Emotions in Cyberbullying: A study with Portuguese teenagers

Abstract

This paper presents a part of the extensive study of the project Cyberbullying – A Diagnosis of the Situation in Portugal, which applied a questionnaire to 3,525 teenagers in the 6th, 8th and 11th schooling levels. In order to characterize cyberbullying, we have sought to contribute to the identification and interpretation of emotions experienced by the youngsters involved as victims or offenders in cyberbullying situations. The data reveal that sadness, desire for revenge, and fear are the most frequent emotions of the victims, while satisfaction, indifference and relief are those that the offenders experience the most. Data also reveal significant differences between the emotions experienced by victims and those that offenders attributed to them, which can be an indicator of the lack of empathy of the latter and thus requires the development of an emotional education of youngsters. Some significant differences have been found concerning schooling level, sex, school, and municipality, namely: a higher incidence of emotions such as sadness, fear, insecurity, and the desire for revenge among male victims; more feelings of insecurity, relief, confusion, and disorientation among young female offenders; emotions associated with impotence and lack of support experienced by youngsters in the role of victims, more in some schools than in others. These data lead us to reflect on how to take action to prevent cyberbullying.