News 

The study, published in the Journal of School Health, stated that the most common form of bullying involved name-calling and insults. Online incidents most typically took place through instant messaging.

The study also showed that 90 per cent of the bullied teens did not tell their parents about the online incidents, as they felt the need to deal with the problem on their own and were fearful of parental restrictions on internet use.

These findings were based on an anonymous web-based survey of 1,454 respondents, aged between 12 and 17. The study was conducted by Dr Jaana Juvonen and Dr Elisheva Gross of the University of California.

"Just as school-based bullying is considered a public health concern, online bullying should be recognised as an issue that needs attention," the pair wrote in their study.

"Because of the generation gap in electronic communication, however, parents and educators need to better understand both the positive and negative functions of teen online behaviour."