According to Leano (2005), …show more content…
A rumor is an information spread informally, often by word of mouth. It has three essential characteristics: (1) “Rumor thrives in a climate of ambiguity” (Rosnow and Fine, 1976), (2) A rumor is changeable. As time passes, a rumor changes causing several variations of the accounts which in turn causes confusion, and (3) a rumor is difficult to stop as the number of people who have heard the rumor increases, it geometric progression as each person spreads the information to several others (Leano, 2005). This collective behavior may happen in a classroom, workplace, or the other settings for everyday behavior where social groups exist.
Green (2014) stated that, “social group is a set of people who share the same interests. It can be great to be a part of a group and to know your friends are looking out for you. However, social groups can become involved in bullying. Some form of bullying goes on every day in every school.” The social group or peers that an individual has chosen to interact with might affect his/her …show more content…
In cyberbullying, the bullies may use e-mails, cellphones, websites, or social networking sites to spread threats, slurs or rumors about a person. (Senker, 2014)
Meanwhile, as reported by Kelly (n.d.), research about bullying shows that peer pressure is the strongest factor of bullying. Furthermore, more than 3.1 million children are bullied annually which leads to 160 000 children skipping school. “During adolescence, peers provide us with strong social support as we seek to become more independent.” Kelly added. The desire to fit in a social group is what drives an individual to engage in cyberbullying. Because of this, adolescents in peer groups are more likely to become bullies.
Moreover, according to Beran and Li (2008), many people who would not harass others face-to-face might cyberbully peers because they believe they could hide or it could be acceptable. In a survey conducted by Cross, et al. (2008) in 10 000 students in Australia, the results showed that 20% of the students reported they were cybervictims and 10% were