Sexting, Texting, Cyberbullying and Keeping Youth Safe Online - Article Analysis Essay

Introduction

The article under review is the piece "Sexting, Texting, Cyberbullying and Keeping Youth Safe Online" that is published research. The article is reporting on a quantitative part of the research. The paper will critique the research and highlight its strengths and weaknesses. The paper will also discuss the applicability of the study to real practice. The article was analysed through the Systematic Review Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tool.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The article was selected due to the substantial impact of the phenomena being studied as well as its rampancy in this age. Publication of the material means that peers had scrutinised the paper's quality. However, not all published work can be deemed trustworthy of having given truthful information in the research (Zeng et al., 2015). The article will be a valuable tool in providing the required information on sexting, texting and cyberbullying among the youth to come up with ways of preventing and controlling it. The research may have reliable information on the acquired data based on the collection of similar works by the authors of the study.

The target audience of the selected article is anyone in a position to detect, prevent and or control sexting, texting and cyberbullying among the youth. This includes parents, teachers, school administrators and health care providers. The research favoured an explanatory paradigm. The article was published in 2010 in the Journal of Social Sciences by Science Publications. Unfortunately, the article does not include an editorial board or any of their qualifications. The report also does not include an explanation of the peer-review process undertaken for the research process. The article cannot be considered a seminal piece of research. Thus far, the study has accrued 49 citations only.

Research Terminology

Ethical clearance - when the research involves animals and humans, details of how the study will be conducted have to reviewed by an Ethics Approval Committee and approved. Following this step is aimed at protecting the rights of both animals and humans to ensure that none comes to any harm while conducting the research.

Identifying a gap - recognising and singling out a topic where published research is insufficient or non-existent to produce an original study that provides useful information where it lacks.

Reliability - the ability of an implement to measure the concept being studied both accurately and consistently.

Representativeness of a sample - the level to which the selected sample aptly reflects the population from where the sample was taken.

Rigour - the level of trustworthiness reached to achieve transferability and credibility through ethics, procedures and documentation.

Theoretical framework - the theories that form the structure that supports the intended research. The theories guide all the steps taken in the procedure and outlines all the boundaries to be followed.

Validity - the propensity of an instrument to gauge and evaluate what it was meant to assess and evaluate.

Implications for Health and Social Care

Sexting, Texting, Cyberbullying are phenomena that are hard to control, prevent or even detect. Therefore, healthcare providers are of substantial help due to their knowledge on how to deal with the youth and the trust they build with them. The healthcare provider's getting away from school further makes the youth more comfortable talking about it. Health care providers can play a crucial role in screening for bullying among paediatric populations on a regular basis. Texting and sexting have a significant impact in propagating peer pressure and leading young people to engage in habits they otherwise would not participate in. Bullying has been shown to lead to a decline in the mental health of both adolescents and children.

The Title

The title of the research indicates what the research entails. The title does not correctly represent the phenomena under investigation through the research questions. The title implies that the research questions intend to study sexting, texting and cyberbullying. Contrary to this expectation, the article mostly studies cyberbullying. The title, therefore, does not aptly represent the study and all its components. The title of the research article lists the variables evaluated in the research. The title, however, neither includes theoretical issues nor the relationship between those theoretical issues and the variables mentioned. The title is too short and does not cover a lot of the required information.

The Authors

The authors of the research article are Robin D'Antona, Meline Kevorkian and Ashley Russom. Robin D'Antona has published previously on bullying. "101 facts about bullying: What everyone should know" is a book he wrote in 2008 with Kevorkian Meline. The book delves into bullying of children as one of the major pressures they undergo. The book also talks about the harmful effects and the dangerous environment that is created from bullying (Kevorkian & D'Antona, 2008). Both Robin D'Antona and Kevorkian Meline later wrote another book in 2010, titled "Tackling bullying in athletics: Best practices for modelling appropriate behaviour". The book majors on preventing bullying. The book is targeted towards parents, coaches, athletic directors and all the individuals who are in a position to help young people enjoy sports along with all its benefits, without the trouble of undergoing bullying. The book aims to get rid of bullying in athletic fields, organisations, parks and schools (Kevorkian & D'Antona, 2010).

Meline Kevorkian has written another research titled "Teacher and Administrator Perceptions of Bullying in Schools". The research was conducted alongside Tom D. Kennedy and Ashley G. Russom and was published in the International Journal of educational policy and leadership. The study aimed to identify the difference between the administrator and the teacher's perception of bullying (Kennedy, Russon & Kevorkian, 2012). By himself, Meline Kevorkian wrote a book in 2006 titled "Preventing Bullying: Helping Kids Form Positive Relationships". The book majors on bullying in American playgrounds and schools and how it results in depression, anxiety and low self-esteem in the victims (Kevorkian, 2006). In conjunction with Albert Rodriguez, Matthew P. Earnhardt, Tom D. Kennedy and Robin D'Antona, Meline Kevorkian wrote research titled "Bullying in Elementary Schools", which was published in the Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma in 2016. The study was a quantitative one, reporting on the incidences of bullying in third grade through fifth-grade students. According to the survey, 40% of the 1588 students interviewed had undergone bullying while girls were bullied more (Kevorkian et al., 2016).

Meline Kevorkian has an Ed. D (Doctor of Education) and an author. Ashley Russom is the Assistant Director for Compliance and a Research Associate at Nova Southeastern University. The authors can be said to have chosen relevant papers with which to conduct their study. The authors could have included more relevant research in a literature review section.

Keywords

• Bullying
• Cyberbullying
• Online safety
• School bullying
• School safety
• Sexting
• Texting

The Abstract

The abstract is a concise summary of all the information in the research article (Ryan, Coughlan & Cronin, 2007). The synopsis clearly explains the purpose of the paper where the research was meant to determine the prevalence of texting and bullying among students of the third, fourth and fifth grade. It also sufficiently explains the reason why the research was carried out. The research was well accomplished through conducting interviews of 835 third, fourth and fifth-grade students. Sufficient data was obtained according to the aims of the research and the data collected was analysed.

According to the findings, 35% of the 835 third, fourth and fifth-grade students interviewed owned a cell phone. 11.4% of the students admitted to having received hurtful or mean text messages or emails. 45.6% of the interviewed students gave a response saying that they had experienced bullying in school (D'Antona, Kevorkian & Russom, 2010). With the examination of the differences between gender and grade, 27% of the interviewed students were worried about experiencing cyberbullying. However, only 12% had been in a position where someone talked to them about cyberbullying and how it happens, along with its effects. Of the interviewed students, the third graders had the highest level of worrying about experiencing bullying online.

Third-grade students also reported the highest level of worry and alerted over being bullied in school by other students. According to the results obtained, the girls said a higher percentage of the rampancy and prevalence of cyberbullying, and they told more incidences of receiving mean and hurtful text messages and emails about them or other people. The research illustrated the relationship between texting, sexting, cyberbullying and the ownership of a mobile phone by young students. Save for the bullying that physically takes place in school grounds, and cyberbullying mostly happens to students with their mobile phones.

According to the research, the conclusion reached was that students are provided with technology at a very young age. In addition to the technology provider, little to no guidance is provided to shield them from cyberbullying and to enable them to recognise it and shun it.

The Introduction

The introduction acquaints the reader by developing the study's background, outlining the rationale and purpose of the study, bringing forward the problem as well as giving a solid foundation of the procedures in the research (Coughlan et al., 2007). The research problem was clearly stated. The research problem presented is researchable on any population selected. Additionally, the research problem is important and significant enough to warrant the study. The background information provided is relevant to the research problem, and it built a firm, solid foundation for the research problem. The rationale and purpose of the study were sufficiently outlined in the introduction. The introduction covered extensive relevant research on the use of technology by the youth and children. The introduction also included the impact and prevalence of cyberbullying. Notably, the introduction also discussed texting, sexting and the online reputation built by both. Sufficient information was provided on the emotional and social side of bullying and the prevention of cyberbullying.

Literature Review

The research disappointed for lack of a literature review section to provide an overview of all available related research and literature. As a result, there was no literature brought forward with which to identify similarities, differences, strengths and weaknesses. There was no illustration of how the research being undertaken fit into a functioning research framework. Due to the absence of the literature review section, there was no depiction of a knowledge gap and an illustration of how the research would cover the knowledge gap. A broad literature review would have been ideal while focusing on the issue at hand by assembling both contemporary and historical material that places the research being undertaken into a contextual framework.

Lack of a literature review section creates the limitation of not providing corroboration that sufficiently supports the research assertions while representing opposing views in a fair manner. The theoretical framework was not built for the research as it is included in the literature review. The presence of a literature review section would have constructed further the credibility of the...