Cyberbullying perpetration and victimization among children and adolescents: A systematic review of longitudinal studies

In this systematic review of exclusively longitudinal studies on cyberbullying perpetration and victimization among adolescents, we identified 76 original longitudinal studies published between 2007 and 2017. The majority of them approached middle school students in two waves at 6 or 12 months apart. Prevalence rates for cyberbullying perpetration varied between 5.3 and 66.2 percent, and for cyberbullying victimization between 1.9 and 84.0 percent. Person-related factors (e.g., traditional bullying, internalizing problems) were among the most studied concepts, primarily examined as significant risk factors. Evidence on the causal relationships with media-related factors (e.g., (problematic) Internet use), and environmental factors (e.g., parent and peer relations) was scarce. This review identified gaps for future longitudinal research on cyberbullying perpetration and victimization in childhood and adolescence.