Circumscribing cyberbullying: Toward a mutual definition and characterizations of aggression, assault, and recklessness via telecommunications technology

Online aggression came to the attention of researchers following a study of American students that was the first to identify Internet chat rooms and email as modalities for bullying. Since that time, another term was added to our lexicon for violent and antisocial behavior-cyberbullying-and is now widely considered an emergent and significant problem. Thus far, literature has failed to agree on a universal definition for "cyberbullying" and many definitions proffered refer directly back to traditional bullying and consider online aggression an extension of traditional bullying. The intentions of the current chapter authors are to contribute to the burgeoning amount of literature on this important area to discuss the importance of a consensus about the definition and conceptualization of online aggression, and to offer a workable and theoretically sound term that is appropriate and relevant to the generally accepted paradigm of cyberbullying.