Differences between academic tracks regarding cybervictimisation – explicable by different media use of students?

Abstract

This study investigated the prevalence and incidence of cybervictimisation among students in Swiss lower secondary school. Further, it was examined whether different victimisation incidences between academic tracks could be explained by students daily duration of communicative electronic media use. Among the participating 804 7^th-graders, 17.7% reported having experienced being harassed via electronic media during the last two months. The majority of perpetrators did not attend the same classroom as the victims. Multilevel analyses indicated that students from the low qualifying academic track reported the highest levels of cybervictimization. This effect was partially mediated by low-track students more prevalent communicative use of electronic media.