Why Girls? Using Routine Activities Theory to Predict Cyberbullying Experiences Between Girls and Boys

Abstract

This study uses data from the Second Youth Internet Safety Survey (D. Finkelhor, K. J. Mitchell, and J. Wolak 2011) to predict the risk of cyberbullying between genders. Although much of the cyberbullying literature has considered gender in analyses, nearly all studies have lumped boys and girls together when examining risk factors. This gender lumping has led to the inaccurate perception that risk factors for cyberbullying affect both genders similarly. Therefore, this study fills that void by reviewing differences in the online behaviors of boys and girls, whether these differences affect risk for cyberbullying, and whether routine activities theory is applicable in explaining the risk of cyberbullying for both boys and girls.

KEYWORDS:

• cyberbullying
• cybervictimization
• gender
• routine activities theory
• cybercrime

Acknowledgments

The data used in this publication were made available by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN), Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and are used with permission. Data from the Second Youth Internet Safety Survey were originally collected by David Finkelhor. Funding for the project was provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (Award Nos. 2005-MC-CX-K024 and 2003-JN-FX-0064). The collector(s) of the original data, the funders, NDACAN, Cornell University, and their agents or employees bear no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.

Notes

Note: Sample size = 1,500. RAT = routine activities theory.

^a Independent samples differences in mean. ^b Chi-square analyses.

*p < .05. ***p < .001.

Note: Sample size for analysis = 1,076.

^a Gender not included, because file is split by gender.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.