jeans and neon stuff you know, the works. About 3 days later, i get an email witch is making me want to die. It says quote, That doesn't mean cut yourself because of your pathetic ugliness. It means stop and be your old seventh grade self, not some raging popularity whore you think people like. I hate myself. i don't know how this happened. This isn't making any sense. I don't get how this happened; i don't even know this person. Now everyone hates me. I never did anything for this to happen. I just want to die. After hearing how ugly and stupid i am i never want to do anything anymore. I have no confidence and i have been broken down from head to toe.""  - 13 year-old girl from MN

""Well I've noticed that this kind of thing doesn't get that much notice it's sad. As of right now i am thinking about killing myself i created a twitter account and at first everything was fine until i ran across some people who don't like girls who consider themselves "Barbie's" at the time i didn't but they started using my @ name in everything saying that I was ugly and a lot of mean things i ended up blocking them and reporting them but i don't think they take this type of thing serious enough. i have a few screen shots of the things these guys started saying about me that was pretty much the last straw.. I'm trying to hold on but I'm pretty much done with this life. Jesus is taking too long and I'm ready to leave. I just don't want to take my own life and end up in hell.""  - 17 year-old girl from Clinton, NC

""Our daughter has been bullied since the 4th grade. Back then the bullying included everything from giving her the 'stare' down', giving her the silent treatment, (she would often eat lunch alone and go an entire day at school with not one girl in her grade speaking to her), and magnets placed on her school locker saying 'cry baby' stay home etc. It has progressively gotten worse over the years, and although I am so proud that she wasn't afraid of sharing her pain with me from the beginning, as soon as I contacted the school for support the bullying got worse. Recently, it has involved cyber-bullying in horrible hurtful ways through text messaging. Again, I have contacted the school because the text messages are being sent to other students about my daughter during the school day. I have asked to meet with the principal and have yet to have received a response. I also went on-line and pulled up the school policy manual. Sadly, it has not been updated since 2003. I think many school are at risk for potential serious lawsuits if they do not take this seriously, as my daughter is only one of thousands of young people who are being bullied. Has my daughter been affected by this? WITHOUT A DOUBT. She has been in therapy because like so many of you know and are aware; WORDS do affect people and often in extremely severe ways. Not everyone can 'brush it off' and move on, and they shouldn't have to. I know firsthand that if an anti-bullying committee would ever to be set up at this school, the girls doing the cyber-bullying would be sitting in the front row. I say these sarcastically because the one's doing the bullying are blindly loved by teachers who don't have a clue what is going on. Having procedures and punishments in school for using a cell phone or computer to bully other students should not be an option to school administrators, it should be required. I strongly think though in this small state that often is so slow in everything...that it sadly will take a suicide for something positive to happen.""  - Parent of 17 year-old girl from ND

""You people that are being bullied need to stop listening to other people i truly think it's not rite and the bullies need to stop... Because just in case they haven't notice there has been a major increase of teens suiciding them self's... It breaks my heart when i here that teens or even adults are suiciding them self's because, they are getting made fun of or are getting picked on whatever the reason it breaks my heart when i here that people have killed themselves because of it. Also because of the bulling people have gone to the extreme they have gone and killed people at their school like for example the columbine high school massacre... that occurred in 1998 i believe it was these 2 students that got picked on and they took matters the wrong way. Well you guys can research it if you guys are interested i recommend you guys do especially those bullies out there to see what that can cause people to do. But i believe that these two boys were crying out for help but no one would listen. Well there's much more i have to say but don't want to write a whole page on here but if you guys feel the need to talk to someone here's my email address we all have things we need to let go. It can be about anything problems with family anything I'm a person that is here to listen and help you" "  - 16 year-old girl from Corcoran, CA

""When i was in high school, i went through an extremely rough time. When i first arrived to high school on the first day of grade 8 i was excited, nervous and scared (in the end, i was scared for all the right reasons). My friends from primary school said that i would hang out with them on the first day. However when push came to shove, the girls that were so called my friends, found another group of girls on the first day to hang out with, and i was left with nobody. Just me, all alone on the first day of high school. I met up with a girl called Shannon* on that first day as she was in my home room class. She was nice and invited me to hang out with her and her group. Little did i know what i was getting myself into? Weeks went by and the girls were discussing topics i had not even discussed with my parents before.. Sex, boys (the things i just was not into at the time. Peer pressure got the better of me. They were all teasing me because i had not had sex and i didn't have my period. I wasn't classified as one of them, because i didn't have my period. I felt left out. So i pretended to have my period so the teasing stopped. That weekend i was invited out to a party, and i begged my parents to let me go, because i was struggling to make friends. "Yes as long as your home by ten". My heart raced with excitement. I met Shannon and the girls at this person place and i was amazed to see things i had never even imagined. Drugs, sex and a whole lot of craziness." Try some pot" Shannon said. "No thanks, not really interested". She punched me in the face, a range of anger bursted out of her. "Try it, or u mas well leave". (If i had known then what i know now, i would have just left. I tried it and the effects were that bad i was taken to hospital. Shannon had punched me so hard across the face, i had internal bleeding to my brain and the effects of the pot made me out of control. These girls made me cut my hair, try drugs, drink excessively and have sex early in life- just so i could be accepted. Girls, and boys, DONT FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO BE ACCEPTED WITHIN A GROUP, BE YOURSELF AND DO NOT LET PEER PRESSURE GET THE BETTER OF YOU. That is my story, and i am just hoping somebody out there can read this, and find that you don't have to do everything to suit everybody else. Be true to yourself.""  - 17 year-old girl from Australia

""I had a huge crush on this really popular guy. Shy, plump girl with glasses and acne. I started to contact him through AIM hoping for a magical ending. Then later I talked to his friends and to make a long story very short. I was harassed and teased through Facebook and AIM, told I was ugly, fat, no guy would ever like me, that I was a female dog, to go cut myself, and even received death threats. Granted, I reacted and said things I would never usually say, but since that year I always think a part of me has died and I will never be as I was before. Did the school do anything to help? Did my parents understand that Facebook was my connection to the rest of the school? An addiction? It's so stupid, as I look back on it, and I know I made mistakes, but no one deserves to be verbally and mentally abused via the internet or anywhere else.""  - 15 year-old girl from USA

""So it all started in the middle of my 8th grade year and everything seemed like it was going great. I met some friends from my dad's neighborhood and became really close friends with these boys. Some of my friends also began talking to them and we all became really good friends. On day at school one of my close friends came up to me and ask if the rumor about me was true? I told her i didn't know what she was talking about. She explained to me that the there was a rumor going around about me that I put peanut butter on my private parts and my dog licked it off. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever heard and I couldn't even bare the tears that were running down my face. That entire day people kept calling me "peanut butter girl" and asking if it was true. People even threw peanut butter crackers at my lunch table. That year was probably the worst and I cried most of that year. I didn't tell my parents at first because I was embarrassed and thought it would just blow over and everything would be fine next year at high school. Well I was wrong it was stuck with me for all 3 years of high school and it is just never ending. Yeah sure it has died down and people have forgotten about it but there are just some people who will never let it go. I am now in my 3 year of high school and it is half way over and people still tend to bring it up once in a while. And it has gotten to a point where there is nothing I can do about it and i just try to ignore them. I am almost finished with high school and hopefully it won't follow me to college. If anything like this happens to you don't be afraid to tell someone because hopefully you will be able to catch the person who started it. But that's the thing about cyber bullying no one really knows that started it. That's my story and it is horrifying and terrible but i have gotten through it and hopefully it will die down and people will be able to grow up.""  - 16 year-old girl from Ohio

""I had this boy who used to like me. But I never liked him. So one day I asked my friend to help get him off my back. We invited him into this chat room and started talking about him. And at first he was defensive, then angry, then sad. He soon logged off. A few months later I learned about the pain of cyber bullying...and he admitted that he was so depressed about that day that he thought on suicide.""  - 16 year-old girl from IL

""Miley a girl at my school. Posted something on MySpace that said "I'm going to bring a knife to school and kill Sarah" Later on that say the girl got arrested. She really brought a knife to school! A few days before this happened Miley and Sarah got into a fight and Sarah one. Throughout the day Sarah bragged about it. Then it lead to the comment on MySpace. Sarah would have died if someone hadn't stepped up! ALWAYS TELL SOMEONE IF YOU ARE BEING CYBER BULLIED! You might end up committing suicide! THESE NAME WERE NOT REAL I MADE THEM UP SO INFORMATION WOULDN'T GET PUTOUT!""  - 11 year-old girl from USA

""THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH A GIRL STEALING MY iPod AND MY DAD DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT ONCE I GOT THE iPod BACK THE GIRL GOT ME AFTER SKOOL THE BULLYING CONTINUES BUT I HOPE SOMTHING WIL BE DONE ABOUT IT ...THERE IS SOME CYBERBULLING INCLUDED.""  - 13 year-old girl from Orange County, CA

""Funny how sometimes you think the worse bullies are girls. Try guys. I spent my birthday with 3 of my guy-friends. All three of them are against me. I can't anything without being told I'm stupid, etc. I can respond sarcastically, I can't respond playfully, I can't respond seriously. Everything is open for interpretation and I'll always look bad, no matter what.""  - 17 year-old boy from Quebec

""When i first joined Facebook i went on an app called bathroom wall... i honestly thought it was just a place where people talked about random stuff, but boy was i wrong. It turns out it is a app designed specifically for gossip. I figured that out when i went on once and there was a chat group about me. it said up to 30 mean and hateful things, and at some points i just cried and cried, wondering what in the world i had ever done. the worst part was that it was all from " anonymous" senders. I remember quite clearly feeling horribly alone and i hope it'll never happen again.""  - 12 year-old girl from Canada

""When i first got Facebook my friend helped me get it . She already had it and told me a good password i used it. Big mistake. The first year of middle school. She told the guy she liked my password and he went on my Facebook and wrote things like "I'm lesbian" or " I like Robert Pattinson" and more hurtful things my mom checked my profile and saw someone wrote that, knowing that i would never would do that she told me and i changed my password and about a week later i found out it was her. The she convinced my other friend that they weren't going to be my friend anymore. They turned almost everyone against me and i am having a hard time.""  - 11 year-old girl from Canada

""This guy is really freaking me out; he says he wants to have sex with me on yahoo messenger. He keeps talking to me and i keep telling him to leave me alone. He goes to the other school, but my ex-friend is really mean and she told him where i live. I'm really scared that he is going to try to rape me now that he knows where I live. He really scares me on yahoo messenger and he won't leave me alone.""  - 15 year-old girl from USA

""There was this girl who would try and ruin my life everyday online. By creating a fake account and make up some horrible lies about me. We had been best friends for years until she got really jealous and back stabbed me. I told my parents about it right away and I had a little help from my sister and got her to leave me alone by having a my fake lawyer call her and tell her that she could really go to jail. Then she stopped doing it.""  - 17 year-old girl from ME

""Recently, I was very much hurt by cyberbullying. This guy I know, let's call him Tom, started to IM me. He said that his friend was over, let's call him Joe. And then, randomly, Joe starts insulting me. He calls me a loser and that I look like a potato. He curses and I feel like crying. The hurt was so real that I felt like throwing up. I hate IMing people now because I am scared of this kind of hurt.""  - 12 year-old girl from NY

""Well, I myself was never cyber-bullied, but I know that in most cases, it's from someone you know in either school or public. Also, I know that most kids online aren't even old enough to be on.""  - 14 year-old girl from PA

""My daughter was informed that a website was developed about her. When we visited this awful site, I sent her out of the room and read all the horrible comments and untrue stories they had made-up about her. She is ten years old and a sweet person with a big heart. She is trying not to let this bother her, but honestly how does one do that? It is difficlut for me to understand how someone could be so hurtful. Why would you spend the time to create an entire webpage full of ugly things to hurt someone?""  - Woman from unknown location

""Whenever I speak my mind on the internet I am bullied for it. I have many hobbies that I like to share and I am put down for them. It makes me want to throw those hobbies away because it has been happening ever since I started posting my work on the internet. I get bullied for the way I look and for what I like to do. Just because I am not as good as some people out there at my hobby doesn't mean you have to bug me about it until I give up." "  - 22 year-old girl from Canada

""Well I was talking on MSN one time...this girl messaged me saying that I'm gay, ugly and worthless. That made me feel so horrible inside....like I'm actually worthless." "  - Girl from New Zealand

""Being bullied, whether in person or online, can make you feel horrible. I know it made me feel terrible. It lowered my self-esteem, and I can still remember the painful words that were said to me. Personally, I don't know if I'll ever recover from the emotional blows. Other times, I would just become a target for speaking my mind, and receive instant messages with nasty comments. For a long time, I've believed that there's some good in everyone, but now I am not so sure.""  - 18 year-old girl from the Northwest

""I signed her up for a bunch of dating services and used my cell phone to take a picture of her in class and posted it on the web.""  - 16 year-old girl from NY

""When I was a little bit younger, me and my 10 year-old sister were bullied online. What had happened was the person who I thought was my best friend had lied and said they were not on a chat room. Well, she ended up giving our phone number to a guy who was way older than us and he called our house...and it was scary because he called our house asking for my sister.""  - 17 year-old girl from PA

""I was brought out for being a bisexual and made fun of, being told that I'm against God's will and am going to hell.""  - 17 year-old boy from Canada

""Someone sent me numerous emails with like two words in the email like 'your gay' 'your dumb' and that kind of stuff. When I am bullied (which is infrequently) I am called homosexual or gay so I'm used to it but it still hurts.""  - 14 year-old boy from Canada

""Sometimes I just feel ignored by my friends on chats. I'm sure it's just that they've got other people to talk to, and I totally understand that. It just makes me feel weird sometimes, but I'm a very talkative person, so that's probably why I felt a little sad. I'm passive though, so I probably won't say anything about it.""  - 15 year-old boy from NM

""This girl I used to have a crush on but later realized I didn't like her said some very rude things about me. She made a list of the bad things about me and the good things about her, and put it on her Livejournal (online journal) for me to see. She had moved away, so our only means of communication was computer. We argued because I am straight edge and she's does drugs. She said that all these people hated me and that I should do drugs. She said that because I once told her I felt sorry for her (she had a lot of family problems and I knew drugs weren't the answer) and she took it the wrong way.""  - 16 year-old boy from CA

""I was talking to someone in a chatroom and they started telling me things. Like was I really that stupid and making fun of me. I told them privately to please stop and they wouldn't. They then told me they were going to harm me and I was scared because I don't know how but they knew where I lived. I am scared sometimes. One time someone made me feel so bad that I wanted to kill myself because I believe those things that they said. My friends calmed me down and told me not to do anything dumb. I dislike it when people spread rumors online about you and it has happened to mostly everyone who chats.""  - 17 year-old boy from CA

""I have never been a victim of being bullied online, but I once had a friend who was being bullied online. He was so angry and sad and he had every right to be. The kid couldn't even go online without being bombarded with degrading messages. He didn't want to read e-mails because of all the degrading ones.""  - 

""One of my friends started hassling me on MSN messenger. She was sending me nasty messages and text messages and this carried on at school. I told my parents, my friends, and a teacher. She was spoken to a few times but it still carries on a bit now but not as bad because I have blocked her online. This really affected me at home and at school. I couldn't concentrate on school work and I was always upset and down. Now I just ignore it and get on with it. I have plenty more friends and I don't need her anymore. Maybe one day she will give up and grow up.""  - 15 year-old girl from Canada

""Random people I've never met before will flame my friends and I (that is, send is nasty, disrespectful messages) through the various different forms of online communication simply because they disagree with something I/we like (such as a webpage we made in honor of say... a certain character, or something).""  - 15 year-old girl from AZ

""I think that it is not right and that people need to have respect for other people as in the saying treat others how you would like to be treated. The people that do bully people just want to show of how much bigger and cooler they think they are. Bullying isn't just threatening or any thing else, it is spreading rumors and like sending mean messages with threats in them. If that does happen you should either block their email address, save them and call a local police to come and read it (they could serve time for hate mail). But one of the things you should not do is RESPOND TO THE HATE MAIL!""  - 11 year-old girl from TN

""Most people say it isn't bullying if you're not talking to them but it still is. It is annoying when people don't leave you alone or tease you. I think bullying is wrong because sometimes people get so down they think about suicide and some actually commit suicide.""  - 12 year-old girl from UK

""People told me I was retarded, that I didn't fit in. This girl said that I was bitch and say that she wished I was dead. I never did anything to her but I got really upset and depressed and started cutting myself and started seriously considering suicide. I just ignored them but it still really hurt.""  - 13 year-old girl from Australia

""I was online in a chatroom and this guy was sexually harassing me by saying stuff to me and wouldn't leave me alone. I had to exit the chat room and my email.""  - 14 year-old girl from Canada

""It happened on MSN Messenger about a year ago...A girl threatened to kill me...She said she knew my family and where I lived...She'd come at 1 o'clock to kill me...Then she logged off...I called my mum and told her, she said I should try to find out who if was, if it continued we'd call the police. I sent an email to the girl, telling her I'd call the police. She replied and said she was sorry and she was only kidding. In front of her email address, there was her name! It was a girl in my class.""  - 13 year-old girl outside of USA

""The last time I was bullied online, I was on MSN (instant messaging) talking to some people from school. Someone from my class who doesn't like me started talking sh** about me to everyone else. And a bunch of people that she had been talking to came and started harassing me. They were talking about how I had bad grades in math and how I bite my fingernails and other stupid stuff like that. They still say stuff about me at school and make things up about me and tell everyone.""  - 13 year-old girl from Canada

""I was talking to a friend and she kept calling me fat and ugly and I couldn't stand it anymore so I blocked her but she kept coming up on different screen names calling me the same thing so I just signed off for two days.""  - 13 year-old from CA

""I just tried to ignore her, but her e-mails kept getting even more threatening so I finally turned her into a teacher. I showed her all the e-mails and she was given a months detention.""  - 13 year-old girl from the USA

""I was talking to 2 girls who used to be my friends we where talking about me because that's what they both started on about then they started saying things about me then went on a chat I was also talking on and started saying horrible things about me they used my screen name and everything. They even told one of my guy friends that I liked him since the day we met and he stopped talking to me I was both depressed and angry. I wanted to die. I wanted to leave everything behind. I blocked them and signed off the internet.""  - 13 year-old girl from WV

""It was on a message/bulletin board where people chat. I had said something about my opinion and people thought I was stupid and immature. Also a photo of myself was somehow posted on there and there was severe tormenting and teasing by people of all ages. It was probably for fun but it made me feel terrible.""  - 13 year-old girl from UK

""Kids seem to like to use IM to say swears and words they would never usually say out loud.""  - 13 year-old girl from MA

""I was surfing the Internet and decided to look at my email. Kristina, a friend from school, said in a e-mail tomorrow watch your back we are coming for you. It made me feel so bad i started to cry. Nobody likes me.""  - 11 year-old girl from CA

""Sometimes I get insulted for no reason because i said my mind so then I get into a fight and feel good when i convince the person/change their perspective/prove I'm right because it shows I have an impact on people. Once I got into a huge fight because these girls were bullying one of my friends and I tried to tell them to stop resulting in them insulting me very badly but me getting insulting them all the same. They made threats to beat her up, what else could I do? They printed out what I said but not what they said and showed the principal. I got in a lot of trouble but talked my way out of it telling the TRUTH (something THEY didn't do) and got let off with a warning.""  - 15 year old girl from Canada

""Well the only reason I bullied is because the same person I was doing it to, did it to me like a week before. It wasn't the right thing to do but at the time it felt like I was getting revenge.""  - 15 year old boy from USA

""However, I feel powerless to do anything because I am scared for my own safety.""  - 12 year old girl from UK

""It's one thing when you get made fun of at school, but to be bullied in your own home via your computer is a disgusting thing for someone to do and I think anyone who gets kicks out of it is disgusting. It makes me feel badly about myself. It makes me wonder how people can be so rude and disrespectful of others and makes me lose faith in the human race. It decreases my self esteem and I often wonder what I did to make someone treat me that way.""  - 16 year old girl from AL

""The bullying and torment on [AOL Instant Messenger] and on my websites made me feel absolutely terrible.""  - 9th grader from SC

""When I still had AOL, this one guy asked me how I looked and wanted to know about my body and stuff and I just flat out told him leave me alone!!! I would "have reported him but AOL wouldn't even let me block him without parental permission so he bullied me and stuff online when ever I got on. I felt horrible. That was over four years ago and I still remember every thing he said to me. Every exact word. I felt awful. I hated it. I wanted to tell my parents but I was afraid that they would never let me chat again and I know that's how a lot of other kids feel. It is a bad feeling knowing that people that don't know you are judging you.""  - 13 year old gril from VA

""One of my friends started hassling me on msn messenger; she was sending me nasty messages and text messages and this carried on at school. I told my parents, my friends, and a teacher. she was spoken to a few times but it still carries on a bit now but not as bad because i have blocked her online. This really affected me at home and at school; I couldn't concentrate on school work and I was always upset and down now I just ignore it and get on with it, I have plenty more friends and i don't need her anymore. Maybe one day she will give up and grow up.""  - 15 year old girl from UK

""The internet is not a place to harass others or hurt them. The internet is supposed to be a place that is safe and fun for people, not a place to be criticized or harassed. I used to be bullied at school frequently and I was sometimes hurt so badly that I had to fake sick at school just so I could go home. One girl actually told me she would come and murder my parents and kill me personally. She made me cry so hard that I threw up. So, I know firsthand what its like to be bullied beyond your imagination.""  - 12 year old girl from MI

""I was online in a chat room and this guy was sexually harassing me by saying stuff to me and wouldn't leave me alone. i had to exit the chat room and my email.""  - 14 year old girl from Canada

""It makes me feel bad and rather depressed. Like I don't want to be a part of this world any more.""  - 14 year old girl from NY

""Some girl in my class emailed me calling me a freak and a loser. It made me feel really depressed because I had other things going on too at that time. I told my dad and he called her up and spoke to her. He told her that i didn't read it yet, that it would crush me and that she should think before she does anything like that again. Well, she never did it again so i guess it worked.""  - 15 year old girl from NY

""But I know because I have myself been bullied. It lowers my self-esteem. It makes me feel really crappy. It makes me walk around the rest of the day feeling worthless, like no one cares. It makes me very, very depressed.""  - 12 year old girl from MA

""I still cry when I think of what she said. After awhile you start believing all of the things people tell you that aren't true. When I look in the mirror I wonder if I'm fat (I'm not) after what my ex-friend said.""  - 14 year old girl from IL

""Being bullied besides over the internet is worse. It's torment and hurts. They say "sticks and stones may break my bones,but words will never hurt me." That quote is a lie and I don't believe in it. Sticks and stones may cause nasty cuts and scars, but those cuts and scars will heal. Insultive words hurt and sometimes take forever to heal.""  - 14 year old girl from NJ

""My friend's friend started to make fun of my ethnic background, so I told him to stop disrespecting me. He ignored my plead and started to get even more verbally abusive. I ignored him but he started talking to me saying that I shouldn't f***k with him because he would beat my a** down in front of his friends.""  - 15 year old boy from NJ

""I think most people who bully online just do it to act tough but since they're not saying it to someone's face makes them seem more of a wimp.""  - 15 year old girl from NY

""I had recently picked on a old friend of mine, for what I will not reveal because it was unusually cruel, however she had done something to me that was equally as wrong or if not worse. I was disappointed in her, and for that I decided not to be a friend any longer and spread her deepest secrets to everyone, which made her look like a complete fool. I felt somewhat guilty because I had known her for years, at the same time it was a pay back and I think she learned from it some when it comes to attempting to mess around with me.""  - 17 year old girl from Pennsylvania

""Being bullied makes me feel really bad, and I often get depressed later at home. I would also plot revenge and privately express my 'hatred' towards the bully, but I doubt I would really do anything about it...I don't usually go to adults to 'tattle' on people, even though I know it's not tattling, it's real.""  - 12 year old girl from CA

Cyberbullying: What is it and how can you stop it?

Explore the latest psychological science about the impact of cyberbullying and what to do if you or your child is a victim

• Mental Health
• Social Media and Internet

Cyberbullying can happen anywhere with an internet connection. While traditional, in-person bullying is still more common , data from the Cyberbullying Research Center suggest about 1 in every 4 teens has experienced cyberbullying, and about 1 in 6 has been a perpetrator. About 1 in 5 tweens, or kids ages 9 to 12, has been involved in cyberbullying (PDF, 5.57MB) .

As technology advances, so do opportunities to connect with people—but unfettered access to others isn’t always a good thing, especially for youth. Research has long linked more screen time with lower psychological well-being , including higher rates of anxiety and depression. The risk of harm is higher when kids and teens are victimized by cyberbullying.

Here’s what you need to know about cyberbullying, and psychology’s role in stopping it.

What is cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying occurs when someone uses technology to demean, inflict harm, or cause pain to another person. It is “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices.” Perpetrators bully victims in any online setting, including social media, video or computer games, discussion boards, or text messaging on mobile devices.

Virtual bullying can affect anyone, regardless of age. However, the term “cyberbullying” usually refers to online bullying among children and teenagers. It may involve name calling, threats, sharing private or embarrassing photos, or excluding others.

One bully can harass another person online or several bullies can gang up on an individual. While a stranger can incite cyberbullying, it more frequently occurs among kids or teens who know each other from school or other social settings. Research suggests bullying often happens both at school and online .

Online harassment between adults can involve different terms, depending on the relationship and context. For example, dating violence, sexual harassment, workplace harassment, and scamming—more common among adults—can all happen on the internet.

How can cyberbullying impact the mental health of myself or my child?

Any form of bullying can negatively affect the victim’s well-being, both at the time the bullying occurs and in the future. Psychological research suggests being victimized by a cyberbully increases stress and may result in anxiety and depression symptoms . Some studies find anxiety and depression increase the likelihood adolescents will become victims to cyberbullying .

Cyberbullying can also cause educational harm , affecting a student’s attendance or academic performance, especially when bullying occurs both online and in school or when a student has to face their online bully in the classroom. Kids and teens may rely on negative coping mechanisms, such as substance use, to deal with the stress of cyberbullying. In extreme cases, kids and teens may struggle with self-harm or suicidal ideation .

How can parents talk to their children about cyberbullying?

Parents play a crucial role in preventing cyberbullying and associated harms. Be aware of what your kids are doing online, whether you check your child’s device, talk to them about their online behaviors, or install a monitoring program. Set rules about who your child can friend or interact with on social media platforms. For example, tell your child if they wouldn’t invite someone to your house, then they shouldn’t give them access to their social media accounts. Parents should also familiarize themselves with signs of cyberbullying , such as increased device use, anger or anxiety after using a device, or hiding devices when others are nearby.

Communicating regularly about cyberbullying is an important component in preventing it from affecting your child’s well-being. Psychologists recommend talking to kids about how to be safe online before they have personal access to the internet. Familiarize your child with the concept of cyberbullying as soon as they can understand it. Develop a game plan to problem solve if it occurs. Cultivating open dialogue about cyberbullying can ensure kids can identify the experience and tell an adult, before it escalates into a more harmful situation.

It’s also important to teach kids what to do if someone else is being victimized. For example, encourage your child to tell a teacher or parent if someone they know is experiencing cyberbullying.

Keep in mind kids may be hesitant to open up about cyberbullying because they’re afraid they’ll lose access to their devices. Encourage your child to be open with you by reminding them they won’t get in trouble for talking to you about cyberbullying. Clearly explain your goal is to allow them to communicate with their friends safely online.

How can I report cyberbullying?

How you handle cyberbullying depends on a few factors, such as the type of bullying and your child’s age. You may choose to intervene by helping a younger child problem solve whereas teens may prefer to handle the bullying on their own with a caregiver’s support.

In general, it’s a good practice to take screenshots of the cyberbullying incidents as a record, but not to respond to bullies’ messages. Consider blocking cyberbullies to prevent future harassment.

Parents should contact the app or website directly about removing bullying-related posts, especially if they reveal private or embarrassing information. Some social media sites suspend perpetrators’ accounts.

If the bullying also occurs at school or on a school-owned device, or if the bullying is affecting a child’s school performance, it may be appropriate to speak with your child’s teacher or school personnel.

What are the legal ramifications of cyberbullying?

In some cases, parents should report cyberbullying to law enforcement. If cyberbullying includes threats to someone’s physical safety, consider contacting your local police department.

What’s illegal can vary from state to state. Any illegal behaviors, such as blackmailing someone to send money, hate crimes, stalking, or posting sexual photos of a minor, can have legal repercussions. If you’re not sure about what’s legal and what’s not, check your state’s laws and law enforcement .

Are big tech companies responsible for promoting positive digital spaces?

In an ideal world, tech companies would prioritize creating safer online environments for young people. Some companies are working toward it already, including partnering with psychologists to better understand how their products affect kids, and how to keep them safe. But going the extra mile isn’t always profitable for technology companies. For now, it’s up to individuals, families, and communities to protect kids’ and teens’ best interest online.

What does the research show about psychology’s role in reducing this issue?

Many studies show preventative measures can drastically reduce cyberbullying perpetration and victimization . Parents and caregivers, schools, and technology companies play a role in educating kids about media literacy and mental health. Psychologists—thanks to their expertise in child and teen development, communication, relationships, and mental health—can also make important contributions in preventing cyberbullying.

Because cybervictimization coincides with anxiety and depression, research suggests mental health clinicians and educators should consider interventions that both address adolescents’ online experiences and support their mental, social, and emotional well-being. Psychologists can also help parents speak to their kids about cyberbullying, along with supporting families affected by it.

You can learn more about cyberbullying at these websites:

• Cyberbullying Research Center
• StopBullying.gov
• Nemours Kids Health

Acknowledgments

APA gratefully acknowledges the following contributors to this publication:

• Sarah Domoff, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Central Michigan University
• Dorothy Espelage, PhD, William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of North Carolina
• Stephanie Fredrick, PhD, NCSP, assistant professor and associate director of the Dr. Jean M. Alberti Center for the Prevention of Bullying Abuse and School Violence at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York
• Brian TaeHyuk Keum, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
• Mitchell J. Prinstein, PhD, chief science officer at APA
• Susan Swearer, PhD, Willa Cather Professor of School Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; licensed psychologist

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• Open access
• Published: 14 December 2023

Online and school bullying roles: are bully-victims more vulnerable in nonsuicidal self-injury and in psychological symptoms than bullies and victims?

• Boglárka Drubina   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3930-4293 1 , 2 ,
• Gyöngyi Kökönyei   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6750-2644 2 , 3 , 4 ,
• Dóra Várnai 2 , 5 &
• Melinda Reinhardt   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7010-5623 2 , 6  

BMC Psychiatry volume  23 , Article number:  945 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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Bullying leads to adverse mental health outcomes and it has also been linked to nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) in community adolescents. It is not clear whether different roles of bullying (bully, victim, bully-victim) are associated with NSSI, furthermore the same associations in cyberbullying are even less investigated.

The aim of the current study was to test whether students involved in school or online bullying differed from their not involved peers and from each other in psychological symptoms (externalizing and internalizing problems) and in NSSI severity (number of episodes, number of methods). Furthermore, mediation models were tested to explore the possible role of externalizing and internalizing problems in the association of school and online bullying roles with NSSI. In our study, 1011 high school students (66.07% girls; n = 668), aged between 14 and 20 years (M age = 16.81; SD = 1.41) participated.

Lifetime prevalence of at least one episode of NSSI was 41.05% (n = 415). Students involved in bullying used more methods of NSSI than not involved adolescents. In general, victim status was associated mostly with internalizing symptoms, while bully role was more strongly associated with externalizing problems. Bully-victims status was associated with both types of psychological problems, but this group did not show a significantly elevated NSSI severity compared to other bullying roles. Externalizing and internalizing problems mediated the relationship between bullying roles and NSSI with different paths at different roles, especially in case of current NSSI that happened in the previous month.

Conclusions

Results highlight that students involved in bullying are more vulnerable to NSSI and to psychological symptoms compared to their peers who are not involved in bullying. It is suggested that bullying roles, especially bully-victim status, need to be identified in school and online settings and thus special attention should be addressed to them to reduce psychological symptoms and NSSI, for example by enhancing adaptive coping skills.

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Introduction

As nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) – the intentional, direct destruction (e.g., scratching, bruising, cutting, burning, biting) of one’s own body tissue without suicidal intent [ 1 ] – is a considerable behavioral problem, especially among adolescents [ 2 , 3 ], and has become an even more widespread phenomenon throughout the last decade [ 4 , 5 ], research should focus more on this topic. Some evidence indicates that NSSI can be a stronger predictor of suicide attempts than previous suicidal behavior [ 6 , 7 ]. NSSI typically occurs in early adolescence (between the age of 12–14) [ 5 , 8 ] and peaks in mid-adolescence [ 9 , 10 ]. The prevalence can be remarkably high in community youth samples (between 14.5 and 46.5%) [ 11 , 12 , 13 ], and based on meta-analytical results, females are more at risk for NSSI [ 14 ].

The current study focuses on three phenomena typically occuring during adolescence and thus may also be the cause of difficulties in school settings: along with NSSI , we also focus on bullying , and internalizing and externalizing problems. While previous research mainly focuses on bullying victimization and victims, by differentiating the roles of bullying (bully, victim, bully-victim), the aim of this study is to investigate whether bullies and bully-victims are also vulnerable to mental health issues (NSSI, internalizing and externalizing problems). Furthermore, another intention of this study is to establish and test mediation models that can be taken into consideration when planning NSSI and mental health related interventions in school settings. Our research includes cyberbullying as well, which is less investigated as school-based bullying but more and more a widely spread type of peer aggression.

Bullying and bullying roles

In the current study, bullying is defined as a type of youth violence which includes any unwanted aggressive behavior by another youth or group of youths who are not siblings or current dating partners [ 15 , 16 ]. Bullying can take place in the school or in any online platforms, the latter is cyberbullying [ 17 , 18 ]. In our study, a traditional classification of bullying roles was applied: perpetrator, victim, and bully-victim [ 19 , 20 ]. Bully/perpetrator is the person who commits the bullying and have a perceived dominance or more power than the victim. Victim is a person who suffers from being bullied and perceived as less dominant or having less power. B ully-victim s are those who are both victims and perpetrators [ 19 , 20 , 21 ].

Regarding bullying roles, gender differences can be observed: boys are more likely to engage in bullying others in school and in online settings [ 22 , 23 ], while girls are more likely to be the victims of online bullying [ 24 ]. Based on the data of the HBSC (Health Behavior in School-aged Children) study obtained in 2017/18, the prevalence of bullying perpetration and victimization shows a great variety across the 45 participating countries (the prevalence of perpetration varied from 0.3 to 30% in the 11–15-year-old students, and victimization rates ranged from 0.5 to 32%, respectively) [ 25 ]. However, in many countries there is a decline in bullying perpetration rates. Similar to offline bullying, a significant cross-national variety of prevalence regarding cyberbullying is observable (from 0.6 to 31% in cyberbullying others and from 3 to 29% in being cyberbullied) [ 25 ]. Regarding Hungary, according to the latest HBSC data collection, 28.4% of the 11–17-year-old students reported to have been bullied at least once or twice and 27.1% reported that they have bullied someone in school at least once or twice in the recent three months [ 26 ]. The rates of cyberbullying were lower: 17.8% of students have been cyberbullied and 12.7% of students bullied others online [ 26 ].

The link between bullying roles and externalizing and internalizing problems

Based on different roles in traditional school-based bullying, previous research differentiates connected mental health problems in adolescents. Most of the studies report that bullying perpetrators are more likely to face externalizing problems, while victims are more likely to face internalizing problems [ 23 , 27 , 28 ]. However, the perpetrator-externalizing and victim-internalizing associations can be oversimplifying based on Cook and his colleagues [ 29 ] findings who included online bullying as well. In their meta-analytical results, internalizing problems can be associated with the bully role as well (effect size = 0.12), but the association is stronger for the victims (effect size = 0.25). And similarly, externalizing problems are significantly associated with the victim role (effect size = 0.12), but the association is stronger for bullies, making externalizing problem behaviors the strongest individual predictor of being a bully (effect size = 0.34). Bully-victim role was associated with both externalizing (effect size = 0.33) and internalizing (effect size = 0.22) problems [ 29 ]. Although, previous studies have demonstrated that being a bully-victim in traditional school-based bullying [ 22 , 30 , 31 , 32 ] or in cyberbullying [ 33 , 34 ] might be associated with worse mental health outcomes than either bullies or victims, only a few studies investigated the characteristics and mental health problems of this vulnerable group [ 25 ].

The link between bullying and NSSI

Several risk factors of NSSI have been suggested in previous research (e.g., emotion regulation problems, impulsivity, depressive symptoms), that are mainly individual characteristics [ 35 ]. Less interest has been given to school and peer factors, although the climate of peer relationships or related negative life events can also play an important role in the development of NSSI, furthermore, as it has been recently suggested, academic-related stress and peer bullying is associated with NSSI behaviors [ 36 ], therefore investigating bullying in association with NSSI is essential.

Many cross-sectional studies suggest that adolescents who reported being victims of bullying were at an increased risk for NSSI compared to adolescents who were not victims of bullying or who reported low levels of victimization [ 37 , 38 , 39 ]. Based on two recent studies, involvement in bullying increases the likelihood to engage in NSSI [ 40 , 41 ]. Meta-analytical findings also suggest that bullying is associated with NSSI [ 14 , 42 ]. However, not many studies focused on perpetrators or bully-victims, the associations with NSSI of these roles or the trajectories through which perpetrators or bully-victims are linked to NSSI. Some results show that bullies also engage in NSSI [ 43 ], especially when they had a history of being bullied (which could have made them bully-victims) [ 22 , 44 ]. Additionally, bully-victim girls scored the highest in NSSI [ 44 ] compared to any other role of bullying, and NSSI has also been linked to cyberbullying [ 45 ]. Only a very limited number of research has focused on the association between NSSI and cyberbullying, and these studies mainly investigated cyberbullying victimization. Recent research however shows a higher frequency of NSSI among students involved in cyberbullying and shows that cyberbullying can be in direct association with NSSI [ 12 , 46 , 47 ]. Although online and school-based bullying share common features (e.g., bullying roles, association with mental health problems) remarkable differences occur as well (e.g., higher anonymity, fewer intervention opportunities for affected students, loneliness, role of internet safety features) [ 18 ]. Being alone in online settings might facilitate the appearance of NSSI as feeling lonely is associated with NSSI [ 48 , 49 ] and NSSI happens most often when adolescents are alone [ 50 ]. Furthermore, compared to school-based bullying, online bullying might be more difficult to deal with for the environment (e.g., parents, educators) [ 51 ], making it more difficult for the child to cope with it in the lack of adequate help from significant ones which can also result in a maladaptive coping strategy (e.g., NSSI). A longitudinal study found that cyberbullying can cause harm above and beyond traditional bullying [ 52 ]. Therefore, regarding the remarkable differences between cyberbullying and school-based bullying, it is essential to be able to compare whether bullying in different settings have the same association to NSSI or not. In the current study, online and school-based bullying roles are tested with different mediation models.

Although, most of the previously mentioned findings are cross sectional, some longitudinal cohort and case control studies [ 14 , 44 ] suggest that bullying is not only associated to NSSI but may also predict it.

The link between externalizing and internalizing problems and NSSI

NSSI is often considered as a transdiagnostic element in psychopathology, therefore NSSI-related variables (e.g., suicidality or impulse control difficulties) are best predicted by transdiagnostic variables [ 53 ]. NSSI episodes are prevalent in different psychiatric disorders and psychological symptoms during adolescence (e.g., depression, psychotic symptoms, substance abuse, borderline personality-disorder features, conduct problems, emotional problems) [ 54 , 55 ] and has been linked to externalizing problems (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder) [ 56 ], and to internalizing problems as well in adolescence [ 57 ]. Some findings suggest that externalizing and internalizing psychopathology are not only associated, but longitudinally predict NSSI [ 58 ].

Externalizing and internalizing problems as possible mediators

Bullying victimization and perpetration can result in interpersonal difficulties or negative interpersonal life events that can cause stress, negative emotions, and mental health problems in adolescence [ 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 ]. Subsequently, mental health problems and interpersonal difficulties can trigger and might result in NSSI, thus, they occur comorbidly [ 65 , 66 ]. To cope with negative emotions, NSSI might appear as a dysfunctional emotion regulation [ 3 , 67 , 68 ].

As described in the vulnerability-stress model, suggested by Hankin and Abela [ 69 ], internalizing and externalizing problems are rooted in both individual factors (cognitive vulnerabilities) and in environmental factors (stressors, negative life events, adversities). Environmental factors can be adverse life events that might strengthen the possibility of the development of mental health problems, psychopathology and NSSI in adolescents [ 32 , 70 ]. Bullying might be a significant environmental factor as throughout adolescence the importance of peer relationships and their opinion on oneself can considerably increase the negative influence on the quality of mental health [ 71 , 72 ]. Few mediator models have been established to explain the relationship between bullying and NSSI. Researchers so far have found a partial mediation regarding negative emotions [ 45 ], depressive mood and depressive symptoms [ 22 , 37 ]. In the current study, the possible mediating effect of internalizing and externalizing problems on the relationship between bullying and NSSI among community adolescents was hypothesized and tested.

Aim of the study

The global aim of the current study is to investigate the relationship of school and online bullying, externalizing and internalizing problems, and NSSI.

By establishing different bullying roles, this study seeks answers to the question whether those students who are involved in bullying suffer from greater mental health problems compared to students who are not involved in bullying. The following hypotheses were established:

Adolescents involved in (school or online) bullying show significantly higher internalizing and externalizing scores compared to not involved peers. It is also hypothesized that bully-victims score significantly higher in internalizing and externalizing problems compared to any other peer group (bullies, victims, not involved adolescents).

Adolescents involved in (school or online) bullying show significantly more serious NSSI behavior (in terms of the number of NSSI episodes and the number of NSSI methods) compared to not involved peers. It is also hypothesized that bully-victims show significantly more serious NSSI behavior compared to any other peer group (bullies, victims, not involved adolescents).

Considering that externalizing and internalizing problems are both correlated to bullying [ 23 ] and NSSI [ 65 ], the current study establishes six mediation models (Figs.  1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 ) to understand the relationship among different school and online bullying roles, externalizing and internalizing problems, and NSSI. Accordingly, the following hypotheses were examined:

The association of school and online bullying roles with NSSI will be partially mediated by both externalizing and internalizing symptoms (Figs.  1 , 2 , 3 and 4 ) given that both bullying perpetration and victimization might be related to internalizing and externalizing problems [ 29 ];

The association of the frequency of school victimization and NSSI will be partially mediated by externalizing and internalizing problems (Figs.  5 and 6 , respectively).

Gender and age are taken into consideration as control variables in the mediation models. As NSSI is predicted by various factors, it was hypothesized that externalizing and internalizing problems would only decrease the direct effect of bullying on NSSI rather than eliminate the association. The study also seeks answer to the question whether bully-victims are in need of intervention due to higher mental health problems (i.e., NSSI, externalizing and internalizing problems) compared to victims and bullies and not involved students.

Hypothesized mediation model 1

Hypothesized mediation model 2

Hypothesized mediation model 3

Hypothesized mediation model 4

Materials and methods

Participants and procedure.

This cross-sectional study involved 14 Hungarian secondary schools from the capital city and from the countryside. Specific schools were asked to participate based on accessibility to the researchers while following the idea to represent different type of secondary schools based on location (e.g., metropolitan area, smaller cities) and on educational profile (e.g., high-school, vocation schools). Data collection started in February 2019 and finished in January 2020. Participants were from all grades (grades 9–12) of secondary schools. During data collection, trained investigators were present, but not any teachers. Students filled out the questionnaires either in their classroom (paper-based questionnaires) or online (on the Qualtrics platform) in computer rooms or on smart phones according to the circumstances of the schools. Online questionnaires were filled out in the classroom, in-person settings as well (e.g., during informatics class) in the presence of trained investigators.

More than one thousand and two hundred students (N = 1232) were requested to take part in the study and a total of 1059 students agreed in participating. 173 students were either absent during data collection or declined to participate. From the 1059 who agreed in the participation, 48 were excluded due to incomplete answers. Thus, the final sample consists of 1011 students, mostly females (n = 668; 66.07% girls), the mean age came to 16.81 (SD = 1.41) years. The youngest participants were 14 years old; the oldest participants were 20 years old. Most of the participants live in cities (n = 450, 44.5%) or in the capital (n = 252; 24.9%), while 309 (30.6%) students live in villages.

All aspects of the study were ethically approved by the Institutional Review Board of ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. Students and one of their parents had to give their written consent to participate in the research, while headmasters of secondary schools were also informed about the details of the study and gave their consent to carry out the research in their institution. The Declaration of Helsinki [ 73 ] was taken into account while carrying out the research. An information sheet about the meaning, characteristics of NSSI and possible sources (online and in person) of help was provided to every participant.

Inventory of Statements About Self-injury

NSSI is often measured with the Inventory of Statements About Self-Injury (ISAS) [ 74 ]. In this study, Hungarian version of the short form was used [ 75 ] (Hungarian version: [ 76 ]). The short form of ISAS has two parts, the first assesses prevalence, types (12 different – plus one free answer – NSSI behaviors, e.g., cutting, biting, carving, severe scratching or hitting self) and characteristics of NSSI (e.g., age of onset, the experience of pain during NSSI, whether NSSI is performed alone or around others). The second part measures 13 functions of NSSI [ 74 ]. In the current study, only frequency, methods of NSSI and time of the last episode were analyzed from the first part of the ISAS. At the beginning of the questionnaire, definition of NSSI was given, underlying the importance of the act being deliberate without suicidal intent.

The Hungarian version of the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire [ 77 ] was used to measure bullying which was used in the Hungarian HBSC Study [ 26 ]. First, a precise definition was given to participants about the meaning of bullying: “We say a student is being bullied when another student, or several other students say mean and hurtful things to him or her; or make fun of him or her; or call him or her mean and hurtful names; or completely ignore or exclude him or her from their group of friends or leave him or her out of things on purpose. When we talk about bullying, these things happen repeatedly, and it is difficult for the student being bullied to defend himself or herself. We also call it bullying, when a student is teased repeatedly in a mean and hurtful way. But we don’t call it bullying when the teasing is done in a friendly and playful way. Also, it is not bullying when two students of about equal strength or power argue or fight.” In the first part, school bullying was measured with two questions: the first measures the frequency of bully perpetration during the past few months, while the second asks about the frequency of bully victimization during the same period of time. Online bullying was measured in the same way. The definition of online bullying was also given before the questions, containing examples as well (e.g., sending offensive messages to someone via SMS, chat programs or e-mail, posting such message on someone’s wall on social media).

Based on the previous questions, four different roles of school and online bullying were differentiated: school bullies were participants who at least once or twice have bullied someone else at school during the previous months, but they have not been bullied at all at school. Online bullies were participants who at least once or twice have bullied someone else online during the previous months, but they have not been bullied online. School victims were those participants who have been bullied at least once or twice during the previous months at school, but they have not bullied others at all in school settings. Online victims were those participants who have been bullied at least once or twice during the previous months on online platforms, but they have not bullied others at all online. School bully-victims are those participants who have bullied others at least once or twice at school in the previous months and who have been bullied as well at least once or twice at school during the previous months. Online bully-victims are those participants who have bullied others at least once or twice online in the previous months and who have been bullied as well at least once or twice online during the previous months. Not involved students have not bullied others and have not been bullied either, neither in school, nor online during the previous months.

In the second part of the questionnaire, seven different types of school bullying victimization (e.g., being excluded from activities or social groups, being ignored, being mocked) were measured. Items 6 (being mocked because of religion) and 7 (experiencing sexual comments) were developed by the Canadian HBSC group [ 78 ].

Participants could give their answers on a 5-point Likert-scale (1 =  never during the past few months , 2 =  once or twice , 3 =  two or three times a month , 4 =  approximately once a week , 5 =  several times a week ).

In the current study, reliability of the second part of the questionnaire (types of school victimization) was good (α = 0.70). Previous studies did not report reliability data concerning the second part of the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire [ 77 ].

Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

The self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire [ 79 ] (Hungarian translation: [ 80 ]) is a brief emotional and behavioral screening questionnaire for children and young people and is a valid and reliable instrument to measure externalizing and internalizing symptoms in adolescence. Respondents use a 3-point scale to indicate how far each item applies to them (1 =  not true , 2 =  somewhat true , 3 =  completely true ). The 25 items are divided between 5 subscales, with five items: emotional symptoms (e.g., “ I am often unhappy, downhearted or tearful. ”), conduct problems (e.g., “ I fight a lot. I can make other people do what I want.” ), hyperactivity-inattention (e.g., “ I am constantly fidgeting or squirming.” ), peer problems (e.g., “ I am usually on my own. I generally play alone or keep to myself.”) , and prosocial behavior (e.g., “I often volunteer to help others (parents, teachers, children).” ). The authors of the questionnaire suggest the use of a three-subscale division of the SDQ [ 81 ] in low-risk or general population samples: internalizing problems (emotional symptoms + peer problems, 10 items), externalizing problems (conduct problems + hyperactivity symptoms, 10 items) and prosocial scale (5 items). In the current study, only internalizing and externalizing subscales were used. Reliability of the subscales were good in our study (internalizing subscale α = 0.75 was better than the original’s α = 0.66; externalizing subscale α = 0.76 was similar to the one in the original study α = 0.76) [ 81 ].

Data analysis

Basic characteristics of the sample, descriptive statistics of the variables and correlations were performed in IBM SPSS 28, the level of significance was taken as 0.05. Mediation analyses were performed in Mplus 8.0 [ 82 ].

NSSI was analyzed via two binary variables in the mediation models: one consists of no history of NSSI and past NSSI (at least one NSSI episode in the past, earlier than a month), while the other consists of no history of NSSI and current NSSI (at least one NSSI episode in the last month). In the ANOVA analysis, NSSI was a categorical variable with three values: no history of NSSI, past NSSI and current NSSI.

Two variables measured the severity of NSSI. Number of NSSI methods was a continuous variable, while number of NSSI episodes was a binary variable (non-repetitive NSSI = 1–9 episodes, repetitive NSSI = 10 or more episodes based on the suggestion of Gratz et al., [ 83 ]).

In the case of bullying, three different bullying variables were analyzed: (1) school bullying roles (1 = victim, 2 = bully, 3 = bully-victim, 4 = not involved in bullying) as a categorical variable; (2) online bullying roles (categories are the same as at school bullying); and (3) frequency of different school victimization types (higher score means more frequent school bullying victimization; used as a continuous variable).

Victim status was measured in two ways: in the first part of the questionnaire, the frequency of bullying victimization was asked in general (“ How often were you bullied during the past months?” ), while in the second part concrete items measure the frequency of different school bullying types.

As suggested in the literature [ 84 ], dummy variables were created for independent categorical variables (school and online bullying roles, see categories in the Measures part) to use in mediation modeling. Externalizing and internalizing problems were continuous variables, higher scores mean stronger internalizing and externalizing problems.

Pearson correlations were performed to measure associations between different variables. Group differences (NSSI, school bullying roles, online bullying roles) regarding externalizing and internalizing problems, and NSSI severity (number of NSSI methods) were assessed with one-way ANOVA. Crosstabulation was performed regarding the number of NSSI episodes (binary variable). In the case of NSSI severity (number of NSSI methods and number of NSSI episodes) normal distribution was violated, therefore the robust version of ANOVA (Welch test) was used. When Levene’s test claimed the violation of the homogeneity of variances, a robust post-hoc test (Games-Howell) was used, otherwise, the results of non-robust post-hoc test (Tukey) are reported. Post-hoc tests are used to compare group differences. To avoid type 1 error, p-values were adjusted during post-hoc analyses in the following way: when analyzing NSSI severity and internalizing and externalizing symptoms in different school and online bullying groups, 4 groups were compared with each other that resulted in 6 comparisons (not involved students vs. bully-victims; not involved students vs. bullies; not involved students vs. victims; bully-victims vs. bullies; bully-victims vs. victims; bullies vs. victims), therefore, p value of 0.05 was divided by 6 which results in p < .0083. Comparing three different NSSI groups in regards with internalizing and externalizing symptoms, three comparisons were made (no NSSI vs. past NSSI; no NSSI vs. current NSSI; past NSSI vs. current NSSI) therefore p value of 0.05 was divided by 3 which results in p < .016. In the Results, only results significant according to the adjusted level are reported. In the comparisons of groups, reference group was the not involved students in case of bullying roles. Regarding NSSI, reference was the no NSSI group (students who have never engaged in NSSI).

Six mediation models were established based on the literature and tested in the current study via Structural Equation Modeling. Mediator variables in every model were both externalizing and internalizing problems. Due to low correlation between the two mediator variables (r = .27), they were tested parallelly within the same models. Gender (1 = boys, 2 = girls) and age (continuous variable) were control variables in each mediation model.

In the models, observed variables were school bullying roles (Model 1, Fig.  1 ), online bullying roles (Model 2, Fig.  2 ) and frequency of school victimization (Model 3, Fig.  3 ). Outcome variables were No NSSI/Past NSSI and No NSSI/Current NSSI. Due to categorical variables, MLR (robust version of maximum likelihood parameter) estimator was used to perform Structural Equation Modeling [ 85 ]. Models are saturated as every possible connection is coded in the models.

Hypothesized mediation model 5

Hypothesized mediation model 6

Characteristics of NSSI

Almost one third (n = 320, 31.7%) of the current sample engaged in NSSI at least once within the last month. Prevalence of past NSSI was 9.4% (n = 95; participants who had engaged in NSSI some point in their life but did not engage within the last month). Among those who have ever engaged in NSSI, the most common methods were banging or hitting oneself (n = 222; 53.1%), interfering with wound healing (n = 218; 52.2%), cutting (n = 170; 40.7%), biting (n = 163; 39%), pinching (n = 162; 38.8%) and severe scratching (n = 144; 34.4%). Mean age of the first NSSI episode was 11.99 years (SD = 3.52). Significantly more girls (n = 293; 43.86%) engaged in NSSI than boys (n = 121; 35.27%; χ 2 (1) = 32.40; p < .001). The highest number of used NSSI methods was 11 from 13. Among those who have engaged in NSSI, 3.80 (SD = 2.69) methods were used in average. Mean score for number of NSSI episodes was 111.91 (SD = 935.96). Lifetime repetitive NSSI (≥ 10 episodes based on the suggestion of Gratz [ 83 ]) was 72.05% (n = 299) of those who have ever engaged in NSSI.

Descriptive statistics and correlation of the variables

Descriptive statistics and correlation of continuous variables, gender and age are shown in Table  1 . Female gender was associated to increased internalizing problems and to number of NSSI methods. Frequency of different school victimization types was slightly associated to lower age, while higher level of internalizing problems was associated to being older. School victimization was almost equally associated to internalizing and externalizing problems. Higher number of used NSSI methods was associated to a higher level of internalizing, externalizing and to more frequent school victimization.

Table  2 shows the crosstabulation of number of participants involved in different roles of school and online bullying. More girls were victims of school bullying (χ 2 (1) = 6.12; p < .01), while significantly more boys were bullies (χ 2 (1) = 20.92; p < .01) and bully-victims (χ 2 (1) = 4.15; p < .05), compared to girls. Similar gender differences emerged in cyberbullying with higher number of female victims (χ 2 (1) = 4.62; p < .05), higher number of male bullies (χ 2 (1) = 10.06; p < .01), and bully-victims (χ 2 (1) = 8.39; p < .01). Most frequent school victimization types were being excluded from activities, social groups or being ignored (n = 344; 33.9%); spreading rumors or fake news (n = 292; 28.8%); being calling names and teasing or made fun of (n = 249; 24.5%) and being the target of sexual comments (n = 120; 11.8%). Those who have ever been or currently are involved in NSSI reported higher frequency of school victimization (M = 9.44; SD = 3.21) compared to peers who are not involved in NSSI (M = 8.24; SD = 2.25; t = 6.53; p < .001). The number of participants who were bullied at school in any form at least once or twice (n = 568) is considerably higher compared to those who reported being bullied at school (n = 91) or online (n = 93) when asking simply how frequently the bullying happened (no concrete types of bullying were given).

Group differences in the severity of NSSI

Welch test revealed that different school-related bullying roles significantly differ in the number of NSSI methods (F (3;139.62) = 13.36; p < .001). Table  3 shows post hoc analysis and group differences. Those who have participated in school bullying in any form (bully, victim, bully-victim) use significantly more NSSI methods compared to their peers who have not participated in bullying at all. Similar results emerged in case of cyberbullying.

A crosstabulation in Table  4 shows the rate of repetitive NSSI and non-repetitive NSSI in different bullying roles.

Group differences in externalizing and internalizing problems

One-way ANOVA revealed that NSSI groups significantly differ in both the level of externalizing problems (F(2,1007) = 26.11; p < .001) and internalizing problems (F(2,1007) = 62.28; p < .001) as well. Table  5 contains post hoc comparisons of different groups. Regarding externalizing symptoms, the mean score of no-NSSI group was significantly lower than the mean score of past NSSI group and current NSSI group. Internalizing problems showed the same pattern.

School and online bullying roles differed significantly in the level of externalizing problems (school bullying: F(3,1001) = 15.93; p < .001; online bullying: F(3,1003) = 17.88; p < .001) and in the level of internalizing problems as well (school bullying: F(3,1001) = 30.38; p < .001; online bullying: (F(3,1003) = 18.65; p < .001). Post hoc test revealed that every school bullying role showed significantly higher level of externalizing problems than those who were not involved in school bullying, with the highest average score of bully-victims and bullies.School bullying roles differed significantly in the level of internalizing problems as well. Compared to those who were not involved in bullying, victims and bully-victims had significantly higher scores of internalizing problems, but bullies did not differ significantly. Victims and bully-victims scored significantly higher on internalizing symptoms compared to bullies, but there was no significant difference between victims and bully-victims. Online bullying roles differed significantly in the level of externalizing problems. Post hoc test revealed that online bullies and online bully-victims scored significantly higher on externalizing problems than those who were not involved in online bullying.

Online bullying roles differed significantly in the level of internalizing problems as well. Post hoc test revealed that online victims and online bully-victims scored significantly higher on internalizing problems than those who were not involved in online bullying; regarding bullies there was no difference compared to the reference group.

Mediation analysis

All standardized regression coefficients and standard errors of total, direct, and indirect effects related to each model are detailed in the Supplementary Materials Table S1 . While Table S2 in the Supplementary Materials contains odds ratios and confidence intervals.

In Model 1, explained variance of past NSSI was 14.8% (Table S1 , Table S2 , Fig.  7 ). Despite significant associations in the model, only two significant indirect effect size estimates were presented in this mediation model, suggesting significant mediated pathways: path 1.4. victim – internalizing problems – past NSSI (β = 0.052; SE = 0.02; p < .01); path 1.6. bully-victim – internalizing problems – past NSSI (β = 0.036; SE = 0.01; p < .01) (Table S1 , Table S2 ).

Final Model 1 of school bullying and No/Past NSSI showing standardized coefficients

Note: Significant paths are marked with bold numbers and arrows. Sch_victim = school bullying victim; Sch_bully = school bullying perpetrator/bully; Sch_b-v = school bullying bully-victim; *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001

In Model 2, explained variance of current NSSI was 18.9% (Table S1 , Table S2 , Fig.  8 ). Five significant indirect effect size estimates were presented in this mediation model, suggesting significant mediated pathways: path 2.1. bully – externalizing problems – current NSSI (β = 0.022; SE = 0.01; p < .01); path 2.3. victim – externalizing problems – current NSSI (β = 0.014; SE = 0.01; p < .05); path 2.4. victim – internalizing problems – current NSSI (β = 0.072; SE = 0.01; p < .001); path 2.5. bully-victim – externalizing problems – current NSSI (β = 0.027; SE = 0.01; p < .01); path 2.6. bully-victim – internalizing problems – current NSSI (β = 0.050; SE = 0.01; p < .001) (Table S1 , Table S2 ).

Final Model 2 of school bullying and No/Current NSSI showing standardized coefficients and standard errors

In Model 3, explained variance of past NSSI was 13.6% (Table S1 , Table S2 , Fig.  9 ). Two significant indirect effect size estimates were presented in this mediation model, suggesting significant mediated pathways: path 3.4. victim – internalizing problems – past NSSI (β = 0.044; SE = 0.01; p < .01); 3.6. bully-victim – internalizing problems – past NSSI (β = 0.032; SE = 0.01; p < .01) (Table S1 , Table S2 ).

Final Model 3 of online bullying and No/Past NSSI showing standardized coefficients and standard errors

Note: Significant paths are marked with bold numbers and arrows. Onl_victim = online bullying victim; Onl_bully = online bullying perpetrator; Onl_b-v = online bullying bully-victim; *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001

In model 4, explained variance of current NSSI was 19.0% (Table S1 , Table S2 , Fig.  10 ). Five significant indirect effect size estimates were presented in this mediation model, suggesting significant mediated pathways: path 4.1. bully – externalizing problems – current NSSI (β = 0.022; SE = 0.01; p < .01); path 4.3. victim – externalizing problems – current NSSI (β = 0.011; SE = 0.01; p < .05); path 4.4. victim – internalizing problems – current NSSI (β = 0.058; SE = 0.04; p < .001); path 4.5. bully-victim – externalizing problems – current NSSI (β = 0.028; SE = 0.01; p < .01); path 4.6. bully-victim – internalizing problems – current NSSI (β = 0.043; SE = 0.01; p < .001) (Table S1 , Table S2 ).

Final Model 4 of online bullying and No/Current NSSI showing standardized coefficients and standard errors

In Model 5, explained variance of past NSSI was 14.1% (Table S1 , Table S2 , Fig.  11 ). One significant indirect effect size estimate was presented in this mediation model, suggesting a significant mediated pathway: path 5.2. school victimization – internalizing problems – past NSSI (β = 0.062; SE = 0.02; p < .01) (Table S1 , Table S2 ).

Final Model 5 of school victimization and No/Past NSSI showing standardized coefficients and standard errors

Note: Significant paths are marked with bold numbers and arrows. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001

In Model 6, explained variance of current NSSI was 18.7% (Fig.  12 ). Two significant indirect effect size estimates were presented in this mediation model, suggesting significant mediated pathways: path (6.1) school victimization – externalizing problems – current NSSI (β = 0.044; SE = 0.01; p < .001); path (6.2) school victimization – internalizing problems – current NSSI (β = 0.090; SE = 0.04; p < .001) (Table S1 , Table S2 ).

Final Model 6 of school victimization and No/Current NSSI showing standardized coefficients and standard errors

Our results indicate that mental health problems and NSSI are significantly more relevant for students who are involved in any form of bullying, either in school or online settings, although differences can be detected between various bullying roles. Internalizing and externalizing problems were significant mediators between different bullying roles and current NSSI, although not in the case of NSSI that occurred in the past. School and online bullying did not differ in significant mediation paths.

Our results show a high level of lifetime NSSI (41.17%) in a high-school student sample, which is similar to the latest NSSI research findings [ 12 ].

In our study, we found that more students were involved in traditional bullying than in cyberbullying (23.35% of the students were involved in traditional, school-based bullying, and 16.84% of children were involved in cyberbullying) which is in accordance with similar studies [ 86 ]. The greatest difference in the number of students involved in different roles occurs among online (3.05%) and school (7.98%) bullies. It might be because students do not consider their acts as harmful in the online space and the feedback of the victim is not as direct or visible as in a face-to face situation.

Gender differences we found were in line with previously reported results [ 20 , 22 ]: more girls were victims, more boys were bullies and bully-victims compared to girls, both in school and in online settings. Feijóo and her colleagues [ 87 ] – measuring school victim status in two ways – found that boys suffered more physical violence, were insulted, called names and were threatened, while girls were victims of more relational bullying behaviors (e.g., were excluded or ignored; had rumors spread about them).

Our results show that when measuring concrete types of school victimization, remarkably more students report being victims compared to when only the frequency of being a victim is measured without specific types of bullying listed. It raises attention on the possible phenomenon that high-school students might not be familiar with the terms of assault and victimization. It is also possible that they are not aware of the fact that certain behaviors towards them in school settings are considered as intentional harm doing or aggression. This result is a valuable information for teachers and scientists: it suggests that students might not be aware of the concept of bullying or that different harmful acts should be considered peer violence.

In accordance with meta-analytical findings [ 40 ], victims, bullies and bully-victims were more likely to engage in NSSI than their peers who were not involved in bullying. Students involved in NSSI report more frequent school victimization compared to peers not involved in bullying. Furthermore, those who were not involved in any role of bullying (neither at school or online) reported using significantly less NSSI methods compared to involved participants. This can be interpreted by using the interpersonal theory of NSSI [ 88 ], which considers NSSI as a negative coping strategy, aimed to reduce the stress caused by negative interpersonal events, such as bullying. Bullying is an adverse interpersonal event as a victim, but also as a perpetrator [ 40 ]. Furthermore, the General Strain Theory [ 89 ] suggests that bullying can be experienced as an unjust act that can be resolved with an aggressive behavior. From the victim’s perspective, aggression towards oneself might be the only available option, thus self-harm can be perceived as a temporarily effective way to manage one’s own stress [ 40 ].

Students who are involved in school or online bullying use more NSSI methods than not involved peers, and among them, bully-victims use the most. The number of NSSI episodes (e.g., how often it occurs) in our study did not differentiate between students who are involved and who are not involved in bullying. Although many articles use the frequency of NSSI episodes as an indicator of NSSI severity [ 57 ], it is suggested that the number of NSSI methods predict severity more significantly. NSSI frequency and the number of used methods can also interact, defining a subgroup of individuals seriously at risk [ 90 ]. Robinson and colleagues [ 91 ] found in a community adolescent sample that among adolescents with a lifetime history of NSSI, the number of NSSI methods was strongly associated with reporting suicidal thoughts and behaviors while the number of NSSI episodes was not.

Those who currently engage in NSSI seem to be vulnerable for both externalizing and internalizing problems. Bully-victims reported the highest level of externalizing symptoms in school and online settings, while victims’ level of internalizing problems was the highest both in school and online settings. Higher levels of internalizing problems were present in bully-victims as well. Internalizing symptoms are often conceptualized as significant negative longitudinal outcomes of bullying victimization [ 92 ], however this longitudinal association seem to be bidirectional [ 93 ]. Peer victimization – considered as a significant stressor – can result in internalizing symptoms in adolescents who tend to interpret stressful events in a self-critical manner [ 32 ]. Furthermore, internalizing problems might increase the risk of becoming a target of peer victimization due to individual vulnerabilities (e.g., social withdrawal, avoidance, fearfulness) [ 94 ]. A result that might raise attention on the possible differences of the nature of online and school bullying is that bullies and bully-victims reported higher level of externalizing problems in online settings than in school settings. Online bully-victims also reported significantly higher levels of externalizing symptoms than online victims, a difference, which was not present in school settings. A possible explanation of this might be the online disinhibition phenomenon [ 95 ], that suggests that in online settings users tend to lose their normal capacity of inhibition, partly or completely, as there is no fear of rejection or judgement [ 96 ]. Online bullying might also be a more impulsive act, as the perpetrator has no personal connection with the victim, no facial expression of the victim’s emotions is available and no acquaintance, previous personal contact or physical imbalance is needed [ 86 , 97 ].

In our study we found that, externalizing and internalizing symptoms are more present in students involved in any role of bullying compared to their not involved peers, but different roles seem to be associated differently to symptoms. The differences were not always significant between bullying roles: the results suggest that bully-victims are the most vulnerable group in school and online bullying regarding mental health problems, both in externalizing and internalizing problems. It might be because bully-victims are rejected and isolated by peers and at the same time they are influenced negatively (e.g., to engage in fights) by those adolescents they are friends with [ 29 ]. This suggests that contextual predictors (e.g., peer status and peer influence) can be essential to deal with the bully-victim status. In accordance with Cook’s [ 29 ] meta-analytical findings our results suggest that a bully is possibly an adolescent with significant externalizing behaviors, and also having internalizing symptoms. A victim is an adolescent showing major internalizing symptoms but also engaging in externalizing behaviors to some extent. A bully-victim possibly has comorbid externalizing and internalizing problems which can further worsen his or her mental health.

Models including current NSSI show slightly higher explained variances than those investigating past NSSI. Regarding the mediation models, our main question was whether externalizing and internalizing symptoms mediate the association between different school and online bullying roles and current and past NSSI. Based on indirect effects, results show diverse mediation patterns with specific paths identified regarding different bullying roles.

When NSSI occurred in the past but not currently, both online and school victim and bully-victim roles were significantly associated to NSSI via internalizing problems. The results also underline that school and online victim roles are more strongly associated to internalizing problems and suggest that bully-victims might have comorbid internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Only internalizing symptoms emerged as significant mediators due to the lack of association between externalizing symptoms and past NSSI that happened at least a month before data collection. Based on our mediation analysis and other results, internalizing symptoms are more strongly associated to NSSI (both past and current) than externalizing problems. Emotional and internalizing disorders show clear conceptual overlap with NSSI, as in emotional disorders, negative emotions are often experienced (e.g., fear, anxiety, sadness), which can possibly be maintained by a maladaptive avoidant or coping strategy, like NSSI [ 98 ]. Although, a systematic review suggests that externalizing pathology is also strongly associated to self-injurious behaviors [ 56 ], the study included a wide range of externalizing problems (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, intermittent explosive disorder) that our study did not, furthermore they included studies which did not differentiate between nonsuicidal and suicidal self-injury. Some studies found a link between externalizing pathology and NSSI happened in the previous year (e.g., [ 57 ], but in our study, past NSSI could occur any time earlier in life, therefore, developmental aspect might play a role in the association of NSSI and externalizing symptoms. Furthermore, the questionnaire asked about externalizing and internalizing symptoms in the previous 6 months, but past NSSI could have occurred earlier than that.

In models with current NSSI, externalizing and internalizing problems seem to be a considerable and significant mediator at most of the bullying roles both in school and online settings. Only bully role was not associated to current NSSI via internalizing problems, which is in accordance with the study’s previous findings, namely that bully role is strongly associated to externalizing problems. Victim and bully-victim status were both associated to current NSSI via externalizing and internalizing symptoms as well, which suggests that not only bully-victims might show comorbid internalizing and externalizing symptoms [ 29 ], but victims as well. Therefore, future research should put special attention on bully-victims and also on victims to specify which leading symptom(s) might be in direct association to the involvement in bullying. Longitudinal studies can reveal the dynamics of the development of being a bully-victim: whether bully-victims were victimized first (i.e., bullied by others) and then started to bully others, or in the opposite way, whether they were initially bullies who then became victims because others took revenge against them [ 44 , 99 ]. A study found that victims in a bullying episode might use aggressive strategies to cope with the situation that tend to perpetuate and escalate the bullying interaction [ 100 ] and therefore might make them a bully-victim. This might be especially true for victims with a relatively high level of externalization [ 86 ] which can also explain our findings that victim status was associated not only to internalizing but to externalizing symptoms as well. In the bully-victim role, guilt might have a special role as well due to the experiences both as a perpetrator who commits the same acts as were done to the person previously [ 101 ].

The results of the models containing school and online bullying, victim role was confirmed by the last two models, containing the frequency of different school victimization types; frequency of school victimization was associated to past NSSI only via internalizing symptoms, while to current NSSI both types of symptoms emerged as significant paths.

The mediation analysis, the settings of bullying (school or online) did not show differences regarding the significant paths via the mediators, which indicates that, in the association of bullying and NSSI, internalizing and externalizing symptoms do not differentiate between school and online settings. The results also suggest that internalizing and externalizing symptoms should be addressed when NSSI occurs currently in a student’s life. As externalizing and internalizing problems only partly mediate the association between different bullying roles and NSSI, to build a complex model, other factors should be considered as well. Some psychological features had been already identified as mediator variables, like social self-efficacy (an individual’s belief that he or she can effectively carry out social tasks) [ 47 , 102 ], negative emotions [ 45 ], depressive mood and depressive symptoms [ 22 , 37 ]. It is also essential to identify factors that can help to cope with stress due to bullying and therefore prevent NSSI as a possible maladaptive coping strategy. Hay and Meldrum [ 45 ] found that the relationship between bullying victimization and NSSI almost disappeared in those adolescents who experienced supportive parenting practices. The need for evidence-based guidelines to prevent and react to NSSI behaviors within schools had already been articulated [ 103 ] and the current study emphasizes its importance by highlighting that school-related factors, like bullying, is associated to NSSI.

Finally, limitations of this study are considered. A possible limitation of the study is its cross-sectional nature, which does not allow any assumptions, whether bullying or externalizing and internalizing problems are predicting NSSI or not. Another limitation might be the validity of the measurement of different bullying roles. In the current study, when asking the frequency of concrete school victimization types, participants reported a remarkably higher occurrence of school victimization than when asking only the frequency in general. As different bullying roles (victim, bully, bully-victim) were established based on the reported frequency (without asking concrete acts), it is possible that participants would have reported a higher and therefore more valid frequency of bully acts based on different types of bully acts given. This limitation however raises attention to the importance of making awareness of the concept and nature of bullying and peer violence in schools. A relatively high prevalence of bullying might be because one single act of bullying (perpetration, victimization, or both) was enough to fulfill a certain category of bullying role. Regarding bullying roles, another limitation should be the possible clustering effect of students from the same class (students from the same class know each other and spend a lot of time together), that was not controlled in the current study. Future studies using more robust analyses (e.g., multilevel structural equation modeling) are suggested to take care of this statistical issue. The unequal number of male and female participants in this study should be considered a limitation, as gender differences are remarkable in NSSI [ 104 ] and in bullying [ 24 ] as well.

In our study, we applied a traditional way of distinguishing different bullying roles (bully, victim, bully-victim) [ 19 , 20 ] however, according to other perspectives, children could fall along a bully-victim continuum and roles demonstrate a significant overlap [ 105 ]. The results should be interpreted with the approach that due to the possible overlap between different bullying roles that were not taken into consideration in the current study, it is possible that students involved in both online and school bullying but in different roles have different psychological needs and difficulties compared to students being involved in one form of bullying, in one single role. Therefore, in future studies, latent cluster or latent profile analyses should be applied to be able to distinguish these, often co-occurring bullying roles.

Although, the sample size of the current study is adequate to make complex statistical analyses, eight subgroups were formed (school victims, school bullies, school bully-victims, not involved participants in school bullying, online victims, online bullies, online bully-victims, not involved participants in online bullying) from which the group of online bullies contains only n = 31 participants.

Current NSSI seems to be more relevant regarding bullying in our study, but a limitation might be that past NSSI could have occurred any time during life, while bullying roles and psychological symptoms (externalizing and internalizing problems) were measured based on the occurrence during the previous few months, or previous six months, respectively. Finally, regarding that our study focused exclusively on the path through which bullying is linked to NSSI via externalizing and internalizing symptoms, future research should focus on other possible mediator and moderator variables.

Based on the results, students involved in bullying are more vulnerable to NSSI and to psychological symptoms compared to their peers who are not involved in bullying. Externalizing and internalizing problems do significantly mediate the association of different bullying roles and NSSI, but to different extent and through different paths. Psychological symptoms seem to play a significant role when NSSI occurs currently throughout the last month. Bully role seems to be associated firstly to externalizing symptoms, but internalizing problems can be present as well. Victim role seems to be slightly associated to externalizing problems, but internalizing symptoms should be addressed in the first place. At bully-victims, comorbid internalizing and externalizing symptoms might occur, however their engagement in NSSI does not seem to be more severe than victims’ or bully’s engagement. Bullying prevention is important because its connection to NSSI is significant. Inconsistencies regarding the self-report of victim role and different types of victimization raises attention on the importance of raising awareness on the phenomenon of bullying and empowering more vulnerable students to be conscious about being maltreated by peers.

Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

• Nonsuicidal self-injury

World Health Organization

Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study

Inventory of Statements About Self-Injury

Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

Standard deviation

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Melinda Reinhardt was supported by the National Research, Development, and Innovation Office – NKFIH, Budapest, Hungary under grant number FK 138604. Gyöngyi Kökönyei was supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development, and Innovation Office (FK128614, K143764), the Hungarian Brain Research Program (Grants: 2017 − 1.2.1-NKP-2017-00002), and the Hungarian Brain Research Program 3.0 (NAP2022-I-4/2022).

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Boglárka Drubina

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Boglárka Drubina, Gyöngyi Kökönyei, Dóra Várnai & Melinda Reinhardt

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Table S1 Standardized regression coefficients and total, direct, and indirect effects related to each model.

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Table S2 Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals of associations between independent, mediator and outcome variables.

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Drubina, B., Kökönyei, G., Várnai, D. et al. Online and school bullying roles: are bully-victims more vulnerable in nonsuicidal self-injury and in psychological symptoms than bullies and victims?. BMC Psychiatry 23 , 945 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-05341-3

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Online bullying and playground taunts can lead to teen mental health issues. Here's how the experts recommend handling a bully

Topic: Bullying

Matt Purcell was just six years old when a group of older boys stuffed him in a council bin and left him to stew in the juices.

It was the final act following months of daily school bus bullying that the Korean-Australian had been keeping to himself.

"I was an adoptee from South Korea and my parents were nothing like me, and that was targeted by bullies at my school," he said.

When his adopted parents learned about the behaviour they called the school and the boys were punished.

The physical assaults stopped, but the school bus taunts continued.

"What bullying does, it dehumanises you," Mr Purcell said.

"Being bullied at the age of six right through to high school made me feel like not a human. I struggled with my identity for years.

"My life was pretty sad for a long time."

Matt Purcell says he endured relentless bullying as a child. ( Supplied )

His father enrolled him in Kung Fu classes, but that also caused problems when Mr Purcell responded to the bullies with his own violence.

"If it wasn't for mentors in my life who pursued me, I wouldn't be here today."

This week an international study found Australia's teens experience bullying at the second highest rate among developed countries.

The Australian Council for Educational Research analysed data from the OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test which surveyed more than 13,437 Australian students in 2022.

Matt Purcell's father enrolled him in Kung Fu classes after he became the victim of childhood bullies. ( Supplied )

It found Australia ranked number two for bullying, with 17 per cent of students reporting that "other students made fun of me" but the overall trend was down compared to 2018.

Students in Tasmania reported the highest levels of bullying with the lowest in Victoria, NSW and the ACT.

The study found teen girls were reporting anxiety, fear and panic at twice the rate of boys, but boys appeared more resilient to stress than girls.

Bullying can send some teens to the brink

Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds said greater focus was needed on what she called "the middle years" — ages 8 to 14. ( ABC News )

Bullying is a type of trauma that falls under the banner of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and it may be contributing to the current surge in youth mental health problems.

"These mental health issues that appear in adolescence, they don't just happen overnight. Usually there's been precursors through the early childhood years," Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds said.

Numerous studies have found bullying, including cyberbullying, is widespread and more than two-thirds of children aged 12 to 13 have experienced at least one bullying-like behaviour in a 12-month period.

Online, approximately one in four Australians aged between 14 and 17 have been the victim of cyberbullying in the past year.

A major 2021 Australian review found that of all the Adverse Childhood Experiences, bullying — including cyberbullying — was associated with double the risk of suicide in later life.

Teens who were victims of cyberbullying were more likely to report elevated symptoms of depression or anxiety, and the use of social media in particular, was also associated with a high risk of depression and anxiety.

Numerous studies have found bullying, including cyberbullying, is widespread. ( ABC News: Rhiannon Shine )

The impact of being left out

Dr Deirdre Gartland leads the Resilience and Mental Health research program at Murdoch Children's Research Institute and says long term bullying could impact how children regulate their emotions, causing them to miss school or disengage at home.

"Ongoing stresses that are persistent and significant for a young person are going to affect how the pathways in the brain develop," she said.

Commissioner Hollonds said greater focus was needed on what she called "the middle years" — ages 8 to 14.

"What we now know is that in those years children are really looking for a sense of belonging," she said.

"If they're not able to build that sense of belonging at school, then that will lead to them starting to disengage from school or to behave in ways that causes them actually to be pushed out."

Dr Deirdre Gartland leads the Resilience and Mental Health research program at Murdoch Children's Research Institute.

In a bid to address the impacts of bullying, funding of $4.2 million for school resources and programs such as the Anti-Bullying Collective and the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence, was allocated in last week's federal budget.

What can parents do?

Dr Gartland said there were facets of life that proved to have a protective effect when it came to resilience and coping with traumatic events like bullying.

These include:

• Fostering a positive sense of self-identity
• Maintaining a good connection to family and friends
• Maintaining a strong connection to culture
• Ensuring teens are enjoying hobbies or activities outside of school hours
• Family guidance
• Ensuring there's a positive engagement with the school and the teachers there
• Fostering a sense of optimism for the future; and
• Helping teens build the capacity to identify and regulate their emotions

She said parents could facilitate some of these by having family traditions like birthdays or family holidays or enrol children in language courses to help them connect to their culture as well as extra-curricular activities such as sport, music or art.

"Connecting in with something that your child or young person really enjoys doing is a really wonderful way to build their resilience," she said.

Parents also needed to be role models and help children understand their emotions during turbulent times.

In a bid to address the impacts of bullying, funding of $4.2 million was allocated for school resources and programs in last week's federal budget. ( ABC News: Elise Pianegonda )

"Parents can be helping children and young people to both name and recognise their feelings," she said.

Commissioner Hollonds said parents should try to find creative ways to stay connected with teens — whether it be watching trashy television together or cooking a meal.

"Don't think that just because they don't seem to want to spend time with you that that means they don't want you around. Teenagers want you around. That's a fact," she said.

"The more time you spend with them and have those incidental conversations, the more you get a sense of what that child's well-being is over time."

Schools and other experts are trying to future-proof kids against bullying to address the youth mental health crisis. ( ABC News: Margaret Burin )

Resilience isn't about 'bouncing back'

Dr Gartland said it was important to remember that resilience did not mean "bouncing back".

"Resilience is about a child or a young person drawing on their internal strengths and drawing on the strengths and resources that sit around them," she said.

"When children do have access to these resources, they are much more likely to have positive mental health and well-being irrespective of what's happening to them in their lives."

Mr Purcell urged parents to become detectives in their teens' lives and use "I statements" such as, "I noticed you've not being going to basketball" to try to draw out what was wrong while sitting shoulder to shoulder with their teen.

"So you've got to get the information out — who's doing what and is this a pattern?" he said.

"Make a decision. Do I need to make my kid move school? Do I need to have a conversation?"

He suggested parents relate their own school experiences to help connect with their teen and even use themselves as a soft target to role play ways to deal with bullies.

"It's a verbal dojo. We practice questioning back to each other. How could I come back to that? Is that actually true?" he explained.

And what not to do…

A key message from the experts to parents is to avoid common cliches like "just ignore them" or "well, just hit them back".

Dr Gartland said those kinds of messages could be damaging.

"It's really important to acknowledge the challenges that young people and children may be going through."

Years after his own bullying experience Mr Purcell became a youth worker and noticed other young people also didn't have the skills to combat verbal abuse.

Matt Purcell said it was important to teach young people that their words could had tremendous impact. ( ABC News )

As a result, he created Social Kung Fu, a program designed to give young people the words and phrases to combat schoolyard and online bullying.

Teens are given mock scripts and taught to use questions like, "what do you mean by that?" and "how do you know it's true?" as verbal blocks to put those spreading rumours and making accusations on the back foot.

Mr Purcell said responding with violence escalated the situation instead of resolving it, and while ignoring bullies may work for one-off incidents, he believed it was less effective for ongoing targeting.

"By being passive you're teaching the bully it's okay," he said.

Mr Purcell said the answer lay in teaching young people that their words could have tremendous impact.

"If we can help people use their words to defend themselves and to give value, then I believe that [good] mental health will increase," he said.

Mental health disorders among young people have soared by nearly 50 per cent in 15 years. The ABC is talking to youth, parents, and researchers about what's driving this pattern, and what can be done to turn things around.

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A Case Study with an Identified Bully: Policy and Practice Implications

Bullying is a serious public health problem that may include verbal or physical injury as well as social isolation or exclusion. As a result, research is needed to establish a database for policies and interventions designed to prevent bullying and its negative effects. This paper presents a case study that contributes to the literature by describing an intervention for bullies that has implications for practice and related policies regarding bullying.

An individualized intervention for an identified bully was implemented using the Participatory Culture-Specific Intervention Model (PCSIM; Nastasi, Moore, & Varjas, 2004) with a seventh-grade middle school student. Ecological and culture-specific perspectives were used to develop and implement the intervention that included psychoeducational sessions with the student and consultation with the parent and school personnel. A mixed methods intervention design was used with the following informants: the target student, the mother of the student, a teacher and the school counselor. Qualitative data included semi-structured interviews with the parent, teacher and student, narrative classroom observations and evaluation/feedback forms filled out by the student and interventionist. Quantitative data included the following quantitative surveys (i.e., Child Self Report Post Traumatic Stress Reaction Index and the Behavior Assessment Scale for Children). Both qualitative and quantitative data were used to evaluate the acceptability, integrity and efficacy of this intervention.

The process of intervention design, implementation and evaluation are described through an illustrative case study. Qualitative and quantitative findings indicated a decrease in internalizing, externalizing and bullying behaviors as reported by the teacher and the mother, and a high degree of acceptability and treatment integrity as reported by multiple stakeholders.

Conclusion:

This case study makes important contributions by describing an intervention that is targeted to specific needs of the bully by designing culture specific interventions and working with the student’s unique environmental contexts. Contributions also are made by illustrating the use of mixed methods to document acceptability, integrity and efficacy of an intervention with documented positive effects in these areas. In addition, implications for policy and practice related to the treatment of students identified as bullies and future research needs are discussed.

INTRODUCTION

Bullying is one of the most significant school problems experienced by children and adolescents and affects approximately 30% of students in U.S. public schools. 1 This included 13% as bullies, 10.6% as victims and 6.3% as bully-victims. 2 Bullying has been defined as repeated exposure to negative events within the context of an imbalanced power relationship. 3 Bullying is a serious public health problem that may include verbal or physical injury, as well as social isolation or exclusion. 3 – 4 As a result, research is needed to establish a database for interventions designed to prevent bullying and its negative effects within the context of school policies. 4

Researchers have found that bullying may have deleterious effects for both perpetrators and victims, including social, emotional, mental health and academic concerns, as well as loss of instructional time. 5 – 12 For example, a relationship has been found between bullying behavior and internalizing problems (i.e., depression and anxiety), as well as externalizing problems (i.e., aggression and hyperactivity). 11 – 12 Further, bullies have been found to have more conduct problems and less favorable views of school than their non-bullying peers, which may lead to academic disengagement. 5

Rationale for the Case Study

The purpose of this case study is to describe the implementation of an individualized psychoeducational intervention with an identified bully and to report the outcomes of the intervention in terms of acceptability, integrity and efficacy. 13 This case study was unique because we used mixed methods (i.e., both qualitative and quantitative methods) to contribute to the database on acceptability, integrity and efficacy by providing a rich description of the cultural and contextual variables that may influence the implementation and outcomes of the intervention. 14 This case study was distinctive because it used the Participatory Culture-Specific Intervention Model (PCSIM) to design, implement, and evaluate the intervention. 15 Based on an ecological-developmental stance, PCSIM addresses individual and cultural factors related to mental health and promotes cultural competence using culturally valued resources and coping skills. 16 – 18 PCSIM uses an iterative data collection process that incorporates feedback from stakeholders to promote treatment acceptability and cultural validity, treatment integrity and efficacy. 15 The research questions were: (1) What was the nature of acceptability from the perspectives of stakeholders? (2) What was the treatment integrity of intervention implementation? (3) Was there a reduction in this student’s: (a) externalizing symptoms, (b) internalizing symptoms and (c) bullying behaviors?

Context and Informants

We conducted this study in a southeastern urban public school district with 2,484 students and 499 students at the target middle school. The population was diverse with respect to ethnicity (approximately 40% African American, 52% Caucasian, 2% Asian, 2% Hispanic and 4% multiracial) and socioeconomic status (30% free and reduced lunch). The research team had an ongoing collaborative relationship with this school district for eight years. 19 Bullying behavior was addressed in the district discipline policies, which were distributed to students at all grade levels. The school response to bullying depended on severity and could include: student participation in a conference with school personnel, assignment to alternative lunch area, partial or full day in-school suspension (ISS), out of school suspension, financial restitution for the repair of any damage, or consideration of an alternative placement for up to 10 school days.

The informants included the mother of the target student, the interventionist, a classroom teacher, the seventh-grade school counselor and the target student. The target student’s mother, Ms. S., was an African-American woman who worked in the education field. The interventionist was an African-American female doctoral-level school psychology graduate student who was certified as a school psychologist and had 10 years of classroom teaching experience. The seventh grade counselor was an African-American female masters-level school counselor who had been employed by the district for many years. Based on the tenets of PCSIM, stakeholders participated as informants by providing data to develop intervention goals and to assess intervention acceptability, integrity and efficacy. 15

Qualitative Data

All interviews were semi-structured and produced qualitative data. Interviews were conducted with the mother, teacher and the target student. Interviews were conducted with all informants prior to intervention to facilitate development of the intervention sessions. The pre-intervention student interview was audio taped, transcribed and coded for major themes. The interventionist took ethnographic notes during all other interviews. Teacher and parent interviews were conducted post-intervention to enhance outcome data. Parent interview questions included a focus on the target student’s behavior at home and school, parent concerns related to his behavior, and the results of previously employed strategies. The course instructor, which this student received the lowest conduct grade, participated in data collection (i.e., interviews, observations, and surveys). Examples of the questions from the student, teacher and parent interviews are reported in Table 1 .

Sample interview questions asked of the bullying student, his parent and teacher.

Behavioral observations

The referred student was observed in structured (classroom) and less structured settings (hallway, lunch) to determine the frequency and nature of bullying behaviors and to aid in intervention development. We used a narrative approach (i.e., rich description) for conducting behavioral observations to gain information regarding peer and teacher interactions.

Evaluation/Feedback Forms

We used qualitative student evaluation and interventionist feedback forms to gather narrative information related to intervention implementation, including acceptability and integrity of the intervention. The student feedback forms were completed at the end of each intervention session and were used to determine what the participant liked about the session, as well as what he would change about the session. The interventionist feedback form was completed following each session and provided documentation about culture-specific modifications as well as treatment acceptability and self-assessment of the interventionist’s performance.

Quantitative Measures

Behavior assessment scale for children: second edition.

The Behavior Assessment Scale for Children (BASC-2) was administered to the teacher, parent and student pre- and post-intervention. 23 These data from the student were not considered because of observations indicating that the student did not read the items carefully and, instead, provided invalid responses. The BASC-2 is a behavior rating scale that was designed to evaluate personality characteristics, emotions, self-perceptions or parent/teacher perceptions of adolescents. At-risk T-scores range from 60 to 69 while T-scores of 70 or above are considered clinically significant. This instrument has high test-retest reliability ( r = .91) and internal consistency ( α = .89). 23 We used the internalizing, externalizing and bullying scales for this case study.

Child Self Report Post Traumatic Stress Reaction Index

The Child Self Report Post Traumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPTS-RI) was administered before and after the intervention to determine change in symptoms related to post-traumatic stress experienced by the target student. 20 The CPTS-RI was used to supplement information provided by the BASC-2 regarding internalizing problems. The CPTS-RI has high internal consistency ( α = .86) and test-retest reliability ( r = .84). Although the CPTS-RI does not yield standard scores, raw scores of 38 and above have been described as clinically significant in previous research. 21 , 22

Qualitative Data Analysis Procedures

The qualitative data (interviews, observations, & evaluation feedback forms) were subject to thematic analysis by having one coder read through each piece of data to create a list of themes that were reflected by these data. 24 We employed a deductive approach to coding in which the coder identified information regarding externalizing, internalizing and bullying behaviors in the data. 17 After the first coder had read through all data to generate a list of themes, a group of three coders read through all of the data again and used a consensus-based approach to confirm or modify each theme. This team also selected quotes illustrating these themes. 25

Quantitative Data Analysis Procedures

We analyzed the pre/post quantitative data (internalizing and externalizing from the BASC-2) using a two-step process that included calculation of the Reliable Change Index (RCI) and determination of whether an observed change was clinically significant. 26 – 28 We calculated the RCI based on the standard error of measurement or reliability of the instrument and the student’s pre- and post-scores for each instrument. We used the following formula based on Jacobson & Truax (RCI = X 2 − X 1 /S diff ). S diff is calculated by taking the square root of 2(S E ) 2 , where S E is the test’s standard error of measurement. 27 RCI scores of 1.96 or greater are considered to be statistically significant. Mean scores from the CPTS-RI and bullying content scales were analyzed descriptively. We did not calculate RCI scores for these two variables because standard scores are not reported for the CPTS-RI and there are insufficient data about reliability and standard error of measurement for these two instruments.

Background of the Case Study

The target student for the intervention was David, a 12-year-old African-American student in the seventh grade. David’s mother (Ms. S.) provided background and medical information. David lived with his mother and nine-year-old sister. His family history included a recent martial separation. However, regular contact with his father was maintained through weekend and extended holiday visitation. David’s medical history included a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, which was managed through medication and counseling.

Reason for referral

David was referred for the bullying intervention by members of the administrative and counseling staff and was described as a “provocative bully” by administrators and teachers. An administrator indicated that David had a tendency to “annoy” his peers verbally until they “reach[ed] their limit” and as a result became physically aggressive with him. The administrator described David’s behavior as verbal bullying. The school counselor expressed concerns about his limited ability to engage in prosocial interactions with peers and school personnel, as David appeared to “ignore the comments of adults” and seemed unaware of how his actions or remarks were perceived by peers. Ms. S. (David’s mother) expressed concern that her son was becoming verbally aggressive in reaction to being bullied at school. She cited school reports of inappropriate comments to teachers and peers as evidence of David’s verbal aggression and indicated that his bullying behaviors persisted or escalated irrespective of school and home interventions. Ms. S. and the school personnel stated that they were interested in determining the best ways to intervene.

INTERVENTION

Data obtained from interviews, surveys, review of records and observations were used to develop an individualized eight session intervention to address David’s bullying behavior. 29 Intervention sessions are described in Table 2 including the sessions, the goals, and cultural modifications that resulted in the individualization of the curriculum. 29

Sessions, goals, and cultural modifications used to individualize the curriculum.

Note. Adapted with permission of the authors.29 Please contact second author for more details regarding the curriculum.

Consistent with the PCSIM, we evaluated this case by examining both the process and the outcomes of the intervention that was implemented with a student who had been identified as a bully-victim. We answered the acceptability, integrity, and efficacy of the intervention for this case study. 15 , 30 – 32

Acceptability: Research Question 1

We defined acceptability as the extent to which stakeholders (e.g., mental health professionals, parents, teachers and students) find a particular treatment or intervention to be fair, appropriate, reasonable and consistent with their expectations of treatment. 31 We collected acceptability data through parent, facilitator, student and teacher report and used data to modify the curriculum in an effort to increase acceptability and efficacy. 15 For example, David reported in the session evaluation that activities that were less contingent upon verbal interaction were more acceptable than those that required him to discuss emotions. Through the recursive process of the PCSIM, subsequent sessions were adapted to allow for choice between various less verbally demanding tasks, such as those that allowed David to respond to the curriculum by creating artwork such as drawings or collages. 16

Examples of high acceptability also were revealed through post-intervention data obtained from all stakeholders. For example, Ms. S. indicated that she viewed the intervention as an important resource to address her son’s social deficits related to interpersonal relationships with peers and family members. David’s teacher acknowledged the value of the intervention as a reinforcement tool by informing David of her ongoing communication with the interventionist to encourage him to behave appropriately in order to have positive remarks relayed about his behavior. We also obtained measures of acceptability from the interventionist after each session, suggesting that initial sessions were less acceptable due to the resistance encountered and the slow development of rapport between the interventionist and the target student. However, treatment acceptability increased during subsequent sessions as rapport developed due to curriculum modifications made based on student feedback (i.e., less verbal input was required).

Integrity: Research Question 2

We defined integrity as the degree to which core program elements are implemented and cultural adaptations are documented. 15 This study employed a partnership model to maintain treatment integrity, by focusing on collaboration with stakeholders in order to be culturally responsive while maintaining the essential components and content of the intervention. 30 We obtained integrity data through the interventionist feedback forms to evaluate the ways in which session goals were met. Based on a thematic analysis of these forms, treatment integrity was high as session goals were met in all of the intervention sessions (meeting the threshold of greater than 80% implementation of intervention components). 31

Efficacy: Research Question 3a –Externalization

We collected qualitative and quantitative results related to David’s externalizing behaviors from the teacher and parent report. The teacher reported in an exit interview that David no longer engaged in disruptive activities after completing assignments but instead chose to read. David’s mother reported a decrease in the number of phone calls received regarding disciplinary concerns from the school during and after the intervention. There was a clinically significant difference in the teacher pre- and post-intervention BASC-2 scores reflecting reduced externalizing behaviors (RCI = − 3.74). There was no change indicated by the parent pre- and post-test BASC-2 scores on externalizing behaviors ( Table 3 ).

Pre-post scores for internalizing, externalizing and bullying.

Efficacy: Research Question 3b- Internalization

The school counselor reported that David was less withdrawn at the end of the intervention. For example, she indicated that he made eye contact and acknowledged the statements or requests of school personnel, which were skills addressed in sessions related to empathy and perspective taking. Although David’s CPTS-RI raw score of 20 did not meet the threshold of clinical significance (i.e., 38 and higher), his post-intervention score of seven suggested a lower perception of internalizing symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress after the intervention. Specifically, he indicated that he had fewer bad dreams and was better able to concentrate at school. Quantitative findings from the BASC -2 included a clinically significant decrease in Internalizing Behaviors based on Teacher report (RCI = −3.79). However, there was no change related to internalizing symptoms based on parent report.

Efficacy: Research Question 3c- Bullying

The results of the BASC-2 completed by his teacher revealed that David’s bullying behavior decreased based on pre-post test data. His score on the bullying content scale from the teacher BASC-2 decreased from the at-risk range (SS = 66) to within normal limits (SS = 59) for students his age. Ms. S. reported no change on the parent BASC-2 from pre- (SS= 62) to post-test (SS = 62) in regards to David’s bullying behavior. However, as mentioned earlier, she reported the number of discipline referrals decreased during and after the intervention. Further, qualitative findings from school personnel also suggested improvement in David’s behavior after the intervention. Additional support for positive change in this area is that there were no additional counseling or disciplinary referrals for the remainder of the school year ( Table 3 ).

This case study contributes to the literature related to intervention with bullies by providing an in-depth description of a promising intervention model and by using mixed methods resulting in evidence that this intervention had high acceptability, integrity and efficacy. 13 Using the PCSIM, this intervention successfully integrated data about the culture of bullying within the target school, as well as using knowledge gained through collaboration with parents, teachers and school personnel. 15 , 20 This psychoeducational intervention engaged multiple stakeholders, including school personnel, the mother, and the target student, to facilitate intervention acceptability and integrity and thereby increased the likelihood that the desired outcomes would be achieved. 15 , 30 Further, the use of mixed methods and multiple informants strengthened validity of the intervention and evaluation by examining findings across multiple informants and multiple sources of data. 14

An important finding in this case study was related to the efficacy of this intervention. Based on prior literature, the referral concerns and the pre-intervention data, the intervention was designed to reduce behaviors and symptoms associated with externalization, internalization, and bullying. 11 – 12 Predicted reductions in externalizing behaviors and bullying were partially confirmed with quantitative findings reflected by the RCI for externalization and clinical significance on the bullying scale from the BASC-2. 26 – 28 Additional support was provided by qualitative data from interviews and observations. Similarly, the predicted reductions for internalization were partially confirmed based on the RCI for internalization on the BASC-2 as well as by descriptive data from the CPTS-RI. These quantitative findings were confirmed by qualitative data obtained from school personnel. However, it is noted that the findings for internalizing were not supported by parent report.

The participatory approach to problem identification and intervention development incorporated in the PCSIM was successful in several ways. 15 For example, school personnel and the target student’s mother identified ongoing communication with the interventionist as a strength of the intervention. This enabled teachers to provide insight into the daily interactions of the students, the previous intervention efforts of school personnel, and an overview of the student’s social, emotional and academic strengths and challenges. Further, collaboration with the interventionist provided teachers with an opportunity to experience the target student in a different light by examining the influence of family context on the student’s behavior. This interaction between stakeholders and the interventionist exemplified the recursive nature of the PCSIM and illustrated the potential importance of mental health consultation in facilitating positive outcomes when intervening with bullies. 15 , 33

LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH

Since this case study was conducted with a single participant, more research is clearly needed to demonstrate the acceptability, integrity and effectiveness of this individualized intervention with identified bullies. In addition, given the range of findings from both the parent and teacher, future efforts should be designed to include input over time from multiple participants and to use these data for recursive revision of intervention plans. School-based (e.g., school counselors, school psychologists, school nurses) and mental health practitioners are uniquely qualified to design and implement culture-specific interventions for bullies in schools by using their relationships with stakeholders, along with ongoing data collection, to increase intervention acceptability, integrity and efficacy. 15 Future research may include a greater emphasis on systematic evaluation of the processes used to consult with educators and parents, particularly since educators and parents can have different views, while also having great potential to influence children. Based on information gained through the iterative process of the PCSIM, the intervention might be used as a method of primary prevention by extending it to younger students. 15 Further, research is needed to examine the range of ways that this intervention may need to be modified to address the characteristics of other bullies and their unique cultural and ecological circumstances. Such modifications might include multiple sessions per week, meeting with members of the target student’s peer group, and a greater focus on behavior management strategies.

POLICY AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

This case study has important implications for practice in the context of public policy. While the ideas discussed in this paper may have the potential to create meaningful change in some bullies, it requires intense levels of data collection and analysis to address the acceptability, integrity and efficacy of this type of intervention. This requires a public commitment to the expense needed to carry out such intervention effectively. It also may require research based on public health models that seek less expensive methods of intervention and that emphasize a full range of preventive interventions, including primary prevention. 4 In this context, it is noted that policies in place within a school, school district and/or community may play a role in strengthening intervention efforts. 4 For example, the intervention described in this paper was implemented in the context of school policies that did not tolerate bullying and that had clear guidelines for school responses to bullying. Also, schools policies of service delivery referred to as response to intervention that include a simultaneous focus on a range of services including primary prevention, risk reduction, secondary prevention and tertiary prevention. 34 Research is needed to develop an understanding about the impact of such policies on the efficacy of individualized interventions such as this.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the student, parent, and school personnel who participated in this intervention. Funding for this work was supported by the American International Group, Inc. Additional funding was provided by the Center for School Safety, School Climate, and Classroom Management and the College of Education Dean’s Office at Georgia State University.

Conflicts of Interest: By the WestJEM article submission agreement, all authors are required to disclose all affiliations, funding sources and financial or management relationships that could be perceived as potential sources of bias. The authors disclosed none.

Reprints available through open access at http://scholarship.org/uc/uciem_westjem .