Cyberbullying perpetration among High school and University Students in Ghana

Cyberbullying has become one of the main “side-effects” of Information technological development. Studies suggest that over a third of adolescents have been cyberbullied, and health officials report that this kind of electronic harassment has all sorts of negative implications. The need to offset this negative development cannot be overemphasized. However, research on cyberbullying in sub-Sahara is almost non-existent. Yet, more and more adolescents in sub-Sahara Africa now own a mobile phone, the device which is the most widely used for this perpetration. A recent study among high school and university students in Ghana showed surprising findings: nearly all participants had experienced one form of cyberbullying before, yet, the victims of cyberbullying were not different from non-victims in psychological well-being. Moreover, the effect of cyberbullying on psychological wellbeing was small. In this presentation, we examine the psychological profile of perpetrators of cyberbullying. Using a sample of over 600 students, preliminary analyses suggest that about a third percent of the participants had on at least one occasion cyberbullied bullied a fellow student, and there was no gender difference in terms of perpetration. These perpetrators were also found to score high on extraversion and neuroticisms but low on openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. These findings are discussed in the light of Ghanaian cultural values, particularly with respect to socialization of children, where traditional bullying in high schools is regarded as rites-de-passage.