Mean behind the screen : students' perspectives on capturing cyberbullying in Canada

Abstract

Mediated discourses have increased public awareness of youth’s employment of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to victimise other youth. Strategies to identify, prevent and sanction cyberbullying in Canada rely on victimisation surveys. Current national self-report data is based on Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey, 2009 Cycle 23 – Victimisation (GSS-V). This study attempts to determine the epistemological and methodological validity of the Cyber Bullying Respondent and Cyber Bullying Children modules within the GSS-V by measuring university students’ perceptions of Statistics Canada’s definition of cyberbullying and the processes by which the GSS-V determines cyberbullying victimisation of multiple children in a household. Findings suggest inherent flaws in both modules resulting in a loss of critical information in determining the incidence and prevalence of cyberbullying. This study offers a more comprehensive definition of cyberbullying and a more appropriate method to capture cyberbullying victimisation of multiple children in a household, one that improves both measurement and validity of cyberbullying in Canadian contemporary society.