Cyberbullying study

A massive study on the effects of bullying uncovered that social media are considered the biggest threats for cyberbullying. The study found some worrying effects from bullying, but on a positive note, it includes advice on coping mechanisms as well (from adults who were bullied as children). 

Childhood bullying. (2020). Injuryclaimcoach. https://www.injuryclaimcoach.com/childhood-bullying.html

Bullying increases

A report from  shows that 20% of teen students in the US said they were bullied in the 2016-17 school year, and of those, 15% were bullied online or via text, a 3.5 percentage point increase over the previous year. The researcher stated that the spike may be due to increased awareness and reporting of cyberbullying incidents.
Seigfried-Spellar , K. (2019). Bullying. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=719

Teen social media use

Cyberbullying

Almost 60% of U.S. teens have been bullied or harassed online, and a similar share says it's a major problem for people their age. At the same time, teens mostly think teachers, social media companies and politicians are failing at addressing this issue.Anderson, M. (2018). A majority of teens have experienced some form of cyberbullying. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/09/27/a-majority-of-teens-have-experienced-some-form-of-cyberbullying/ 

Popular Social Media Platforms

A national survey revealed that YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat are the most popular online platforms among teens. Fully 95% of teens have access to a smartphone, and 45% say they are online 'almost constantly.' The survey also finds there is no clear consensus among teens about the effect that social media has on their lives. About a third described that effect as mostly positive, a quarter thought it mostly negative, but 45% said that effect has been neither positive nor negative.

Anderson, M., & Jiang, J. (2018). Teens, social media & technology 2018. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018


Media Use and Teen Problems

In surveying more than ten thousand teens, this researcher found that media use is an important factor in adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems. Social media use was associated with significantly poorer mental health, while hours spent watching television was linked with significantly higher sexual risks.

Merrill, R. (2018).  Associations between media use, mental health, and risky sexual behaviors in adolescence. Doctoral dissertation, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=4256&context=etd   

 

Teens are Cyberbullying Themselves

According to a survey of middle and high school students in the United States, teens are bullying themselves online as a way to manage feelings of sadness and self-hatred and to gain attention from their friends. The researchers concluded that digital self-harm is a new problem that demands additional scholarly attention. A deeper inquiry as to the motivations behind this behavior, and how it correlates to offline self-harm and suicidal ideation, can help direct mental health professionals toward informed prevention approaches.

Patchin, J. W., & Hinduja, S. (2017). Digital self-harm among adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 61(6), 761-766. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.06.012