Cyberbullying in social networking sites: An adolescent victim’s perspective

• We provide the views of adolescent victims of cyberbullying in social networking sites.
• Victims’ definition of cyberbullying is different and more complex than presented in previous research.
• Victim impact was the most important criterion. No participant referenced power imbalance.
• Emotional, social and behavioural impacts were the most reported by victims.

Online social networking sites (SNS) are a ubiquitous platform for communication. However, SNS can provide opportunities for abuse and harassment, typically referred to as cyberbullying. The current study examined adolescent victims’ understanding of cyberbullying, the specific types of cyberbullying events experienced in SNS and the impact of these events. Twenty-five adolescents (15–24 years old) who responded to an invitation for participants with previous negative experiences in SNS took part in individual semi-structured interviews. Results showed that the basic criteria for the definition of cyberbullying published in previous research were either not referenced by participants, or they were more complex than initially anticipated. The most referenced criterion was the extent to which the experience had an impact on the victim, which is not a current definitional criterion. It was also found that 68% of victims reported experiencing a combined emotional, social and behavioural impact for each cyberbullying experience, and 12% reported no impact at all. These findings will contribute to the measurement of cyberbullying from the perspective of victims, and will also aid the development of intervention strategies based on the most common impact areas.