1 in 5 middle school students who suffered such discrimination frequently suffered one or two times a month. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Oct. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — Every time they experience bad comments or discrimination on the Internet, middle school students are more likely to have extreme thoughts.
Choi Jung-ah, an associate professor at Kyungil University, said that when cyberbullying occurs, teenagers are 57.7 percent more likely to think of committing suicide, and the likelihood will increase 163.8 percent if they experience discrimination.
In 2016, a survey of 3,775 middle school students conducted by the National Youth Policy Institute found that 1034 students (27.6 percent) had contemplated suicide during the past year.
The number of female students who thought of suicide was 61.8 percent, or 639 students, which was higher than male students, accounting for 38.2 percent or 395 students.
Some 16.6 percent of middle school students who had been subjected to cyberbullying in the past year had heard abusive or insulting words on social network services such as bulletin board comments, messengers, and Facebook.
Some 6 percent of students experienced unwanted privacy disclosure, followed by 3 percent for sexual harassment, 2.5 percent for cyber bullying, and 2.4 percent for blackmail.
Meanwhile, among the discrimination experiences, discrimination against school grades and examinations was the highest at 27.3 percent.
In particular, 1 in 5 middle school students who suffered such discrimination frequently suffered one or two times a month.
Last year, according to Statistics Korea’s cause of death statistics, the number one cause of death was suicide.
Choi added, “It is necessary to strengthen professionalism and create a comfortable counseling environment. To that end, we can provide confidence and trust to teenagers who have experienced discrimination to come forward and seek help.”
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
