The perception of the cyberbullying phenomenon among Estonian students : Comparison of boys and girls on the basis of cyberbullying criteria and types of behaviour

With the rapid change in forms of communication bullying through electronic devices has emerged. „Cyberbullying is an aggressive, intentional act carried out by a group or individual, using electronic forms of contact, repeatedly, and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself” (Smith et al., 2008, p. 376). This definition emphasises the three Olweus’ (1999) bullying criteria (intentionality, repetition, and imbalance of power). In addition, it identifies the electronic environment where cyberbullying occurs. Electronic communication has its own peculiarities. On the one hand, communication in cyber context is entirely public in nature because it involves large numbers of people who are given the opportunity to witness, contribute, or fight against, to what is happening online (Kowalski & Limber, 2007). On the other hand, computer mediated communication creates the illusion of anonymity without difficulty because it is easy to create anonymous avatars and personas there (Kowalski et al., 2008; Kowalski & Limber, 2007; Shariff, 2008; Willard, 2007). To sum up, it is assumed that there may be some other criteria in addition to the Olweus’ criteria, such as publicity and anonymity which may be more specific in the cyber context (Menesini et al., 2012; Menesini & Nocentini, 2009; Slonje & Smith, 2008). Previous researchers have attempted to categorise different types of cyberbullying behaviour into a more compact list (Nocentini et al., 2010; Willard, 2007). On the basis of Willard (2007), Nocentini et al. (2010) summarised different categories of cyberbullying behaviour into four main typologies based on the nature of the attack: written-verbal behaviours,