PROCESS OF CYBER BULLYING IN THAI YOUTHS: MULTIPLE CASE STUDIES

Abstract

This research aims to studied cyber bullying process in Thai youths. The study conducted through qualitative methodology by multiple case studies. The key informants included eight youths, aged nineteen to twenty-four who had direct experience about victimization. The data analysis consisted of content analysis and cross-case analysis. There are main three stages of cyber bullying: 1) in the pre-cyber bullying stage, common situations included conflict relationships; victims did something that perpetrators were not satisfied with; 2) during cyber bullying stage, the youths perceived the beginning of cyber bullying which could be divided into three sub-stages. In the beginning of cyber bullying, the youths began recognized that they were victims of gossip, scandal, scoff, secretly slander, spreading rumors, impersonation, threaten, social exclusion and released online pornography. The serious cyber bullying sub-stage, the youths perceived that the incidents were more serious and they were aware of chronic or a cycle of cyber bullying; to unravel a cyber bullying sub-stage, youth handling the problem successfully even cyber-bullying had not ended, while some youth successfully solved the problem and returning to self-care but some youths came back to the serious cyber bullying sub-stage again; 3) to post cyber bullying stage, the problem was over. However, some youths confronted to new cyber bullying incidents. It was important that these youths got through the problem with self-efficacy, self-worth, love and belonging, encouragement and safety.