Cyberbullying: Differentiating offenders criminal roles using a narrative-based approach

Introduction

The majority of research conducted into cyberbullying tends to focus on the victims, due to the serious consequences and effects that this crime has on them. However, there is a need to explore, categorize and identify cyberbullies and their characteristics so that inferences and crime links can be made to prevent the crime. The present study aimed to investigate whether the Narrative Action System Model (NASM) could be used to identify and examine the psychological underpinnings of different cyberbully offending styles.

Methods

This model proposes four distinct narrative offender styles: the Professional, The Revenger, The Hero and the Victim. A total of 70 cases were analysed using a non-metric multidimensional scaling procedure (Smallest Space Analysis I).

Results

Results produced four types of cyberbully styles, which can be related to the differentiation proposed by the NASM, demonstrating an effective application of the model. The thematic structure of each cyberbully style was discussed. Limitations and implications were provided.