What are the characteristics of cyberbullying victims and perpetrators among South Korean students and how do their experiences change?

Background: Increasing use of online network has a positive impact on the psychosocial development of adolescents, but at the same time has a negative impact such as cyberbullying. Yet, research on the characteristics of cyberbullying victimization and perpetration in adolescence is limited, despite its potential importance to provide adequate implications for adolescent protection. Objective: We aimed to clarify latent classes characterized by cyberbullying victimization and perpetration, and to examine what factors predict the latent classes of the cyberbullying trajectories. Participants and Setting: The study included 3656 students (13-18 years) who had information about cyberbullying victimization and perpetration. The data was taken from the Seoul Education Longitudinal Study. Methods: Latent class growth analysis and multinomial logistic regression were conducted to identify patterns of cyberbullying victimization and perpetration. Results: Cyberbullying victimization patterns were identified: high risk increasing (n = 144, 3.9 %), transient (n = 219, 6.0 %), and low risk group (n = 3293, 90.1 %). Cyberbullying perpetration pattern were identified: mid risk maintaining (n = 115, 3.1 %), low risk (n = 3474, 95.0 %), and transient group (n = 67, 1.8 %). Regression results indicate that female students, students with high self-esteem, and more support from parents and friends experience less cyberbullying. Perpetration experience increases the risk of cyberbullying victimization, whereas victimization experience increases the risk of cyberbullying perpetration. Conclusion: Adolescents experience distinct patterns of cyberbullying victimization and perpetration based on the individual and social support factors. This study provides important implications that characteristics of subgroups should be considered for interventions in cyberbullying.