Cyberbullying in Canada

Cyberbullying is a significant problem in Canada, with high prevalence rates that have remained stable over the past decade (Boak et al. 2016; Craig et al. 2016). In this chapter, we discuss the prevalence of cyberbullying and cybervictimization in Canada, which ranges from 4.5% of university aged youth engaging in cyberbullying at any time (Cunningham et al., 2015) to 33.7% of adolescents in the past three months (Mishna et al., 2010). We explore how these prevalence rates vary according to age, gender, geographic location, and methodological differences between studies. We use Canadian research to identify risk and protective factors according to a social ecological framework, with a discussion of factors at the individual, family, school, and neighborhood level. We then discuss evidence-based interventions aimed to address cyberbullying in Canada, and end with recommendations for how to move the field forward and address the underlying societal dynamics that produce cyberbullying behaviours.