Using Animated Scenarios to Explore Severity of Cyberbullying and Reporting Readiness

Cyberbullying is a growing social problem especially amongst school aged children facilitated by the prevalent use of communication technology. This paper examines (a) the extent to which cyberbullying incidents are distinguishable by perceived severity and (b) the role of perpetrator anonymity on such perceptions of severity. Sixty six female school students (age 10-12 years) were shown animated scenarios depicting mobile phone based cyberbullying scenarios. Measures of severity and likelihood to report the incident were taken. The findings show that children were able to distinguish between different levels of severity of cyberbullying and were influenced by the anonymity of the perpetrator, with anonymous perpetrator scenarios being rated as more severe than known perpetrators. Bystanders rated scenarios with the same severity as victims but were less likely to report.