The purpose of this study was to identify whether or not there were associations between cyber bullying and cigarette and alcohol use in adolescents. The study controlled for three separate variables that were potenLial moderators of the associations: peer victimization, peer aggression, and gender. The researchers developed two hypotheses First, they predicted that greater amounts of cyber bullying committed would be related to increased cigarette smoking and alcohol use when other forms of bullying were factors. When considering peer aggression, the researchers hypothesized that the greater amount of cyber bullying adolescents experienced would be positively associated with the amount of cigarette smoking and alcohol use, in addition to expecting higher levels of aggression to would result in increased smoking and alcohol use. The researchers used a series of questionnaires and surveys and analyzed the participants’ responses.
The literature review on the contextual framework of victimization explained that overall, there is an association between cyber victimization and increased potential for alcohol and drug use in high school students. This study aimed to minimize by the lack of clarity about direct impacts of cyber bullying and specific cigarette and alcohol use, rather than the general phenomenon of victimization and substance abuse The study sampled 1064 9th-121h grade students from two public schools in a major Southeastern city. Participants were 58% female and primarily Hispanic. 71.2% of the participants were White Hispanic, 12.2% Black, 104% Non-Hispanic White, 3.9% Asian, and 22% unknown, The mean age was 15.81 years (SD = 1.22 years). Of the 2375 students enrolled, 1067 students both provided consent and were eligible to participate in the study. Three of these participants did not report their gender, race/ethnicity, or age and, therefore, were omitted from the data analysis.
The first data collection measure used was The Revised Peer Experiences Questionnaire (R-PEQ), This survey asked participants to evaluate how often various types of peer victimization had occurred to them, as well as how often they had instigated aggressive peer behaviors in the past two months using a scale of 1 being never, to 5 being a couple times a week. The scores from the victimization subscales were averaged and paralleled with results from the aggression subscales to analyze results on the prevalence of peer victimization and peer aggression among participants This measure has been known to be both reliable and valid in samples of adolescents that represent a variety of ethnicities. To measure cyber peer victimization and aggression, the researchers used the Cyber Peer Experiences Questionnaire (C-PEQ). This survey explains nine different scenarios of peer victimization that can occur using electronic communication.
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The subjects rated how often these events had happened to them in the past two months again using a 1 to 5 scale from never to a few times a week. Participants also evaluated their cyber aggression by answering yes or no to each situation presented. Similarly to R-PEQ, the cyber victimization scores were averaged and paralleled with the average cyber aggression scores. This measure is also reliable among ethnically diverse adolescents. Finally, to evaluate substance use, participants completed the Youth Risk Behavior Survey to assess the amount of various substances used in the past 30 days. After using an analytic approach to determine correlations between each of the variables, the results revealed that after controlling for various victimization types, higher cyber bullying and physical victimization are associated with increased cigarette use, alcohol consumption, and binge drinking.
However, relational victimization did not seem to be a strong predictor of any substance use level, Regarding the control of peer aggression, no significant association was found between victimization and substance use. Of all the outcomes, cyber aggression was the strongest unique factor of substance abuse levels, This data supported the hypothesis about the relationship between cyber Victimization and substance use when controlling for peer victimization, but not the hypothesis when controlling for peer aggression. Overall, the research questions in this study were adequately addressed Prior research has examined the relationship between peer victimization and substance use, but knowledge of the specific link between cyber bullying and adolescent substance use was minimal. This study was the first to examine this association while controlling for peer victimization and peer aggression.
By controlling for these variables, the findings extend knowledge of the impact that victimization has on substance use by separating cyber bullying experiences from traditional victimization instances. The study also revealed that although cyber bullying may be a significant predictor of adolescent substance use, those who perpetrate aggression might be an even stronger indicator. When evaluating how adequate the measures of this study were, the use of self—reports can and should be questioned. It is difficult to determine the reliability of these self-report results since the adolescents may not have been depicting their experiences accurately and honestly. Although one could argue that the individuals are the best people to explain their experiences with victimization and substance use, it may have been valuable to use these self» reports in addition to having teachers and parents comment on the children’s experiences, as well as observing these behaviors to the degree they were able.
The adolescents may have feared judgment of accurately reporting their substance use and victimization experiences, and therefore may have underreported them and skewed the results. Since the study used correlations to analyze the relationship between various types of victimization and substance use behaviors, causation cannot be assumed, and impacts between variables may be bidirectional. Additionally, the sample in this study was not representative of the population since participants were predominantly of Hispanic backgrounds. This being said we are unable to generalize the findings of the study to all ethnicities. The way that this study was written up was fairly easy to follow.
The organization of each section and the elaborate procedural details provided were necessary to understand the study. It was also helpful to read the strong background information on previous studies and the significance of the topics Initially, I did have some trouble interpreting the statistical analyses, but once I refreshed my memory on how to read the results, they were clear and presented welll I believe that the analyses did fit the study design and research questions because correlations are an effective way to interpret relationships between variables This study was well written, straightforward and detailed enough where I had a minimal issue understanding how researchers conducted the study. Overall, the findings of this study are significant and meaningful in the sense that they contribute to the knowledge of the relationship between various types of peer victimization and adolescent substance use.
Although there is potential of self-reports being misrepresented by the participants, I believe the findings are still valuable since cyber bullying is a relatively new phenomenon and studies that find associations between this type of victimization and substance use are necessary Additionally, these findings complement prior research on this topic and therefore strengthen the literature. Future studies that delve more into the relationship between cyber bullying and adolescent substance use, as well as the underlying causes of each variable, will create valuable information for use in schools and other adolescent settings. This research can guide anti-bullying and substance abuse prevention programs to help those who considered at risk of cyber bullying, being cyber bullied, and developing substance use issues. By developing these programs, conflict resolution and risky behaviors will be combated.
