Cyberbullying in Latin America: a systematic review 2012 to 2018

Abstract

Cyberbullying is considered a new form of bullying due to the advancement of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Thus, the present study
performed a systematic review of Latin American studies on cyberbullying to identify aspects related to the content of publications - advancement of production, areas of knowledge, population, theories, methodologies, and results. The search for studies was carried out between May and June 2016
and expanded in November 2020, used the Scientific Electronic Library Online databases (Scielo) and Electronic Journal of Psychology (Pepsic), articles published between 2012 and 2018 were considered, regardless of the publication year, using “cyberbullying” As the keyword. We then evaluated the
studies, categorized them, interpreted the results and synthesed their findings.
The current review found 37 published articles from 08 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. The publications
occurred priority in the areas of education and health, with privileged population of pre-teens and teens. The theoretical references of the productions were
based generally on the concepts of violence, bullying and cyberbullying. The methodologies were majorly quantitative with the use of scales. The results
of the articles could be divided into five categories: (i) use of technology; (ii) characteristics and prevalence of cyberbullying; (iii) impact on victims and
agressors; (iv) comparisons with traditional bullying and other variables; and (v) coping strategies. In general, the studies focused on the knowledge of the
phenomenon and its specificities, with lack of practical interventions in the social reality to deal with cyberbullying.