Cyberbullying in a Rural Intermediate School: An Exploratory Study

Students (N = 221) in an intermediate school (grades 5-8) in a rural area of the Southwestern United States completed a survey regarding their familiarity with technology and their experiences with cyberbullying during the school year. Initial evidence of survey reliability is presented. In the sample, 1.5% of participants were classified as cyberbullies only, 3% as cybervictims only, and 8.6% as cyberbully/victims. Grade and gender differences were investigated. The best predictor of cyberbullying in a regression equation was cybervictimization, and vice versa. Self-blaming attributions predicted emotional distress in response to a cyberbullying scenario; moral disengagement predicted acting out behaviors in response to the same scenario. Implications of the findings are discussed.