The Effects of Netiquette and ICT Skills on School-bullying and Cyber-bullying: The Two-wave Panel Study of Japanese Elementary, Secondary, and High School Students

This study examined causal relationships between cyber-bullying, ICT skills, and netiquette by using a two-wave panel study of 884 elementary, 2,421 secondary, and 1,003 high school students in Japan. ICT skills were skills for managing information and communication processing technology. Netiquette was defined as appropriate right/wrong judgment about Internet communication. As the result, having proficient ICT skills significantly increased cyber-bullying in secondary students. Having good netiquette did not significantly affect cyber-bullying, but it significantly decreased school-bullying in elementary and secondary students. And, in secondary and high school students, having good netiquette diminished the augmenting effects of ICT skills on cyber-bullying.