Nearly one in five young people have reported being cyberbullied in the last two months
In addition, 11% admitted being online bullies to others
Last updated 10th Apr 2024
Nearly one in five young people in England have reported being cyberbullied at least once or twice in the past couple of months.
A study, which looked at bullying among adolescents from 44 countries and regions, including England, Wales and Scotland, found 15% reported being cyberbullied at least once or twice in the past couple of months.
The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey, of more than 279,000 people aged 11, 13 and 15 years old in 2021/22, suggests the proportion of adolescents who reported being cyberbullied has increased since 2018, from 12% to 15% for boys and 13% to 16% for girls.
In England, where more than 4,200 young people were surveyed, nearly one in five (19%) reported being cyberbullied at least once or twice in the past couple of months, and 11% reported cyberbullying others.
Rebekha Hipkiss is a Childline counsellor for the NSPCC, she said: "Children feel really powerless when someone makes a fake account of them, or puts a fake photograph up of them.
"They also feel hurt and humiliated because there is almost no physical embodiment of it.
"For parent it's really important to validate how your child feels, although that can be perceived as colluding, it's not.
"If they are feeling this way because something is happening to them, it's really important for a parent to hear and understand the problem and not trying to fix it immediately."
It follows a survey of Kent's youth from last year, which found a third of participants had been the victim of cyber bullying, up nearly a fifth from the same survey five years prior.
In addition, nearly 500 young people admitted to being online bullies themselves, equating to about 11% of those surveyed.