Understanding the cyberbullying phenomenon [Compreendendo o Fenômeno do Cyberbullying]

The subtype of violence behavior named as bullying is a serious problem recurrent in schools nowadays, bringing negative short, medium and long term consequences to development process. Considered as a public health issue, this and other forms of peer aggression are attracting media, parents, teachers and scientists attention as well as attention from responsible for public policies. Therefore, in a digital world, the new information and communication technologies allow a new kind of bullying to take place, a violence that situates in cyberspace and is supported by interactive technological tools, called cyberbullying. In this sense, the present paper aims to analyze and discuss aspects that are related to this electronic, intentional aggressive behavior, focusing in conceptual differences from bullying, impacts, risk and protective factors related to this process. To that, studies selected from Pepsic, Science Direct, BVS, PsychInfo, Scielo and PubMed about prevalence, characteristics and cyberbullying consequences are presented and discussed. The result was an unsystematic international and national literature revision toward cyberbullying that allowed an adequate reflection about this kind of violence and possible ways to a better comprehension and effective strategies to deal with cyberbullying nowadays. The importance of the researches about this topic in Brazil and Latin America is reinforced to provide a broader understanding about this process and to generate data that support the development of focus and preventive interventions