Deconstructing Traditional Bullying, Cyberbullying and Psychological Distress among LGBT and Heterosexual Adolescents in South Africa
Abayomi O. Olaseni 
and Segun Emmanuel Adewoye
Issue: Vol.4 No.4 April 2023 Article 4 pp.415-425
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20234414 | Published online 6th April, 2023
© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Bullying and psychological distress among adolescents are considered serious social and public health concerns. Several research works concerning psychological distress among adolescents as a result of bullying experiences have been conducted but not many studies explore the differences in the bullying experiences of LGBT adolescents and their heterosexual counterparts. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the comparative analyses of traditional bullying, cyberbullying, and psychological distress among heterosexual and LGBT adolescents in South Africa. The study adopted an ex-post-facto research design. A total of 140 respondents (73.6% self-identified as heterosexual and 26.4% as LGBT adolescents) who are students, were engaged using purposive random sampling. Participants completed the bullying victimisation components (B1 for the traditional bullying scale and B2 for cyberbullying scale) and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10), which measures psychological distress among the study participants. Findings revealed that sexual orientations and gender identities do not significantly influence traditional-bullying victimisation among adolescents (t = 0.065, df = 138, p > .05). However, further analysis revealed that LGBT adolescents (ẋ=53.44; SD=05.03) reported higher experiences of cyberbullying, compared to their heterosexual counterparts (ẋ=45.84; SD=06.57). Consequently, LGBT adolescents (ẋ=30.28; SD=0.75) reported higher experiences of psychological distress because of cyberbullying victimisation, compared to their heterosexual counterparts (ẋ=24.87; SD=03.15). It is recommended that psychological assessments and insightful counselling should be encouraged among LGBT adolescents. The purposeful intervention might enable early identification of psychological problems, and in turn, enables early psychosocial interventions that will address the prevailing psychological distress experienced among LGBT adolescents because of bullying victimisation.
Keywords: Bullying; LGBT; Heterosexual; Psychological Distress; Adolescents
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Dr. Abayomi O. Olaseni is a clinical psychologist, with PhD. in Clinical Psychology, and a registered member of the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA), Nigerian Association of Clinical Psychology (NACP), and American Psychological Association (APA). He has six years of teaching experience and over seven years of practice experience in handling various mental health problems. I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of South Africa.
Dr. Segun Emmanuel Adewoye is a Post-Doctoral research fellow at the University of South Africa, College of Human Sciences, Department of Psychology. He has published articles on bullying and cyberbullying among adolescents in accredited local and international journals. He has shown a commitment to working and caring for students who require counseling, as well as providing psychological assistance to learners who require it. SE Adewoye intends to continue his work as an Educational Psychologist and researcher by conducting psychotherapy research to better understands how to help an individual in need of psychological service.
Olaseni, A.O. and Adewoye, S.E. “Deconstructing Traditional Bullying, Cyberbullying and Psychological Distress among LGBT and Heterosexual Adolescents in South Africa,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 4, no.4 (2023): 415-425. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20234414
© 2023 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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