Behavioral Changes during the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Comparison of Bullying, Cyberbullying, Externalizing Behavior Problems and Prosocial Behavior in Adolescents

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in rapid, unprecedented changes in the lives of children and adolescents worldwide. During the first year in the COVID-19 pandemic German schools were partially closed. The restrictions to limit the pandemic can be viewed as incongruent with developmental tasks of children and adolescent, and this can harbor risks such as loss of education, well-being, and daily structure. Additionally, social skills could decrease. The current study analyzed behavioral changes in traditional bullying and cyberbullying, externalizing behavior problems and prosocial behavior from spring 2020 (pandemic outbreak) to spring 2021 (during the pandemic; a time when schools were closed and infection rates peaked). We addressed our research question with an online survey in a German sample. A total of 130 students (65 females and 65 males) with ages ranging from 10 to 17 (MT1 = 13.88; SDT1 = 1.26) participated. Our results revealed significant differences in cyberbullying and prosocial behavior and no significant differences in traditional bullying and externalizing behavior problems across one year. Cyberbullying increased and prosocial behavior decreased during the first year of pandemic.