Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1
High School Students’ Perceptions of Motivations for Cyberbullying: An

Exploratory Study
NTRODUCTION
Cyberbullying has been defined as a type of bullying that involves the use of communication technologies.1,2 Like
traditional bullying, it is intentional and repetitive.3 Unlike in traditional bullying, researchers have not agreed that an
imbalance of power is a necessary component.4 We identify the behavior’s unique characteristics as 1) the cyberbullies
may be anonymous; 2) the perpetrators and targets are disassociated from the physical and social cues of a
cyberbullying incident; and 3) adults may feel less empowered to intervene due to the role of technology.3 Examples of
cyberbullying include sending harassing texts, instant messages, or e-mails.5
Researchers have begun to investigate motivations for cyberbullying.2,6 Two common and inter-related motivations
include anonymity and the disinhibition effect.3,5–10,12,13 Mason described how anonymity breeds disinhibition due to
the distance provided by electronic communication, normal self control can be lost or greatly reduced for potential
bullies. Thus, anonymity can protect adolescents from the consequences of their actions in cyberspace.6,8 Some
adolescents may feel free to do and say things they would never do in person.6,7 Raskaukas and Stoltz10 stated that
cyberbullies were physically and emotionally removed from their victims; therefore, they did not experience the impact
of their actions (i.e., disinhibition effect).
Additional motivations include homophobia, racial intolerance, and revenge.1,2,14 Adolescents reported engaging in
cyberbullying because they gained satisfaction or pleasure from hurting their victims.1,2,8 While some cyber-
perpetrators reported victimizing targets in order to feel better about themselves,10 others cyberbullied because the
perpetrators believed they were provoked by their victims2 and sought revenge.1,4,12 In addition, some cyberbullies
may torment their victims because they dislike the person1 or are jealous of them.8 Further, adolescents may cyberbully
just “for fun.”9,11 This motivation differs from gaining pleasure by hurting others because adolescents who bully just for
entertainment may not be concerned about whether or not their targets are hurt.
DISCUSSION
An important contribution of this study was the finding that high school students reported a range of internal and
external motivations for cyberbullying (Figure 1). This illustration provides a framework to conceptualize motivations
that may be useful for guiding future research and to develop preventive interventions designed to thwart the negative
effects of cyberbullying. In this study internal motivations were associated with the perpetrators’ emotional states and
external motivations were derived from factors specific to the situation or the target. This information may be helpful
for adults working with perpetrators in developing preventive interventions to address the emotional state and internal
needs (e.g., to feel better) of the cyberbully, as well as focusing on external motivators.
A significant finding was that the students in this study reported internal motivations with greater frequency than
external motivations. In addition, although the anonymity/disinhibition effect was confirmed as a motivation for
cyberbullying, it was mentioned less often than other internal motivations. This finding was interesting due to the
emphasis in the literature on anonymity as a primary motivation for perpetrators.3,5–10,12,13 Further research is
needed to investigate the reasons for these findings to enhance the understanding of motivations and to develop ideas
about how adults and students can effectively intervene to prevent cyberbullying, particularly for vulnerable populations
[e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth (LGBT)].
Another unique finding of this study was the discovery of motivations for cyberbullying not reported in the current
literature (i.e., protection) or were not explicated in prior research (i.e., redirect feelings). For example, redirect feelings
in this study emphasized the need of the perpetrator to release negative feelings rather than targeting a victim based on
target characteristics. Protection was defined as the cyberbully wanting to protect himself/herself from being hurt so the
perpetrator targeted others. Future research is needed to replicate and extend these findings.

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CHAPTER 1

High School Students’ Perceptions of Motivations for Cyberbullying: An

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