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Differences in Social Skills among Cyberbullies, Cybervictims, Cyberbystanders, and those not Involved in Cyberbullying

Noam Lapidot-Lefler and Michal Dolev-Cohen

The purpose of this study was to identify differences in social skills (cooperation, assertion, empathy, self-control) between adolescents involved in cyberbullying (bystanders, bullies, victims) and those not, hypothesizing that adolescents involved in cyberbullying would score lower than those not on social skills ratings. Furthermore, the purpose was to examine whether the relationship between the variables of gender, age, and social skills differed between adolescents involved in cyberbullying and those not. The study included 521 Israeli adolescents, 221 boys and 300 girls, aged 13 to 18 years. Participating students completed a cyberbullying questionnaire and a social skills questionnaire. Results showed that girls tended to be victims or “bystanders and victims,” more than boys. Low social skills scores were found among participants who scored in the top 30% on the cyberbullying questionnaire and among adolescents who had high scores on the dimensions of “bystanders and victims,” “bystanders and bullies,” or “bullies and victims.” A similar trend was found for the social skills subscales cooperation, assertion, empathy, and self-control. Social skills were generally higher among girls than among boys. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of online communication, as well as practical implementations for teachers, parents, and adolescents.