Risk factors associated with impact severity of cyberbullying victimization: a qualitative study of adolescent online social networking.

Cyberbullying victimization is associated with a range of emotional and behavioral outcomes for adolescents. However, previous research has shown that this type of victimization does not affect all individuals negatively. The factors that account for individual differences in reactions to the same online experiences are not well understood. Using a qualitative inductive approach, a set of strong themes relating to factors that either increased the severity of impact of cyberbullying victimization or buffered victims against the impact emerged from interviews with 25 adolescents aged 15-24 years. Themes related to publicity, anonymity of perpetrators, features of the medium, presence of bystanders, and individual level factors were identified as potential influences upon impact severity. The implications of these results for further research and for school/university cyberbullying prevention programs for victims, perpetrators, and bystanders are discussed.