Risk Factors For Cyberbullying Among Secondary Students in Urban Settings in Spain: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Previous forms of bullying in the school context have been altered by the widespread use of the internet and social networks, raising the need to understand the dynamics of cyberbullying. The aim of this study was to analyze the frequency and factors associated with cyberbullying in secondary schools in two Spanish cities (2019–2020). A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1421 students in the second and third years of compulsory secondary education in 9 schools in Terrassa and Alicante. The students filled out a computer-based questionnaire during the 2019–2020 academic year. The explanatory variables were sociodemographic characteristics (age, sex, origin, sexual orientation) and the relationship with peers and family, including childhood violence victimization. Prevalence and adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) were calculated through Poisson regression models stratified by sex. Cyberbullying had been experienced by 9.2% of girls and 10.8% of boys. The phenomenon was more frequent in non-heterosexual girls (aPR = 2.94; 95% CI 1.83–4.71) who had had sex with another person (aPR = 2.66 95% CI 1.54–4.60) than in non-heterosexual boys (aPR = 1.79 95% CI 1.18–2.71), boys from low-income countries (aPR = 1.73 95% CI 1.10–2.71), and those who had experienced physical abuse in childhood (aPR = 2.36 95% CI 1.54–3.64). There is a marked prevalence of cyberbullying in secondary school students. It is essential to approach interactions between social and demographic individual factors in the prevention of cyberbullying in secondary education as part of school-based programs to encourage healthy equitable relationships throughout childhood and adolescence.