Cyberbullying Prevention: Insight and Recommendations from Youth, Parents, and Pediatricians

Introduction: Primary care providers are uniquely situated to provide prevention and early intervention in cyberbullying situations, particularly given the high rates of victimization among children with special healthcare needs, as well as the likelihood that victimized children will present with somatic complaints. The purpose of this study was to identify descriptive norms for youths’ coping with cybervictimization, injunctive norms for cyberbullying prevention among youth, parents, and primary care providers, and barriers to preventive behaviors.

Method: Semi-structured interviews on the topic of cyberbullying were conducted with 29 adolescents (10-17 years old), 13 pediatricians, and 15 parents recruited from three primary care sites (urban and suburban). The youth sample was approximately half African American and half White American, and the sample was evenly distributed by gender (15 males and 14 females). The racial composition of the parent sample was similar, but all parents were female. All providers were female White Americans. Transcripts were coded for themes related to youths’ responses to cyberbullying situations as well as various stakeholders’ perceived roles in cyberbullying prevention and barriers to preventive behaviors.

Results: Injunctive norms for youth preventive behaviors included Intervene in the moment and Get outside help for others. Fear of repercussions emerged as a significant barrier to these behaviors. Participants believed that parents should Communicate with their children and Monitor and supervise youths’ online activities. Barriers included Competing demands and Low parental efficacy or naiveté. Participants believed that providers should Provide education and resources and Ask screening questions; the most frequently identified barrier to those behaviors was the Perception of providers’ role.

Conclusions: Whereas most injunctive norms for youths’ and providers’ preventive behaviors were generally reactive, most injunctive norms for parents included primary prevention. Youth and providers may not understand their potential for preventing rather than merely reacting to cyberbullying situations. Although many participants identified concerns that there could be negative consequences for youth if they were to intervene for another child as the primary barrier, the primary perceived barriers to parents’ and providers’ preventive behaviors were related to the perception of priority and lack of knowledge. Providers also reported that they needed more education in order to prevent cyberbullying. Educating youth, parents, and providers about cyberbullying prevention is warranted.