Les recherches portant sur le bullying scolaire (« harcèlement » scolaire) montrent qu’il existe des problèmes psychosociaux caractérisant de façon spécifique les élèves impliqués dans les différents « statuts » (victime, agresseur, agresseur/victime). La manière dont ces résultats sont transposables aux jeunes engagés dans le cyber-bullying (« harcèlement » via les nouvelles technologies) reste encore à examiner. Ce travail est une étude comparative entre le bullying scolaire et le cyber-bullying. Un échantillon de 738 adolescents a répondu à une série de questionnaires afin de déterminer : (1) les prévalences de ces deux formes de bullying ; (2) les problèmes psychosociaux observés chez les élèves impliqués (problèmes internalisés : difficultés d’intégration sociale perçues, détresse psychologique, insomnie ; problèmes externalisés : agressivité globale, asocialité). Nos résultats suggèrent que le cyber-bullying est un problème considérable qui touche presque un élève sur quatre, au même titre que le bullying scolaire. La majorité des adolescents engagés dans le cyber-bullying ne sont pas impliqués dans le bullying scolaire. Les « cyber-agresseurs » présentent des scores d’agressivité globale et d’asocialité élevés alors que les élèves impliqués en tant que « cyber-victimes » se caractérisent par les problèmes internalisés. Des comparaisons ont été réalisées en tenant compte de la modalité d’implication de l’élève dans ces phénomènes : élève engagé (1) dans le bullying scolaire uniquement, (2) dans le cyber-bullying uniquement, (3) dans les deux formes : scolaire et cyber.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of adolescents engaged in cyber-bullying and then to identify whether students involved in cyber- and school bullying present the same characteristics of internalizing problems (insomnia, perceived social disintegration, psychological distress) and externalizing problems (general aggressiveness, antisocial behavior).

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 738 adolescents from a high-school and a middle-school (mean age=14.8±2.7). The Electronic Bullying Questionnaire and the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire were used to identify profiles of cyber-bullying (cyber-victim, cyber-bully, cyber-bully/victim and cyber-neutral) and school bullying (victim, bully, bully/victim and neutral). Internalizing problems were investigated using the Athens Insomnia Scale, a Perceived Social Disintegration Scale and a Psychological Distress Scale. Externalizing problems were assessed using a General Aggressiveness Scale and an Antisocial Behavior Scale.

Almost one student in four was involved in cyber-bullying (16.4% as cyber-victim, 4.9% as cyber-bully and 5.6% as cyber-bully/victim); 14% of our sample was engaged in school bullying as a victim, 7.2% as a bully and 2.8% as a bully/victim. The majority of adolescents involved in cyber-bullying were not involved in school bullying. With regard to the problems associated with school bullying, internalizing problems were more prevalent in victims and bully/victims, whereas externalizing problems were more common in bullies and bully/victims. A similar pattern was found in cyber-bullying where internalizing problems were characteristic of cyber-victims and cyber-bully/victims. Insomnia was elevated in the cyber-bully group which is specific to cyberbullying. General aggressiveness and antisocial behavior were more prevalent in cyber-bullies and cyber-bully/victims. Looking at the differences between types of bullying, victims of “school only” and “school and cyber” bullying had higher scores for insomnia and perceived social disintegration than victims of “cyber only” bullying or students “non-involved”. Higher general aggressiveness scores were observed for “school only” bullies and “school and cyber” bullies than for bullies in “cyber only” bullying or students “non-involved”. Regarding antisocial behavior, “school only” bullies, “cyber only” bullies, “school and cyber” bullies had higher scores than students “non-involved”.

This study highlights the importance of investigating both school and cyber-bullying as many psychosocial problems are linked to these two specific and highly prevalent forms of bullying.