This master's thesis focuses on exploring cyberbullying as a new form of peer-to-peer violence among young people, which evolved alongside the development of new information and communication technologies.
In the theoretical part, I first explain the basic characteristics of violence in general. Moreover, I identify aggression and aggressive behaviour of adolescents and children, as it clarifies the understanding of their aggressive behaviour. Since it is important to distinguish certain terminology of understanding violence, I point it out as the thesis continues. The thesis presents various forms of violence that are generally known, and I focus on peer violence and violence through information communication technology. Later, I narrow it to the theme of peer violence, in which we learn about its basic characteristics and give directions for preventive action of schools to reduce peer violence with practical models by different authors. Then I focus on the subject of cyberbullying, here I state different definitions and characteristics by diverse authors. I compare traditional violence and cyberbullying, and again emphasize on terminology, as well as present practical models for preventive action of schools and parents, regarding cyberbullying. Furthermore, I instruct young people what to do if they become victims of cyberbullying. The theoretical part concludes with the legislation on violence.
The empirical part presents the results of the analysis on the appearance of cyberbullying among students in secondary and grammar schools. The main purpose of the research is to gain insight into the incidence of cyberbullying among secondary school students and to determine whether there are statistically significant gender differences. As well as to find out at which secondary schools there is more cyberbullying – grammar or vocational secondary schools. I set up an online questionnaire and forwarded it, through various contacts, among students of secondary and grammar schools. The questionnaire was solved by 212 secondary school students.
Most students experienced violence through online applications and because of photographs or videos, the smallest number of students experienced violence through e-mail. Facebook is the web application where most students have experienced violence through, followed by Instagram and Snapchat. The results also showed that the type of secondary school is negligible, regarding the experience of cyberbullying, but there is a large gender difference in the frequency of experiencing cyberbullying through text messages, phone calls and through photos or videos sent by phone. However, there were no statistically significant differences in experiencing violence through web-based applications and e-mail.
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