‘We always torment different people, so by definition, we are no bullies’: The problem of definitions in cyber-bullying research

an article by Jette Kofoed (Aarhus University, Denmark) and Elisabeth Staksrud (University of Oslo, Norway) published in New Media & Society Volume 21 Issue 4 (April 2019)

Abstract

In this article, we investigate the power of prevailing definitions within the research field of cyber-bullying. We address how these definitions, mostly deriving from developmental psychology, have had a problematic influence on the way researchers, policymakers, practitioners working with interventions, and children and young people themselves approach the challenge of understanding and preventing cyber-bullying and its consequences.

We analyse how the definition of cyber-bullying stemming from developmental psychology is inadequate in addressing the complexities of technologically mediated exclusionary processes in educational- and peer-group settings.

The dominant research paradigm has suppressed such complexity by deeming irrelevant the extensive experience with cyber-bullying of many children and young people. Thus, we argue that it is necessary for the research field to refine definitional work.

Research on cyberbullying needs to draw on a broad spectrum of empirical data and incorporate multiple and diverse theoretical perspectives.

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