Social media and communication technology has completely transformed the way that individuals, communities and organizations share and create information. The interactivity, accessibility and usability of social media in particular has made it an extremely popular utility. Political campaigns, celebrity promotions and news disseminations have utilised social media to share important information and raise the awareness of key social issues. Despite this, social media and communication technology also has a great deal of potential to do harm. For example, in 2013, Reddit admitted that their platform had contributed to online witch hunts when groups of users had wrongly named people as suspects in the Boston bombing (Messing & Westwood, 2012). The ease at which individuals can share content also poses risks, with a large potential for the sharing of undesirable material. A survey of 10,000 European children between the ages of 9 and 16 years, reported that 40% of children expressed shock and disgust after being sent violent or pornographic content (Livingstone, Kirwil, Ponte, & Staksrud, 2013). Social media can also contribute to acts of cyberbullying, stalking, and online harassment (Kwan & Skoric, 2013); estimates suggest that 10-40% of youth are victims of cyberbullying (Kowalski, Giumetti, Schroeder, & Lattanner, 2014), and 40% of those who cyberbully report they do so for fun (Raskausas & Stoltz, 2007; Chou & Edge, 2012). Campaigners have called for greater guidance concerning the way communication technology is used, with calls for stricter legislation (NSPCC, 2017). However, at present there is limited research exploring the association between cybervictimization and mental health, particularly in adults. Cybervictimization experiences have many different components. This thesis aims to further explore this and add to the existing evidence base, with a particular focus on cyber harassment of a sexual nature. This review will consist of two chapters. The first chapter will be a systematic review, aimed at exploring the psychological impact of all forms of cybervictimization in adults. The second chapter will specifically explore the effects of cybersexual harassment, with a view to better understanding its associations with anxiety, depression, body image, and trauma.

aBackground: Puberty is considered to be delayed if sexual maturation occurs beyond 13 years in girls and 14 years in boys. Physical consequences of delayed puberty include short stature and immature appearance, relative to their chronological age. Psychosocial consequences include social withdrawal and isolation, teasing and bullying, parental over protection, poor body image, low self-esteem and declining academic performance. Research findings in this area can be conflicting with most of the focus being upon delayed growth. Consequently, the psychosocial impact of delayed puberty remains unclear. This study aimed to explore adolescents’ experiences of delayed puberty from a psychosocial perspective. Method: Five adolescents with delayed puberty attending the Royal Hospital for Sick Children were recruited to the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, recorded and transcribed. The data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Results: Analysis identified five super-ordinate themes: Confusion Surrounding Diagnosis, Adolescents’ Internal Experience, Adolescents’ External Experience, Coping and Future Prognosis. They reported a range of emotional, behavioural, social and psychological affects. Adolescents utilised various maladaptive and adaptive coping strategies to help them manage the consequences they experience. They reported feelings of confusion and uncertainty surrounding their diagnosis and treatment which may be contributing to the emotional and psychological symptoms. Conclusion: Adolescents reported that delayed puberty only affects certain areas of their life and that they are generally happy with who they are. This study emphasises the importance of adolescents receiving clear information about delayed puberty and its treatment as soon as possible when they first attend the endocrine clinic to help manage the psychological and emotional consequences reported.

In less developed countries (LDCs) there is a research deficit on the positive and negative aspects of their respective emerging digital cultures. Education programmes that seek to raise awareness of online safety, needs to be based on evidence and not simply transposed from other countries as the issues involved may be very different. Thailand, in particular, has very little data that can be used to create meaningful educational material. This was determined after a thorough literature review which found that most of the research has been carried out in the advanced economies of North America, Europe and Australasia. By contrast in South East Asia very little research had been carried out. This research proposes an integrative security awareness education framework for emerging digital cultures. It was constructed from the ground up so that it would be evidence led. In the first phase, a survey of the online behaviour and attitudes of young people in Thai schools was undertaken. Between November 2016 and June 2018, 352 students aged between 12 and 18 completed a comprehensive online questionnaire. In addition, 25 students were interviewed and asked to describe their online experiences both good and bad.

From the survey it was found that 69% of students had been upset by an online interaction with 55% experiencing some form of cyber-bullying. They were also exposed to potentially harmful content. At least a third or more had seen posts or discussions on; committing suicide, self-harm, being very thin, sexual images and hate messages against individuals and groups. In terms of mediation the interviews revealed a slightly different picture than the one painted in the survey. In the latter, young people suggested that they did sometimes talk to their parents and teachers about upsetting experiences. In the interviews most said that they did not tell their parents or teachers about negative online interactions. This was backed up during the workshops with most reasoning that what they were going through was not important enough to tell a parent or teacher or that they might be the ones that get blamed. They would either stay silent or tell a close friend.

A series of online safety workshops were carried out, structured around the theme of cyber-bullying, as that was the standout issue from the surveys and interviews. An action-research approach was taken to determine what kind of activities would be best to engage Thai students. Activities that were based around active learning strategies like gamification (i.e., using elements of game design) and involving cooperation or competition proved the most successful. Activities where students had to present something or be involved in classroom discussions did not fare too well.

The resulting education framework from the field research consists of themes and topics that are relevant to LDCs as well as the type of activities that works best. A novel component, ‘Cultural Mask’ was added to the framework. This looks at the influence of a country’s culture and its impact on education. In Thailand this includes the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP). In the education sector, SEP schools should promote student centric learning with creativity, critical thinking and problem solving amongst other goals. Knowledge they learn should lead to the betterment of their school and community. Therefore, the education framework can be adapted to reflect the SEP goals. In other LDCs by working through the education framework, awareness programmes can be developed that will be effective and culturally relevant.

This thesis reports on research conducted with young children (aged six to seven years) on the issue of bullying in Irish schools. The aim was to explore the perceptions and understanding of bullying from children’s perspectives and experience. The research also included the views of the children’s parents and teachers on bullying. This research adopted an interpretative stance. A grounded theory approach was used to collect and analyse qualitative data gathered through semi-structured interviews which were conducted with eight children (aged six to seven years), eight parents and two teachers. Two primary schools in Ireland participated in the research. The data from the interviews generated a number of categories and subcategories addressing the following broad areas; bullying and exclusion, friendship, school life and home life. Findings revealed insights into the participants’ understanding of bullying and friendship which highlighted the complexity of young children’s interactions in school and the difficulty the adults around them have in accurately defining and addressing bullying behaviour. The study concludes with emerging theory from the data which suggests that children operate in their own miniature social world in which they follow rules, where failure to do so results in children being excluded. The thesis concludes with specific recommendations for adults working with young children who are bullied, such as the need for adults to listen to children’s accounts of bullying and to provide consistent advice on how to address bullying. The results indicate that future research needs to be focused on identifying strategies to improve our understanding of bullying and how to address it.