According to Professor Kerry Carrington, author of the new book Offending Youth: Sex, Youth and Crime, there is a direct link between cyber-bullying and an increase in violence among adolescent girls.

Prof. Carrington bases her findings on 47 years of youth delinquency statistics. During that time, the ratio of delinquent girls to boys had grown from one in 14 to one in five.

One explanation may be that, according to the research, girls are much more comfortable using technological mediums to bully others than boys. Another theory relates this to the change in the way girls are involved in street-based youth culture and drug cultures.

Source: Girl violence on the rise, Courier Mail, September 22, 2009.

Tags: Cyber bullying, adolescent girls, violence