Abstract
In the last three decades, there has been well-documented research examining the prevalence of bullying in the school setting. Cyberbullying was born out of our current technological age, in a time where teens and pre-teens have access to cell phones and computers in their daily lives. Computers and cell phones were meant to be used as communication tools but have too often become the vehicle for bullying. The purpose of this study was to gather information on the effects of text message bullying on adolescents in their daily lives at school and outside of school. The information will be gathered to facilitate prevention efforts in schools intended for students, staff ,and parents. A convenience sample of ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students were selected from a rural northern California high school. Two-hundred and twenty-two students completed questionnaires regarding their involvement in traditional and text bullying; exploring if they participated as the bully, the victim, or perhaps both. As in previous studies, results found that victims who were text-bullied reported more depressive symptoms and that there was a strong correlation between text bullying, traditional bullying, and a student's connection to school. Contrary to previous findings, text bully victims were not consistently found to have had a history of being traditional bully victims. Findings revealed the importance of implementing evidence-based bullying reduction programs in all school settings that include staff, students, and parents.