The impact and response to electronic bullying and traditional bullying among adolescents

• Adolescents choose medium-specific strategies to handle bullying on- and off-line.
• Embarrassment is an important factor in online bullying due to the large audience.
• Gender of bullies and victims impacts responses to bullying situations.
• Traditional and online bullying engender similar negative emotions.

With adolescents’ frequent use of social media, electronic bullying has emerged as a powerful platform for peer victimization. The present two studies explore how adolescents perceive electronic vs. traditional bullying in emotional impact and strategic responses. In Study 1, 97 adolescents (mean age = 15) viewed hypothetical peer victimization scenarios, in parallel electronic and traditional forms, with female characters experiencing indirect relational aggression and direct verbal aggression. In Study 2, 47 adolescents (mean age = 14) viewed the direct verbal aggression scenario from Study 1, and a new scenario, involving male characters in the context of direct verbal aggression. Participants were asked to imagine themselves as the victim in all scenarios and then rate their emotional reactions, strategic responses, and goals for the outcome. Adolescents reported significant negative emotions and disruptions in typical daily activities as the victim across divergent bullying scenarios. In both studies few differences emerged when comparing electronic to traditional bullying, suggesting that online and off-line bullying are subtypes of peer victimization. There were expected differences in strategic responses that fit the medium of the bullying. Results also suggested that embarrassment is a common and highly relevant negative experience in both indirect relational and direct verbal aggression among adolescents.