Safeguarding Board NI (SBNI) Publish ‘Spotlight on Bullying Report’

The Safeguarding Board NI (SBNI) have published a new  Spotlight on Cyberbullying Report by Stranmillis University College highlighting the nature and extent of online bullying behaviours among children and young people aged 8-18 in NI.  The report draws out key insights from the recent large-scale research project Growing Up Online: Children’s online activities, harm and safety in Northern Ireland which they hope will help inform online safety policy and practice.

The findings presented in this Spotlight report highlight the wide variety of online bullying behaviours which are experienced by local children and young people, ranging from mean or nasty comments being made or sent to them and being excluded from WhatsApp groups, through to online blackmail, threats and being told to harm or kill themselves.

Summary– Among the key findings from the 6500 survey responses and interviews with almost 100 children and young people are that:

• A total of 13% of children aged 8-13 reported that someone had been mean to them online within the previous two months, with a higher incidence among girls than boys.
• Girls aged 14-18 were more likely than boys to report that mean or nasty comments had been made about them or sent to them, more likely to have had lies or rumours told about them, and more likely to have been excluded from an online group.
• Boys aged 14-18 were more likely than girls to report that someone had tried to blackmail them, that they had been threatened online, or that their account had been hacked.
• LGBTQI+ young people aged 14-18 were more likely than heterosexual young people to report that they had received mean or nasty comments or that they had been threatened.
• Less than a third (31%) of 14-18 year olds said that they had reported the cyberbullying compared to almost half (47%) of 8-13 year olds.  In both cases children and young people are more likely to tell their friends than family members or someone at school.
• While incidents of online bullying were reported to have very significant emotional impact on the children and young people concerned, it was striking how some of the young people appeared to accept a certain level of online risk and danger, and appeared confident in dealing with such incidents.

Read the full report here 👉  Spotlight on Cyberbullying Report

Find out More 👉 Growing Up Online: Children’s online activities, harm and safety in Northern Ireland