A Conceptual Framework on Predictors of Cyberbullying Victimization

Abstract

Cyberbullying is becoming a prevalent problem worldwide including in Sri Lanka with adolescents, in particular, being vulnerable to it. Researchers identify various personality traits and social factors as contributing to one’s vulnerability to cyberbullying. Rather than being stand-alone factors, these personality and social factors are often interrelated and interdependent. Thus, the objective of this study is to examine how social structures such as family, peers and school influence personality traits that increase or decrease one’s vulnerability to cyberbullying victimization, and design a conceptual framework on predictors of cyberbullying that depicts this relationship. This study is a qualitative study using the analytical research approach. The existing literature on factors contributing to cyberbullying, theories on cyberbullying and on human development are analysed for identifying the relationship between social structures and personality traits. The big five personality traits theory identifies the personality traits that increase one’s vulnerability to cyberbullying while the bio-ecological framework on human development posits that human development is influenced by various social structures such as the family, peers and school. This study combines the two theories and demonstrates with reference to secondary sources and existing literature, how social structures such as the family influence development of personality traits that can increase or reduce one’s vulnerability to cyberbullying. The study reveals that factors such as poor parental support, poor parental monitoring and supervision, emotional loneliness and lack of social cohesion in a family, poor peer support and lack of supportive and trusting relationships with one’s teachers lead to the development and perpetuation of personality traits such as neuroticism and extraversion that increase vulnerability to cyberbullying while the existence of family cohesion, positive peer support etc can reduce vulnerability to cyberbullying by inculcating personality traits such as conscientiousness, and reducing neuroticism etc. Based on these findings, cyberbullying prevention and intervention programs should focus on promoting positive and supportive relationships between parents-children, teachers -students and peers to enable adolescents to acquire and develop personality traits that increase their resilience to cyberbullying.