Cyberbullying Victimization Experience on SNSs: Focusing on Self-disclosure, Compulsive Internet Use, and Depressive Status

Cyberbullying has become a critical issue as people (especially, young people) daily use social networking sites (SNSs). This study investigates possible factors affecting cyberbullying victimization experiences, comparing SNS users in Austria and Korea. Particularly, this study focuses on how individuals’ self-disclosure patterns, compulsive Internet use, and depressive status are related to four different types of cyberbullying victimization experiences (written-verbal, visual, exclusion, and impersonation). Furthermore, the results are compared between SNS users in Austria and Korea. Results from total 519 respondents show that self-disclosure patterns on SNSs, compulsive Internet use, and depressive status are positively related to different types of cyberbullying victimization experiences. However, there are differences between Austria and Korea. For example, the frequency of changing one’s profile setting is positively related to all types of cyberbullying victimization experiences in Korea, while it is only positively related to victimization experience of visual cyberbullying in Austria. Depressive status is only positively related to victimization experience of written-verbal cyberbullying in Korea, while it is positively related to all types of cyberbullying victimization experience in Austria.