Adolescent cyberbullying: A review of characteristics, prevention and intervention strategies

• Active users of social networking sites who are not concerned about personal privacy are vulnerable to online harassment.
• Proactive aggression and normative beliefs of aggression are associated with cyberbullying.
• A positive parent-adolescent relationship helps protect vulnerable children and adolescents in the online environment.
• Empathy training, modifying beliefs supportive of aggression, and guidelines for appropriate online norms better protect adolescents online.
• Effective prevention strategies are multi-pronged and multi-systemic.

Adolescence is a transitional period with considerable growth and challenge. With the advent of the Web and other electronic technologies, cyberbullying is a rising universal concern. With limited contextual cues and relative anonymity of the online environment, adolescents tend to be more disinhibited and to engage in more high risk behaviors, resulting in a higher chance of interpersonal conflict. Using the routine activities framework, adolescent variables associated with cyberbullying including Internet usage, psychosocial problems and challenges, proactive aggression characteristics and normative beliefs about the acceptability of aggression were reviewed. Likewise, parent–adolescent relationship variables, such as poor emotional bond, lack of knowledge about the adolescent's online activities, and lack of adequate parental monitoring and parental mediation, were also reviewed to be related to cyberbullying. Strategies targeting both adolescent issues, parent-related, and parent–adolescent relationship variables were highlighted as suitable targets for prevention and intervention work. A multi-pronged and multi-systemic approach would be most effective.