Behavioral Changes during the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Comparison of Bullying, Cyberbullying, Externalizing Behavior Problems and Prosocial Behavior in Adolescents

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in rapid, unprecedented changes in the lives of children and adolescents worldwide. During the first year in the COVID-19 pandemic German schools were partially closed. The restrictions to limit the pandemic can be viewed as incongruent with developmental tasks of children and adolescent, and this can harbor risks such as loss of education, well-being, and daily structure. Additionally, social skills could decrease. The current study analyzed behavioral changes in traditional bullying and cyberbullying, externalizing behavior problems and prosocial behavior from spring 2020 (pandemic outbreak) to spring 2021 (during the pandemic; a time when schools were closed and infection rates peaked). We addressed our research question with an online survey in a German sample. A total of 130 students (65 females and 65 males) with ages ranging from 10 to 17 (MT1 = 13.88; SDT1 = 1.26) participated. Our results revealed significant differences in cyberbullying and prosocial behavior and no significant differences in traditional bullying and externalizing behavior problems across one year. Cyberbullying increased and prosocial behavior decreased during the first year of pandemic.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Swedish Adolescents’ Mental Health, Psychosocial Functioning, Risk Behaviours, and Victimisation: Gender Differences and Implications

“…The pandemic's interruption of adolescents' social interactions with peers also altered their risk behaviours, such as substance use and antisocial behaviours, and influenced the form and frequency of their victimisation. The research on how adolescents changed their behaviours during the pandemic are conflicting, for example, concerning alcohol consumption [16] and cyberbullying, which was found to both increase [3,17] and decrease [18]. This emphasises the importance of focusing the well-known bio-psychosocial matrix on our behaviours and well-being [19].…”

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Swedish Adolescents’ Mental Health, Psychosocial Functioning, Risk Behaviours, and Victimisation: Gender Differences and Implications

“…The pandemic's interruption of adolescents' social interactions with peers also altered their risk behaviours, such as substance use and antisocial behaviours, and influenced the form and frequency of their victimisation. The research on how adolescents changed their behaviours during the pandemic are conflicting, for example, concerning alcohol consumption [19] and cyberbullying, which was found to both increase [5,20] and decrease [21]. This emphasises the importance of focusing the well-known bio-psychosocial matrix on our behaviours and well-being [22].…”

Relationships between experiences of humiliation on social networks, problematic phone use, and aggressive and altruistic behaviors in young adults

“…Based on previous research, it is hypothesized that experiences of online humiliation would be positively related to problematic smartphone use ( Gámez-Guadix et al, 2013 ; Qudah et al, 2019 ; Şimşek et al, 2019 ; Martínez-Ferrer et al, 2021 ), as well as aggressive behavior ( Martínez-Monteagudo et al, 2019 , 2020 ), and negatively related to prosocial behavior ( Bäker and Schütz-Wilke, 2023 ). It is expected that, similar to humiliation, problematic smartphone use will be positively associated with indicators of aggressive behavior ( Akbar et al, 2022 ; Zhang et al, 2022 ) and negatively associated with indicators of prosocial behavior ( Esparza-Reig et al, 2022 ).…”