Speaker
Description
CyberSAFE Kids
Sharon Kwan Sam Mee, Noorhafeza Herliani Adey, Carmella E. Ading
Faculty of Psychology and Social Work, Universiti Malaysia Sabah
Keywords: Cyberbullying, Latent Profile Analysis, Psychological Instruments, Primary Schools, Digital Safety
Cyberbullying is an escalating concern in Malaysian primary schools, mirroring global challenges faced by children in the digital age (Livingstone et al., 2021; Olweus & Limber, 2018). Pilot data indicate that 38% of students reported experiencing hurtful online comments and 35% were targeted by online rumours, while direct threats, though less common, were associated with significant emotional distress. These negative experiences were strongly linked to reduced psychological well-being (r = –.42, p < .01), consistent with established findings on children’s health-related quality of life (Ravens-Sieberer et al., 2010). Students aged 9–12 often lack the expressive vocabulary to describe online harms, limiting teachers’ and parents’ ability to detect issues early (Wright, 2017). Current school-based interventions tend to be reactive and text-heavy (Hinduja & Patchin, 2018), creating barriers for younger children. As highlighted in broader child development and digital media research, age-appropriate, proactive, and scalable solutions are urgently required to protect children’s digital well-being (Chassiakos et al., 2016). Therefore, CyberSAFE Kids was developed using validated psychological instruments to ensure both reliability and suitability for primary school students, following established approaches to cyberbullying and child well-being measurement (Hinduja & Patchin, 2018; Ravens-Sieberer et al., 2010). A pilot study with 30 students in Kota Kinabalu was conducted, and the data were analyzed using Latent Profile Analysis (Adey, Kwan, & Ading, in press). The results identified three distinct profiles: (1) High Awareness–Low Behaviour–High Well-being, (2) Moderate Awareness–Moderate Behaviour–Moderate Well-being, and (3) Low Awareness–High Behaviour–Low Well-being. These profiles provide the foundation for the system’s real-time risk detection, offering a reliable and innovative framework to identify, monitor, and address cyberbullying risks in primary education
