Text-bullying among early adolescents.

Abstract

Increased availability of cell-phones has provided new avenues through which adolescents can bully their peers. Text-bullying is an emerging form of bullying which may threaten the emotional well-being of early adolescents. In this study 565 early adolescents (10-13 years old) completed questionnaires regarding their experiences with bullying (text-message and traditional) and measures of depression and self-esteem. Findings were that: (a) 15% of early adolescents had been text-bullied in the current school year: (b) victims of text-bullying reported more depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem than non-victims, and (c) victims who experienced both traditional and text-bullying in the current school year report more depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem than those not involved or those who were bullied only at school Text-bullying may add to negative outcomes suffered by victims of traditional forms of bullying.