About Cyberbullying -- Profile of the Cyberbully

In two studies published in 2004, Ybarra & Mitchell take the first steps towards creating a profile of the cyberbully (Ybarra & Mitchell 2004a; Ybarra & Mitchell 2004b). They report that cyberbullies are just as likely to be female as male, and are more likely to be older teens rather than younger (unlike traditional bullies, who are significantly more likely to be male, and are more likely to be elementary or middle school age rather than high school age).

According to Barbara Coloroso, all bullies have these traits in common (Coloroso 2002, 20):

like to dominate other people
like to use other people to get what they want
find it hard to see a situation from another person’s vantage point
use blame, criticism, and false allegations to project their own inadequacies onto their target
refuse to accept responsibility for their actions
crave attention

Similar to traditional bullies, cyberbullies tend to have poor relationships with their caregivers. Cyberbullies are twice as likely as non-bullies to report a poor emotional bond with their caregiver, very frequent caregiver discipline, and infrequent caregiver monitoring. Cyberbullies are several times more likely to report physical or sexual victimization by an adult, to report frequent substance abuse, or to engage in problem behaviour.

Perhaps not surprisingly, cyberbullies are intense Internet users who are confident of their abilities. Youth who use the Internet the most are twice as likely to bully others online. Those who use the Internet most often for chat rooms are three and a half times more likely to bully online. Cyberbullies are more than twice as likely as non-bullies to rate themselves as Internet experts and to indicate that the Internet was very or extremely important to them. Youth who engage in online bullying are almost four times as likely to also report being a target of online bullying in the past year compared to otherwise similar youth.

Ybarra & Mitchell conclude that those involved in cyberbullying are likely facing challenges on multiple fronts.

Pepler, discussing bullies in general, suggests that there is a risk for bullies of extending the use of power and aggression into adulthood which can manifest itself in criminality and other forms of antisocial behaviour (Pepler et al. 1997, 2).