Abstract
There are few studies about the association between bullying, cyberbullying, eating psychopathology in clinical populations. This study aims to 1) analyze whether people with eating disorders were victims of bullying and cyberbullying, 2) explore whether bullying and cyberbullying were associated with eating disorders, psychopathology and coping strategies, and 3) analyze whether being a victim of bullying was a predictor of cyberbullying. Thirty-four participants with eating disorders filled out the questionnaires: EAT-26, DERS, EBIP-Q, ECIPQ, MBSRQ, BRIEF-COPE. Results showed that 100% of the patients had experienced both bullying and cyberbullying. Furthermore, bullying and cyberbullying were not associated with body satisfaction, eating attitudes, emotion deregulation, or coping strategies; however, a trend was found between cyberbullying, body satisfaction, and emotion deregulation. Finally, the authors found that having experienced bullying was a predictor of cyberbullying. The assessment and treatment of bullying and cyberbullying in eating disorders is necessary.
TopIntroduction
Bullying is described as systematic abuse of face-to-face power through physical, verbal, or relational aggression (Vaillancourt, McDougall, Hymel, Krygsman, Miller, Stiver, & Davis, 2008). About 30% of young people are bullied every week throughout the world (Analitis, Velderman, Ravens-Sieberer, Detmar, Erhart, Herdman, Berra, Alonso, & Rajmil, 2009; Due, Holstein, Lynch, Diderichsen, Gabhain, Scheidt, & Currie, 2005). Being a victim of harassment chronically affects social, psychological, and psychiatric functioning (Haltingan & Vaillancourt, 2014; Juvonen, Graham, & Schuster, 2003; Wolke, Copeland, Angold, & Costello, 2013). Some studies have shown that being a victim is related to an increased risk of eating disorders (Copeland, Bulik, Zucker, Wolke, Lereya, & Costello, 2015; Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpelä, Rantanen, & Rimpelä, 2000). In addition, various studies have linked bullying to eating disorder symptomatology (Copeland et al., 2015; Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpelä, Rantanen, & Rimpelä, 2000), although more studies are needed.
Cyberbullying is a form of harassment through electronic media, and it currently has frequency rates ranging between 6.6% and 44.1% in the young population (Calvete, Orue, Estévez, Villardón, & Padilla, 2010; Garaigordobil, 2011; Kowalski & Limber, 2007; Kowalski, Giumetti, Schroeder, & Lattanner, 2014; Marco & Tormo-Irun, 2018; Patchin & Hinduja, 2013; Rice, Petering, Rhoades, Winetrobe, Goldbach, Plant, Montoya, & Kordic, 2015). It consists of a specific form of peer aggression that is unjustified, intentional, and extends over time (Tokunaga, 2010). One of cyberbullies’ fixed topics is body appearance, which involves receiving harassing emails or text messages about one’s appearance, telling others not to have a relationship with someone because of his/her weight, or being insulted or sending images of one’s body over the Internet (Marco & Tormo-Irun, 2018; Menzel, Schaefer, Burke, Mayhew, Brannick, & Thompson, 2010). Frisén, Berne, & Lunde (2014) found that victims of cyberbullying had a poorer view of their overall appearance and weight compared to non-cyber victims. In addition, Ramos-Salazar (2017) found that body dissatisfaction and dieting to lose weight were associated with being cyberbullied in a sample of adolescents. Cyber victimization generates a series of psychological symptoms that can include anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010; Marco & Tormo-Irun, 2018; Raskauskas & Stoltz, 2007). However, to our knowledge, there is only one study that contemplates cyberbullying in a clinical sample with eating disorders. Marco, Tormo-Irun, Galán-Escalante and González-García, (2018) found that eating disorder symptomatology and cybervictimization were positively associated with dieting and food preoccupation, perceived social pressure, or eating distress. Furthermore, the results suggested that in patients diagnosed with eating disorders, a risk factor for the development of these disorders was cyberbullying victimization, but no significant results were found for body dissatisfaction.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Body Satisfaction: It is the subjective perception and evaluation towards one’s own body in terms of different aspects such as size, shape, musculature or muscle tone, weight, and fitness.
Bullying: It refers to the action of harming, intimidating or coercing by abusing power through verbal, physical and/or social behavior. The misuse of power can be carried out individually or in groups on one or more individuals who feel unable to prevent it.
Eating Disorders: They are mainly defined by an unhealthy disturbance of the attitudes and behaviors related to food. It includes Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder. Pica and rumination are other eating disorders usually diagnosed in childhood. There are Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder and Unspecified Feeding or Eating Disorder.
Coping Strategies: They refer to the specific efforts, both behavioural and psychological, that people employ to master, tolerate, reduce, or minimize stressful events. These strategies can be learned explicitly or with the technique of modeling.
Bulimia Nervosa: It is an eating disorder that is defined by a strong desire to lose weight where binge eating episodes occur followed by recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviors (self-induced vomiting, fasting, laxatives and diuretics, medication, and exercise).
Emotion Deregulation: It refers to the incapacity of a person to modulate an emotion or set of emotions. It is composed by five dimensions such as emotional lack of control, life interference, lack of emotional attention, emotional confusion, and emotional rejection.
Eating Attitudes: They are characterized by beliefs, thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and relationship with food. They impact on people's food choices, health status and disturbances on food behaviors.
Psychopathology: It is the discipline that studies the theoretical foundations, etiology, symptomatology, progression, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders from a scientific approach. It is included in several areas of research such as psychology, psychiatry, neurology, pharmacology, biochemistry, and endocrinology. It refers to the manifestations of mental disorders through the behavior or mental processes.
Anorexia Nervosa: It is an eating disorder that is defined by an intense desire to lose weight by restricting food due to a strong fear of gaining weight or becoming fat and it is characterized by a distortion of body image (body weight or shape).
Cyberbullying: It refers to the action of harming, intimidating or coercing by abusing power through verbal, physical and/or social behavior made through electronic technology such as cell phones, email and text messaging.