PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS OF CYBERBULLYING AMONG ADOLESCENTS

Abstract

The scientific publication is devoted to the problem of the factors of cyberbullying among the most psychologically vulnerable age group of children - teenagers, which is urgent in the conditions of rapid information, communication and technical progress. The article substantiates the choice of the research topic, analyzes a number of recent international and Ukrainian studies and publications devoted to the consideration of bullying and cyberbullying as a psychological-pedagogical, social and legal phenomenon. The means by which cyberbullying can be carried out (mobile communication, e-mail, instant messaging servers, chats and forums, blogs, social networks, video hosting services, etc.) are characterized, and its main manifestations are revealed (bullying or mocking, sarcastic expressions on the Internet, fake photos, videos, cases of impersonation in social networks, flaming, anonymous threats, sexual assaults, etc.). The author defines the types (direct, indirect) and specific features of cyberbullying as a subform of traditional bullying (anonymity, temporal and spatial unlimited influence on the victim, speed of information dissemination, unlimited number of viewers). The author analyzed the data of various studies on the causes of bullying and cyberbullying and, based on this, proposed his own classification of the factors of cyberbullying among teenagers, which includes five groups: individual and psychological (the personality traits of the teenager, his age, gender), pedagogical (the educational influence of families schools, the level of education of parents, teachers), social and environmental (the influence of mass media, adolescent subcultures, the presence of negative experiences of bullying and cyberbullying), state and legal (legislation on the regulation of cases of cyberbullying and responsibility for violent acts on the Internet), information and technical (disadvantages of information, communication and technological progress). The author's vision of the functioning of the named groups of factors of cyberbullying among teenagers on the levels: micro-, meso-, and macro-level, which is reflected in the structural-logical scheme, is put forward. The main consequences of the phenomenon of cyberbullying on the psycho-emotional and physiological state of the teenager, his educational activities and academic performance are generally defined. Brief empirical data are presented in the context of the indicated problems.