Cyberbullying and Academic Achievement: Research Into the Rates of Incidence, Knowledge of Consequences, and Behavioral Patterns of Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying takes place through the information technology that students access every day: cell phones, text messages, email, Internet messaging, social networks, pictures, and video clips. With the world paying more attention to this new form of bullying, scholars have been researching the topic in an attempt to learn more about this phenomenon. However, there are few research studies directly examining the relationship between academic achievement and cyberbullying; this dissertation examined that relationship. Data collected from a questionnaire provided to 847 middle school students in a Northeastern city revealed that higher-achieving students were no more likely to understand the risks involved with using the Internet than students who earned lower grades. Students who had self-reported participation in a gifted program and students who did not were equally likely to have involvement in cyberbullying as either a target, bully, or both. The most statistically significant factor in predicting a relationship to involvement with cyberbullying was a history of involvement with traditional bullying. Either as a target or a bully, having a history of this form of bullying meant a student was more likely to be both a cyberbully and a cyberbullying target.