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Differences between peer victimization in cyber and physical settings and associated psychosocial adjustment in early adolescence
Author(s) -
Dempsey Allison G.,
Sulkowski Michael L.,
Nichols Rebecca,
Storch Eric A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
psychology in the schools
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1520-6807
pISSN - 0033-3085
DOI - 10.1002/pits.20437
Subject(s) - peer victimization , psychology , psychosocial , aggression , cyberspace , anxiety , social anxiety , cyber bullying , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , poison control , suicide prevention , the internet , psychiatry , medicine , environmental health , world wide web , computer science
The increasing use of cyberspace as a social networking forum creates a new medium for youth to become victims of peer aggression. This study used factor analysis techniques to confirm whether survey questions about frequency of cyber victimization formed a distinct latent construct from questions about relational and overt victimization information in a large ( N = 1,665) sample of middle school students. A secondary goal was to relate experiences of cyber victimization to symptoms of depression and social anxiety. Results indicate that cyber victimization is separate latent factor from overt and relational victimization. Experiences of cyber victimization were weakly associated with symptoms of social anxiety, but not depression. These results signify that cyber victimization deserves future empirical and clinical attention. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.