RAPID COMMUNICATIONS How Common Is Cyberbullying Among Adults? Exploring Gender, Ethnic, and Age Differences in the Prevalence of Cyberbullying Meng-Jie Wang, MA, 1 Kumar Yogeeswaran, PhD, 1 Nadia P. Andrews, MS, 1 Diala R. Hawi, PhD, 2 and Chris G. Sibley, PhD 3 Abstract Previous research on cyberbullying has almost entirely focused on examining its prevalence among teens and young adults leaving it unclear how prevalent it is within the wider population. The present study used a New Zealand (NZ) national sample (N = 20,849) to examine gender, age, and ethnic differences in the experiences of cyberbullying victimization. On average, nearly 14.9 percent of respondents stated that they have ever been a target of cyberbullying before, with 2.2 percent respondents reporting such experiences within the past month. While young adults (18–25 years) experienced the highest levels of cyberbullying during both time frames (lifetime and past month), the prevalence of cyberbullying was lower among older age cohorts, with the lowest rate among the 66+ age group. Reports of cyberbullying slightly varied among men and women, with women overall reporting slightly greater levels of having ever experienced cyberbullying than men; however, this significant difference did not carry into reports of cyberbullying over the past month. On average, participants identifying as European reported lower levels of cyberbullying than M aori and Pacific Nations participants during both time frames, with Asian participants falling in the middle. Taken together, these findings provide a nuanced understanding of the prevalence of cyberbullying in a large national sample of NZ adults. Keywords: cyberbullying, age, gender, ethnic, cyberaggression Introduction O ver the last decade, advancements in cyberspace have enabled greater connectivity between people across geographical divides. 1 While people certainly gain benefits from such technological advancements, 2 consider- able attention has also been paid to the negative side effects of cyber activity. Cyberbullying, popularized as ‘‘virtual abuse,’’ is defined as intentionally aggressive behavior 3 that is implemented via digital communication such as e-mail, text messages, or mobile phone. 4–6 Many studies note that it has been linked to a host of negative outcomes at both the physical and psychological levels. 7 One meta-analysis of 131 studies suggests that increased stress, loneliness, and depen- dence on alcohol were among the outcomes of such experi- ences. 7 A review of 36 studies investigating the health-related effects of cyberbullying found that as many as 2 percent of young victims had self-harmed after being bullied online. 8,9 One longitudinal study looking at cyberbullying and depres- sion also found youth reporting depression symptoms over time as a result of cyberbullying. 10 How prevalent is cyberbullying? a Some previous research suggests that cyberbullying has become commonplace since domestic digital technologies became indispensable to daily living. 3 A 2011 report found that *12 percent of European 9–16-year olds had been harassed online. 11 Similarly, the Cyberbullying Research Center started collecting data from more than 25,000 students across the United States in 2002, reporting a victimization rate of 33.6 percent in 2018. 12 Such work has been invaluable highlighting the widespread nature of cyberbullying among teens. However, it is less clear whether cyberbullying occurs among other age groups, and whether there are additional ethnic and gender differences in cyberbullying across one’s life span. As most research on the topic has focused on examining cyberbullying among children and teenagers, 7 with fewer studies looking at cyberbullying of adults (and even these have most specifically focused on cyberbullying in the 1 School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. 2 School of Social Science and Humanities, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Doha, Qatar. 3 School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. CYBERPSYCHOLOGY,BEHAVIOR, AND SOCIAL NETWORKING Volume 22, Number 11, 2019 ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2019.0146 736 Downloaded by 34.228.24.229 from www.liebertpub.com at 06/30/20. For personal use only.