Cyberbullying: Concepts, theories, and correlates informing evidence-based best practices for prevention

Emerging evidence has revealed that many characteristics of cyberbullying—its definition, prevalence rates, risk and protective factors, outcomes, and prevention strategies—are related and yet somewhat unique from traditional bullying. The ubiquity of technology in the lives of youth presents an opportunity for individuals to intentionally and repetitively harm others, 24 h per day, sometimes with complete anonymity, and often without consequence. This is concerning given the high rates of psychopathology associated with cybervictimization, over and above, traditional bullying. Given the current state of the field, this literature review provides a critical synthesis of the extant knowledge concerning (1) a definition of cyberbullying; (2) theories explaining cyberbullying; (3) prevalence rates; (4) a brief developmentally-focused overview of adolescents and their online use; (5) risk and protective factors; (6) negative psycho-social outcomes, over and above traditional bullying; and (7) a brief overview of prevention and intervention programming with information for key stakeholders. Implications and future directions are discussed.