One-Third of Teens Are Cyberbullied
A new study shows that online harassment is common, especially for teen girls.
June 28, 2007— -- About one-third of all teenagers report having been targeted by online threats and have had private information about them disclosed on the Web, according to a new study released Wednesday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
The Internet has given harassers the "opportunity to expand their reach of bullying, in a place where more people can know about it and it is more widespread at a rapid pace," said Amanda Lenhart, a Pew senior research specialist and author of the study.
According to the study, young women are most affected by and more likely to report experiencing online harassment. Forty-one percent of women between the ages of 15 and 17 who use the Internet reported harassment, while 29 percent of young men in that age range report having been harassed online. Similarly, 33 percent of Internet-surfing 12- to 14-year-old girls reported being harassed; only 22 percent of boys the same age said they were cyberbullied.
"Girls are more likely to engage in content creation and use social networks," Lenhart said.
The report echoed the sentiment that cyberbulling is more prevalent in social networks. Four in 10 social network users have been harassed in some way, compared with 22 percent of online teens who don't use social networks.
Ninety-three percent of the survey's respondents use the Internet and 55 percent of them reported using social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
Despite the high numbers of teenagers who experienced online trouble, the teens surveyed believed bullying was more likely to happen offline than on, Lenhart said.
The finding was "not surprising because you can be physically bullied offline and not online," she said.
Related Stories
ABC News Live