Cyber Bullying Experiences of Middle School Students According to Olweus Peer Bullying Model

In this research, cyber-bullying experiences of middle school students was investigated in terms of Olweus’ Peer Bullying Model. For this aim seven different region of Turkey was surveyed and seven focus group interviews was conducted with the participation of 49 middle school students. The participants age was differed from 12 to 14. The data was collected with semi-structured question form. In this question form students were asked to discuss their cyber-bullying experiences as being witness. However, some students wanted to talk about their experiences on being bully or victim in cyber-bullying process. Findings showed that all participants experienced cyber-bullying before. When the experiences of the students classified in terms of Olweus’ Peer Bullying Model it was revealed that participants had been in victim, possible defenders of victim, bully, defender of victim or passive defender of bully statuses in the past. On the other hand the other three statuses (disengaged onlooker, follower of bully and defender of bully) mentioned by Olweus was not found among the participants. According to the findings, victims were labeled as whipping boy; they did not follow the safety internet usage rules and they did not seek social support from peer or adults. Besides, it was found out that the possible defenders were aware of the victim’s suffer and distress but they refrain to help them because of the peers’ and adults negative attitudes. On the other hand findings of this study showed that bullies did not care the results of their behaviors and behave unethically on internet. It was revealed that these students bullied others for fun, revenge and protect victims. When it comes to the defenders of victim status, it was found that the students in this group had high level of empathy and self-efficacy. These students stated that they used different ways for fighting with bullying such as reconciliation with bullies, showing their open support to the victims in the other peers, using technological abilities to block the bullies and face-to-face fighting with bullies. As for the passive supporters of the bullies, the most remarkable thought they stated was that victims deserved bullies. These findings showed that middle school students had cyber-bullying experiences at school in Turkey and cyber-bullying is processing as the circle mentioned in Olweus’ Peer Bullying Model. This study point out the importance of the cyber-bullying statuses for the forthcoming studies. In this context researchers have to focus on removing the barriers that prevent the passive supporters of victims to be defenders of victim. Besides, studies such as improving the empathical understanding among bullies and their supporters have to be increased.