Flashman, the archetypal bully from the novel Tom Brown's School Days, is alive and well in the age of Facebook and Twitter, a British study has found.
The vast majority of bullies prefer the tried and trusted methods of hurting their victims to causing pain online.
Results of the survey show less than one per cent of 15-year-olds in England regularly experienced cyberbullying on its own.
More than one-quarter suffered exclusive face-to-face bullying.
Nine out of 10 teenagers who were bullied online were also subjected to traditional bullying, the study found.
Concerns have been raised that cyberbullying, which involves repeated personal attacks using instant messaging, social media postings, emails, text messages and websites, could cause more psychological harm than traditional bullying.
Lead researcher Dr Andrew Przybylski, of Oxford University, said: "Despite common perceptions and the growth of the online world for teenagers, our study finds that cyberbullying, on its own, is relatively rare, with face-to-face bullying remaining most common among teenagers.
"Cyberbullying is best understood as a new avenue to victimise those already being bullied in traditional ways, rather than a way to pick on new victims."
Questionnaires were used to assess bullying and mental wellbeing among more than 110,000 teenagers across England during a two-month period.
Nearly one-third of the teenagers reported experiencing some form of regular bullying, defined as two or three incidents a month.
They included one in three girls and one in four boys.
Bullying encompassed a wide range of actions, including name-calling, hurtful teasing, exclusion, spreading of false rumours, sharing unflattering pictures and physical violence.
