motivations for engaging in cyberaggression
1. Read this week’s assigned article (Rafferty & Vander Ven, 2014)
2. answer the question #2: The article describes three motivations for engaging in cyberaggression: sanctions, power-struggles, and entertainment. Please classify each of these three as being an example of an instrumental or hostile form of aggression. Explain why each of these sources matches one of our two types of aggression. (150 words)
3. Watch the videos of two students who did not have the same question as you.1. Your reply can: (100words/each)
a. Expand on their point
b. Add another example to what they are saying
c. Disagree with their point
d. Note something their video made you think of
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=udbh20
Deviant Behavior
ISSN: 0163-9625 (Print) 1521-0456 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/udbh20
“I Hate Everything About You”: A Qualitative Examination of Cyberbullying and On-Line Aggression in a College Sample
Rebecca Rafferty & Thomas Vander Ven
To cite this article: Rebecca Rafferty & Thomas Vander Ven (2014) “I Hate Everything About You”: A Qualitative Examination of Cyberbullying and On-Line Aggression in a College Sample, Deviant Behavior, 35:5, 364-377, DOI: 10.1080/01639625.2013.849171
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2013.849171
Published online: 14 Jan 2014.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 4599
View related articles
View Crossmark data
Citing articles: 37 View citing articles
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=udbh20
https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/udbh20
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080/01639625.2013.849171
https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2013.849171
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=udbh20&show=instructions
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=udbh20&show=instructions
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/mlt/10.1080/01639625.2013.849171
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/mlt/10.1080/01639625.2013.849171
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1080/01639625.2013.849171&domain=pdf&date_stamp=2014-01-14
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1080/01639625.2013.849171&domain=pdf&date_stamp=2014-01-14
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/citedby/10.1080/01639625.2013.849171#tabModule
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/citedby/10.1080/01639625.2013.849171#tabModule
‘‘I Hate Everything About You’’: A Qualitative Examination of Cyberbullying and On-Line
Aggression in a College Sample
Rebecca Rafferty and Thomas Vander Ven
Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA
Due to highly innovative technologies such as the smart phone, cyberbullying and on-line aggression
have increasingly affected individuals across the world. In this study, a broad symbolic interactionist
approach is used to study both cyberbullying and on-line aggression. Cyberbullying is defined as
repeated unwanted, hurtful, harassing, and=or threatening interaction through electronic communication media. On-line aggression is defined as hurtful, harassing, and=or threatening behavior that is not repeated. Undergraduate students at a Midwestern university (N¼ 221) were surveyed to determine the extent and nature of their cyberbullying and on-line aggression experiences. By using open ended
questions to inquire about respondents’ personal experiences with cyberbullying and on-line aggression,
we identified three motivations for these acts, which included cyber sanctioning, power struggles,
and entertainment.
Due to highly innovative technologies, such as the increasingly ubiquitous smart phone, bullying
has begun to take a new shape—cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is defined as repeated unwanted,
hurtful, harassing, and=or threatening interaction through electronic communication media. In the past, bullying has generally affected victims within the context of face-to-face interaction
in social institutions. Today, however, technology has made it possible for bullies to victimize
their targets at all hours of the day and without the need for face-to-face interaction. Addition-
ally, because smart phones and other portable electronic devices are handheld and easily hidden
away, it is far less likely that guardians will be aware of the victimization taking place.
Cyberbullying has been shown to have serious adverse effects on its victims. Consider for
example, the case of Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old high school freshman who ‘‘hanged herself
Jan. 14 [2010] after nearly three months of routine torment by students at South Hadley
High School, via text message, and through the social networking site, Facebook’’ (Goldman
2010). Stories like Phoebe’s are becoming more common in the news. Mitchell et al. (2008)
state, ‘‘media reports of egregious crimes can be misleading’’ and ‘‘can lead to misguided
public policy and overreaction among parents and others’’ (278). While agents of the media
Received 10 May 2012; accepted 3 January 2013.
Address correspondence to Thomas Vander Ven, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ohio University, 147
Bentley Annex, Athens, OH 45701, USA. E-mail: vandervt@ohio.edu
Deviant Behavior, 35: 364–377, 2014
Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0163-9625 print / 1521-0456 online
DOI: 10.1080/01639625.2013.849171
are quick to discuss the tragedies associated with cyberbullying, they seldom discuss what may
be motivating individuals to engage in cyberbullying or potential solutions to this problem.
Although sociologists, psychologists, and communications scholars are making great strides
in understanding cyberbullying, there are some gaps in the existing literature on the topic.
Many studies focus on younger populations in the K–12 school system (see Beran and Li
2005; Erdur-Baker 2010; Hay and Meldrum 2010; Juvonen and Gross 2008; Li 2006; Marsh
et al. 2010; Mishna et al. 2009; Mitchell et al. 2008; Patchin and Hinduja 2006; Raskauskas
and Stoltz 2007; Siann et al. 1994; Smith et al. 2008; Vandebosch and Van Cleemput 2008;
Ybarra and Mitchell 2004). While a few studies have focused on older populations (e.g., Finn
2004; Hinduja and Patchin 2008; Privitera and Campbell 2009), we know relatively little about
the causes and consequences of cyberbullying among young adults.
However, cyberbullying and on-line aggression affect older populations as well. Another
cyberbullying story makes this very clear: Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi ‘‘leapt
to his death a day after authorities said two students secretly filmed him having sex with
a man and broadcast it over the internet’’ (MacKenzie 2010). Tyler’s story shows that cyber-
bullying and on-line aggression do affect older populations as well, with equally adverse effects.
Also of notable absence in the literature are studies on the actual experiences of cyber-
bullying and aggression. Though these phenomena are being painted in the media as a rising
social problem, and there are considerable studies done on the extent of this problem and
its possible causes and consequences, very few studies exist on what victims and perpetrators
of cyberbullying experience. The absence of this information in the literature creates an
incomplete understanding of the problem. This in turn makes is difficult to create informed
and effective policy to combat cyberbullying and on-line aggression.
A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center demonstrates the extent to which teens
and young people are using technology that may be used for cyberbullying and on-line
aggression (Lenhart et al. 2010). According to this study, 73% of on-line American teens and 47% of on-line American adults use social networking websites, an increase from a study in 2008, which showed 65% and 37%, respectively (2). The study also showed that cell phone use is ‘‘nearly ubiquitous’’ with 75% of teens and 93% of adults ages 18–29 owning a cell phone (4). It is likely that, as technology use continues to increase, cyberbullying and on-line
aggression will become more prominent social problems in our society. Researchers therefore
must learn as much as we can about these issues. This study strives to add to the existing
academic literature on cyberbullying and on-line aggression. In this context, we use an open
ended survey to investigate the typical cyberbullying or on-line aggression experiences of young
adults, and employ a grounded theory approach to analyze the survey findings.
THEORETICAL APPROACH
Because the goal was to understand the lived experiences of cyberbullying and on-line
aggression, a symbolic interactionist approach provided the theoretical framework for our study
(Charon 2001). One of the basic principles of symbolic interactionism is that ‘‘individuals in
human society were not seen as units that are motivated by external or internal forces beyond
their control, or within the confines of a more or less fixed structure. Rather, they were viewed
as reflective or interacting units which comprise the societal entity’’ (Meltzer et al. 1975).
CYBERBULLYING AND ON-LINE AGGRESSION IN A COLLEGE SAMPLE 365
As cyberbullying is a phenomenon that relies mainly on the use of language, and symbols (Mead
1934), as well as intensive interaction between social actors, symbolic interactionism provided
the most promising perspective with which to frame our study and to guide our analysis. This
choice allowed the researchers to assess the meanings that individuals apply to their experiences,
and offered a deeper insight into cyberbullying than quantitative studies alone can provide.
Our survey instrument was shaped by a symbolic interactionist approach to capture our
respondents’ definitions of their unique experiences in the social world. Rather than provide
participants with a laundry list of experiences from which to choose (which may have limited
the amount of data received), the survey instrument asked simple, open…
