Adolescent Cyberviolence in South Korea: A Multi-Year, National Population-Based Study of Cyberviolence Prevalence (2017–2024)

With the rise of digital technology, adolescent cyberviolence has become a growing global concern in public health and criminal justice. This study used nationally representative data from South Korea (2017–2024) to examine the prevalence of eight types of cyberviolence (i.e., verbal abuse, defamation, stalking, sexual abuse, personal information leakage, bullying, extortion and coercion) among adolescents aged 10–18 years. It also analysed differences between sexes, age groups and time periods (i.e., before, during and after COVID-19). The findings showed that male adolescents were generally more likely than females to be both victims and perpetrators of cyberviolence, except in the case of cyberstalking victimisation. The adolescents aged 13–15 reported higher rates of both victimisation and perpetration than their younger (aged 10–12) and older (aged 16–18) peers, except in the context of cyberbullying victimisation. Notably, cyberviolence rates were lower during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022) than the pre-pandemic (2017–2019) and post-pandemic (2023–2024) periods. This is arguably the first study to track cyberviolence among South Korean adolescents over an eight-year period using data from over 56,000 participants. The results offer critical insights into patterns of online aggression among adolescents across sexes and age groups and through significant societal disruptions like the COVID-19 pandemic.